This Bizarre Trend Delivered a 31.25% Gain in 2019 (2020 Could Be Even Better)

The Contrary Investing Report

Investing and Trading News, with a Contrarian, Sarcastic Twist!

This Bizarre Trend Delivered a 31.25% Gain in 2019 (2020 Could Be Even Better)

One of the weirdest trends over the last year has gone largely unreported. Despite stocks surging 30% in a year, investors are still selling stocks more than they’re buying.

It’s hard to get your head around this fact, but the data says it’s true. According to data from Refinitiv Lipper, investors actually withdrew $192.3 billion from mutual funds and ETFs—the largest amount of outflows on record for a single year.

Stocks Soar—and Investors Sell?

The concept here is a little complicated, but it’s crucial to understand. An ETF or mutual fund pools together cash from its investors, which it then uses to buy stocks, bonds or whatever its mandate says it needs to buy.… Read more

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This Dividend “Secret” Crushes the Broader Stock Market

Dividends are the surest, safest building block of a comfortable retirement. And you needn’t just “settle” for retiring on dividends. You can even pick dividend stocks that’ll double your money or better, too.

All you need is a little quality.

What’s is “Quality”?

Quality isn’t some nebulous idea. It’s a “factor,” and it’s defined by a set of attributes or characteristics that the Wall Street “quants” are increasingly affectionate for.

Factor-based investing has become quite the rage in recent years. It’s a way to slice and dice the stock market by numbers. Yield, value, momentum, and other metrics are the ingredients.… Read more

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This 6.5% Dividend (With Upside) Is Hiding in Plain Sight

The latest trade-war hype has served up a terrific opportunity for us to bag 6%+ dividends (and upside) in closed-end funds (CEFs).

Today I’m going to show you exactly where to look (hint: it’s the last place you’d expect) and reveal a CEF with serious upside in 2020. It’s set to ride this unheralded opportunity while dropping its generous 6.5%+ dividends on us.

First off, I hope your nest egg didn’t fall into this “tariff trap”:

First Shot in Trade War Takes Out Investors

That’s what the market did when President Trump announced his first tariffs on China two years ago, on solar panels and washing machines.… Read more

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5 Steps for 15% Per Year (Whether Bull or Bear)

Will this bull market actually die of old age this year?

The macro picture is dicey and stock valuations are pricey, but we must stay invested. The stock market goes up about two-thirds of the time. Permabears miss out on compounding and it’s not as easy to be a part-time bear as it sounds.

To illustrate this let’s consider a study by Hulbert Financial. The firm looked at the best “peak market timers”–the gurus who correctly forecasted the bursting of the Internet bubble in March 2000 and the Great Recession in October 2007.

These were the clairvoyant advisors who had their clients out of stocks and mostly in cash when the S&P 500 was about to be chopped in half.… Read more

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My 3-Step Plan for 20% Upside, 9% Dividends, in 2020

We’re just three weeks into 2020 and it’s already a dividend wasteland!

Happy New Year! Enjoy Your 1.7% Dividend

Drop $500K into the typical (miserly) S&P 500 stock today and you get a pathetic $713 a month in dividend payouts. That’s no retirement; it might cover the cost of your commute and coffee on the way to your job as a Walmart (WMT) greeter—so long as you avoid going to Starbucks (SBUX)!

Treasuries? Forget it. At a 1.8% yield, we’re not retiring on them, either.

No wonder I hear from so many investors wary of putting their cash in a market yielding less than inflation.… Read more

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$33,706 in Retirement Income, Every Year, Forever

It’s the No. 1 retirement question: how much income do you need to quit the 9 to 5?

Today I’m going to help you find your number.

The best place to start is by asking yourself how your post-retirement lifestyle goal stacks up that of the average working American. Do you want to live lavishly or closer to the middle class?

Once you’ve answered that question, the next step is to look to this number: $33,706.

Average American Incomes

According to the Federal Reserve, that’s the average income an American worker earns, and it gives us a handy jumping-off point. This figure has been rising lately, but has stayed stable over the long haul.… Read more

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3 Bargain REITs Paying 8%+ (But Cheap for a Reason?)

Income hunters that made their way into real estate investment trusts (REITs) at the start of 2019 are rolling in more than rent checks right now. Not only did they enjoy the sector’s generous dividends, they enjoyed big price gains to boot.

Even the “dumbly indexed” Vanguard Real Estate ETF (VNQ) peeled off a sweet 28.9% in total returns last year. That’s its best showing since 2014, and more than double its average annual return of 11%-plus over the past decade.

But do these big 2019 gains mean that we’re due to regress in 2020?

I’ve previously warned about the dangers of holding REITs whose fundamentals are out of whack with its valuation.… Read more

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These Unsung Funds Soared 18%, Pay Tax-Free Dividends

Today I’m going to show you how one lucky group of investors nailed a once-in-a-lifetime shot at a huge, tax-free dividend stream and a quick 18% gain, too!

Well, not exactly “once-in-a-lifetime.” Because this opportunity is still waiting for you today—you just need to know how to tap it.

In a moment, I’ll give you the goods (including a name and ticker) on a closed-end fund (CEF) to target now. It hands you a 4.2% dividend you likely won’t have to pay a penny of federal tax on (and your payout could be exempt from state taxes, as well). 

To cut to the chase, thanks to its lucrative tax breaks, this fund’s 4.2%… Read more

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Dividend Swing Trader FAQs: Your Questions, My Answers

A big “thank you” to the 1,358 subscribers who attended our How to Bank 20% Returns (Plus Sky-High Yields!) in 2020 with Safe Dividend Stocks webcast last Wednesday! We had a lively question and answer session. I love the enthusiasm!

Let’s use our time together today to review some of the questions that kept popping up.

Q: In terms of expected returns, what is the difference between your Contrarian Income Report, Hidden Yields and new Dividend Swing Trader strategies?

Our Contrarian Income Report service is designed to maximize the income you receive from your portfolio today. In CIR, we’re fattening up your monthly and quarterly dividend checks as much as we can without sacrificing principal.… Read more

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2 “Iran-Proof” Dividends Yielding 8.6% (With 10%+ Upside)

I hope last week’s Iran head-fake didn’t have you thinking about buying so-called “safe” dividends like Treasuries. Because these tired income standbys aren’t safe at all!

With your nest egg yielding a pathetic 1.9%, you’re guaranteed losses, with inflation running at 2.1%. So today we’re going to make a simple contrarian move that will:

  • Hand us huge 8.6%+ cash dividends—nearly five times what Treasuries pay.
  • Pay us every month, not every quarter.
  • Set us up for nice price gains “on the side,” and …
  • Give us “Iran insurance,” helping shield our nest egg against swift drops triggered by global instability, an economic downturn—any reason, really.

… Read more

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