My 5 “Secret” Tips for Grabbing 8% Dividends, 79% Returns

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My 5 “Secret” Tips for Grabbing 8% Dividends, 79% Returns

Interest rates are (finally!) set to fall. As they do, we’re going to bag bargain-priced 8%+ dividends from a pattern we can set our watches to at times like this.

I’m talking about the mainstream crowd’s habit of “reaching for yield” when Powell & Co. drop rates, eroding yields on CDs, Treasuries and the like.

As these investors go on the hunt for higher payouts, I expect them to flock to closed-end funds (CEFs), one of our favorite income plays, thanks to the 8%+ yields these funds kick out.

But of course, we need to make sure we’re front-running the crowd into the right CEFs: those with high, safe, and ideally monthly payouts, while sidestepping the many dogs out there.… Read more

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Tech Update: Best Dividend Tracking Tool Now Even Better

I have a pop payout quiz for you, my contrarian friend. Can you tell me how much dividend income you earned last week?

And if so, can you tell me how much you earned each day?

These details are now available in Income Calendar, the dividend tracking tool that we created in-house here at Contrarian Outlook. IC’s ability to project divvies down to the day tells us that:

  • We collected $1,844.75 last Monday.
  • Another $264.80 in divvies followed on Wednesday.
  • And our holiday week was capped off with $340.55 in income on Friday.

The tool took my newsletter portfolio as input—with tickers and sample share counts—and did the rest of the work.… Read more

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11 Simple Rules for 10%+ Dividends with Safe CEFs

If you don’t like these 8%, 9% and even 10%+ dividends, well, you’re not really an income investor.

That’s right. As I write, select closed-end funds (CEFs) yield 10.6%.

Ten. Point. Six. Per. Cent!

We contrarians are locking in yields up to nearly 11%. Here’s how, broken down in an 11-step playbook for these 8%, 9%, even 10.6% yields.

CEF Rule #1: Buy the Best 

Fixed-income behemoth DoubleLine runs some well-known big mutual funds and ETFs as well as smaller, lesser-known CEFs. There’s a raging dividend party in the ignored CEF corner of DoubleLine’s portfolio, with yields up to 10.6% via DoubleLine Income Solutions Fund (DSL).… Read more

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It’s Actually Easy to Market Time This 10.5% Dividend

DoubleLine Income Solutions (DSL) took its biannual trip to the bargain bin a few weeks ago. It was a short stay, as usual.

By mid-April, vanilla investors had worked themselves into a hysterical state. They somehow convinced themselves that the Federal Reserve was going to continue raising rates.

Let me repeat—they worried that, in an election year, the Fed was going to keep on hiking. Unlikely.

Even Bloomberg lamented that traders saw “no relief in sight for bonds.” A hopeless howl that piqued our contrarian interest. No doubt, relief was just around the corner.

Indeed it was in the form of Chairman Jay Powell and his soothing postgame pillow talk.… Read more

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11 Easy Rules for Dividends Up to 11% with Safe CEFs

If you don’t like these 8%, 9% and even 10%+ dividends, well, you’re not really an income investor.

That’s right. As I write, select closed-end funds (CEFs) yield 10.8%.

Ten. Point. Eight. Per. Cent!

We contrarians are locking in yields up to nearly 11%. When the market seas become choppy, we’ll stick to our script. Here it is, broken down in an 11-step playbook for these 8%, 9%, even 10.8% yields.

CEF Rule #1: Buy the Best 

Fixed-income behemoth DoubleLine runs some well-known big funds as well as smaller, lesser-known CEFs. There’s a raging dividend party in the ignored CEF corner of DoubleLine’s portfolio, with yields up to 10.8% via

DoubleLine Income Solutions Fund (DSL).… Read more

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11 Simple Rules for Terrific 12% Dividends via Safe CEFs

If you don’t like these 10% and 12% dividends, well, you’re not really an income investor.

That’s right. As I write, select closed-end funds (CEFs) yield 12.8%.

Twelve. Point. Eight. Per. Cent!

Vanilla “investors” are panicking. Sentiment has hit washout levels. A short-term bottom is near, or perhaps already in.

We contrarians are staying calm and locking in the 10% and 12% yields. When the market seas become choppy, we stick to our script. Here it is, broken down in a 11-step playbook for these 10.1% to 12.8% yields.

CEF Rule #1: Buy the Best 

Fixed-income behemoth DoubleLine runs some well-known big funds as well as smaller, lesser-known CEFs.… Read more

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The Maraschino Cherry of Bond Funds Yields 9.5%

“Do you have cherries?” my buddy Ralph asked over the phone.

It was January 2021. Sports bars here in California were closed, so we naturally turned our backyard into one.

“No,” I replied. And sighed in an honest admission. “Only beer. Lots of beer.”

“No problem. I got ‘em.”

My buddy also had a mini-keg of delicious old-fashioneds. His creations were dangerously delicious. He’d begun making and aging fine adult beverages to pass time in the pandemic.

And the maraschino cherries he brought played no small role in his cocktail’s critical acclaim.

Is it five o’clock yet? Just kidding (mostly). We are talking about maraschinos in a dividend column because we finally have some bond funds worth cherry picking.… Read more

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I Pity the Fool Who Buys These Two 10%+ Dividends

“Coach Brett, how many points do I have?”

My star player, Captain K, was dominating the basketball game. He’d steal the ball, storm down the court, and drain the shot. Then retreat into a defensive position and do it all over again.

Two points after two points after two points. I’d have lost count if I had to count. Fortunately though, we weren’t keeping score.

Most leagues these days don’t keep score when the players are only five years old. The run is more important than the result.

But my man K knew he was “killing it,” as his dad told him from the sidelines!… Read more

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7 Monthly Dividend Payers Dishing $5,026.74 This July

Retiring on dividends. It’s the income investors’ dream, right?

It sure beats working for the rest of our lives!

Check out this July 2023 income summary, courtesy of Income Calendar, a nifty tool we built to project dividend income. I loaded up a 10-stock portfolio, featuring popular payers we discuss in these pages:


Source: Income Calendar

This is an “equal opportunity” collection of both picks and pans. Please, don’t run out and buy Global X Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETF (QYLD) just for its impressive 12.2% annualized yield. Let the Nasdaq bubble pop, at least!

QYLD buys the Nasdaq index and sells covered calls to generate income.… Read more

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Our “Once-in-5-Year” Shot at These 8% Dividends Is Now

We’ve got a once-in-5-year buy window open to us in one of the highest-yielding investments out there.

And (for once) we can thank the Fed for these cheap 8%+ payouts!

I’m talking about closed-end funds (CEFs), a corner of the market where rich 8%+ yields (and monthly payouts) are the norm.

These (too) often-ignored funds are set to spike because the last time Powell & Co. acted like they are now, CEFs’ prices soared—and they handed their lucky investors big price gains to go along with their huge dividends.

If 2023 Is 2019 Redux, CEFs Will Explode Higher

To see what I’m getting at here, think back to late 2018.… Read more

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