The domestic stock market averages started April on a positive note and on Thursday, the S&P 500 index achieved its longest winning streak in over a year.

Taking a bit further look back, Bespoke Investment Group noted this week that it’s now been 100 days since the major U.S. indexes bottomed in late December. Highlighted in the following table, Industrial and Technology names have led the average 22% gain in the S&P 500 since then, while healthcare stocks have lagged.

Source: Bespoke Investment Group  

Full Slate of Economic News

In overseas news this week, Theresa May suffered yet another defeat in Parliament, regarding the Brexit process. As a result, May finally proposed conceding to a strategy that could result in the UK pursuing a “softer” exit from the European Union.

Elsewhere, President Trump met with China’s Vice Premier Liu in Washington on Thursday. Earlier in the week, two separate reports of China’s manufacturing purchasing managers’ index confirmed that the economy returned to a state of expansion in March.

Back in the U.S., the March jobs report came in slightly ahead of expectations on Friday. The economy added 196,000 non-farm payrolls last month and numbers from the past two months were also revised higher by 14,000 jobs.

Looking ahead to next week, we’ll get a look at inflation measures for both consumer and producer prices in the U.S. In addition, the minutes from the latest FOMC meeting will be released on April 10.

Q1 Earnings Could Decline

Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) was a big earnings-related loser this week, falling 12% a day after disappointing investors with forward guidance.

Once again, earnings season is just around the corner, with activity set to pick up the week of April 22. In the meantime, the companies below are scheduled to headline the reporting calendar next week:

According to Factset, S&P 500 earnings are expected to decline 3.9% in the first quarter of 2019, down from expectations for 2.9% growth at the beginning of the year. Even though actual profits have historically exceeded expectations, the final result will likely be a far cry from the double-digit growth posted in each of the four quarters of 2018.

Stocks are up 22% over the past 100 days, but we’re staring at a potential earnings recession in the first quarter of 2019.

At times like this, a key question we usually hear is: “what’s still worth buying now?”

It’s important for investors to remember that whether stocks are up or down, the market always places a premium on growth.

A stable dividend of 5% or more is nice, but what investors really need to build wealth over time, is a dividend that management continues to raise year in and year out.

It may sound too good to be true, because growth investors and income investors don’t usually see eye to eye.

Income seekers want the security of 5%-plus annual dividend yields, while growth hounds think that cash should be reinvested back into the business– because a solid earnings report can send a stock up that much in one day.

We’re here to tell you it’s possible to have the best of both investing worlds, and my colleague Brett Owens can show you how, with his simple (and safe) way to earn 12% a year from stocks with “hidden yields”.

At that rate, your money will double every six years, plus you can triple the retirement income that most dividend aristocrats or “safe” fixed income investments currently offer.

How do we accomplish this? Brett has discovered a key relationship between dividends and price gains that allow investors to find both growth and income in “hidden yields”.

Companies that consistently grow their dividends over time tend to outperform. The trick is the best dividend stocks almost never show high yields, because stock gains tends to track the size of dividend increases. If a company increases its dividend by 10% and the higher yield brings new buyers in, it often will send the price up and the yield back down toward where it started.

Editor's Note: The stock market is way up – and that’s terrible news for us dividend investors. Yields haven’t been this low in decades! But there are still plenty of great opportunities to secure meaningful income if you know where to look. Brett Owens' latest report reveals how you can easily (and safely) rake in 8%+ dividends and never worry about drawing down your capital again. Click here for full details!

Source: Contrarian Outlook

DIVIDEND INVESTING, HIGH-YIELD INVESTING, HIGH-YIELD INVESTMENTSApril 7, 2019 5:15 am by Investors Alley Staff

Data current as of market close 04/04/19.It is stocks like these that make up the high-yield portfolio (current average is over 8%) used in the Monthly Dividend Paycheck Calendar, a wealth creation system used by thousands of dividend investors enjoying a steady, reliable income.

The Monthly Dividend Paycheck Calendar is set up to make sure you receive a minimum of 5 paychecks per month and in some months 8, 9, even 12 paychecks per month from stable, reliable stocks with high yields.

If you join my calendar by Wednesday April 17th, 2019 you will have the opportunity to claim…

Pay Your Bills for LIFE with These Dividend Stocks

Get your hands on my most comprehensive, step-by-step dividend plan yet. In just a few minutes, you will have a 36-month road map that could generate $4,804 (or more!) per month for life. It's the perfect supplement to Social Security and works even if the stock market tanks. Over 6,500 retirement investors have already followed the recommendations I've laid out.

Click here for complete details to start your plan today.

Source: Investors Alley

Today, the 10-year Treasury pays just 2.4%. Put a million bucks in T-Bills and you’re banking $24,000 per year. Barely above poverty levels!

Hence the appeal of closed-end funds (CEFs), which often pay 8% or better. That’s the difference between a paltry minimum-wage income of $24,000 on a million saved or a respectable $80,000 annually.

And if you’re smart about your CEF purchases, you can even buy these funds at discounts and snare some price upside to boot!

The market’s fast run-up since January 1 has made cheap CEFs just a bit harder to find. And some CEFs have become so pricey that, if you hold them, you should consider selling before their premiums fall to earth.

(We recently spotlighted one CEF paying a too-good-to-be true 13.7% dividend. Unfortunately its ridiculous double-digit premium is about to evaporate! You can learn more about this one here.)

Perfect Time for a CEF “Brush-Up”

So, with the markets in flux, now is a great time to take a run through my “golden rules” of successful CEF investing.

Picking CEFs is a bit more nuanced than researching regular stocks, because we’re analyzing managers, strategies and holdings versus simple businesses models. After all, for lazy investors, it’s easier to count on dividends from a tired Dividend Aristocrat like Coca-Cola (KO) than it is to determine how much China exposure the Aberdeen Asia-Pacific Income Fund (FAX) has!

(The answer? Only about 5%. But that bit of extra bit of research will lead you to a secure 9.9% yield, versus a fallible 3.5% for Coke and its lineup of yesterday’s sugar-packed soft drinks!)

CEF Rule #1: Make Sure All Charts Include Dividends

The Gabelli Equity Trust (GAB) has been a great performer in the last decade—but going by its price chart, it looks like it’s been run over by the “dumb” SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which blindly tracks the market:

Looks Like a Laggard …

… Until You Add the Payouts Back!

Make sure the chart you’re reading includes dividends paid (so that it reflects total returns).

CEF Rule #2: Past Performance Matters

A fund’s history can tip you off to the quality of the management team and its strategy. GAB has one of the smartest stock pickers on the planet in Mario Gabelli, who drove it to that monster 556% return, with most of that in the form of cash payouts.

Meanwhile, the Aberdeen Total Dynamic Dividend Fund (AOD) has delivered the worst of all worlds. It crashed harder than the broader markets in 2008, then provided almost no rebound as stocks themselves bounced back.

Dynamic dividends? Not here!

Price Collapse Wipes Out AOD’s 8.3% Payout

Don’t be fooled by the siren song of its fat 8.4% current yield—it’s not going to do you much good when the fund’s share price drops out from under you.

Which brings me to our next point…

CEF Rule #3: A 1-Click Dividend “Health Check”

Some funds pay big distributions that look great, but they’re not sustainable. However they continue to attract new (sucker) investors because they are able to fund their payouts.

Too bad they’re doing it by eating into their net asset values (NAV, or the market value of their underlying portfolios)!

So you’ll want to pay close attention to NAV when you’re picking CEFs. Here are two funds whose underlying portfolios have grinded sideways (or worse) over the past three years:

2 More Big Yields Built on Flimsy Foundations

As you can see, the BlackRock Energy and Resources Trust (BGR) and the Wells Fargo Global Dividend Opportunity Fund (EOD) and have seen terrible NAV performance in the last three years.

So even though both offer outsized dividends of 7.8% and 11.7% respectively, that hardly matters! Because both funds’ weak NAVs kneecapped their total returns (with dividends included). You would have been way better off just buying SPY and being done with it!

Weak Portfolio, Weak Return

The bottom line? Always check out a fund’s NAV performance, in addition to its market-price return and dividend history, before clicking “buy.”

CEF Rule #4: Learn the 3 Ways a Fund Can Make Money

A closed-end fund can pay you from some combination of:

1. Investment income,
2. Capital gains, and/or
3. Return of capital.

Of the three, investment income is preferable because it’s usually the most reliable. Many CEFs pay monthly distributions, so it’s best if they match up their payouts with steady income streams themselves.

Capital gains from rising bond or stock prices can further boost distributions. But they are at risk of disappearing if the markets turn unfavorably.

Finally, everyone assumes return of capital is bad, because it’s simply shipping your money back to you. But as we’ve written previously, it’s often good for investors.

What’s more, if the fund trades at a sizeable discount, this can actually be a savvy way to kickstart the closing of a discount window. More on this shortly.

CEF Rule #5: Keep Fees in Perspective

Most investors are conditioned by their experience with ETFs to search out the lowest fees. This makes sense for investment vehicles that are roughly going to perform in-line with the broader market. Lowering your costs minimizes drag.

Closed-ends are different, though. On the whole, there are many more dogs than gems. It’s an absolute necessity to find a great manager with a solid track record. Great managers tend to be expensive, of course, but they’re worth it.

The stated yields you see quoted, by the way, are always net of fees. Your account will never be debited for the fees from any fund you own. They are simply paid by the fund itself from its NAV.

CEF Rule #6: Never Pay Retail

One aspect of the CEF structure lends itself perfectly to contrary-minded investing: fixed pools of shares.

Mutual funds issue more shares whenever they want. But CEFs have a fixed share count, with their funds trading like stocks. As a result, from time to time a fund will fall out of favor and find its shares trading at a discount to its NAV.

This is basically free money because these underlying assets are constantly marked to market. If a fund trades at a 10% discount, management could theoretically liquidate the fund and cash out everyone at $1.10 on the dollar. Or it can buy back its own shares to close the discount window (and boost the share price).

You can see this in the Cohen & Steers Quality Income Realty Fund (RQI), which trades at an 8% discount now but has traded at par in the last year, implying some nice upside here:

RQI’s Free-Money Markdown

Source: CEFConnect.com

A discount is a great start, but do make sure the team at the top has a plan to close that window!

CEF Rule #7: Look for Management With “Skin in the Game”

It’s rare to see any fixed income manager put his or her own money on the line at all, unfortunately. According to a recent Barron’s article, nearly half of all closed-end funds have no insider ownership whatsoever.

That raises an obvious question: why would we want to own any of these funds, if the managers don’t want to buy in themselves?

The 3 Best Closed-End Funds to Bankroll Your Retirement

Closed-end funds are a cornerstone of my 8% “no withdrawal” retirement strategy, which lets retirees rely entirely on dividend income and leave their principal 100% intact.

Well that’s not exactly right.

Their principal is more than 100% intact, thanks to price gains fueled by collapsing discounts, like the example I gave you in Rule #6 above! Which means principal is actually 110% intact after year 1, and so on.

To do this, I seek out closed-end funds that:

• Pay 8% or better…
• Have well-funded distributions…
• Trade at meaningful discounts to their NAV…
• And know how to make their shareholders money.

And I talk to management, because online research isn’t enough. I also track insider buying to make sure these guys have real skin in the game.

Today I like three “blue chip” closed-end funds as best income buys. And wait ‘til you see their yields! These “slam dunk” income plays pay 6.1%, 8.6% and even 9.1% dividends.

Plus, they trade at 10 to 15% discounts to NAV, which means they’re perfect for your retirement portfolio because your downside risk is minimal. Even if the market takes a tumble, these top-notch funds will simply trade flat… and we’ll still collect those fat dividends!

If you’re an investor who strives to live off dividends alone, while slowly but safely increasing the value of your nest egg, these are the ideal holdings for you.

Editor's Note: The stock market is way up – and that’s terrible news for us dividend investors. Yields haven’t been this low in decades! But there are still plenty of great opportunities to secure meaningful income if you know where to look. Brett Owens' latest report reveals how you can easily (and safely) rake in 8%+ dividends and never worry about drawing down your capital again. Click here for full details!

Source: Contrarian Outlook

Stocks that qualify for near permanent buy and hold status are rare. It’s the nature of investing in stocks to have companies that lose their way or don’t live up to expectations. Then there are the new stocks we find that may be exciting opportunities, and to invest in them current holdings may need to be sold to make room in the portfolio.

That said, a handful of stable, long term visibility dividend paying stocks can provide a solid base upon which to build the rest of your portfolio.

Buy and hold income stocks need to meet a strict set of criteria. Primary is a long history of dividend payments. This history should include steady dividend growth and no dividend cuts. These factors give companies that are conservative and successful in their businesses and have a high level of desire to reward shareholders.

While there are a number of “Dividend Aristocrat” stocks with long histories of dividend growth, these well known names come with low dividend yields. Typical dividend yields from this group run 2% to 3%.

My other criteria is for the stocks to pay attractive, meaningful yields. Dividend yield will be a major component of the total return from dividend growth stock. Higher yields mean more of the return is locked in. Dividend income is also real cash flow that can be reinvested, taken as income, or used to make other investments.

Here are three stocks that can make a great core to an income stock portfolio.

Tanger Factor Outlet Centers (SKT) is the only pure play, outlet style shopping center real estate investment trust (REIT). The company was one of the originators of the outlet mall concept. Tanger has increased its dividend every year since the company’s 1993 IPO.

Currently this REIT is going through a period of flat growth. The challenge is a significant number of client retailer bankruptcies. The returned stores need to be filled with new retailers. Tanger has gone through this cycle before. The company maintains a “fortress” balance sheet and dividend payout is a low percentage of FFO per share.

The current slow period means you can buy SKT with a very attractive 6.75% yield.

Enterprise Products Partners LP (EPD) is a large-cap $62 billion market value master limited partnership that provides a wide range of energy infrastructure services.

Services include:

• natural gas gathering, treating, processing, transportation and storage
• NGL transportation, fractionation, storage and import and export terminals
• crude oil gathering, transportation, storage and terminals
• petrochemical and refined products transportation, storage and terminals
• a marine transportation business that operates primarily on the United States inland and Intracoastal Waterway systems.

EPD increases its distribution rate paid to investors every quarter and has grown the payout for 20 consecutive years. Currently the company pays out about 60% of distributable cash flow, leaving it with over $2 billion per year in retained earnings to invest for future growth.

EPD yields 4.5%.

Main Street Capital Corp. (MAIN) is a business development company (BDC) that provides debt and equity financing to small and mid-sized corporations.

BDCs operate under special organization and tax rules that provide corporate income tax relief. Those rules can also be restrictive against growth for anything less than the best BDC management teams.

By almost all measures Main Street can lay claim to being the best company and best stock in the BDC sector. Main Street has over $4 billion in assets under management.

Since it went public in 2007, MAIN has more than doubled its dividend rate. The dividend has never been reduced and has always been fully covered by net investment income.

Dividends are paid monthly and in recent years has been increased one to two times a year.

Since 2018 Main Street has paid additional supplemental dividends twice a year. Shares of MAIN yield 6.4%.Mueller Report a Dud: Trump unleashes the greatest income stream in American history

While Congress and the media were too busy looking for Russians, 16 of Trump’s Executive Orders could’ve just launched a little-known income opportunity called ‘venture royalties.’ 

They’re approved by Congress and Americans are collecting checks every month for $2,123… even $9,586. Everyone is asking me about income right now, I’m pointing to venture royalties. Here’s how to collect 14 royalty checks this year. Click here.

One of the big, sparsely covered parts of President Trump’s plan to overhaul the government is his administration’s focus on revamping how many government agencies operate.

In 2018 the White House put out proposals to transform agencies in the areas of food, education, social services and air travel. Top on the list are to get the federal government less involved in the mortgage insurance business with the overhaul of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two mortgage securitization and guarantee companies that were nationalized by the Federal government during the 2007-2008 financial crisis. A recapitalization of the two mortgage giants would be a huge benefit to one particular high yield stock.

Fannie (founded 1938) and Freddie (in 1970) were set up as private corporations to expand the availability of home mortgages through securitization and guarantees of payment of principal and interest. The two were created by Acts of Congress and were commonly referred to as government sponsored entities (GSE’s). What you had were private companies whose businesses had an implied Federal government backing.

You may remember that the 2007-2008 financial crisis was triggered by an implosion of the mortgage-backed securities markets. As the largest issuers of this type of securities, the two GSE’s faced total collapse and went to the government for a bailout. On September 7, 2008, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director James B. Lockhart III announced he had put Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under the conservatorship of the FHFA. The action has been described as “one of the most sweeping government interventions in private financial markets in decades”. The two GSE’s have been “wards” of the government ever since, which is now going on 11 years.

Under complete government control, the two companies have continued to provide mortgage insurance, buy mortgages and issue new mortgage securitizations. The companies are profitable and have been paying out those profits as large dividends paid into the Federal Treasury.

Before the government takeover, Freddie and Fannie were both publicly traded corporations. Shares of the two remain in investor hands. The problem is that investors currently get no benefit from the business success of the two. The Trump plan involves getting Fannie and Freddie out from under government control and back into the public arena. Details need to be worked out between the White House and Congress.

What will happen with Fannie and Freddie unleashed with be a more competitive mortgage origination and mortgage services market place. High-yield New Residential Investment Corp. (NYSE: NRZ) is one company that has built a very well run business in the mortgage securities and mortgage servicing world. The potential synergies of doing synergetic business with the two GSE’s should be extremely beneficial to New Residential.

NRZ’s primary business is owning and managing an investment portfolio of mortgage servicing rights (MSRs). These are the payments taken from every mortgage payment to pay the servicing company. When purchased at the right price, this is a very profitable business. The company has consistently generated mid-teens annual returns with this very specialized financial instrument. I can see New Residential collaborating with Fannie and/or Freddie in the area of MSR management for the benefit of both parties.

In 2018 New Residential acquired a full service mortgage servicing business. The GSE’s are not engaged in servicing so, being able to offer the full range of mortgage servicing services to Fannie and Freddie would be another area of collaboration. As the world now works, NRZ is a very well run and profitable company that pays big dividends, resulting in a high-yield stock. The proposed government spin-off of Fannie and Freddie would only increase NRZ’s growth potential. The shares currently yield 12.1%.Mueller Report a Dud: Trump unleashes the greatest income stream in American history

While Congress and the media were too busy looking for Russians, 16 of Trump’s Executive Orders could’ve just launched a little-known income opportunity called ‘venture royalties.’ 

They’re approved by Congress and Americans are collecting checks every month for $2,123… even $9,586. Everyone is asking me about income right now, I’m pointing to venture royalties. Here’s how to collect 14 royalty checks this year. Click here.

The next U.S. economic recession is coming. Guaranteed!

It is likely that you are reading many predictions concerning the next recession. Last year the pundits were predicting one for 2019. Now I am seeing more predictions for a recession in 2020 or 2021. These predictions are mostly about marketing, because the people making the guesses on the next recession are betting on a sure thing. The economy does cycle, so at some point in the future we will go through a period of negative economic growth.

Predicting the timing of the next recession is a harder task.

At the current time I would say any prediction that ends up correct was more of a lucky guess than from astute analysis. The economy continues to chug along at a moderate 2% to 3% annual GDP growth rate. The economic indicators that traditionally are leading clues for the next economic slow down are giving mixed signals, with a slight bias towards continued growth. Yet it is good to have a plan and some investments in your portfolio that are recession resistant. There is always the possibility of an unforeseen economic event that pushes the economy into negative growth.

Recession resistant income stocks are those that meet two criteria:

First, they have businesses that will continue to generate revenue and free cash flow even in a negative growth economy.

Second, we want to own shares of companies with above average free cash flow coverage of the current dividend rate. Excess cash flow gives a company’s board of directors’ confidence to not cut dividend rates when the economy is under pressure.

Understand that in a recession driven bear market all stock prices will fall.

As high yield stock investors we want to ride through the bear market and subsequent stock recovery with our dividend earnings intact. This allows us to buy more shares when prices are down and boost portfolio income coming out the other side. Remember for the same reasons a recession is inevitable, so is the following recovery. The economy goes through cycles.

Here are three stocks that should be able to sustain and possibly grow their dividends through the next economic recession.

Kinder Morgan Inc. (NYSE: KMI) is a large-cap owner and operator of energy infrastructure assets.

The company owns an interest in or operates approximately 84,000 miles of pipelines and 157 terminals. The pipelines transport natural gas, refined petroleum products, crude oil, carbon dioxide and more. The terminals store and handle petroleum products, chemicals and other products.

Management guidance has 2019 distributable cash flow $5 billion, providing 2.2 times coverage of this year’s dividend payments. That is much better than the typical 1.3 to 1.5 times coverage prevalent in the energy infrastructure space.

Kinder Morgan plans to increase the dividend by 25% this year and next year.

The shares yield 4.0%.

National Retail Properties, Inc. (NYSE: NNN) is a triple-net lease REIT that 3,000 single tenant retail properties in 48 states.

The properties are leased and operated by businesses that won’t go out of business in an economic recession. Think of your local convenience stores, auto parts shops and movie theaters.

For 2018, the company’s dividend payout ratio was 77% of adjusted funds from operations (AFFO). This is very solid dividend coverage for a net lease REIT.

This company has increased its dividend for 29 consecutive years, which means the dividend has grown through the last several economic recessions. That’s a record a Board of Directors will not want to stop.

NNN shares yield 3.8%.

Tanger Factor Outlet Centers (NYSE: SKT) owns and operates 44 outlet center type shopping malls.

Tanger was an originator of this type of mall and is the only pure play outlet center REIT. This type of mall will outperform other retail sectors when the economy is going through a slowdown. People always will shop. They are more likely to shop at an outlet mall if they believe times are tough.

Tanger operates very conservatively, with a low debt ratio and dividend well covered by cash flow. The SKT dividend has been increased every year since the company’s 1993 IPO.

The stock currently yields 7.1%.

Don’t be fooled: imitating the picks of famous stock pickers is a road to retirement ruin.

I get it: gurus like Warren Buffett, Dan Loeb and Ken Fisher are the cream of the crop.

Too bad the big cash wads these guys toss around limit them to the lamest dividend investments. And you can bet almost all of them are missing out on one stock that’s paying a lucky group of investors an incredible 32% dividend!

Let’s dive straight into why following the pros’ lead is a big mistake. Then I’ll give you three ridiculously cheap stocks to grab for massive dividends—before their prices take off into the stratosphere.

And yes, I’ll unmask that amazing 32% payer along the way, and show you how you can grab a piece of that action yourself.

No Place for Dividend Investors

The first problem with mimicking celebrity hotshots? They’re almost always hunting for quick hits—jumping on a hot sector or stock dialed in for a fast gain. Notice I said gain: the big fish put a stock-price surge at the top of their list.

Dividend cash? An afterthought. Check out the pathetic payouts on the 10 stocks that made up their top holdings in the fourth quarter:

Big Names, Lousy Payouts

Source: MarketWatch.com

Two things jump out here:

1. They’re all tech plays, with the exception of JPM, and …
2. Six pay no dividend at all. The remainder dribble out a pathetic 1.8%, on average.

Buying High, Selling Low

So we can forget about looking to the pros for income. Now let’s look at gains, because here’s something most people don’t know: by the time we get our hands on the hotshots’ latest picks, they’re way out of date.

That’s because no one gets a peek at them till 45 days after the end of the quarter in which they were bought. Those are the rules governing Form 13F, through which institutional investors must report their holdings to the SEC.

This would have been a big problem if you jumped into the top managers’ favorite tech stocks around the middle of February, when the latest 13Fs came out. By then, the tech sector had already booked 75% of its year-to-date gain!

45 Days Late … and Thousands of Dollars Short

But this doesn’t mean we should ditch tech entirely. Truth is, these companies are sitting on some of the world’s biggest cash piles. Those will only grow as they let loose earth-shattering megatrends like artificial intelligence.

And even though tech and finance have soared, both sectors are home to three bargain buys throwing off massive dividends, too (including the 32% payout I mentioned off the top—we’re almost there)!

Let’s jump in.

High-Dividend Play No. 1:  A 7% Payout From … Google!?

Remember that chart of the hedge funds’ most popular stocks I showed you earlier? I’ll save you from scrolling up. Six names on the list are Amazon.com, Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Facebook and PayPal.

Now look at the top-10 holdings of a closed-end fund (CEF) called the Nuveen NASDAQ 100 Dynamic Overwrite Fund (QQQX), payer of an outsized 6.9% dividend as I write. They’re all there:

Source: Nuveen.com

If you’re a member of Contrarian Income Report, you might remember QQQX: we held it from January 2017 till April 2018—just 15 months—and rode it to a hefty 42% total return in that time.

Today this fund is a terrific alternative to big-name (but low-paying) tech stocks. To generate that big payout (and smooth out volatility), QQQX sells call options on 35% to 75% of its portfolio.

Here’s the best part: the fund trades at a 0.76% premium to its net asset value (NAV, or the underlying value of its portfolio) today. I don’t normally recommend CEFs priced above NAV, but this premium is a discount in disguise: it’s averaged 4.7% in the past year and has shot as high as 18.1% in that time.

That’s right: investors will pay up to $1.18 for every buck of QQQX’s assets! The upside and income waiting for us here are obvious.

High-Dividend Play No. 2: “Swap Out” JPM for This 8% Dividend

Now we’re going to trade our miserly “regular” finance stocks for another CEF: the Cohen & Steers Limited Duration Preferred & Income Fund (LDP).

LDP owns bank stocks, but not “regular” bank stocks. Instead, it holds banks’ “preferred stocks,” which throw off waymore dividend cash.

So by spending about a minute in your online brokerage account, you can exchange the regular shares of banks like JP Morgan for LDP and start tapping the fund’s 7.8% dividend (paid monthly, no less).

LDP’s 3.6% discount to NAV makes it fourth-cheapest among its 16 preferred-stock-CEF cousins today. That hedges our downside as we enjoy LDP’s massive payout and tees up further gains as the discount swings to par—inevitable, in my view, in the next 12 months.

Now let’s finally talk about …

High-Dividend Play No. 3: Tech’s Hidden 32% Dividend

Now let’s swing back to tech, and my favorite way to squeeze miserly big-caps for big payouts (up to 32%!): buy their landlords. The best way to do that is with a real estate investment trust (REIT) called Digital Realty Trust (DLR).

DLR owns 198 data centers (storehouses of computer gear every company must have) and boasts a client list that’s a who’s-who of tech. Heck, even JPM shows up here, so you’re getting a slice of the rent from our gurus’ top finance play, too:

Source: Digital Realty Trust February 2019 investor presentation

You’re probably wondering how a stock with a current yield of 4% could ever give you an outsized 32% in cash every year. To answer that, we need to look at the real story here: dividend growth.

DLR’s dividend skyrocketed 591% since its IPO 14 years ago. In other words, if you’d bought then, you’d be getting an amazing (and safe) 32% yield on your original buy today!

How can I say this dividend is safe?

The first reason is history: unlike many tech and finance stocks, DLR has never cut its payout—and kept right on hiking through the financial crisis:

A Battle-Tested Payout

I expect the chart for the next 14 years to look like the chart for the last 14, so, like the folks who bought in 2004, you’re looking at a massive double-digit payout if you buy now and hang on for the long haul.

That brings me to the second reason I love this payout: it’s backed by strong funds from operations (FFO; the go-to cash-flow metric for REITs), with core FFO jumping 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Add in the fact that the payout eats up a modest (for a REIT) 65% of FFO and you get a recipe for more hikes.

The kicker? DLR is cheap, trading at 17.4-times FFO! Don’t wait to grab this one.

Source: Contrarian Outlook

Data current as of market close 03/14/19.It is stocks like these that make up the high-yield portfolio (current average is over 8%) used in the Monthly Dividend Paycheck Calendar, a wealth creation system used by thousands of dividend investors enjoying a steady, reliable income.

The Monthly Dividend Paycheck Calendar is set up to make sure you receive a minimum of 5 paychecks per month and in some months 8, 9, even 12 paychecks per month from stable, reliable stocks with high yields.

It has been a challenging start to 2019 for real estate investment trust (REIT) investors. At the start of the year, the REIT indexes zoomed higher. The last few weeks have investors wonder if the party is already over for the year.

The financial media is placing blame in many places including trade wars, slowing growth and interest rate uncertainty. Many believe interest rates on the long end of the yield curve could rise with the growing Federal deficit. Which if true does not give confidence in REIT values. Fortunately, history shows that the belief that rising interest rates are bad for REITs value is a false assumption.

The current doldrums for the REIT sector may likely end up as a great buying opportunity for future gains.

Both Forbes and the NAREIT website note that historically, REITs have generated returns greater than the S&P 500 during periods of rising rates. How can this happen? As income investments, investors tend to lump REITs in with fixed income investments, i.e. bonds.

When interest rates go up, mathematically bond prices must fall producing negative returns for bond investors. REIT shares are ownership stakes in businesses. Rising interest rates are usually the result of economic growth.

For the REIT sector, an improving economy typically means rising commercial property values and the potential to increase rental rates. A significant portion of the REIT sector sees significantly greater benefits from economic growth than they experience from higher interest expense.

These factors are especially true in the current market. Companies have had several years to prepare for higher rates. This means that well managed REITs have locked in low interest rates with long-term fixed rate debt. These REITs should be able to improve profit margins by boosting lease rates, even as they keep interest expenses low.

There are REITs to avoid. Stay away from any companies that have variable rate borrowing costs. These will see profits squeezed by rising rates.

Avoid REITs that do not have histories of dividend growth. Part of staying ahead of rising rates is to own those REITs that can grow dividends faster than the increases in interest rates and inflation. With the recent retrenchment in REIT values, you can find shares with very attractive yields.

The next step is to ferret out companies that will grow dividends at greater than the rate of inflation. Here are three to get started with.

MGM Growth Properties LLC (NYSE: MGP) is a REIT that was spun-off by MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) in April 2016. In the IPO MGP received ownership to a larger portion of the MGM owned real estate, primarily casino hotel resorts.

The properties are leased back to MGM Resorts on a long-term master net lease. Lease terms are very favorable for MGM Growth Properties. The master lease means that MGM makes a single lease payment and cannot get out of paying for individual properties. All new acquisitions from MGM are added to the master lease. The lease includes annual rent escalators and profit sharing from the portfolio resorts.

The MGP dividend has been increased five times since the IPO and is forecast to grow by 8% in 2019. As the name states, this is a growth focused REIT. They have made offers on Las Vegas properties not owned by MGM.

The stock currently yields 6.0%.

Hotels are a commercial real estate sector that benefit from economic growth and can quickly pass along higher costs as higher room rates.

Summit Hotel Properties, Inc. (NYSE: INN)recently announced very good 2018 results, with expectations of continued growth in 2019. Revenue per Available Room (RevPAR) is the metric to watch with hotel companies.

After two years of flat RevPAR, the metric took started to improve in 2018. Continued profit growth should lead to a 5% to 6% dividend increase this year. The current dividend rate is just 50% of FFO per share.

The continued positive economic outlook should allow INN to grow dividends in the high single digit range.

The stock yields 6.3%.

Kite Realty Group Trust (NYSE: KRG)neighborhood and community shopping centers in selected markets. These shopping centers are different from the malls and are integral to the function of the communities where they are located.

These properties are anchored by internet-resistant tenants like restaurants, grocers, entertainment, and specialty stores. Kite Realty has been a steady 5% per year dividend growth REIT. This will not change even if the investing public gets negative on anything that looks like a mall REIT.

In the retail sector there are great differences between different companies and the types of properties they own. Kite Realty is an undervalued, stable dividend growth REIT.

The current 8.4% yield makes KRG shares very attractive.