"If you focus on stocks that pay you to own them -- you'll get your cut over and over and over again as you really won't have to worry or care what happens to the general market; and that will be true today, tomorrow, next month and next year," says Neil George.
In his income-focused Stocks that Pay You, he says, "I have found seven picks that will pay you 7% or more to own them and are perfect for retirement income as well as just building up your portfolio's value.
"The seven fall into three categories: funds, minibonds and preferreds. But what makes them all fit together is that they have proven themselves to keep paying regardless of what the economy or the markets might throw at them -- even the fiascoes of the past several months.
"I'll start with one of my tried and true bond funds that invests in government and quality corporate bonds from around the world, giving you not just nice yield -- but also a hedge against what the dollar or the U.S. economy might do in the years to come.
"The AllianceBernstein Global High Yield (NYSE: AWF) pays you even more; the yield is over 9%. And unlike the S&P with its losses for the past 10 years -- for Alliance -- the average annual return has been not 7, not 9 but rather 14%.
"Then moving on from the Alliance fund I'll go right to a few of my favorite individual minibonds starting with the tried and true champion of mega telephone utilities; The AT&T minibond (PINK: KTBB) is yielding 7.8%.
"And like the AllianceBernstein fund, it keeps paying over the years -- with the past five giving its investors an average annual return of over 9.4%.
"Next are the minibonds of two electric power utilities that run nice and simple regulated businesses right in the heartland of the US.
"First is Dayton Power and Light minibond (NYSE: MJT) which pays you a nice yield of 8.1%. Keeping the lights going in Ohio also keeps investors' portfolios going, with the past five years generating an average annual return of over 8%.
"Next up in this segment is another minibond from the National Rural Utilities Cooperative Finance Corp. minibond (NYSE: NRN), paying a dividend rate of 6.75%.
"The entity helps to fund regulated power companies in 49 states as well as inside the District of Columbia. trades at a discount to generate a nice yield at our cut off of 7%. And like the others, returns for the past five years are nice, simple and steady with an average return of over 7.8%.
"The last of the minibonds comes from investment-now-commercial bank Goldman Sachs Corporate-Backed Trust (NYSE: JZS). The returns of the minibonds from Goldman are stable, with a nice dividend yield of 7.26%.
"The last two of my seven picks come from the very sure and simple preferred stock market. Halfway between a bond and common stock, these preferreds have stated dividends that can't be cut and, even if delayed, have to be paid eventually - or else - to shareholders.
"On the bank front, Regions Financial has a 8.875% preferred (NYSE: RF-Z) that keeps chugging along even with all of the ups and downs in the financial and banking markets.
"Trading at a nice discount, it pays you a yield now of over 10% -- and since its coming to the market, the preferred's returns for investors have averaged 10%+ per year annually."
Steven Halpern's TheStockAdvisors.com offers a free daily overview of the favorite stock picks and investment ideas from the nation's leading financial newsletter advisors.
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