believe it or not in today’s “no yield” world there are still 845 stocks that boast dividend yields of 3 and 34 that pay more than 10 you still have options big yields can make a big difference a 3 payout on a milliondollar portfolio is 30000 per year in dividends that’s nice but we can “supersize” it to 100000 annually with the 10 payers if any of these yields are safe of course in the world of high yield security is tricky there are more dividend traps than sincere investments but hidden gems are there for those who don’t mind doing the research let’s do some income investigation today we’ll highlight a fivepack of almost hilariously high yields between 97 and 153 this tremendous 123 average yield will spin that million dollars into 123000 in annual income but can we keep the principal intact let’s start with the india fund ifn which is what the name suggests a closedend fund cef that invests in indian equities the bull case is as straightforward as it gets india is one of the world’s largest emerging markets—a potential powerhouse thanks to a young population that’s nearly a decade younger than china on average an increasingly digitized culture and promising reforms that include labor land agriculture and infrastructure and ifn hopes to tap into that growth via a tight actively managed portfolio of roughly 40 equities and in many ways it has excelled  and yet it still can’t beat us large caps part of it is on india itself which has enjoyed mid to highsingledigit growth for most of the past decade but many of its companies have not been able to leverage gdp gains into earnings growth and higher stock prices require higher profits ifn has a few problems too for starters the portfolio is highly concentrated more than onethird of its assets are piled into just five stocks the 106 yield is a bit of a mirage too yes we do receive quarterly payments from ifn but the vast majority of that is longterm capital gains and return of capital not dividend income invesco mortgage capital ivr is a mortgage real estate investment trust mreit which means that it doesn’t actually own or operate any real estate instead it deals in “paper”—in ivr’s case agency and nonagency mortgagebacked securities mbses commercial mbses residential and commercial loans and more i mentioned back in february that invesco mortgage capital at least tried to take advantage of a recent short squeeze by announcing a plan to offer 2 million shares to raise cash shareholders weren’t happy about that and they spent the next few months grinding sideways while the market popped 13 ivr continues to limp along book value declined 55 and its average net interest rate margin declined by 14 basis points in the first quarter also its dividend has been all over the place—it was recently cut and without meaningful profit growth the current payout remains in jeopardy cornerstone strategic value clm is another cef but one that looks like our average bluechip mutual fund clm holds both us and nonus equities with a balanced approach of value and growth but there’s nothing balanced about the size of its holdings with the average market cap sitting at 216 billion at the moment amazoncom amzn apple aapl alphabet googl and microsoft msft combine for nearly a quarter of assets on their lonesome it feels like a runofthemill vanguard or fidelity largecap offering the similarities continue clm doesn’t use a lick of leverage to accomplish its goals and the fund charges 114 which while high compared to any basic index etf is downright pedestrian when compared to actively managed mutual funds with a similar charge this money is largely spent for nothing as clm fails to beat the basic sp 500 index cornerstone is lagging the broader market this year and over the past decade and like ifn what performance it does provide comes almost entirely from its distributions – which are mostly composed of longterm capital gains and return of capital not dividend income plus its current premium to nav of 13 is right around its fiveyear average presenting us with no real reason to buy oxford lane capital oxlc is another cef that deals in collateralized loan obligations or clos—an asset that most retail investors will never deal with clos are similar to mortgagebacked securities in that they’re pooled investments but rather than pooled mortgages clos typically are pooled corporate loans another way of saying it oxford lane’s holdings tend to be backed by a lot of business debt this is an opaque market that your average investor will struggle to even get sufficient information about let alone even understand you’re trusting oxlc management to do that and you’re paying them richly to do so—a 287 annual expense fee not to mention a host of other costs that bring its annual expenses up to more than 9 to its credit oxlc has performed well over the past few months but the music could stop in a hurry oxlc’s technical picture is showing that it’s due for a pullback and the same high leverage nearly 35 that helps it gin up returns is the same force that can help accelerate losses once the worm turns the potential trigger a laughably high price over the past five years oxford lane has averaged a steep 17 premium to nav and it’s well beyond that now at nearly 29 the outlook for clos admittedly remains strong but when you pay an extra 29 cents on the dollar and high annual fees to boot you’re not playing the odds what better way to collect more than 14 in annual income than to hitch our wagon to one of wall street’s most wellknown activist investors we can do just that via icahn enterprises lp iep a holding company that operates across eight main business segments investment energy automotive food packaging metals real estate pharma and home fashion its subsidiary companies and stakes include the likes of petroleum refiner cvr energy cvi auto parts suppliers aamco and pep boys and pharmaceutical firm vivus not to mention the investment business icahn capital lp so why is such a diversified portfolio controlled by a famed stock picker unable to consistently top the market even with a doubledigit yield because for all of icahn’s riches and fame he has made mistakes performance has been hampered by untimely choices such as long bets in the energy sector and short bets against the broader market the income statement says it all iep seemingly swings from vine to vine like tarzan losing 807 in 2016 landing monster profits of 1494 and 1133 per share in 2017 and 2018 then suffering 538 and 733 per share losses in 2019 and 2020 no wonder then that dividends have been doing the heavy lifting for years brett owens is chief investment strategist for contrarian outlook for more great income ideas get your free copy his latest special report your early retirement portfolio 7 dividends every month forever