The Silver industry is benefiting from a strong rally in silver prices, driven by rising industrial demand, especially from solar, electronics, and EV applications, and a fifth consecutive year of global supply deficits. Silver’s recent designation as a U.S. critical mineral is increasing its strategic importance and attracting more investment to the sector. 

Despite cost pressures from energy, labor, and materials, mining companies are improving efficiency through technology and disciplined cost management. 

Silver mining stocks have surged 79% over the past year, far outperforming both the broader materials sector and the S&P 500. Given this backdrop, companies like Fresnillo, Pan American Silver, Hecla Mining, and First Majestic Silver are well-positioned due to expanding production, strong assets, and meaningful earnings growth expectations.

Finsum: The industry’s strong momentum is reflected in its near-term prospects, and these stocks could benefit. 

As 2025 wraps up, investors are reassessing portfolios for tax-loss harvesting opportunities, and covered call ETFs present unique advantages in this process. Because these ETFs can distribute more income than their total return, they may show negative price returns, even when overall performance is positive, creating tax-loss opportunities. 

Investors holding traditional monthly covered call ETFs can use harvested losses to upgrade into daily covered call strategies that aim to capture more upside while maintaining high income. Monthly covered call funds often miss market gains once underlying stocks exceed strike prices early in the month, leaving many investors disappointed during strong rallies. 

Daily covered call ETFs, such as the ProShares S&P 500 High Income ETF (ISPY), seek to improve the balance between income and return by resetting options each day. 

Finsum: Daily covered call strategies are increasingly compelling for investors looking to reduce taxes and enhance performance.

Total return reflects both price appreciation and reinvested dividends, and over time, reinvesting those dividends can dramatically boost wealth. A comparison of two SPY investors from 2023 to 2025 shows that reinvesting dividends produced a 10.12% annualized return versus just 8.14% without reinvestment. 

While that difference seems small, compounding turns $10,000 into $223,691 over decades—versus only $124,424 for the non-reinvestor. Dividend growth accelerates this compounding effect, as rising payouts generate more shares, more dividends, and stronger long-term momentum. 

Dividend growth ETFs specifically target companies with consistent and sustainable dividend increases, setting them apart from high-yield or dividend-quality funds that use different selection criteria. 

Finsum: After screening for dividend growth opportunities, low costs, strong liquidity, and meaningful scale are some of the most important factors

Portfolio income remains a priority for investors, especially with rate cuts and shifting macroeconomic conditions creating uncertainty. 

Closed-end funds (CEFs) offer an alternative income approach, since they issue a fixed number of shares at launch and then trade on exchanges, often providing higher yields than traditional bond strategies. 

Because CEFs behave differently from standard fixed income, they can also enhance diversification at a time when bond markets remain unpredictable. The Calamos CEF Income & Arbitrage ETF (CCEF) simplifies access to this space by actively investing in discounted closed-end funds to capture both income and potential capital appreciation. 

Finsum: CEFs could be a nice opportunity to gain exposure to alternative income streams

The Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Investor Fund (VBMFX), launched in 1986, gives investors broad exposure to the U.S. investment-grade bond market and is managed by Joshua Barrickman since 2013. 

Despite its long history, recent performance has been modest, with a 5-year annualized return of -0.62% and a 3-year return of 4.8%, both ranking in the bottom third of its category. However, the fund’s appeal lies in its low volatility, showing a 3-year standard deviation of 6.41% compared to the category average of 12.85%. 

Cost efficiency is a major strength, as VBMFX’s expense ratio of 0.15% is far below the 0.93% category average, making it one of the cheapest options in its class. 

Finsum: This fund could offer steady exposure to the bond market with minimal cost and volatility, for the right investor.