“Wheel of Fortune”, Sally Ride, heavy metal suicide

Foreign debts, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, Bernie Goetz

Hypodermics on the shore, China’s under martial law

Rock and roller, cola wars, I can’t take it anymore

Billy Joel had had it with, well, everything geopolitical when he belted these lyrics to his latest number one hit in 1989. We Didn’t Start the Fire reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for two consecutive weeks, teaching listeners:

It was always burning since the world’s been turning.

And while Fall Out Boy gave us a worthy sequel “cover” of Joel’s hit in 2023 (encompassing Harry Potter to Brexit), the headlines have already lapped them.… Read more

Most people are totally missing the point on the AI trade. To use a hockey analogy (it is the dead of winter, after all!), they’re skating to where the puck is, not where it’s going.

They’re debating whether Meta Platforms (META) or Microsoft (MSFT)—which took a header last Thursday—are spending too much on AI, or whether all of this cash is pumping air into a stock-market bubble. Or whether OpenAI will turn out to be the Netscape of AI—jumping out to an early lead only to lose out to a competitor.

Distractions. All of them.

Big Tech is so 2025.… Read more

If you’re wondering whether the rally in tech stocks is fading, well, it is. 

So if your portfolio is heavily weighted toward the sector (and it very well could be, given tech’s meteoric run), it’s time to shift.

We’re going to look at why the so-called Magnificent 7’s years-long run is set to ease in the months ahead. Then we’re going to go on offense and defense at the same time.

On offense, we’ll look to front-run the crowd into what I see as the next hot sector to benefit from the rise of AI. And for defense, we’re going to make a move to boost our dividend income substantially.… Read more

Quarterly-paying dividend stocks? Ha!

We save those for the poor vanilla investors. Give us the monthly payers—those that dish divvies every 30 days.

Today we’ll discuss four monthly payers yielding between 5% and 11% per year. An average yield of 7.9%.

This means a $500,000 investment portfolio can buy this four-pack, earn $39,500 per year in dividend income alone and keep principal intact.

Better yet, the payments show up in neat monthly installments. No need to wait 90 days to get paid. The “checks” show up every 30!

Let’s contrast our monthly dividend strategy with the tried, true and (let’s be blunt) inferior techniques employed by unimaginative Wall Street suits who jam their clients into standard broad-based bond funds (or worse, a cheesy 60/40 portfolio):

The advantages of monthly payers are many:

1. We cut down on “lumpy” portfolio income.

My prediction for 2026? Strange as it may sound, given the wild headlines we’re seeing pretty much daily, I’m calling for more of the same.

As I said a couple weeks ago, I expect around 12% returns from the S&P 500 this year.

That’s why we’ve been adding to the equity CEFs in the portfolio of our CEF Insider service. Today I want to talk about one of our holdings, in particular: a 9%-payer called the Liberty All-Star Growth Fund (ASG).

We’re zeroing in on this one because its discount to net asset value (NAV, or the value of its underlying portfolio) is the biggest it’s been in three years.… Read more

“And what can we do to get better shots?”

Your fulltime income strategist and part-time basketball coach asked his team of fifth and sixth graders for their ideas. Or, at least, tried to.

Then a ball bounced. After coach specifically said hold balls for a second time. This third infraction ended the conversation.

“That’s it—on the line. Start running.”

When coach says run, the players don’t really have a choice. Get moving in practice or lose playing time in the games they all love.

Likewise, when the government tells an industry that there is a cap on their profits, well, they’d better get moving too.… Read more

Natural gas prices are ripping. And we’re going to play it through a “contrarians-choice” 5.9%-payer whose stock is headed in the other direction.

This is a perfect contrarian setup, and I don’t expect it to last.

I’m talking about Enbridge (ENB), whose share price has lagged in the first few weeks of 2026, even as gas prices went to the moon:

Gas Soars—and Enbridge Gives Us an Opening

To be sure, this gas-price spike is driven by the arrival of a “generational” winter storm here in the US. But it’s a sign of things to come, as gas demand is not going anywhere.… Read more

There are plenty of reasons to buy closed-end funds (CEFs), but the one that most investors love most is pretty obvious.

The income!

The average CEF yields 8.6% as I write this. And while most investors have been conditioned to believe that this level of payout is unsustainable, this is not the case with CEFs. Many of these funds sport yields of 8% or more and haven’t cut payouts in years, even decades.

In fact, several have grown their dividends in that time.

The reason why is simple: The stock market gains around 10.6% per year on average. So a CEF that invests in stocks and pays 10.6% per year can maintain payouts, theoretically, since the fund is just handing that profit to shareholders as a dividend.… Read more

New year, new dividends. And today we’ll review seven brand new payouts.

Why are new divvies potential money makers? Because companies love to deliver big raises out of the gates to reward shareholders.

And to be honest, it doesn’t cost them much. These current yields are often modest, so they have room to grow.

But in percentage terms, these payout pops look impressive. And with gaudy growth numbers comes the “momentum” buyers, who often bid these stocks up, up and away.

Which sophomore dividends are likely to impress soon? Let’s discuss.

Tutor Perini (TPC)
Dividend Initiation Announcement: Nov. 18, 2025
First Dividend Payment: Dec.… Read more

I’m a contrarian at heart—but sometimes even contrarians have to go along with the mainstream opinion.

This (as much as it pains me!) is one of those times. You see, like most of the pundits out there, I expect another strong year for stocks in 2026. I see a roughly 12% gain for the S&P 500 this year, to be exact.

That bothers me. A lot.

I know that four strong years in a row is rare, indeed. But that’s what the data is telling me, and I’m not going to argue with it.

Still Plenty of Cheap CEF Dividends Out There—Even in This “Pricey” Market

Now this doesn’t mean there’s a lack of bargains waiting for us in our favorite income plays: 8%+ closed-end funds (CEFs).… Read more