Contrarian Outlook

CEFs are renowned (by the few people who know about these high-income funds, of course!) for their outsized dividends—around 8%, on average, across the board as I write this. But buying a CEF is not...

It’s hard to find a hater right now. Wall Street fanboys analysts have Buy ratings on more than 75% of the S&P 500 at the moment. Give us the Sells. That’s right. We contrarians are not afraid to...

Well, that was fast. As you no doubt know by now, stocks gave back their post-election bump nearly as fast as they took it. Now they’re more or less where they started pre-election. There’s a story...

Six summers ago, Donald Trump lamented privately to Republican donors that he expected Jay Powell to be a “cheap money” Fed chair. To the President’s chagrin, Powell had recently raised interest...

Trump’s win cements what we’ve been saying for months: You can forget about a hard landing or a soft landing—This economy is headed for no landing at all. In the last few weeks, I’ve started to see...

If you have a wealth manager working for you, I have one simple piece of advice: Seriously consider moving on from them (or managing your investments yourself) if they recommend following the “60/40”...

Fifteen months ago, we contrarians started the bond bandwagon. It’s hard to believe now, but back then the financial suits hated fixed income. We faded their fears, bought bonds and benefited. Now,...

Immediately after President-Elect Donald Trump won his second term last week, the US dollar surged, while US Treasuries fell: Election Sends Dollar Up, Treasuries Down in Early Trading Both moves...

As we income investors roll into Trump 2.0, it’s time for us to “flip the script” on the trades that have worked for us over the past two years. Things have the potential to get wild. Fortunes made;...

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve mentioned closed-end funds (CEFs) to investors and been met with blank stares in return. It’s too bad more people don’t know about these powerful income plays...

It’s a party on Wall Street! While the suits fawn over the hot “Trump trade” stocks, we dividend investors are going to dumpster dive. Hey, we have no shame. We’re talking about yields from 7.8% to...

At times like these, with the economic outlook uncertain and volatility likely, we want to be certain of one thing: We’re still in stocks (and stock-focused funds)! But of course, we want to make...

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by an “historic” 50 basis points. Then, interest rates soared. Wait. What? The Federal Funds Rate is a target (technically a target range) that influences...

I know things feel pretty tense right now. But don’t be pulled into the trap of thinking everything is up in the air these days. Truth is, there are always rock-solid trends out there that no one can...

With more volatility likely as we move past the election and into late 2024, retirement planning might not be top of mind for you right now. I get it. But with investing—income investing,...

One often-overlooked way for closed-end funds (CEFs) to give us a profit boost is for management to buy back a fund’s shares. By now, buybacks are probably familiar to most investors: With “regular”...