New Trade of Decade: Favor Bonds Over Stocks

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Three years ago, I wrote to you from the La-Z-Boy in my kids’ room. Which wasn’t unusual. We were all stuck at home staring at whatever immediate family we were sheltered in place with. It was April 3, 2020.

(Ah, 2020. Family walks were the highlight of the day. Our investment strategist—and survivalist father—took no chances when leaving the house. Here’s one from the archives that recently resurfaced on my wife’s phone…)

Six packs in a stroller? The norm. What was unusual was the content of the note I penned to you before the big walk. Favor Stocks Over Bonds was the topic, strange coming from a guy who writes about bonds for a living.… Read more

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The market looks like it’s about to fall apart. Which means we contrarians will step in, and smartly bank more dividend for our dollar.

Some of us park our dry powder in cash. Others stash in conservative bond funds to juice a bit more yield out of our savings. Let’s talk about these bonds because this is an ideal time to say goodbye to them (for a while!)

As dividend investors, we are naturally allergic to cash. After all, why leave money in dollars earning nothing when we can move it to a stock or fund yielding something?

As I write our Contrarian Income Report portfolio yields 6.3%.… Read more

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Are you trying to grind out a livable retirement on dividends alone? It’s possible, and it doesn’t require millions and millions already in the bank. (Even today, with interest rates in the tank.)

However, we must step outside the mainstream to achieve this. After all, why mess around with a standard $15,600 a year in retirement income when we can “supersize” that annual yield haul up to $108,000?

The “standard” $15.6K is what we get listening to mainstream financial advisors and pundits, and buying the vanilla ETFs that they recommend. The latter $108K is what we can achieve with a little bit of original thinking.… Read more

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Looking for a few safe bond funds to park your cash in, earn a bit of yield from and (most importantly) not lose your shirt on?

I’ve heard from several subscribers who are looking for a safe dividend port in these renewed storms. Well, there aren’t many, but I’ve got a few ideas for you here! We’ll discuss them in a minute. First, let’s talk about the sudden change in weather.

Early last week, the VIX—the measure of volatility that everyone knows (and few can explain!)—mysteriously started popping higher. This was a bit curious because the VIX and the S&P 500 had been mirroring each other.… Read more

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Your 2% bonds are going to make you broke. You need to buy these safe, higher paying dividends instead.

We’ll get to these “real yields” (up to 9.3%!) in a moment. First, let’s recap. Treasury yields just took their biggest bath in weeks, sending the 10-year T-note to 2%. Less than a year ago, the 10-year was flirting with (a not exactly nosebleed) 3%.

And now that Fed chair Jay Powell has fallen in love with the doves (whether by choice or by force), he’s going to keep rates low for a long time. Which means bonds will have no place in a retirement portfolio geared towards income.… Read more

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Today we’re going to discuss six “retirement maker” funds that pay dividends up to 10.8% annually. You will not find these types of yields in mainstream financial publications. Here’s why.

It’s important for you to fade Wall Street’s advertising machine and buy value, not hype – especially when it comes to dividend payers. Stick with excellent yet off-the-beaten-trail CEFs (closed-end funds) and ignore the marketing machines promoting their latest overrated ETFs (exchange traded funds).

Please, Whatever You Do, Don’t Buy Bond ETFs

Be careful how you buy your bonds. The most popular tickers have a few fatal flaws that’ll doom you to underperformance at best, or leave you hanging in the event of a market meltdown at worst!… Read more

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Think it’s time to sell – or avoid – tax-advantaged municipal bonds ahead of the upcoming tax battle?

Think again. There are several compelling reasons why muni bonds are still buys for most income-focused investors.

First, the top federal tax bracket will still be a hefty 35%. Which means, if you’re a top earner, munis will still boost your yield by more than one-third.

No matter what tax plan is approved, municipal bonds will continue to be tax-free at the federal level. The GOP isn’t touching the federal income tax exemption for municipal bonds, which means win or lose, Uncle Sam won’t touch that income (which means tax-equivalent yields up to 9.6%, which we’ll discuss shortly, will still be in play).…
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