2 “Trash to Treasure” Dividends Yielding 7%+ (and 1 Laggard to Sell Now)

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’Tis the season for us contrarian income investors to “bottom fish” the bargain bin for dividend deals. Let’s grab these discounted generous payouts while we can—these are the best weeks of the year to secure 7%+ payouts in 2022 and beyond.

For the next week or two, unloved 7%+ paying closed-end funds (CEFs) will be sold in the spirit of “tax loss” season. Wealthy investors and money managers are looking for 2021 losers to book against recent gains.

And thanks to the epic sector rotation we’re seeing now, the dogs of ’21 are likely to become the darlings of ’22. Fortunately we can buy them cheap—and we can identify these values using a “one-click” CEF valuation tool.… Read more

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Investors sometimes tell me that closed-end funds (CEFs) are complicated—riddled with jargon-y terms like discounts to NAV and net investment income (NII).

The truth is, while it may take a little bit of time to learn the ropes, the effort pays off in spades, since CEFs can get you about $3,000 per month in dividend income on a $500K investment! That could mean retiring a decade or more before folks who rely on low-yielding S&P 500 stocks or ETFs.

(And of course, if you’re a member of my CEF Insider service, I do the legwork for you, letting you collect our portfolio’s 7.3% average yield, with upside, without having to spend hours in front of a computer screen.)… Read more

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There’s an unusual shift unfolding in the labor market that we contrarians can tap for outsized dividends (I’m talking a near-10% yield here), plus price upside for years to come.

We’ll do it using a closed-end fund (CEF) that’s tethered itself to a trend everyone has missed—a trend that’s concealed behind a metric called the labor force participation rate, or LFPR.

It may have a boring name, but that doesn’t stop the media from reporting on the LFPR. You’ve likely heard it pop up in the mainstream press from time to time.

It simply refers to the percentage of the population that’s actively working or looking for work.… Read more

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Many folks see dividends as just a source of income. But they’re so much more! The two high-yield buys I’ll show you today, for example, are what I like to call “dividend Swiss Army knives.”

(One of these stealth funds pays an unheard-of 9.4% payout today, so you’d be pulling in a cool $9,400 in dividends for every $100K invested—enough to recoup your entire investment in dividends alone in a bit more than 10 years! It doesn’t get much safer than that.)

And yes, I know full well how corny “dividend Swiss Army knife” sounds. But the name works! Because apart from simply paying you a massive income stream, these two funds—closed-end funds (CEFs), to be specific—also:

  • Fade your portfolio’s volatility (a key strength in the overbought market we’re facing today).

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It’s hard to believe, but there actually is a 10% dividend sitting right under investors’ noses—even now, when the typical S&P 500 stock dribbles out a pathetic 1.3% payout.

That 10% payer is a closed-end fund (CEF) called the Liberty All-Star Equity Fund (USA). We’re going to put this fund in the spotlight today, so we can see how it offers such a large dividend in these income-lean times, and whether it may be for you.

Let’s start with performance: USA has delivered a total return far larger than that of the market in the last five- and 10-year spans (as well as in the last three years, one year and for 2021 so far).… Read more

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The once unthinkable has happened: AT&T (T), a Dividend Aristocrat that increased payouts for 30 years, said it will cut its payout nearly in half.

The move is especially infuriating because, as recently as April, we were hearing a lot about why the company would likely hike its payout in 2021, and management had stood by the dividend.

That’s now out the window—and the market’s not happy.

Dividend Cut Sends AT&T on a Wild Ride

It just goes to show you that even companies among the vaunted Dividend Aristocrats fall from grace from time to time. We all remember back in 2017, when another sacred cow, General Electric (GE), slashed its payout in half, as well.… Read more

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This “stocks-up, yields-down” market is clobbering income investors. With stock prices floating higher, yields are crumbling to dust: with the 1.3% payout on the typical S&P 500 stock—a 20-year low—you’d need to invest $2.2 million to get just $2,500 a month in dividends!

(And let’s not forget that the typical S&P 500 stock pays dividends quarterly, not monthly, so your lame income stream would also be pretty lumpy!)

The 10-year Treasury note—long an income go-to—isn’t much better. With a 1.6% yield, you’d still need $1.8 mil to get that same $2,500 a month.

An Oasis in the (Dividend) Desert

Of course, none of this is a surprise to anyone who’s been investing for income over the last decade or so—it’s a slightly worse version of the same old story.… Read more

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Patriotism is rarely a good guide when making investment decisions, but these days it just might be, as Americans now have a terrific reason to buy US stocks.

That would be a surge in vaccinations that’s put the US ahead of most of the world on the road to recovery, while at the same time, US stocks are lagging behind their global competitors. This is a disconnect contrarians like us can use to position ourselves for some nice gains and big dividends in the months ahead.

US Vaccinations Ramping Up

Source: Bloomberg

Right now, we’re seeing an average of about 2.5 million doses being distributed across the US per day, meaning we could hit the bottom edge of herd immunity in about 50 days.… Read more

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I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to say farewell to this whole Reddit/GameStop (GME) situation.

But before we bid adieu to this weird market moment, we need to take just one more run around the horn, because it’s left three big benefits in its wake that no one is talking about right now.

These three hidden catalysts all point to stronger market gains in the weeks and months ahead—gains we can “convert” to 7%+ dividends when we pick up one of my favorite investments, stock-focused closed-end funds (CEFs), right now. Let’s dive in.

Reddit Gamblers’ Wins Will Go Into the Economy (and Boost Other Stocks)

The most immediate positive for the market comes from the big gains early investors in GameStop and other companies at the center of this battle enjoyed.… Read more

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You and I both know there’s a problem with the sugar high the stock market’s been on. Does it mean we should dump some of our beloved dividend stocks and try to buy them back at lower prices?

We’ll talk income strategies and market timing in a minute. First, let’s talk about these concerning behaviors exhibited by America’s odd couple, Mr. and Mrs. Market.

First up, we know a correction is coming. When a group of folks on a Reddit message board can drive one stock—GameStop (GME)—up 1,700%+ in a month, you know the market has become a bit unhinged.… Read more

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