Contrarian Outlook

The Dogs of the Dow 2025 pay big dividends—up to 6.8%! Collectively they yield three-times what the broader market pays. We’ll discuss individual Dogs—and their divvies—in a moment. First, the simple...

For a long time now, it seems like the stock market has had a “theme of the year.” Clearly, in 2024 it was AI, while 2023 was the year of recovery from 2022, which was a year of panic over a...

2024 is hours from heading out the door, and here’s the state of play: The Federal Reserve cut interest rates for a third consecutive meeting on December 18. Yet the yield on the 10-year Treasury is...

Need more dividend yield in 2025? Consider real estate investment trusts (REITs), which were literally mandated to be dividend-paying machines. Income is the point—by law. Select REITs even yield 10%...

The other day, we broke down how return of capital (ROC) can be both good and bad for investors in 8%+ yielding closed-end funds (CEFs). But in the case of high-quality CEFs, ROC is, contrary to what...

The thing most people love about closed-end funds (CEFs) is, well, pretty straightforward: the dividends! With these income plays kicking out average yields of 8.7%, they really can go a long way to...

Merry Christmas, my fellow contrarian! Did Santa bring you a tax-advantaged dividend this morning? The municipal bonds funding the Las Vegas Valley Nevada Water District would have made a great...

I think it’s clear by now that Trump 2.0 is going to look different from Trump 1.0. Some areas, like tariffs, look similar to the first time around (though we expect more of them in the second term)....

Not many people know this, but if you really want to diversify—deftly balancing and rebalancing to maximize (and protect) your gains, you need to invest in closed-end funds (CEFs). Doing this with...

The suits on Wall Street will say that $460K isn’t enough to retire on. Well, that “modest” nest egg will earn $64,860 in dividends alone when invested in this simple 7-CEF portfolio. CEFs are the...

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,...