These “Boring” Funds Crush Stocks, Yield 7.3%+

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These “Boring” Funds Crush Stocks, Yield 7.3%+

When you think about the biggest returns you could get on the market today, what do you think of? Tech? Biopharma? Gold stocks?

What about utilities?

This “boring” sector is known for high-yield stocks with little volatility. The (usual) downside to that income is lackluster capital gains, with many utilities staying range bound for years.

Except when they don’t.

Today we’re going to look at two utility funds that, over time, have crushed the S&P 500: the Cohen & Steers Infrastructure Fund (UTF) and the Reaves Utility Income Fund (UTG). Over their near 20-year histories, these funds have returned an annualized 11% per year.… Read more

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My CEF Market Forecast, and the 10% Dividends You Should Be Watching Now

To be sure, no one expected stocks to notch big double-digit losses in just two weeks, and while I don’t know when a rebound will happen (anyone who claims they do is lying), the economic numbers do carry a ray of light.

So let’s dive into them, and talk a little bit about the 18 funds in our CEF Insider portfolio, too.

Of Lizards and Dividends

First, there’s one thing we must not do at a time like this: follow our “lizard brain”: the primeval part of our thought process that tells us to flee when danger rears up, to keep our precious capital safe.… Read more

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Late Cycle Investing: Dividend Stocks for 2020 and Beyond

Until a flu-like virus emerged halfway around the world, it’s been three peaceful months since we’d seen a “1% up or down day” in stocks. As usual, the volatility inspired investors to reflect upon the advanced age (almost eleven years) of our current bull market.

To paraphrase the legendary rock band Chicago, does anybody really know what time it is in the rally right now? “Late cycle” is a popular guess. But how late?

Did the streetlights just pop on, or is it 2am with money managers stumbling into their taxis and Ubers outside?

Most rallies don’t make it to eleven, but then again, most don’t follow financial crises either.… Read more

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3 Secure Funds Yielding 7% That’ll Fund Your Retirement

The “race to zero” heats up again. You’ve surely heard that Vanguard is now slicing and dicing its already-low fees and commissions. That sounds great, but in reality, the low-fee race is pennywise yet dividend-foolish for us income investors.

To retire on secure, high-yielding long-term investments, we actually prefer to pay a fair management fee. I’ll outline this in a moment via a trio of secure 7% payers. Their generous yields tower above mainstream low-fee options:

More on these three dividend funds in a minute. First, let’s review why we prefer to pay for professional management.

Vanguard kicked off the new trading year by joining the “no-commission” fray that caught the likes of Charles Schwab (SCHW) and E*Trade (ETFC) by surprise in 2019.… Read more

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5 “Safe” 6.3% Dividends That Could Crumble in 2020

What’s does 2020 hold for your utility stocks (and closed-end funds)? Will these steady income plays hand us another round of big gains and dividends? Or is there trouble ahead?

These are reasonable questions to ask after these “boring” stocks poured on a huge—and rather “un-utility-like”—26% total return last year:

Utilities or Exploding Small Caps? Tough to Tell.

Let’s dive into three critical factors that will tell the tale for utilities in 2020. And because it’s the season for forecasts, I’ll throw in my verdict on the sector for the coming year, too, and name five utility closed-end funds (CEFs) paying huge dividends of 6.3%… Read more

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CEF Investors: Do This Now for 94%+ Upside (and 8.8%+ Dividends)

I’m about to reveal my very best strategy for pocketing 20%+ upside (and 7%+ dividends) from closed-end funds (CEFs) in the year ahead.

And in the long run, you could be in for truly monstrous gains, like the 94% return, and 8.8% dividend, I locked in using this simple plan just a few days ago.

I’m sharing this powerful tool with you now because this is the perfect time to get into CEFs. Unlike the (bubbly) S&P 500, many of these high-yield funds are cheap now—and spring-loaded for big “snap back” upside in 2020.

In fact, 380 of the roughly 500 CEFs out there—a full 75%—trade below their “true” worth as I write this.… Read more

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Warning: This “2-Step” Retirement Blunder Will Cost You 9.8% Dividends

I run into a lot of investors who think retirement investing is a two-act play.

In Act 1, when you’re younger, you try to balloon your nest egg with high-risk growth stocks that pay little (and often no) dividends.

Then, in Act 2, as you near—and enter—retirement, you pivot to the big dividends you need to pay your bills.

Trouble is, this approach exposes you to far too much risk, so today I’m going to show you a better way.

Your Best Play: Big Dividends and Growth—Right Now

I’m talking about 10 funds that can hand you dividends up to 9.8% right now, plus annual returns of 10% or more.… Read more

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Forget Oil: This 7.6% Dividend Will Soar in 2019

Oil prices have been locked in a tight range for five years—and I know I don’t have to tell you that this has been a disaster for energy investors.

Oil Fails to Launch

With the benchmark Energy Select Sector SPDR (XLE) unable to hold its gains for long (let alone recover to pre-crash levels), even the most conservative energy investor has been clobbered.

Why is this happening?

After all, you’d think a growing global population and emerging-market growth would drive up the price of a limited resource like oil. But the tables have turned. I’ll get into why shortly.

These Dividend Payers Are Better Buys Than Oil

For now, though, I recommend that income-seekers go a different route and pick stocks (and closed-end funds [CEFs]) that benefit from cheaper oil and gas—like utilities.… Read more

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This “50/50” Stock & Bond Portfolio Pays 7.4%

Many retirees like the idea of a “50/50” portfolio that’s half bonds and half stocks. There’s even research that shows withdrawal rates of 3% and 4% may be safer with this mix than they’d be with 100% stocks.

That’s all well and good but doesn’t concern me much. I’m a “No Withdrawal” guy. I spent many late nights in college working up Monte Carlo simulations, where we’d run scenarios 50,000 times to figure out the optimal placement of, say, ambulances in a city to minimize the average response time to an emergency. This type of fancy modeling can work well when you’re able to use the law of large numbers to map the likelihood of every possible situation.… Read more

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This 14.2% Yield is Too Good to Be True (But This 9.5% Payout Isn’t!)

Most dividend investors understandably love the idea of an 8% No Withdrawal Portfolio. It’s a simple yet “game changing” idea that you don’t hear much from mainstream pundits and advisors.

Find stocks that pay safe 7%, 8% or more and you can retire comfortably, living off dividend checks while your initial capital stays intact (or even appreciates).

Now this strategy is a bit more complicated than simply finding 8% yields and buying them. Granted the recent stock market pullback has benefited investors like us because we can snag more dividends for our dollar. Yields are higher overall, and that’s a good thing.… Read more

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