The AI Economy’s Quiet Winners Yield Up to 11.7%

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The AI Economy’s Quiet Winners Yield Up to 11.7%

The manic market just dumped business development companies (BDCs), again. These three dividend stocks paying up to 11.7% are poised to bounce back when sanity returns.

BDCs, which lend money to small businesses, are on the “outs” with the Wall Street suits after multiple soft jobs reports. The spreadsheet jockeys fret about an unemployment-induced economic slowdown and miss the real story: small businesses are making more money than ever thanks to AI.

Here is what’s actually happening in the Main Street economy:

  • Employers—especially nimble small business owners—are implementing AI to streamline and even run their operations.
  • With AI tools, fewer humans are needed.

… Read more

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Who Really Wins From AI? Small Business (and These 8.8%+ Dividends)

If tariffs really are going to crush the economy, someone forgot to tell the nation’s small businesses! Truth is, these “mom-and-pop shops” are thinking big—and growing.

And we’re here to play this “disconnect” for sweet 8.8%+ dividends.

Small Biz Bullishness by the Numbers

According to the latest NFIB survey, in July, 13% of small business owners said their businesses were in “excellent” shape, a five-point gain since June. And 52% said they were in “good” condition (a three-point rise). Only 4% said “poor,” a three-point drop.

The good times look set to keep rolling for these businesses, too: 36% of owners said they see higher sales ahead.… Read more

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Who Really Wins From AI? Small Business (and These 8.8%+ Dividends)

If tariffs really are going to crush the economy, someone forgot to tell the nation’s small businesses! Truth is, these “mom-and-pop shops” are thinking big—and growing.

And we’re here to play this “disconnect” for sweet 8.8%+ dividends.

Small Biz Bullishness by the Numbers

According to the latest NFIB survey, in July, 13% of small business owners said their businesses were in “excellent” shape, a five-point gain since June. And 52% said they were in “good” condition (a three-point rise). Only 4% said “poor,” a three-point drop.

The good times look set to keep rolling for these businesses, too: 36% of owners said they see higher sales ahead.… Read more

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How to Get $24,876 in Dividends (and Know the Exact Day They’ll Hit Your Account)

There aren’t many things we can say for certain these days, but there is one: We dividend investors are far better off than the mainstream crowd!

Consider the poor souls holding “America’s ticker”—my name for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY). I call it that because, well, pretty well everyone owns it. These folks white-knuckled it through the April “tariff tantrum” and are now on a knife edge as the ETF bobs around near all-time highs, boosting the odds of yet another sharp drop.

Of course, pullbacks are a constant in investing (and something we contrarians love to tap for bargains!).… Read more

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Rising Small Biz Mojo Will Power This 8.8% Payout Higher

Ignore the vanilla mainstream media. Small business mojo is gaining steam. Main Street getting its groove back will directly benefit these two (7.2% and 8.8%) dividends.

The NFIB Small Business Optimism Index washed out in April alongside the stock market. Despair hit desperation levels not seen since December 2012. But the malaise has quickly given way to positivity.

Small biz sentiment has increased for two straight months and counting. Why the turnaround? Two letters: AI.

Shanell Camp, owner of Shaded by Shanell (an up-and-coming beauty brand) explained her excitement to me about ChatGPT, her “go to” resource for brainstorming, marketing help and more.… Read more

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A 7% “Dividend Fortress” for the Trade War (plus an Easy Way to Track Payouts)

There aren’t a lot of things we can say for certain these days, but there is one: We dividend investors are far better off than the mainstream crowd!

Consider the unlucky souls who hold “America’s ticker”—my name for the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY). I call it that because, well, pretty well everyone owns it (it’s okay if you have SPY hiding somewhere in your portfolio—we don’t judge!)

These poor folks have taken the brunt of the market crash—and they’re getting “paid” a mere 1.4% for the pleasure.

Our Dividend Picks Are Built for Trying Times 

We contrarian dividend investors, meantime, know the value of high, safe payouts.… Read more

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ChatGPT? Nah. This Is Your Best “Assistant” for Dividend Investing

Look, I know what a pain it can be to track your dividends.

ChatGPT? It’s no help. When I asked if it could give me a hand, its top suggestion was that I use a spreadsheet!

I mean, I guess the offer to help set up formulas is appreciated. But this is still a pain to set up—with AI assistance or not.

Sure, your brokerage account might have a built-in dividend tracker, but it’s almost certainly only useful for any investments you hold with that particular broker.

But what if you hold investments in more than one account, or with more than one brokerage (as many of us do)?… Read more

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Powell’s “Super-Sized” Rate Cut Changed My View on This 9.5% Divvie

Rate cuts are finally here. So will we actually hit that vaunted “soft landing” everyone’s been talking about?

Well, I’ve got a (contrarian, naturally!) take that I know most people haven’t thought about—especially since last week’s jumbo 50-point rate cut dropped:

What if we hit a “no landing” scenario, where the economy ticks along and inflation comes back?

I’m bringing up that unpleasant idea because, usually in a rate-hiking cycle like the one that just ended, the central bank pushes the Fed funds rate higher until it breaks something. 

But this time, it’s not clear it has.

In fact, when it looked like it finally had—when Silicon Valley Bank and friends crumbled to dust in March 2023—Jay blinked, and pumped liquidity into the market through the back door, a move we’ve referred to as “Quiet QE” here many times before:

The Fed Didn’t Break Anything This Time—That May Be a Problem

With that in mind, last week’s oversized cut was understandable: The Fed has been keen to take its foot off the brake for a while now.… Read more

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2 Good Dividend Stocks Up to 11% to Buy Today

Believe it or not, your favorite income strategist once had a multi-year stint as the head of human resources for a US-based software company.

It was, coincidentally, my last regular “day job” before I drifted into the world of stocks and startups.

When my old boss, our managing director, handed me the task of hiring our new employees, he gave me this piece of wisdom.

“I trust you to make the call. Just one thing…” he winked at me.

“The kids must be graduates from Berkeley, Cornell, MIT or Stanford.”

Gee, thanks boss. Like it was an easy task to convince a new graduate from an elite engineering school to skip the offer from Google to work with us.… Read more

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Four “Rich Guy Favorite” Dividends Up to 10.7%

“Hey Brett, how’s business?”

“Awful,” I admitted. “But we’re a startup. If we can improve from awful to simply bad, it will be a big milestone for us.”

That was one economic meltdown ago, back in 2008. I had just left my “day job” to start my first company. On cue, the Great Recession descended upon us.

But the gloomy economic backdrop didn’t matter. Actually, it was a blessing. A recession is actually the best time to start companies and grow them.

As a startup with no money, we were able to cobble our limited resources together to get the company off the ground.… Read more

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