CEF Return of Capital Explained (Hint: It’s a Benefit, Not a Flaw)

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We’ve been getting a number of questions from CEF investors in the last few weeks about return of capital, or ROC.

This is a measure that shows up regularly with CEF dividends—and it makes many folks wonder if their funds are simply handing back the money they’ve invested as part of their payout.

(Note that much of what we’re going to discuss below is tax related. I’m not a licensed tax professional, so I can’t give you tax advice. You should consult a tax professional for details on your own personal situation.)

First, let’s be clear that all CEFs that are publicly traded on US exchanges are actively investing in something, with funds specializing in municipal bonds, real estate, stocks, preferred shares, real estate investment trusts (REITs) and other assets.… Read more

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Imagine two closed-end funds (CEFs) that both yield upwards of 7%. Sounds great, right? Buy a bit of both and get $58.33 per month for every $10,000 you invest. Put in $500K and you’ve got a middle-class income dropping into your account without you having to do a thing.

While that’s a great way to achieve financial independence, we CEF investors know it’s not as easy as searching out a couple of 7% yielders and buying them. We need to go deeper.

While there are over a hundred CEFs yielding 7% or more right now, their quality varies widely. Some are yield traps that will drain your capital with lousy price performance over time, more than offsetting any dividend cash they pay you.… Read more

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You’ve probably heard of Michael Burry.

Played by Christian Bale in the film The Big Short, Burry famously made nearly a billion dollars betting against the housing bubble in the 2000s.

Now this legendary contrarian has a new target: funds.

He’s mostly panning passive exchange-traded funds (ETFs), but he’s got a lot of disdain to go around. In a recent interview with Bloomberg, Burry said that many funds are forming a bubble that’s getting bigger, whether they’re “open-end, closed-end or ETF.”

As a big fan of closed-end funds (CEFs)—including the top-quality 8.6%-yielder I’ll show you shortly—this comment stopped me.… Read more

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When it comes to investing, too many folks ignore the signal and listen to the noise.

Case in point: one of the biggest stories of 2018—a looming trade war between America and China. Lately, the story has mutated into one about a trade war between America and, well, just about everyone—Europe, Asia, Mexico, even Canada!

But this trade war is noise—2018 has been a great year for stocks, and it’s going to get even better. Further on, I’ll give you a couple great ways to cash in.

First, a look at the facts, which are plain for everyone to see … and they clearly prove the naysayers wrong.…
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A few days ago, I showed you exactly why now is the time to be greedy—not fearful—when it comes to stocks.

And now, buried deep in the latest gross domestic product (GDP) report is a tiny data point that proves I’m right. It’s the clearest signal in years that now is the time to buy.

I’ll show you 7 funds perfectly positioned to take advantage while handing you safe dividend yields up to 9.3% in just a moment. First, let’s talk about that under-the-radar signal I mentioned.

The report’s headline number showed that fourth-quarter GDP rose 2.1%, slightly above economists’ expectations of 2% growth.

That’s great. But the real exciting news was in the data attached to the press release: corporate profits are up. Way up. …
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