Danger: Sell These 4 ETF Disasters Now (and Buy These 5 Cash Machines Instead)

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Danger: Sell These 4 ETF Disasters Now (and Buy These 5 Cash Machines Instead)

I get lots of pushback when I post an article panning exchange-traded funds. ETF fanboys (and girls) base their love on two things: ETFs’ cheap management fees and convenience, because they let you jump into an entire sector in one click.

My response? Handle these so-called “set it and forget it” plays with a lot of caution—or risk a big dent in your savings.

Getting What You Pay For

Far too many ETFs (like the four I’ll reveal below) are cheap for a reason: lousy returns! Worse, some aren’t even cheap—like my “second-worst” pick below, which charges an outrageous 2.1% fee and has no one at the helm at all.… Read more

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2 Perfect Retirement Stocks Paying up to 8% (and 2 losers circling the drain)

It’s the No. 1 fear that keeps retirees (and near-retirees) pacing the halls at night: that their nest egg will expire before they will!

It’s easy to see why.

After all, many of these folks will need to fund a retirement that’s much longer than their parents’ was: according to the Brookings Institution, nearly one in four men who were 65 in 2015 will live to 90. Women have better odds: over one in three.

That adds up to 25 years (or more!) out of the workforce.

And today’s retirees are clocking out as old retirement-income “go-tos” scrape bottom: the average S&P 500 stock pays out just 1.7% today, near 7-year lows.… Read more

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Revealed: 10 “Preferred” Dividends That Crush ETFs and Pay 7.5% in Cash

It’s a piece of advice so common I’m sure you’ve heard it a million times. Too bad it’s dead wrong.

I’m talking about the so-called “wisdom” that index funds always beat funds with real, live human managers.

Before I get into why it’s wrong—and show you 10 smartly run funds that easily beat their ETF cousins (while dropping an unheard-of 7.5% average dividend into our laps)—let me explain the problem here.

First, I should say that there are cases where index investing makes sense. If you’re 20 years old and you’re putting 10% of your income into a retirement fund, planning to retire when you’re 60 and won’t touch your savings till then, index investing may work for you.…
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