4 Market-Shattering Yields: 2 Contenders, 2 Pretenders

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A blue-chip dividend portfolio pays about 2% today. Put a million bucks into a bucket of these stocks and you’ll bank just $20,000 in yearly dividends. That’s barely extra change–on a million invested!

There’s a better way. I prefer to focus on stocks and funds that simply aren’t as familiar as the big names to most investors. They do offer growth potential. But most importantly, they don’t sacrifice yield for perceived safety. In fact, they yield roughly 3x to 4x the blue-chip stocks, providing a lot more retirement-income cushion in years where the market stalls.

Most people love the idea of this Perfect Income Portfolio, yet millions of retirees across the country find themselves piled into the same group of overowned, overpriced blue chips because the “traditional wisdom” says that’s what retirement is supposed to look like.… Read more

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We all love 7% yields here. But how do you feel about Sprint’s 7.88% bonds that mature in September 2023?

Well, the company might make it until then. Shares trade for pocket change at just over $6. Equity investors in Sprint (S), however, have been (wait for it) sprinting to the exits lately:

The Stock Feels the Weight of Sprint’s Debt

For a position this risky, I’d want to watch it closely. I’d also want to be able to sell it at the first sign of distress.

Unfortunately, that isn’t going to be possible. If you own the Sprint 2023’s, you’ve got company–$320 million to be specific!… Read more

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Be careful how you buy your bonds. The most popular tickers have a few “fatal flaws” that’ll doom you to underperformance at best, or leave you hanging in the event of a market meltdown at worst!

Let’s pick on the widely followed and owned iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) as an example. It has attracted $15 billion in assets because:

  1. It’s convenient – as easy to buy as a stock.
  2. It’s diversified (for better or worse, as we’ll see shortly) with 981 individual holdings.
  3. It pays–5.6% today, to be specific.

The accessibility of funds like HYG appears cute and comfortable enough.… Read more

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How’s your bond portfolio doing? It should be a rock of stability right now.

Of course we may need to look past prices, which can swing wildly, and focus on net asset values and income, which are more reliable anchors.

For example I’ve been hearing from readers who were concerned that our excellent PIMCO Dynamic Credit and Mortgage Fund (PCI) isn’t “acting well.” Its price has whipsawed around this year, mostly in our favor. But lately it’s pulled back amidst the broader market drama and subscribers are worried the market “knows something” that we don’t.

Let’s put this price volatility in perspective.… Read more

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Be careful how you buy your bonds. The most popular tickers have a few “fatal flaws” that’ll doom you to underperformance at best, or leave you hanging in the event of a market meltdown at worst!

Let’s pick on the widely followed and owned iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF (HYG) as an example. It has attracted nearly $15 billion in assets because:

  1. It’s convenient – as easy to buy as a stock.
  2. It’s diversified (for better or worse, as we’ll see shortly) with 1,005 individual holdings.
  3. It pays – 6% today, to be specific.

The accessibility of funds like HYG appears appears cute and comfortable enough.…
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