How to Protect Yourself From a Crash and Get 11% a Year (Paid Monthly)

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How to Protect Yourself From a Crash and Get 11% a Year (Paid Monthly)

As I write this, the S&P 500 is sitting on a 28% total return for 2024. And of course, that could shoot even higher if we get the traditional Santa Claus rally.

Obviously, that’s been great for the equity funds we hold in CEF Insider, which give us price gains from their stock holdings, of course—but they also give us a huge slice of our gains in cash, thanks to their outsized yields.

But at times like this, we do need to take a step back and consider what’s going on behind a historic gain like this. While corporate earnings are rising, they’re doing so more slowly than stock prices, which is why the S&P 500’s price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is 28, as of this writing, nearly double its long-term average of 16.1.… Read more

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This 10.9% Dividend Is Cheap (Even Though Stocks Have Soared)

Think back just a couple weeks: The “yen carry trade” had investors running scared, and we had a terrific opportunity to buy stocks—better still our favorite income plays on stocks: closed-end funds (CEFs) yielding 8%+.

But wow, was that window brief! Stocks have more than recovered since, and are what I’d call highly valued, with a price-to-earnings ratio of around 27.5.

Let me be clear: I’m not saying stocks are overvalued: They’re likely to keep posting good returns because earnings are rising, and the economy is still dodging the recession we’ve been warned about for three years now.… Read more

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Two CEFs Walk Into a Bar … One Yields 10.9%, One Yields 14%. Which Is Better?

Closed-end funds sometimes give us hard choices … like do we want high dividends or really high dividends?

Okay, so maybe I’m being a little flippant here—but not much!

A reader got me thinking about this recently, with a question about the differences between the 10.9%-yielding Western Asset High Income Opportunities Fund (HIO) and its sister fund, the 14%-yielding Western Asset High Income Fund II (HIX).

Both are managed by the same team, are in the same asset class (high-yield bonds) and have virtually the same name. So surely they’re pretty much the same, right?

Not so fast. In reality, choosing the right CEF is part science and part art, and a deep dive into these two to determine which is, in fact, the best buy is a good way to get a handle on the process.… Read more

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These Safe 8% Dividends Are On Sale (Thanks, Jay!)

It’s prime time to grab two bond funds tossing out 8%+ dividends now—and we have the Fed (of all things!) to thank for this opportunity.

Last year, as we all know (too well), the Fed raised interest rates at the fastest pace in history, bringing them to their highest point in nearly 20 years. As a result, many corporate bonds (represented by the red line above) are yielding a lot more than they used to.

Take, for instance, two bonds from Apple (AAPL), one issued in August 2020 (when the world looked a lot more precarious than it does today, as we still had an unresolved pandemic worldwide) and one issued in May 2023.… Read more

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Treasuries Now Yield 3%-4%. These Bonds Offer 2x-3x That.

Bonds are finally an intriguing place for retirement income.

Safe Treasuries still pay a respectable (by their standards, at least) 3.7%. But we contrarians can do better.

Today we’re going to discuss three bond funds ready to rally. They pay 8.6%, 9.1% and—get this—9.6% per year.

Those are not typos. These are fat freaking yields.

Yes, These Bond Yields Are Real. And They Are Spectacular.

And even better still, you can buy these bonds for as low as 90 cents on the dollar! How is that? Well, the cheapest fund trades for just 90% of its net asset value (NAV).… Read more

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My Top CEF Investing Strategy Delivers 11% Payouts, 83% Gains

I’m about to reveal my very best strategy for pocketing 20%+ upside (and 7.8%+ dividends) from high-yielding closed-end funds (CEFs).

It’s a “rinse and repeat” move that can help you grab the biggest gains from these potent income investments, lock in those wins, then sidestep the pullbacks. (I’ll also show you two ridiculously cheap CEFs throwing off massive yields up to 11.4%.)

It’s the perfect time to put this strategy in play because the Ukraine mess, and the broader market dumpster fire, have set us up with some sweet deals in CEFs.

The One (and Only) Predictor of CEF Upside

Besides massive dividends, CEFs stand out because it’s easy to tell if they’re truly oversold and ready to gap higher.… Read more

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2021 Midyear Report: The Best (and Worst) Dividends to Buy Now

It’s mid-2021, and stock prices are up, dividend yields are down, and you’re probably wondering what the heck to buy for a decent income stream as we thunder toward 2022.

It’s a head-snapping reversal from where we were a year ago, which makes now the perfect time to step back and plot our next dividend moves.

So let’s piece together our game plan for the rest of the year—and into 2022—by ranking five popular (and not so popular!) investments known for income from worst to first. You’ll find many individual tickers to put on your list here, too—including one yielding a healthy 6.8% today.… Read more

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This 8% Dividend Is 10% Off (Thank Steve Mnuchin)

Something shocking just happened: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin cut off a $454-billion program the Federal Reserve uses to keep the bond market running.

A disaster, right?

You’d think so. After all, we’ve heard time and time again that the Fed will do whatever it takes to support the bond market through the crisis. Now a big source of cash needed to do that is gone.

The bond market’s response was even more surprising: crickets.

The junk bond–tracking SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (JNK) and iShares National Muni Bond ETF (MUB) held on to post-election gains after Mnuchin’s decision was announced.… Read more

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