Dumpster Diving for a Discarded (Yet Safe!) 8% Dividend

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The Federal Reserve tightened until it broke something: the small banks. Classic Fed!

Meanwhile, here at Contrarian Outlook, we’ve been waiting patiently for a big buying opportunity. Biding our time. So… is this our moment?

Bank runs are textbook “blood in the streets” moments. There’s fear. There’s loathing. This is usually our cue to spring into action.

So, should we contrarians simply “hold our noses” and buy?

Regional bank stocks haven’t been this cheap since the summer of 2020. Sure, Silicon Valley Bank has gone to zero. But many small businesses, mine included, still prefer to bank with the folks down the street.… Read more

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Mere “common stocks” fell 18% in last year. But these preferred shares are set to do better. Especially for contrarian income seekers like us.

I’m talking about safe 7% to 8% yields. Backed by good old fashioned cash flows. With double-digit price upside, too, as these share prices bounce back after a rough run.

A quick primer if you’re new to preferred stocks. They are part stock, part bond—and all yield, as we’ll see in a minute.

Preferred stocks trade around a par value and deliver a fixed amount of regular income, just like a bond. They don’t have any voting rights, which also is like a bond.… Read more

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Preferred stocks are the little-known answer to the dividend question:

How do I juice meaningful 5% to 6% yields from my favorite blue-chip stocks?

“Common” blue chips stocks usually don’t pay 5% to 6%. Heck, the S&P 500’s current yield, at just 1.3%, is its lowest in decades.

But we can consider the exact same 505 companies in the popular index—names like JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Broadcom (AVGO) and NextEra Energy (NEE)—and find yields from 4.2% to 6.9%.

If we’re talking about a million dollar retirement portfolio, this is the difference between $13,000 in annual dividend income and $42,000. Or, better yet, $69,000 per year with my top recommendation.… Read more

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The market isn’t doing fixed-income investors any favors right now. But one of my favorite funds—in one of the best cash flow niches in the market—is delivering a gaudy 6.6% yield at today’s prices.

And it does that by holding some of Wall Street’s most boring, stable and dependable securities.

How can we bank this 6.6% “free lunch” when 10-year Treasuries still pay less than 2%? By tapping into an income stream that most individual investors rarely think about: Preferreds.

The Power of Preferreds

If we wanted to own a piece of a company, say JPMorgan Chase (JPM), we’d go out and buy a few shares of JPM.… Read more

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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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How much do you need to save to retire comfortably? Not as much if you think if you buy the right monthly dividend payers.

How you invest your retirement portfolio is more important than how much you have. Especially today, with “dumb” retirement money collecting just 1% in safe bonds.

That 1% won’t even get it done if you save the $1.7 million most Americans believe they need. (And don’t worry, they are wrong anyway. You don’t need nearly that much money to retire on dividends alone.)

Financial experts are incorrect, too. Here is more advice based on, well, not knowing which dividends to buy in retirement:

  • The AARP says you’ll need $1.18 million to generate $40,000 a year.

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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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As you near (and enter) retirement you probably favor bonds, which provide income with less drama than stocks. However, less drama means less potential upside. With retirees living longer than ever before, it’s important to not go too conservative too early in life. And fortunately today, even 65 or 70 may be too early!

One suggested solution for our long life expectancy “problem” is to stay with stocks longer. But stocks can go down as well as up and a big pullback can inflict permanent damage on a portfolio.

So, we want to capture the dividends that stocks pay and the upside potential that they provide by minimizing our downside risk.… Read more

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No safe bond pays 10% itself, of course. But it is possible to generate double-digit yields from a portfolio of secure bonds.

The secret is similar to successful dividend investing. Why buy a stock and be content pocketing “only its dividend” when you can have the payout with price upside to boot?

Most income investors are even less thoughtful when they purchase bonds. They fixate on the coupon rate (which these days they are inevitably disappointed with.) They watch their bonds weigh down their entire portfolio, muttering to themselves “at least they are safe.”

Well, sure. But they can be both safe and profitable.…
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The desperate hunt for yield is getting way out of hand—and it’s setting up a terrific buying opportunity for you and me.

How out of hand?

Consider that some investors are so income starved they’re piling into sovereign bonds from Iraq—a country that’s still a war zone!

The latest issuance of five-year bonds by the Iraqi government was slated for $1 billion. But investors spied the 7% yield on offer here and crashed the doors, racking up nearly $7 billion in orders.

It’s sad, and totally unnecessary.

A Secure Portfolio With a Life-Changing 8% Yield

The worst thing is, in their scramble for income, the herd is charging right past yields that are even bigger—and far safer—here in the U.S.A., like the ones you get in my new “8% No-Withdrawal Retirement Portfolio.”

If you’ve been reading my column over the past two Mondays, you know I’ve been giving you a hands-on tour of this portfolio, which I’ve crafted to hand you $40,000 of income on a $500,000 nest egg.…
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