This 8.1% Dividend Crushes SPY, Loves a Market Crash

The Contrary Investing Report

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

This 8.1% Dividend Crushes SPY, Loves a Market Crash

I get it: For many people, the rough start to 2025 conjures (painful!) memories of 2022.

It’s an easy comparison to make. But we must resist doing so. Because unlike in 2022, today’s volatility is caused by panic alone. That’s the kind of situation we contrarians love!

Nonetheless, I get it if you still want to be cautious. With that in mind, I’ve got a fund that gives us full market exposure with a key “hedge”—and a growing 8.1% dividend, too.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s first talk about what’s causing this “Chicken Littleism” in the first place.… Read more

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3 Preferred Funds: Earn Up to 9.4%, Paid Monthly

While vanilla income investors limit their search to mere “common” dividends, we contrarians know where the real payout party is at—with preferred divvies.

Let’s talk about three preferred-stock vehicles that pay from 6.9% to 9.4%. All three of these funds dish monthly dividends.

And these payouts receive preferential treatment over common-stock dividends, making them safer than the common payouts offered by regular ol’ equities.

There are four main ways to buy preferreds, and three of them have some serious headaches and drawbacks:

  1. Individual preferred stocks: Research resources for individual preferred shares are few, far between and often require expensive paid subscriptions.

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Buffett Made 19.9% a Year. Here’s How We Can Beat Him (and Get Paid Monthly)

Can you and I beat the legendary returns of Warren Buffett? Absolutely. What’s more, we can do it while “translating” a slice of our gains into a big income stream (with special dividends on the table, too).

I’ll show you how in a moment.

First, we need to talk about how the 94-year-old Oracle of Omaha, who is now stepping back from the position of president and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), has changed the course of investing over the years.

Every year, as you likely know, Buffett releases a simple letter to investors showing what’s happened with Berkshire’s portfolio.… Read more

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This 11% Dividend is Backed by the Steadiest NAV We’ll Ever See

Vanilla investors fixate on price. We contrarians know better.

It’s all about the NAV. Net asset value, baby.

Price is what people pay at a given moment. But people panic. Many like to buy high—and sell low!

NAV, on the other hand, is what something is worth at that same moment. Price and NAV can become disconnected, especially during emotional market moments. When this happens, it is often a buying opportunity for careful contrarians like us.

Let’s take a pop quiz. Think about the funds you hold in your portfolio. What was your top performing NAV for the month of April?… Read more

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Wall Street Missed This. We Didn’t (We’re Cashing in With 7% Dividends)

It’s no secret this economy is slowing—at least in the near term. That’s given us contrarians a (time-limited!) buy window on the “dividend twofer” we’re going to dive into today.

One of the tickers we’ll talk about below pays a sturdy 7% now. The other yields 4.9% and sports a source of upside no one has noticed (except us, of course!).

Both are utility plays, which tend to rise as the economy slows, lowering interest rates as it does. Let’s get into this opportunity, starting with last week’s GDP report, which said, yes, the US economy did shrink to start the year.… Read more

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Overpriced, Overhyped and Due for a Fall: 3 Big Dividends to Sell Now

We just saw the first real signs that the “vibecession” is becoming something more—and this is our cue to pluck from our portfolios (or avoid adding!) three funds that are way into bubble territory. (Names and tickers below.)

Let’s start with that slowdown signal.

In this chart, from Apollo Global Management, we see that the total number of Americans who are only making the minimum payments on their credit cards is at its highest level in over a decade. This tells us that inflation and a slowdown in the job market are putting direct (and increasing) pressure on household budgets.

There are other signs, too.… Read more

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Overpriced, Overhyped and Due for a Fall: 3 Big Dividends to Sell Now

We just saw the first real signs that the “vibecession” is becoming something more—and this is our cue to pluck from our portfolios (or avoid adding!) three funds that are way into bubble territory. (Names and tickers below.)

Let’s start with that slowdown signal.

In this chart, from Apollo Global Management, we see that the total number of Americans who are only making the minimum payments on their credit cards is at its highest level in over a decade. This tells us that inflation and a slowdown in the job market are putting direct (and increasing) pressure on household budgets.

There are other signs, too.… Read more

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This “Low Drama” 5-Stock Portfolio Yields 7.2%

Dividends over drama, please. Like these five steady stocks that yield 7.2%, on average.

Back in school they taught us that to increase returns, investors had to take on additional risk. This was a financial engineering class at Cornell University, by the way. The prof should have known better, but he didn’t, because he was a researcher and not an actual investor.

It’s a common mistake in academia, and those who try to invest “buy the book.” The book says more beta means more returns. Well, this text is often wrong!

Big dividends and low volatility are a beautiful combination.

Volatility can be measured several ways.… Read more

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How the “Smart Money” Is Playing US Stocks Now (for 9.5% Dividends)

Are US stocks set to lose out to the rest of the world forever? That’s what the press would have us believe. But we contrarian dividend investors are looking at this from a different angle.

Our strategy? Buy America when the rest of the world is selling.

It’s worked before, and we have every reason to believe it will work now, too. So let’s talk about it—and the best way to position ourselves for US stocks’ next leg up, with a healthy dividend payout on the side.

Press Panics, US Stocks Bounce

It’s funny, but not surprising, that the moment “sell America” became a headline earlier this year, US stocks started to recover.… Read more

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3 Dividends Up to 11.9% to Play the New “Trump Put”

If the April lows hold, the S&P 500 will clock a 19% peak to trough drop on the tariff news. The drawdown could have been worse—if the bond market had not broken!

President Trump was initially resolute in the face of a declining stock market. Wall Street was desperately, unsuccessfully searching for a “Trump Put”—a save from the decline by the White House. Trump, however, likened the levies to a necessary remedy:

“Sometimes you have to take medicine.”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, meanwhile, must have silenced his phone for a few weeks while his old Wall Street contacts texted and texted (and called) and texted.… Read more

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