I SPY a Laggard: 5 Divvies Up to 9.2% to Buy Instead

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Be honest. I won’t be mad, but just admit it.

You’ve got some SPY in your portfolio. So much in fact you’re probably trying to quickly change the subject from the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY).

I’m not mad. (I’m just disappointed—ha!) We refer to SPY as “America’s ticker for a reason.” It is everywhere.

And it’s OK. Really it is. Holding SPY has worked out this year. But we’re now at an inflection point—which is why we are having this conversation.

Only three stocks account for 21% of the S&P 500. Apple (AAPL), Nvidia (NVDA) and Microsoft (MSFT) determine the entire market’s moves!… Read more

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It blows me away that folks still think high interest rates will be around forever. Truth is, rates are already starting to fall!

But no one’s really paying attention (yet!). Which leaves us a brief window to lock in some sweet 8%+ dividends from one of our favorite utility-focused funds. This bargain-priced buy soars when rates drop.

Look Beyond the Headlines for the Real Rate Story

Remember January, when all the talk was about how rates would be cut six times this year?

Poof. Those hopes were history before winter—such as it was—ended.

Nowadays, futures traders have almost completely thrown in the towel—they’re calling for just two rate cuts between now and January.… Read more

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“Daddy,” My nine-year-old started. I knew exactly what she was about to say.

“They said a lot of bad words.”

We were strolling out of Golden 1 Center. Our playoff-hopeful Sacramento Kings had just dropped another home game to a losing team. Our fellow fans were in foul moods.

Their postgame language was, shall we say, colorful. I thanked my daughter for her observation, and we continued our stroll away from the salty crowd. Best to get some distance before calling an Uber.

(A reformed dad like me couldn’t lecture our neighboring group with any real credibility. I mean, please don’t rewind my personal postgame tape to my time as a twenty-something.… Read more

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I know it’s only August, but I’m ready to make my first “dividend prediction” for 2024: utilities—especially growth utilities—will surge.

That means now is the time to dust off our parents’ playbook and grab these rock-steady payers before the mainstream crowd comes around. When they do, it’ll be goodbye NVIDIA (NVDA) and hello Consolidated Edison (ED)—one of the three stocks we’ll discuss below.

The Coming “Rate Rollover” Just Got Moved Up

We’re bullish on utilities now because this economy is bogging out. We got more proof of that last week, with China posting an anemic 0.8% growth rate in Q2.… Read more

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I’m sure you probably know this—but it is usually a really bad idea to pay 43-times sales for a stock.

Note that I did not say earnings. I said sales. Revenues. The ol’ top line. Before everything.

Scott McNealy, the co-founder of Sun Microsystems, famously told investors it was insane to pay 10-times sales for Sun’s stock. Ten!

At 10 times revenues, to give you a 10-year payback, I have to pay you 100% of revenues for 10 straight years in dividends.

 

That assumes I can get that by my shareholders. That assumes I have zero cost of goods… that assumes I have zero expenses… that assumes I pay no taxes… assumes zero R&D.

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If you’re serious about investing, you have to develop a head for math. Hard numbers not only keep you grounded, but sometimes offer the only way to make sense of the weird ways that Wall Street works.

Consider that odd fact I shared recently about how a 50% loss followed by a 50% gain actually leaves you 25% in the hole. Strange, but true!

And here’s another fun fact: In a room of just 23 people there’s a 50/50 chance that two people share the same birthday. In a room of 40 people, the chance is more than 90%… And at 55, the chance is 99%.… Read more

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Utility dividends haven’t been this generous in years. Thank you, stock market selloff!

These yield machines have been expensive for a while. Today, utility stocks are finally cheap—and their dividends are finally high enough to get our attention!

That makes right now our time to buy. The Federal Reserve created this deal, and hey, the Fed could easily take it away with any hint of a policy pivot.

History tells us that cheap utility stocks don’t stay in the bargain bin for long. I’m staring at two in particular that are likely to bounce back next year. Both of these stocks are likely to deliver double-digit payout hikes, too.… Read more

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I was doing some investment research yesterday, and found myself sifting through a list of the best-performing investments of the 2022 so far. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they’re all incredibly aggressive instruments – arcane cryptocurrencies, 3X leveraged oil ETFs and the like – that rely on luck as much as anything else.

Anyone looking for proof that past performance is no guarantee of future returns, look no further than that list.

A single Millennial with just a few thousand bucks in their account may not be afraid of these incredibly risky bets. But that’s just because they haven’t learned their lessons yet.  Veteran investors know that for every trade generating instant gains … there are hundreds of others that cause instant regret.… Read more

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The Federal Reserve is finally beginning to admit that it’s here and, at the moment, it’s spectacular. Chairman Jay Powell is still sticking with his “it’s only transitory” story, at least for now. Mr. and Ms. Market were spooked for a moment, until they remembered that money printing flows directly into the stock market.

So, we dividend investors continue our hunt for safe, meaningful yields amidst this mania-of-sorts that has enveloped everything from tech to lumber to crypto to big tech again. We’ll discuss five safe utility dividends—paying up to 9.9%!—in a moment.

First, let’s review the agency’s acclaimed “dot plot” which showed not only that the central bank was now expecting rate hikes by 2023, but that we’d get a pair of them.… Read more

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What’s better than a 6% yield paid every quarter?

An 8% annual yield—paid every month—of course.

These hidden gems aren’t easy to find, but they are out there. While 99% of the market’s dividend payers dish out dollars every quarter or longer, it is possible to find dividends that match up with our monthly bills.

Monthly dividends can be a “must have” in retirement. While those in the workforce can cash a check once or twice a month, retirees don’t have active income. (That’s the point of retirement—less required activity!)

Our leisure and financial security is possible. We simply need our money to work harder for us.… Read more

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