How to Make a Fast $510,000 on $1 Million

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How to Make a Fast $510,000 on $1 Million

“Is $1 million enough to retire on?”

Paul Katzeff of Investor’s Business Daily asked me earlier this month. He was especially keen on high-paying ETFs that would throw off enough dividends to fund a nice retirement.

For example, we chatted about the Global X Nasdaq 100 Covered Call ETF (QYLD), which sells covered calls on the Nasdaq index itself to create cash flow.

QYLD’s trailing yield is a sweet 11.8%, which means million-dollar positions would have generated $118,000 in dividend income alone. Plus, the principal grew, too, thanks to price gains. The Nasdaq has been on a tear since last year, helping QYLD to 21.2% total returns (including dividends) over the past twelve months.… Read more

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My 2 Favorite CEFs to Buy Today Pay 6.6%, Trade at 9% Discounts

Let’s take advantage of this pullback! In a moment, I’m going to outline two generous CEFs (closed-end funds) that pay 6.6%.

Thanks to last week’s market action, each fund trades at a generous 9% discount to its NAV (net asset value). In other words, each CEF trades for just 91 cents on the dollar. Great deals.

Academic “quants” would buy these funds if they could. I can recall this from the time I was scribbling furiously on my “ETF Managers Group”-sponsored notepad at the Inside Fixed Income conference in San Diego, CA. (in-person to boot, how 2019!). Full “dividend geek” mode took over and I wrote faster and faster.… Read more

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A Stunning “Rinse and Repeat” Play for 40%+ Returns (Again and Again)

With stocks grinding along near all-time highs, decent discounts (and decent dividend yields!) are thin on the ground. But if we look close enough, they are there.

The answer to this no-yield problem is simply going one step beyond the blue chips everyone buys. Our big dividends (at discounts) are lying there in a corner of the market that few serious investors pay attention to. That’s too bad for them, but great for contrarians like us.

I’m talking about closed-end funds (CEFs), which, as a group, yield around 7% on average as I write this.

And here’s the truly underappreciated thing about these high-paying funds: many of them own the big names of the S&P 500 anyway!… Read more

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CEF Investing for High Yields and Big Gains

Let’s be honest: there are a ton of ways to collect passive income out there. But there’s only one that’s easy to get into (no matter how much money you have!), generates yearly cash payouts of 8% or more and is used by billionaire investment gurus on the regular.

I’m talking about an often-overlooked investment called a closed end fund (CEF). And today I want to show you how to invest in CEFs in just three simple steps.

CEFs are like mutual funds or ETFs in that they pool together money from investors, which the fund’s managers then use to buy a basket of stocks, bonds, real estate investment trusts (REITs) or other investments, depending on the CEF’s mandate.… Read more

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Cinco Contrarian Dividend Strategies That Work

Everyone wants to be a contrarian investor. But in practice, most people buy more near tops and sell shares low.

Our human nature becomes tricky during times like these. Markets are ticking near all-time highs and many investors fear “missing out” on the next leg higher.

If you’re a premium subscriber of mine, your portfolio should be in good shape. It’s mostly to fully invested and has had a great run over the past twelve months.

But—you may have some spare cash that you’re staring at. Or dividends waiting to be reinvested.

Should we buy now? Or wait (hope) for a pullback?… Read more

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Cinco Contrarian Dividend Strategies That Work

Everyone wants to be a contrarian investor. But in practice, most people buy more near tops and sell shares low.

Our human nature becomes tricky during times like these. Markets are ticking near all-time highs and many investors fear “missing out” on the next leg higher.

If you’re a premium subscriber of mine, your portfolio should be in good shape. It’s mostly to fully invested and has had a great run over the past twelve months.

But—you may have some spare cash that you’re staring at. Or dividends waiting to be reinvested.

Should we buy now? Or wait (hope) for a pullback?… Read more

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36% Returns in 7 Months from Safe Dividends: Here’s How

Start rounding up your spare cash, because the best dividend buying opportunity—since last October—is coming soon.

Last week, we chatted about stacking dry powder for a special purchasing moment. For those of you who have been piling up the payouts into a cash mountain, let’s get ready to deploy it.

Why does this matter? Well, buying moments like these can secure us several years’ worth of returns at once. Let’s revisit the October example, which Contrarian Income Report subscribers will remember fondly.

At the time, we had two months of pullback behind us. Scary headlines had driven fear to levels that should be bought, and that is exactly what we contrarians did.… Read more

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This 5.5% Dividend Will Profit From Last Week’s Hedge Fund Blowup

This mess with Archegos Capital Management has shone a light on the use of leverage in investing. And it’s particularly relevant (in a good way!) to investors in high-yield closed-end funds (CEFs).

That’s because it:

  1. Clearly shows the difference between gambling (what Archegos was doing) and investing in smartly run, value-focused high-yield funds (what we do), and …
  2. Highlights a key misconception about leverage we can take advantage of. (We’ll look at a 5.5%-yielding fund that profits from a methodical use of leverage in a moment.)

Archegos, if you’re not familiar, is a hedge fund that had (until last week) $30 billion in positions in several stocks, including ViacomCBS (VIAC), Discovery Inc.… Read more

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The Best CEFs for Rising Interest Rates

Thank you to our 1,578 Contrarian Income Report subscribers who attended our Q1 webcast last week! We received 114 questions during our one-hour call, plus several dozen more beforehand. Amazing.

Thank you for the thoughtful questions. I’ve read each and every one. Let’s chat about popular closed-end fund (CEF) topics today. (Next week, we’ll circle back with your equity-focused dividend questions.)

Q: Brett, what are your thoughts about Calamos Convertible Funds (such as CCD, CHI and CHY), which are currently yielding about 8%? Thank you.

Convertible bonds are a big beneficiary of Jay Powell’s money printing activity. Convertibles pay regular interest.… Read more

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GameStop Is History, but It Will Fuel Our 7%+ Dividends (and Gains) in 2021

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to say farewell to this whole Reddit/GameStop (GME) situation.

But before we bid adieu to this weird market moment, we need to take just one more run around the horn, because it’s left three big benefits in its wake that no one is talking about right now.

These three hidden catalysts all point to stronger market gains in the weeks and months ahead—gains we can “convert” to 7%+ dividends when we pick up one of my favorite investments, stock-focused closed-end funds (CEFs), right now. Let’s dive in.

Reddit Gamblers’ Wins Will Go Into the Economy (and Boost Other Stocks)

The most immediate positive for the market comes from the big gains early investors in GameStop and other companies at the center of this battle enjoyed.… Read more

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