This “12% Dividend Secret” Could Let You Retire Now (on Just $300K)

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This “12% Dividend Secret” Could Let You Retire Now (on Just $300K)

Imagine getting $100 per month in passive income for every $10,000 you invest. That amounts to a $35,000 annual dividend stream with less than $300,000 saved.

It’s not impossible. In fact, investors do it all the time with my favorite high-yield investments—closed-end funds (CEFs). While the average yield on CEFs is currently 6.2%, a third of these funds yield upwards of 7%, and 17 boast payouts of 10% and higher.


Source: CEF Insider

CEFs’ payouts are particularly impressive considering the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY), an index fund tracking the S&P 500, yields a paltry 1.3% today—the lowest yield for the stock market in 20 years.… Read more

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Here’s a “DIY” Plan for 6.1% Dividends, Yearly 11% Returns

If you’re on the lookout for an expert to help you build your nest egg—and bulk up your dividend stream to, say, a 6%+ yield—you have two main choices: a professional wealth manager or an investment advisory service (or a newsletter, as they’re more commonly known).

Which is for you? Let’s break down both options. Then we’ll dive into the kind of three-fund portfolio a newsletter might tip you off to, with a healthy 6.1% income stream and a history of double-digit yearly returns, too.

Wealth Managers Charge More, But They’re a Help in a Crisis

With active wealth management, the main concern most people have is fees.… Read more

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This Low-Key Fund Is the Hottest Retail Play of 2021 (Yields 7.1%)

One of the great things about closed-end funds (CEFs) is that there’s one out there we can use to tap just about any trend—and turn it into a nice 7.1%+ dividend payout.

Take the surge in retail we saw last month. Despite the pandemic, Americans are hitting the stores again (with many doing so online):

Retail Sales Surge

In January, retail sales jumped 5.3%, far ahead of economists’ expectations of 1.2% gains. This was helped by a 0.7% sales drop in December, but it’s undoubtedly the result of the latest round of stimulus checks.

Retail ETF Soars, But Its Dividend Leaves Much to Be Desired

That’s great news for retailers because it proves that consumers are spending their COVID aid money instead of hoarding it.… Read more

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These “Goldilocks” 8% Yields Are Perfect for 2021

One of the biggest risks you’ll face as an investor is the temptation to listen to people at the extremes.

In income investing, these so-called “gurus” break down into two camps. The first are the indexers, who argue that all you need to do is buy a fund like the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO), which, as the name suggests, simply tracks the S&P 500. Sure, the yield is a crummy 1.5%, but you need to stick with it, work for 40 years, save as much as you can, and live off the low payout.

Unfortunately, if you follow this “advice,” you’ll have to save north of $4 million if you want a $50,000 dividend stream to live on without selling down your holdings.… Read more

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The 8%+ Dividends Most People Will Miss (and Kick Themselves for It in 2022)

If you’re like most investors, you’re tired of having the following two pieces of “wisdom” pounded into your head by the financial media:

  1. Any high yield (here I’m talking 6% and up) is dangerous and certain to be cut, and …
  2. Hardly anyone ever outperforms the S&P 500, so why even try?

Both are nonsense.

Fact is, you can get steady yields of 7% and higher (or even 8.8%, as I’ll show you shortly) through several high-yield funds called closed-end funds (CEFs). (If you’re a member of my CEF Insider service, you already know this: our portfolio of 20 CEFs is handing us an average dividend of 7.7% today, with the highest yielder of the bunch paying an outsized 11%.)… Read more

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Dump These 3 Loser Funds Now (and Buy This 6.7%-Yielder Instead)

If you’re like most people these days, you’re desperately searching for any kind of meaningful dividend stream.

Finding one is no easy task. The S&P 500, after all, yields 1.5%, on average. Treasuries? With their 0.9% yields, they’re not even worth talking about.

With the old income go-tos off the table, plenty of folks are looking further afield. Some are boosting their holdings of high-yield bonds through exchange-traded funds like the SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (JNK). Others are going with more esoteric investments, like high-yielding business development companies (BDCs), which you can tap through the UBS Etracs Business Development Company ETN (BDCS).… Read more

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How to Play the Post-Election Bounce for 7.2% Dividends (and Upside)

If there’s one thing you can be sure of in investing, it’s this: alarmists—whether they’re bulls or bears—almost never get it right. And playing the contrarian angle is a great way to grab big gains and 7%+ dividends.

Think back to the days before the election: brokerages were warning of unprecedented volatility following the big day. I heard from some investors who sold most of their holdings right before voters went to the polls, terrified that uncertainty over the results would cause a crash.

Then something weird happened. The election ended, the result was close—and stocks surged.

Close Race = Big Gains

Why did everyone get it wrong?… Read more

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The 4% Rule Is Dead: You Can Retire Much Earlier Than You Think

I really hope you’re not following the antiquated “4% rule”—which says you should withdraw 4% of your nest egg (and no more!)—in retirement. Because if you are, you’re staying in the workforce way longer than you need to.

In fact, you may already be financially independent and not even know it!

Today we’re going to look at why this theory could needlessly delay your retirement (in the words of the 4% rule’s author himself!).

I’ll also show you an easy way to grab almost twice as much from your retirement nest egg in every one of your golden years—I’m talking 7% easy here—and go one step further: live on dividends alone.… Read more

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Buy This, Not That: These 7%+ Alternatives Crush High Yielding Stocks

The market’s fall pullback is starting to reverse itself, but don’t worry: there are still bargain dividend payers yielding 7.4%+ dividends to be had out there.

But investing (along with everything in our lives!) has changed. You simply won’t get safe, high payouts by clutching to old habits and buying big-name, high-yielding S&P 500 stocks. The real dividend bargains are in closed-end funds (CEFs), which give you higher payouts, greater safety and often better returns over the long haul.

To show you what I mean, let’s line up three S&P 500 “dividend darlings” against the CEF competition and see how they compare.… Read more

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These 10 “Crisis-Proof” Funds Yield Up to 10% (with 17% upside)

After watching the S&P 500 crash, then levitate, over the past seven months, I’ve come to one conclusion: high-yield closed-end funds (CEFs) are disrespected now—and that makes them a great contrarian buy.

Sure, some CEFs are cheap for a reason (I’m looking at you, energy funds). But there are plenty of undervalued winners, too. And plenty of CEFs have crushed the market this year, including 10 that have returned more than 8%. This top-10 list, which I’ll show you below, includes CEFs that have doubled, tripled—and even quadrupled the S&P 500’s 4% return.

What’s more, these funds all have one thing in common that sets them up for even bigger gains: strong management, proving once again that who manages your money is just as important as what you invest in—especially if you’re looking to boost your portfolio’s income stream with the 7% (or higher) dividends the typical CEF throws off.… Read more

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