The Fed is Out to Get These 5 Blue Chip Dividends

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Lazy financial writers like to say that higher bond yields will hurt dividend stocks. This blanket statement may sound reasonable, but it’ll cost you money if you take it at face value.

Pundits have called sleepy dividend stocks like General Mills (GIS) “bond proxies” in recent years. GIS has paid 3% (more or less) over the last three years. That compared favorably with the 10-year note, which paid 2% (more or less) over that time period.

So, the story goes, investors had been buying stocks like GIS instead of safe bonds like Treasuries to scrape an extra 1% or so. But with Treasuries rallying to 3%, these same investors have “demanded” a higher yield from GIS.…
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If you feel trapped “grinding out” dividend income with popular 2% and 3% stocks and funds, here’s the three-letter acronym that will fund your retirement:

C-E-F

For whatever reason, closed-end funds don’t have nearly the following – or analyst paperazzi – that dividend-paying stocks boast. This “secret” is one of the last great efficiencies in an otherwise tough-to-beat market.

And we contrarian income hounds will gladly take this edge…

After all, it doesn’t make much sense that we can trade in our “dumb” stocks, ETFs and mutual funds for superior tickers that:

  • Yield 6%, 7%, 8% or more,
  • Pay their investors every month,
  • Often trade at a discount to the assets they each own, and
  • Are managed for free (I’ll explain more later) by a top-notch investment manager.


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The overheating yield on the 10-Year Treasury note has investors scrambling for interest-rate (and inflation) insurance.

So today I’m going to give you 4 proven strategies—and 9 terrific investments—that will give you just that. Plus we’ll grab massive dividend yields (up to 9.6%!) and upside too.

More on all of this shortly. First, we need to talk about the one move you don’t want to make right now.

The Worst Mistake You Can Make When Rates Climb

When rates rise, folks holding long-duration bonds take a double hit, because their bonds drop in value as newer, higher-yielding ones come on the market—causing them to miss out on a shot at a bigger income stream, too!…
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Most people are chasing big dividend payers right now in this “3% world” we live in. Meanwhile, a small group of “hidden yield” stocks are quietly handing smart investors growing income streams PLUS annual returns of 12%, 17.3%, or more.

Let’s talk about how to find these stocks, and bank 12% returns or better every single year, by following a simple two-step formula.

See, everyone wants dividend stocks with good current yields. It’s easy to scan a newspaper or financial website and pick out the stocks that are paying 3%, 4%, 8% or whatever number you might consider “good.”

Yet that’s NOT the right way to pick dividend stocks.…
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One down, two to go.

The Federal Reserve launched yet another interest-rate hike after its mid-March policy meeting – the sixth such increase since December 2016, and what the Fed anticipates will be the first of three this year. Predictably, a certain subset of the market shuddered in response: lazy, low-growth dividend stocks. But at the same time, shareholders of a few other stocks quietly celebrated what should be a win for the years ahead.

Today, I want to highlight both types: The Fed-proof, and the Fed-frightened.

2018 isn’t shaping up to be a bad year for dividend growth, but it’s not a particularly good one.…
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After a decade in the basement, interest rates are finally starting to move meaningfully higher. Let’s discuss the best stocks and bonds to buy with this backdrop.

If it feels like we had forever to prepare our portfolios for this moment – well, we did. This interest rate run has largely taken place on a treadmill. We’re almost two-and-a-half years into the Fed’s current rate hike cycle, and the Fed Funds rate is up a modest 1.25%.

Meanwhile the 10-year Treasury rate hadn’t really moved until recently. At all. The benchmark long bond now pays 2.86%:

Rates Slowly Grind Higher

If you believe your portfolio is behind the rate hike curve, it’s not by much.…
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If you’re like most dividend investors, you’re probably keeping a nervous eye on bond yields right now.

And, well, you should be—but only if you own low-yielding (or slow-growing) Dividend Aristocrats like, say, PepsiCo (PEP).

But if you buy (or already own) the 5 “undercover” high yielders I’ll show you at the end of this article, I have great news for you. You can ignore inflation, bond yields and the Fed and simply keep on collecting your fat dividend checks.

In fact, this overdone selloff has given us an open window to buy more!

Bond Yields: 1, PepsiCo: 0

Before we get to that, back to PepsiCo.…
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The Federal Reserve’s increased aggression over the past couple of years has finally come home to roost. The yield on the 10-year Treasury recently rocketed above 2.8% – a four-year high – while the 30-year cleared the 3% mark.

That’s bad news for investors in many traditional dividend-paying blue chips.

The 10-year T-note might as well have been a “high-yield” savings account the past few years, offering almost laughable income of less than 1.4% as recently as 2016. That kind of environment gives investors “yield goggles,” making even no-growth stocks look attractive as long as they’re paying out near 3%.

Just look at the performance of the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (XLP) – a collection of companies such as Procter & Gamble (PG) and Coca-Cola (KO) – against the 10-year Treasury rate.…
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Today we’re going to rank the longest-lasting dividends on the planet – five stocks that have written checks to shareholders for at least a century.

Dividends don’t get more secure than that.

Think about what the world was like in 1917. The United States was in the midst of World War I. Girl Scout cookies and Converse Chuck Taylor All-Stars were in their infancy. And the Dow Jones Industrial Average made several attempts on the 100 mark.

Yes, 100.

Since then, the United States has suffered 16 recessions and a pair of depressions, including the granddaddy of them all, the Great Depression of 1929-1933.…
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If you put your portfolio on autopilot over the summer, you need to dial back in yesterday.

Because you’ll need a sharp eye and a quick hand to dodge two pitfalls that could swamp regular folks now—this month!—and in the long run.

For the first one, look no further than the calendar.

I’m talking about seasonality, and the fact that September is typically the worst month for stocks.

The truth is, the market’s steady grind higher has stalled: through the first 5 trading days (and with 15 more to go), the Dow is off 0.8% and the S&P 500 is down 0.4%.…
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