These “Boring” 7.2% Dividends Demolished the Market (Plenty More Upside Ahead)

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These “Boring” 7.2% Dividends Demolished the Market (Plenty More Upside Ahead)

There are three funds hiding in plain sight that do something everyone thinks is impossible: pay huge dividends—with yields up to 7.2%—and deliver outsized 24%+ total returns, too.

I know I don’t have to tell you what an inflation-fighting weapon a return like that would be these days.

These are no less than the world’s three best-performing closed-end funds (CEFs) over the long term, and today we’re going to rank them from third to first to see if any (or all!) of them have a place in our investment portfolios.

“World’s Best” CEF #3: 24% Annual Returns for Years and Years

The least impressive CEF on the list, the Columbia Seligman Premium Technology Growth Fund (STK), has “only” a 23.7% annualized return, based on its market price, over the last five years, with a dividend that’s held steady throughout that time (and yields 5.1% today).… Read more

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This Simple Dividend Strategy Could Net You an Extra $1 Million in Retirement

I know you’ve heard the common Wall Street “wisdom” that, when it comes to investing for the long haul, you’re best to simply put your money in an index fund and call it a day.

Everyone parrots this “advice.” Even Warren Buffett himself!

Today we’re going to dive into why this advice is one of the most effective ways to lose money fast (not to mention a chance at big dividends, like the growing 5% payout we’ll discuss below).

In fact, if the average middle-class person had stuck with a market-based ETF over the last seven years instead of going just one step further and investing in an actively managed closed-end fund (CEF), they would have missed out on over a million dollars’ worth of gains (and dividends).… Read more

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This “Hidden” Play on 5G Yields 6.4% (With Big Gains Ahead)

Let’s dive into a brand-new CEF many people are ignoring—and see how we can ride it to some fast gains (and a growing 6.4% dividend).

When a new CEF rolls down the skids, our antennae always go up, because getting into a new fund before anyone else picks up on it is one of the most exciting ways to build wealth (and a rich income stream) in CEFs.

That’s because most CEF investors are conservative by nature, and they tend to shun new funds (even those run by some of the best CEF managers in the business). That results in big discounts we can jump on—and ride to quick 10%, 20% or even 30% gains in short order.… Read more

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Make This Fatal Dividend Mistake and You Could Miss a $70,000+ Gain

Markets took a dive (then posted a lightning-fast recovery) last week, a return to volatility that’s a good reminder to cast an eye over our dividend portfolios.

One thing to pay particular attention to is the amount of cash you’re holding. Because if you’re like many investors I’ve talked to recently, you’re holding too much of it—and that can cause a steady wealth drain that bleeds away thousands in returns every year!

Taking Money Off the Table—at Exactly the Wrong Time

Of course, having a healthy cash cushion is always a good thing. The trouble for most folks, though, is that they’ve been growing the amount of cash they have outside the market just as stocks have taken off.… Read more

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This New Fund Could Upend the CEF World. Here’s What You Need to Know

There’s a new closed-end fund (CEF) on the market, and it comes from one of the biggest CEF issuers in the space: BlackRock.

It’s big—with $4.5 billion in assets under management. You can tell that straight from the ticker symbol: BIGZ. The fund’s full name: the BlackRock Innovation and Growth Trust (BIGZ).

So we know it’s got heft—and it’s got BlackRock’s deep bench of talent behind it (remember that BlackRock is the world’s biggest investment firm, with $7 trillion under management). But does BIGZ have a place in your portfolio? That’s the question we’re going to tackle today.

BIGZ got its start in March, and it’s currently trading flat from its inception and trailing the tech-heavy NASDAQ, which is the best benchmark for the tech-heavy BIGZ.… Read more

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Everyone’s Wrong About This 4.6% Dividend (It Will Double)

Don’t listen to the naysayers—tech stocks are set to thrive in the coming months, and the sector is still a great place for us to go hunting for big, and growing, dividends.

Here’s one reason why: despite worries about rising interest rates, the Federal Reserve is likely to keep its key lending rate near zero. That, in turn, means businesses, and especially innovative tech players, will continue to have access to cheap money to invest in new products. 

This low-rate world also means investors starved for income will crowd into any higher-paying investments they can spot (including high-paying tech funds like the one we’ll discuss below).… Read more

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How to Turn Inflation Worries to Your Advantage (for 5%+ Dividends)

Let’s talk about inflation for a moment, because worries over rising prices are boiling over, and we contrarians can work them to our advantage.

If you’ve been watching the markets—and I’m guessing you have—you know that the rising 10-year Treasury yield, and the specter of inflation it brings, has weighed on stocks—particularly tech stocks.

Inflation Worries Weigh on Tech

As you can see, the tech-heavy NASDAQ, which outperforms the S&P 500 over just about any timeline, has fallen well behind in 2021 as of this writing. Meantime, Treasury rates continue their climb.

Inflation Pressures Rise

Here’s where the story gets interesting, because normally inflation fears trigger a rush into gold—but that’s just not happening this time.… Read more

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How to Invest in Tech Like a Baller (6.3% dividends, 15% upside)

Tech stocks have finally taken a breather—and we’re going to pounce on this dip—and grab a rare “double discount” while we’re at it.

The strategy we’re going to use also lets us “squeeze” the biggest tech names for payouts that are unheard of in the sector—I’m talking yields up to 6.3%.

Mom’s Coupon-Clipping Goes High-Tech

This approach is an ode to my mom who, to this day, refuses to pay the sticker price. If there’s a coupon to be found, she’ll find it and find another coupon to secure a double discount—even if it requires management approval to apply!

The dividend equivalent of the back-to-back coupon is buying discounted closed-end funds (CEFs) after a pullback, and that’s exactly the setup we’ve got in tech now.… Read more

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This 5% Dividend Will Bounce on the Rising-Rate Scare

We’re contrarians first and foremost here at Contrarian Outlook, so when we hear the latest “sure thing” from the mainstream crowd, we get more than a little suspicious.

So it goes with the recent round of selling on the stock markets, which has been driven by the “certainty” that interest rates will skyrocket, and higher rates will crush demand for stocks, especially the tech stocks that have driven the market’s rebound from the March 2020 crash.

Does this view stand up (sneak preview: no)? And what should we contrarians do in response (sneak preview: buy what everyone else is selling—particularly through a group of funds sporting some very impressive dividend yields).… Read more

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These Ignored 6.5% Dividends Will Be the Biggest Story of 2021

A wild year like 2020 is a great acid test for closed-end funds (CEFs)—and it can tell us a lot about which of these high-yield plays to pick (and avoid!) as we move deeper into 2021.

A Split Market

If 2020 did anything, it widened the gap between winning and losing sectors of the stock (and closed-end fund) market. It just goes to show how critical it is to pick funds in the right sectors, as well as those with savvy management that can shift with the times.

Technology, of course, boomed last year. At my CEF Insider service, we were well-positioned in tech with the BlackRock Science and Technology Fund (BST), which we added to our portfolio in August 2019.… Read more

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