This 7-CEF Portfolio Yields 14.1%

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The suits on Wall Street will say that $460K isn’t enough to retire on.

Well, that “modest” nest egg will earn $64,860 in dividends alone when invested in this simple 7-CEF portfolio.

CEFs are the code name for closed-end funds. They are a lesser-known cousin to exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds. CEFs tend to have modest assets under management. Which is their superpower. Fewer assets mean greater yields!

Consider the 7-CEF portfolio we are about to discuss versus the standard high-yield stock benchmark ETF:

There is no comparison! But before we buy blindly, let’s do our homework and make sure these CEFs are not paper payout tigers.… Read more

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Few people pay much attention to the management team of a closed-end fund (CEF). But it’s becoming a much more critical factor driving CEF upside (and downside!), as well as these funds’ 8%+ dividend payouts.

I was reminded of this recently by a story that’s unfolding in the UK, where two asset-management firms are struggling a bit to hire CEOs. One is Scotland-based abrdn plc (SLFPF), whose shares have risen just 2.6% annually in the US on average over the last decade.

Compare that to a roughly 10% average year-to-date return enjoyed by the other major asset managers abrdn is competing with, and you get a good idea of what’s happening here: abrdn isn’t doing well enough to attract the best talent.… Read more

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When we’re faced with a situation like today’s, with inflation and interest rates on a tear, we want dividends that keep us ahead of rising prices while hedging us against volatility.

Luckily, there’s a selection of high-yield closed-end funds (CEFs) that do just that. We’re going to look at three that yield 9.9% on average today, plus they give us the diversification we need to withstand market shocks.

And with a 9.9% yield, you could use these stout income generators to pay your bills on a modest investment, avoiding the need to sell into a downturn to augment your income. Heck, a retiree with $500K could generate $4,125 a month in dividends!… Read more

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Until about a year ago, the most common question I got from readers was always something like: “How will rising interest rates affect my portfolio?”

The question looks simple, but the answer was not, and in 2015, when the Fed said it would start hiking rates (the first hike came in December of that year), plenty of panicked investors sold (despite my advice at the time):

Short-Term Rate Fears …

What this chart really meant is that these short-term panickers gave patient investors a great buying opportunity, as the next chart shows:

… Set Up Longer-Term Gains

But the folks who sold right around the time of the first rate cut missed out because they feared the Fed.… Read more

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