Here Are the Best 8.5% “Post-Election” Dividends

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Here Are the Best 8.5% “Post-Election” Dividends

At times like these, with the economic outlook uncertain and volatility likely, we want to be certain of one thing: We’re still in stocks (and stock-focused funds)! But of course, we want to make sure we’re tempering our risk, as well.

Because one thing we can be sure of is that any volatility, no matter if it’s tied to an election or any other outside event, will pass. The last thing we want is to be out of the market when it does. (And of course, we want to keep our dividends rolling in, especially in volatile times.)

That brings me to what I want to discuss today—two things, actually.… Read more

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My 5 “Secret” Tips for Grabbing 8% Dividends, 79% Returns

Interest rates are (finally!) set to fall. As they do, we’re going to bag bargain-priced 8%+ dividends from a pattern we can set our watches to at times like this.

I’m talking about the mainstream crowd’s habit of “reaching for yield” when Powell & Co. drop rates, eroding yields on CDs, Treasuries and the like.

As these investors go on the hunt for higher payouts, I expect them to flock to closed-end funds (CEFs), one of our favorite income plays, thanks to the 8%+ yields these funds kick out.

But of course, we need to make sure we’re front-running the crowd into the right CEFs: those with high, safe, and ideally monthly payouts, while sidestepping the many dogs out there.… Read more

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This “Retro” Investment Pays 10.9% (And It’s Cheap Now)

The spike in volatility we’ve seen in the last month has gotten me thinking a lot about the last decade—when bonds were a bust and tech ruled the day.

Put yourself back in that (seemingly innocent) time for a second.

If you had money to invest back then, you had one choice: stocks. With rock-bottom interest rates, bonds were a bust. And stocks—particularly tech stocks, which tend to do better when rates are low—soared.

You can clearly see the massive scale of the 2010’s tech surge in the chart below, with tech shown by the benchmark ETF for the sector, in purple.… 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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This Steady 14% Dividend Will Crush Stocks Well Into 2025

Stock market predictions, of course, are just that—predictions. All of them (including mine!) should be taken with a grain of salt.

I normally prefer to avoid making them. But every now and then I partake because, well, the prediction game is fun! And we do need some kind of forecast to work from when it comes to buying stocks—and our favorite income plays: 8%+ yielding closed-end funds (CEFs).

The key, of course, is knowing when to stick to your forecasts and when to change tack. So as we move past the August 5 correction and toward the final third of 2024, it’s a good time to check in on a couple predictions I made back in January and see how they’re playing out.… Read more

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Big Payouts, Lousy Returns: Avoid These Funds (Yielding Up to 8.9%) in ’24

Here’s the thing about high-yield closed-end funds (CEFs): sometimes a CEF will seem to have all the earmarks of a terrific investment: high (and monthly) dividends, reasonable fees and reputable management. But it’ll still come up short.

We, of course, love CEFs and see them as the critical pieces of our income portfolios. The portfolio of my CEF Insider service, for example, holds plenty of top-quality buys and yields 9% as I write this.

But when picking these funds, we need to make sure we don’t let a big name, high yield or so-called “low” fees dominate our thinking. We also need to look deeper, at factors like past performance and even management’s track record with its other funds.… Read more

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This 9.8% Dividend Could Fund Your Retirement for Decades

We’re facing a “2016-like” moment in bonds these days, meaning anyone who buys now has a shot at locking in 10%+ dividends for decades—and a shot at price upside, too.

I mention 2016 now because, back then, something truly unusual happened: interest rates on bonds jumped in a short period of time, driving the payouts on high-yield corporate bonds to nearly 10% at their peak:

Rates Drop, Soar, Drop, Soar Again

As you can see above, anyone who bought a high-yield bond in 2016 locked in a 10% cash flow. Many of these bonds continued paying out interest without a hitch, even through the pandemic, a time when yields spiked again, giving investors another chance to buy bonds at another huge interest rate.… Read more

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This $7-Trillion “Cash Wave” Is Set to Pour Into These 10%+ Dividends

We’re in a weird time where interest rates are at (or at least near) a peak—but most people haven’t realized it yet. When they finally come around, one group of closed-end funds (CEFs) is likely to soar (and pay us double-digit dividends, too).

I’m talking about bond funds, and the “double-digit dividends” part is already well underway, with yields on some corporate-bond CEFs held by my CEF Insider service breaking over 12%. (An added bonus: most bond CEFs pay dividends monthly, too.)

By the way, it’s not just me talking here: it’s the world’s biggest asset manager, a firm that, due to its sheer size and deep research resources, has access to next-level insight no one else can compete with.… Read more

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A 13.4% Dividend to Consider as the 10-Year Takes a Breather

Rising rates have sunk bond prices—and sent their yields higher.

The upshot? Now is a good time to add high-quality corporate bonds to your portfolio. And if you do so through one closed-end fund (CEF) we’ll name in a second, you’ll be able to do so with a 13.4% dividend that grows.

To be honest, bonds have already started to rise, and we’ve been taking advantage in my CEF Insider service. In October, for example, we picked up the Nuveen Core Plus Impact Fund (NPCT), which yields 11.3% today. We’ve grabbed a 6.8% return so far, including one dividend payout of 10 cents a share.… Read more

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Sell These 4% Bonds by 2022 (Buy These 8% Bonds Instead!)

“Junk” bonds have never paid so little. Which makes them pointless. We’re here for the yields, not the credit quality!

Fortunately we can improve our dividends and our safety by being smarter. We are going to simply sell the popular 4%+ bonds and replace them with better 8%+ yielding equivalents.

First, the dogs. Anyone who owns either of the two most popular high-yield bond ETFs is a sad income investor today. Their yields are at all-time lows. The SPDR Bloomberg Barclays High Yield Bond ETF (JNK), for example, pays only 4.3%:

JNK’s Current Yield is Junk

And it gets worse, because this trailing yield looks better than the year ahead.… Read more

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