Wall Street and the press have it all wrong on the US economy. Here’s the truth:

It’s stable—and growing.

I know. Boring, right? Maybe to most people. But not to us!

The narrative put forth by the press and punditry—that inequality is rampant and getting worse—lends itself to much more compelling headlines (which is why we’re not hearing much about it).

Worries around this inequality—namely that it will cause more political instability and pile risk on to the economy as a whole—are part of what’s been weighing on stocks lately. That and concerns about the Iran War, the direction of interest rates, unpredictable trade policy and others (it’s a long list!).… Read more

In three charts, we’ll show why monthly dividends are superior to even blue-chip payers. Plus, we’ll discuss five monthlies that yield between 9.7% and 13.5%.

First, let’s talk about monthly dividend timing. Check out what our monthly cash flow looks like if we invest in five of the market’s largest dividend-paying companies. These are five of the S&P 500’s biggest holdings, and we can find them in just about every major large-cap fund:

Source: Income Calendar

The good news? Every three months, we cash a dividend check.

The bad news? That harvest is followed by two months of crickets.

Let’s compare that dividend calendar with the projections for my five-pack of monthly payers.… Read more

AI is making real money—I’m talking about $30 billion in revenue for just one leading AI firm.

On April 6, this company, Anthropic, maker of the Claude chatbot, reported annualized revenue of $30 billion.

That’s a stunning figure, and we’re going to benefit from it—and collect an 8.3% dividend while we do. Our vehicle? One of our favorite tech-focused closed-end funds (CEFs).

What’s more, this fund is a bargain, trading at an 11% discount to net asset value (NAV, or the value of its underlying portfolio) as I write this.

Let’s back up a sec.

That $30-billion figure is surprising enough, but the growth rate is equally stunning: up more than 200% from just last year:

Source: CEF Insider

Put another way, Anthropic has calculated annualized revenue on par with the total revenue posted by Clorox (CLX), Ralph Lauren (RL), Church & Dwight (CHD), Domino’s Pizza (DPZ) and Hasbro (HAS) combined.… Read more

“Adrian, it’s going to Jack. But you have to act like you have the ball.”

My star adjusted his mouthguard and nodded, still breathing heavily.

“Everyone’s gonna follow you.”

I looked around our huddle. Adrian had just motored for a 95-yard touchdown run on our first play from scrimmage—the very first play of our season. Now we were going for the two-point conversion to take the lead.

I knew the defense was dialed in on Adrian. The opposing coach, Jersey Mike, was now ranting and raving like a lunatic. His Eagles had put together a somewhat disjointed but ultimately effective drive in our YMCA contest, eventually scoring a touchdown.… Read more

This market bounce is giving us a rare window to sell our laggards—and snap up stocks that have been unfairly left behind.

When we dump losers, we want do it into strength. And on the flipside, bounces like this often leave strong bargains in their wake.

Let’s start our “rebound rotation” with two blue-chip laggards lots of people own. Then we’ll pivot to two holdings of my Hidden Yields service that are smart, contrarian places to put cash now.

GIS Is a Prime GLP-1 Target

General Mills (GIS) draws a lot of revenue from snacks people eat routinely (and often without thinking much about it), like Bugles, Dunkaroo cookies and high-sugar cereals like Cocoa Puffs, Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Cookie Crisp.… Read more

The ever-evolving situation in the Middle East has left a lot of uncertainty in the air. But in unpredictable times like these, the best move is often simply this: stay the course.

Investors in high-yielding closed-end funds (CEFs) know this. Our favorite income plays throw off dividends averaging 9%. That means we can sit back, wait out volatility and get paid handsomely as we do.

And some CEFs, like our long-time portfolio holding the Adams Diversified Equity Fund (ADX), go one further: ADX kicks out an 8.3% dividend as I write this. And it does this while outperforming the S&P 500 over the long haul.… Read more

We contrarians love a good panic. Dividends are on sale!

The closed-end fund (CEF) aisle is where we do our best bargain shopping. Wall Street ignores CEFs, creating obscurity that we feast on. Discounts, mispricings and high yields are here.

Why the bargains? CEFs routinely go on sale. Thanks to their low profiles, supply and demand imbalances routinely disconnect a CEF’s price from its underlying assets.

When the value swings heavily in our favor, we buy.

And we have some dandy discounts now, with some big divvies attached! These five yields have soared to levels between 6.3% and 12.9%.

Plus, they are trading at discounts up to 12%.… Read more

Something crucial is happening in AI—just as the situation in Iran pulls attention the other way.

More experts—and more importantly, more data—is pointing to something we’ve been arguing at all along: AI is a productivity “unlock” that will slash corporate costs and boost growth.

Six months ago, most people worried that AI would be at best a disappointment and at worst a bubble. Now the data is starting to tell us something else: It’s poised to drive profits higher.

But because of the Iran situation, this shift isn’t getting the attention it deserves. That’s handing us a chance to get ahead of the curve as AI bears give way to AI bulls.… Read more

If you are a serious dividend investor, then you know the answer to this question:

How much dividend income are you going to make in the next 12 months?

In other words, what are your projected dividends between now through March 2027?

If you don’t know, then you’re not as dedicated to dividends as you thought. Disappointing, but fixable with

And please, don’t tell me I’m being hard on you. If that’s the way you feel, then this is the tough love that you need. Your wakeup call for 2026.

It’s time to treat your dividend investing like a business.… Read more

I know uncertainty is the word on everyone’s mind these days, but is this level of terror actually justified?

Source: CNN

Short answer: Nope.

In fact, we contrarians are more nervous when our CNN Panic-O-Meter hits “Extreme Greed!” Times like these are when we go shopping. And closed-end funds (CEFs) throwing off 8%+ dividends are a great way to do it, since many are in the bargain bin as we speak.

We’ll talk two tickers (paying dividends north of 10%) in a sec. First, here’s what the mainstream crowd is missing—and why it’s teeing up these 10% income opportunities.

First, the Iran War has thrown AI off the front pages—and once again, the crowd is overlooking just how much this tech stands to “amp up” productivity (and profits!).… Read more