My Latest Take on the US Economy (and a 10% Dividend to Buy Now)

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My Latest Take on the US Economy (and a 10% Dividend to Buy Now)

Last year, the White House published a blog post titled “As the US Consumer Goes, So Goes the US Economy.”

No matter what your politics are, I think we can all agree that America’s economy depends on consumers buying things. For us income investors, then, the consumer’s health is a key thing to watch, as it ultimately sets the direction of stocks.

So how healthy is the US consumer today, and can we confidently buy stocks—and better still, high-yielding CEFs like the one we’ll talk about below (current yield: 10%)?

Often, the signals are murky. America is, after all, a big country with a lot of people in it, and some of those people are obviously doing better than others, so it’s tricky to zero in on the overall health of consumers.… Read more

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Bill Ackman Is Going to Send These 8%+ Dividends Soaring

Closed-end funds (CEFs)—our favorite 8%+ yielding investments—have a new (and popular!) fan. And he’s making a big move I see sending CEF prices higher.

Bill Ackman Discovers What We’ve Known for Years

I’m talking about Bill Ackman, one of the best-known activist investors out there. You’ve probably seen the head of Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund with $18.3 billion in assets, in the media. He’s a regular commentator.

Ackman has scored some big wins in his career, such as his 2005 investment in The Wendy’s Co. (WEN). But he’s probably better known for his dramatic misses, like his losing bid to change the board of directors at Target Corp.… Read more

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The “Vibecession” Is Back: How to Profit With 9.7% Dividends

The word “vibecession”—basically the idea that people are measuring the economy by feeling rather than by data—is back in the news. That’s because most Americans apparently think we’re in a recession, even though we aren’t.

It is, frankly, annoying to those of us who make our decisions on the data alone. But, as they say, it is what it is. So we’re going to go ahead and profit from it! Our tool of choice is a closed-end fund (CEF) that does something no ETF or regular stock could ever do: It “translates” our gains on US stocks into dividends.

The dangerous thing about a “vibecession” is that it’s easy to make mistakes as the media pushes a fear-based narrative.… Read more

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2 Big Dividends (Yielding 10%+) Soaring on the AI Megatrend

If you’re a dyed-in-the wool dividend investor (like me!), you’ve likely taken a look at the big gains folks are reaping on AI stocks … and resigned yourself to missing out on the whole thing.

After all, most AI stocks, like Alphabet (GOOGL) and NVIDIA (NVDA), yield 0% (or close to it!). And we simply demand a dividend before we buy anything.

The good news is we don’t have to miss out—instead, we’re going to go one floor up from the “first-level” options that most folks buy to the “penthouse” of AI investments: tech-focused closed-end funds (CEFs)!

The beauty of CEFs is that by going with these high-yield funds (8%+ payouts are run-of-the-mill in CEF-land), we don’t have to sell the blue chips we currently own!… Read more

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Forget This “25X” Retirement Rule. Grab This 9.6%-Paying Fund Instead

One of the worst investing mistakes you can make is blindly sticking to “rules of thumb” given out by so-called “experts.”

That goes double when you use these overly broad guidelines for the most important decision you can make: planning for your financial future.

Consider a recent article by Bankrate telling retirees to follow the “rule of 25,” which is as simple as it is deceptive. This piece tells us that you “should have 25 times the annual amount you plan to spend in retirement saved before you leave the workforce.”

That’s a lot of money! Take a look at the table below to match up how much you plan to spend in retirement (to make things easier, we’ll set inflation aside and use today’s dollars) with how much you’d need to save.… Read more

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This $6-Trillion “Cash Stash” Will Ignite Stocks (and This 9.7% Dividend)

Worried stocks are going to crash after breaking fresh all-time highs?

Well, let me allay those concerns with not one, not two, but … six trillion reasons why that fate—pushed more and more in the media these days—is far from inevitable (or even likely).

That six trillion number is the hoard parked in money-market funds: those “as-good-as-cash” options for people who don’t really want to grow their money but want to keep it “safe” and have access to it.

The 2022 sell-off and rapid rise in interest rates in 2023 caused money-market balances to soar, doubling from where they were just five years ago—a far bigger increase than the historical trend.… Read more

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This $6-Trillion “Cash Stash” Will Ignite Stocks (and This 9.7% Dividend)

Worried stocks are going to crash after breaking fresh all-time highs?

Well, let me allay those concerns with not one, not two, but … six trillion reasons why that fate—pushed more and more in the media these days—is far from inevitable (or even likely).

That six trillion number is the hoard parked in money-market funds: those “as-good-as-cash” options for people who don’t really want to grow their money but want to keep it “safe” and have access to it.

The 2022 sell-off and rapid rise in interest rates in 2023 caused money-market balances to soar, doubling from where they were just five years ago—a far bigger increase than the historical trend.… Read more

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3 Funds That Profit From “Economic Grumpiness” (Yields Up to 9.8%)

Here’s something you might be surprised to hear: according to the numbers, the US economy is actually doing well—and yet (almost) nobody wants to admit it!

It’s a misconception we income investors can exploit with the three high-yielding picks we’ll cover below.

It’s a weird turn of events, but it makes sense. Since the pandemic, itself an event of shocking turmoil, it seems that the chaos around the world is getting worse, and our fundamental hope for humanity makes us think that this just can’t be good for growth.

Except that’s not how things typically play out.

Global Turmoil = Faster Growth?… Read more

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Do This for $4,000+ in Dividend Income Every Month

The hardest part of convincing folks they can lock in high dividends for the long haul (I’m talking 9%+ yields here) is that many just don’t believe it.

And frankly, I can’t blame them. Too many people are paid a lot of money to tell investors that yields like that are impossible. But the truth is you can get a 9.5% yield today—and even more. But even at 9.5%, we’re talking about a middle-class income of $4,000 per month on an investment of just a touch over $500K.


Source: CEF Insider

Below, I’ll reveal how to start building a portfolio that could get you an even bigger income stream than this today.… Read more

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How We’re Locking In 10%+ “Forever” Yields Now

Today, more than 18 months after the press started ringing the recession alarm, they’re still at it! And we contrarian income seekers are still happy to take the other side of that argument.

After all, this overdone fear mongering has handed us an opportunity to “lock in” bigger dividend yields than we’ve been able to grab in years. Our buy window is still open—at least for now.

Even the banks are spreading fear these days. Like Société Générale, which recently warned that even a “hint” of a recession could cause a 1987-style crash in stocks. DC-focused sources are taking up the story, too, with Politico plaintively writing: “If the bond markets aren’t scaring you yet, they should be.”… Read more

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