Contrarian Outlook

As I write this, the S&P 500 is sitting on a 28% total return for 2024. And of course, that could shoot even higher if we get the traditional Santa Claus rally. Obviously, that’s been great for...

I’d like to share my simple “Made for 2025” Dividend Plan with you. It’s a simple, safe strategy that identifies dividend stocks with payouts set to surge higher. As these divvies pop, so do their...

At times like these, I’m reminded of a quote from Howard Marks, the most successful value investor you’ve likely never heard of. (Warren Buffett is a fan.) Marks’s monthly “Oaktree Memos” are well...

It looks like 2024 will end with a big gain for investors in US stocks, with the S&P 500 up 28% year-to-date, even better than my (admittedly optimistic) expectations: I saw a roughly 15% gain...

Trump 2.0 will feature Wall Street-approved suit Scott Bessent as Treasury secretary. Bessent will advocate for financial deregulation and increased lending. Easier and faster money. Which will be a...

We income investors don’t talk about international stocks nearly enough. That’s too bad, because there are ways we can use them to build a massive income stream and make our investments safer,...

Are higher interest rates and lower bond prices a sure thing for 2025? Mainstream financial pundits say yes. Which gives us thoughtful contrarians pause. Their narrative against bonds is assumed....

We’re now well on our way to Trump 2.0, and I’m getting a lot of questions from readers about where things head from here. I see the new administration as overall bullish for stocks. But the truth...

This has been a great year for stocks—and a great year for our 8%+ yielding closed-end funds (CEFs), too. That makes sense: Many CEFs invest in stocks, and many more hold bonds issued by publicly...

Small-cap stocks should benefit from the new administration. We’ll discuss four under $20 with yields between 7% and 15.1%. The Trump 2.0 Trade is rolling and small caps are soaring because they are...

I know that plenty of our readers are self-directed investors who love nothing more than to build—and run—their own portfolios. Digging into a fund’s prospectus and annual reports is something they...

It’s a tradition unlike any other! Move over, Masters. In these contrarian pages we select one dividend stock (or fund) for the year ahead. Last year we bet on a “safe, somewhat-secret” 7.4% dividend...

Most people think inflation will rise in a second Trump term—we can see it in the jump in 10-year Treasury rates over the last few weeks. But that trade is getting just a little bit crowded—and we...

If you’ve been investing for a while, you’ve probably thought about private equity more than once. Adding exposure to “PE” firms, which buy and sell privately held businesses, is a great way to...

Today we’ll discuss a 5.4% dividend that actually annualizes to 7%. A 5.7% payer that really dishes 12.4%. And even a headline 15% yield that is understated because the company handed out 16.1% last...

Hedge fund veteran and Wall Street-approved suit Scott Bessent is likely the new Treasury secretary. That’s why this 11% dividend is a big winner. Bessent will advocate for financial deregulation and...