Pandemic Payout Q&A: Your Questions, My Answers

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Pandemic Payout Q&A: Your Questions, My Answers

“Brett, I didn’t sell (insert dividend stock here) in March. Should I hold my nose and sell now?”

If you sat on your hands during the March drop and subsequent bounce, you’re not alone. Many of your fellow income investors are still holding on to positions that they know they should probably sell, but haven’t yet. (I know this because I’ve heard this question from a number of you!)

Well, here’s the question I would ask you about the position:

“Is the business going to rebound to pre-pandemic levels any time soon?”

If the answer is “no” then why would you not sell the stock?… Read more

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Post-Crash Dividend Profits in 3 Simple Steps

Is the bottom in?

Or is the market merely “sniffing glue” (as one of my friendly financial advisors aptly put it to me)?

No matter where you are currently handicapping the market, we have a proven playbook for buying big payers after a crash like the one we’ve just seen. We’ll consider the winners coming out of the 2008 crash, as well as the types of stocks that have performed well in post-pandemic China. Let’s get right into it.

Post-Crash Tip #1: Think Big

I love small companies. I lasted exactly 13 months in corporate America before fleeing to the world of small business and startups.… Read more

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These Bear-Repellent Stocks Yield 6% to 28%

The stock market is driven by greed and fear. And when the latter takes full control of the wheel, as is the case right now, value-minded income investors need to stay sharp.

It’s been more than a decade since we’ve gotten a true bear market, which tends to bring stock valuations more in line with historical norms. Even so, since 2009, we’ve experienced a few quick drawdowns that resulted in more reasonable prices, and more generous yields, than this expensive market typically offers.

There was the August 2014 correction triggered by China’s “Black Monday.” There was our near-bear experience in 2018, prompted by tariff fears, Fed rate hikes and the partial government shutdown.… Read more

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These Bear-Repellent Stocks Yield 6% to 28%

The stock market is driven by greed and fear. And when the latter takes full control of the wheel, as is the case right now, value-minded income investors need to stay sharp.

It’s been more than a decade since we’ve gotten a true bear market, which tends to bring stock valuations more in line with historical norms. Even so, since 2009, we’ve experienced a few quick drawdowns that resulted in more reasonable prices, and more generous yields, than this expensive market typically offers.

There was the August 2014 correction triggered by China’s “Black Monday.” There was our near-bear experience in 2018, prompted by tariff fears, Fed rate hikes and the partial government shutdown.… Read more

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5 Steps for 15% Per Year (Whether Bull or Bear)

Will this bull market actually die of old age this year?

The macro picture is dicey and stock valuations are pricey, but we must stay invested. The stock market goes up about two-thirds of the time. Permabears miss out on compounding and it’s not as easy to be a part-time bear as it sounds.

To illustrate this let’s consider a study by Hulbert Financial. The firm looked at the best “peak market timers”–the gurus who correctly forecasted the bursting of the Internet bubble in March 2000 and the Great Recession in October 2007.

These were the clairvoyant advisors who had their clients out of stocks and mostly in cash when the S&P 500 was about to be chopped in half.… Read more

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7 Simple Steps to 11.8% Yearly Returns with Safe Dividends

Successful dividend investing is simple, though not necessarily easy. There are nuances which trip up many investors (including most professionals!). These twists and turns create “yield alpha” opportunities for contrarian-minded income investors like us.

If everyone else in the market were perfectly grounded and calculated, there would be no chance for us to make above-average returns. After all, the 11.8% and 18.8% annualized returns that my Contrarian Income Report and Hidden Yields readers are earning would be snapped up in a perfectly efficient market.

Thanks to these inefficiencies, we are able to bank big yields and price gains in Dividend Land.… Read more

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Perfect Dividends for the Roaring (or Recessionary?) 2020s

Are we kicking off another episode of the “Roaring 20s” today?

Who knows. Nobody really predicted the 2010s would be an end-to-end bull market. Yet the most hated rally of all-time resulted in stocks nearly quadrupling:

The Epic Rally Few Investors Believed In

A million bucks that sat in a boring S&P 500 fund a decade ago would have grown to $3.5 million. Unfortunately, many experienced investors did not participate in this full rally, still being shell-shocked after 2008.

(Which illustrates why it is important to always be fully invested. Investors who slept through the ’08 carnage quickly made their money back in the years to follow.… Read more

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Lemmings, Beware! Wall Street’s 2020 Dividend Picks, Yikes

“Hey Kevin, I think I’m going to look at doing one of those top 20 dividend picks for 2020 pieces. Cheesy, I know, but ‘tis the season.”

My always-supportive publisher knew how to rattle my cage, however:

“Funny, I just saw one of those ‘Wall Street favorite’ pieces cross my desk. Had one of your old favorites included…”

Our old flame Medical Properties Trust’s (MPW) inclusion caught Kevin’s eye. Classic Wall Street. Way to call the stock you should have bought in 2015 as the best buy for 2020!

Now don’t get me wrong, this is a well-run company with a timeless business model.… Read more

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3 “Perfect” Retirement Buys for 8.6% Dividends and Fast 86% Gains

If this were any “normal” time, we’d be able to buy safe bonds and collect enough income on our nest egg to fund our retirements. Unfortunately, this is the “new normal” where the Fed is not the friend of us current and hopeful retirees!

Jay Powell is afraid for his job, which means he’s going to cut rates and keep them low for a long time. This means we must look beyond traditional bonds for meaningful income.

What about blue chip dividend-paying stocks? Well, an 11-year stock market rally has ruined that idea. Anyone putting new money in a pricey dividend aristocrat is “buying and hoping” that the stock continues to levitate while the firm dishes its dividend.… Read more

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The Perfect Income Portfolio: Take Your 2% Dividends Up to 8%

If this were any “normal” time, we’d be able to buy safe bonds and collect enough income on our nest egg to fund our retirements. Unfortunately, this is the “new normal” where the Fed is not the friend of us current and hopeful retirees!

Jay Powell is afraid for his job, which means he’s going to cut rates and keep them low for a long time. This means we must look beyond traditional bonds for meaningful income.

What about blue chip dividend-paying stocks? Well, an 11-year stock market rally has ruined that idea. Anyone putting new money in a pricey dividend aristocrat is “buying and hoping” that the stock continues to levitate while the firm dishes its dividend.… Read more

Read More

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