Marc Lichtenfeld - Income Expert https://investmentu.com/author/mlichtenfeld/ Master your finances, tuition-free. Tue, 28 Sep 2021 16:12:40 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 https://investmentu.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/cropped-iu-favicon-copy-32x32.png Marc Lichtenfeld - Income Expert https://investmentu.com/author/mlichtenfeld/ 32 32 Top 3 Dividend Stocks to Beat Inflation https://investmentu.com/dividend-stocks-to-beat-inflation/ Tue, 28 Sep 2021 16:12:40 +0000 https://investmentu.com/?p=90313 The following is a transcript of an episode of "State of the Market" with Marc Lichtenfeld.

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The following is a transcript of an episode of “State of the Market” with Marc Lichtenfeld. The video titled “Top 3 Dividend Payers to Beat Inflation” aired on Friday, September 24th.

top dividend stocks to beat inflation

Hi everyone welcome to State of the Market, I’m Marc Lichtenfeld Chief Income Strategist with the Oxford Club.

My daughter is taking her first economics class. She asked me to help her study and we were talking about core-CPI, which tracks the cost of goods and services –  excluding food and energy.  Because no one really uses those things.

Other than the occasional outfit, food and gas are about the only thing my daughter actually spends money on. She thought this indicator was ridiculous. I agree.

The current inflation rate, including food and energy is 5.3%, higher than its been in decades. The Fed says the high inflation is “transitory”. That’s the word they used. They think it’s temporary.

And some of it may be. Pent up demand from the pandemic is certainly adding to frenzied buying which is pushing up prices. And so are supply chain disruptions that still haven’t recovered from the pandemic that are affecting nearly every industry. Some of that may let up now that extended unemployment benefits are running out so folks will no longer get paid to sit at home and find out who the baby’s daddy is on Maury.

The Top 3 Dividend Stocks to Beat Inflation – Watch the Video Now

But the idea that inflation is transitory when the Fed is dumping trillions of dollars into the economy and keeping rates at rock bottom levels is laughable.

Housing prices have gone berserk all over the country, from small towns in Idaho to white hot South Florida. Considering you can get a mortgage for 3% and a jumbo mortgage for 3.2%, it’s no surprise people are paying up for their dream house in their dream locations.

The Fed’s inflation target is 2%. As I mentioned, it’s currently over 5%. I expect it to go even higher.

How High Will Inflation Go?

Let’s assume the Fed miraculously gets it right. I know, I know, but stick with me. Let’s say inflation stays at 5% for another year and then dips down to the Fed target of 2% for the next nine years.

After 10 years, prices will still be 25% higher than they are today.  A $40,000 car will be $50,000. A $50 meal at a restaurant will be $62.50 and the estimated $300,000 that a 65 year old married couple today is expected to spend on healthcare in their lifetime will cost $375,000. Of course healthcare is not going up 2% per year. It is rising about 5.5% per year. If that continues in 2031the $300,000 in healthcare costs that a 65 year old married couple will incur today, rises to $512,431.

The government has two levers to help tame inflation, neither of which they appear intent on using. They can stop printing trillions of dollars in stimulus for an economy that no longer needs it and it can move interest rates higher.

Higher rates would also help savers who are currently getting buried earning a tenth of a percent in their bank accounts while prices for everything they need is surging.

So what can you do so that the government’s mismanagement of inflation doesn’t ruin your buying power?

Buy Perpetual Dividend Raisers

When I wrote my international best seller Get Rich with Dividends, it was for exactly this moment. In it, I recommended buying Perpetual Dividend Raisers, companies that raise their dividends every year.  That way you’re increasing your buying power as you get paid more dividend income each year.

For years, inflation was quite low. So those ever increasing dividends were great and really boosted investors buying power. But now that inflation is surging, it’s more important to have a growing income stream so that your buying power doesn’t decline.

No one wants to be able to afford less as they get older. So you need an investing strategy that will not simply hand you a pile of money to draw down from . You want your pile of money to generate more money every year so you don’t have to withdraw from your nest egg until it dwindles down to dangerous levels.

Investing in companies that raise their dividend every year is one of the very few weapons you have in your investing arsenal to make sure the government’s mishandling of the economy doesn’t affect your lifestyle.

More on leveraging dividend stocks to beat inflation…

I’m talking about companies like tiny Missouri regional bank Hawthorne Bancshares, ticker symbol HWBK that has raised its dividend an average of more than 14% per year over the past 10 years, including a 14% hike in the past year. Or the much larger Magna International, ticker MGA, which makes technology for the auto industry and has boosted the dividend an average of 15% per year over the past decade

If you’d bought 100 shares of Magna International 10 years ago, you’d have received $100 per year in dividend income. Today, you’d receive $354 and your yield on your original investment would be more than 21% per year. Not surprisingly, since the company’s earnings, cash flow and dividend all grew, so did the stock price. It’s up nearly 356% over the past 10 years.

Performance like that will help you maintain and increase your buying power in this current or future inflationary environments.

More on Buying Dividend Stocks to Beat Inflation

I discussed inflation, taxes and of course the government’s role in the economy with former White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow recently. He had some pretty provocative things to say. Click the link below to hear our conversation.

Thanks for watching State of the Market. I’m Marc Lichtenfeld. See you next time.

Click Here to Hear Our Conversation

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Investing Doesn’t Have to Be Hard https://investmentu.com/financial-products-avoid-4/ Mon, 12 Jul 2021 22:30:21 +0000 https://investmentu.com/?p=88396 The surest route to wealth is also the simplest...

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In my most recent issue of The Oxford Income Letter, which happened to be our 100th issue, I reverse engineered a structured note.

Structured notes are financial products that, depending on the individual product, can limit losses while supplying income or allowing an investor to take part in the market’s gains.

They’re complicated products shrouded in a bit of mystery. And not surprisingly, you pay for all of that convenience and minimized risk.

In the case of a structured note, there are usually no fees, but the financial institution behind the note is not a charity. It is making money off your money and paying you back a little less.

The same is true with other products, like annuities and whole life insurance.

These products are designed to be complex. The less you understand and the stupider you feel, the fewer questions you’ll ask and the more likely you’ll be to pay to let the “experts” handle it.

I hate that strategy. I believe the more information you have, the better choices you’ll be able to make that will help you secure your finances – rather than some financial institution’s executives’.

Annuities and whole life insurance are similar.

Annuities in particular are such intricate financial instruments that 99 out of 100 annuities salespeople couldn’t tell you the mechanics behind how they actually work.

And with interest rates so low these days, investors, particularly retirees seeking income, are willing to put up with just about anything in order to get a few percentage points of yield.

I dislike annuities so much that I wrote a chapter on them called “The Worst Investment You Can Make” for my book You Don’t Have to Drive an Uber in Retirement, which was named the 2019 Investment and Retirement Planning Book of the Year by the Institute for Financial Literacy.

Whole life insurance policies are also more complicated than they need to be.

If you need life insurance, term life is the cheapest and simplest way to go. If you need to save and invest for retirement, then save and invest for retirement. Just don’t combine it with insurance.

You’re paying for that convenience – and for other “benefits” that are likely not going to affect your life in a meaningful way and will probably cost you money.

When you buy a whole life policy (or any policy that has a cash value), part of your premium pays for your insurance, part goes to your investment and a big chunk goes to pay those hefty commissions that salespeople enjoy.

Insurance agents typically collect up to 100% of your first year’s premium as commission. Over the life of the policy, they’ll receive 15% to 25% of your premiums.

That is a tremendous amount of your money that is not working for you. How much more money would you have if you invested 20% of a proposed whole life insurance premium in the market over the long term?

Furthermore, there are all kinds of ramifications if you miss your premium payments. You could lose your insurance or could be charged fees for letting the policy lapse, and if you want to take your money out early, you’ll be charged more fees.

Conversely, if you have a cheaper term life policy and a regular investment account and can no longer contribute to the investment account, there are no penalties or fees and you’ll keep your insurance as long as you continue to pay your premium, which may be one-tenth or less the cost of a whole life policy.

For example, let’s say you’re 50 years old with a $500,000 whole life policy. You will pay a minimum of $9,432 per year versus just $842 for a 20-year term policy.

Going back to that 20% commission on your premiums… If you’re paying $9,432 per year and your insurance salesperson earns 20%, you’re paying them $1,886.40 per year, or $37,228 over 20 years.

If you put that money into the market and earn 8% per year compounded, after 20 years, you’ll have an extra $102,083. And remember, these figures are with the cheapest policy. You’ll likely pay even more.

Of course, the whole life policy will pay a death benefit for the rest of your life as long as you pay the premium. The term life policy will expire when you are 70 years old.

But since life insurance really should be used to replace lost income, not to provide a windfall for one’s heirs, most people probably don’t need a lucrative life insurance policy in their 70s, 80s and 90s.

The good news is that with all of these ornate financial products out there, the most effective way to invest is actually the simplest and cheapest and keeps more of your money in your pocket. Invest in quality companies for the long term and reinvest the dividends.

With today’s low- and no-commission brokers, it hardly costs you anything at all to be a long-term investor.

Investing the right way isn’t hard. Avoiding the noise about why you need complicated products is.

And by the way, in that 100th issue of The Oxford Income Letter, I also discuss an investment that is risk-free, has no fees and is guaranteed to yield at least 3.5% (and likely more).

Click here for more information.

Good investing,

Marc

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Are MLPs Worth the Effort? https://investmentu.com/are-master-limited-partnerships-good-investment/ https://investmentu.com/are-master-limited-partnerships-good-investment/#comments Mon, 30 Nov 2020 23:30:38 +0000 https://investmentu.com/?p=82086 The consistent payouts may be worth it to you.

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Last week, I wrote about end-of-year tax saving tips, which included owning master limited partnerships (MLPs). MLPs are good to own because of their tax-deferred distributions (MLPs pay distributions, not dividends).

That sparked a question from reader Lee M., who asked whether MLPs are really worth the effort, considering the more complicated tax implications, which I’ll get into in a minute.

That’s an excellent question because MLPs often have strong yields ranging from 5% to double digits.

The average historical yield for MLPs is 7%. Some of the current top-yielding ones are…

  • Icahn Enterprises (Nasdaq: IEP), with a 15.9% yield
  • MPLX (NYSE: MPLX), with a 12.5% yield
  • Natural Resource Partners (NYSE: NRP), with a 12.1% yield.

But there are some things you should know before chasing those attractive yields…

MLPs are partnerships that are often, though not always, in the oil and gas pipeline business. When you buy an MLP, you are considered a partner, not a shareholder. As a result, you own units, not shares, and you are paid distributions instead of dividends.

These aren’t just semantics. There are important differences to consider as an investor in an MLP versus an investor in a regular company (C-corporation).

The most important difference revolves around how the distribution is treated from a tax perspective.

When you own a regular stock and are paid a dividend, if the stock is held in your taxable account, the dividend is taxed at 15% for most investors. The highest earners pay 23.8%.

Because you are a partner in an MLP’s business, its distributions are considered a return of capital. As a result, the distribution is not considered a taxable dividend. Instead, it lowers your cost basis.

Here’s how it works…

Let’s say you buy 100 units of an MLP for $20 per unit, costing $2,000. Each year, you receive $1 per unit in distributions that are all return of capital. So you receive $100 in income.

If this were a normal stock, you’d pay at least 15%, or $15, in taxes on that income.

But because it’s an MLP and the distribution is a return of capital, you pay zero tax on the distribution. Instead, your cost basis is lowered by the amount of the distribution – in this case $1. So your new cost basis is $19.

If you were to sell the units at $25, you’d have a $6 capital gain instead of a $5 one and you would pay capital gains taxes on the $600 in profit rather than $500.

Uncle Sam will get his money somehow. But in the case of MLPs, he has to wait until you sell.

MLP Chart

An investor who bought a $20 per unit MLP that paid $1 per year in distributions could collect tax-deferred income for 20 years.

So what happens once your cost basis falls all the way to zero? At that point, the distribution that you collect each year is taxed as a capital gain in the year it is received.

Capital gains currently have the same tax rate as dividends. That could change, but it will likely take many years of tax-deferred income before that happens.

MLPs can also be used as an estate planning tool.

Under current law, an heir who inherits an MLP can step up their cost basis. So let’s say your parent bought the MLP at $20 15 years ago and collected tax-deferred income for 15 years. Their cost basis is now $5.

At that point, they pass on and you inherit the investment. But now the price is $40. Your new cost basis is reset at $40, and future distributions lower the cost basis from that new $40 level.

President-elect Biden’s proposed tax policy eliminates the step-up basis so that if you inherited the MLP, your cost basis would be $5, and if you sold at $40, you’d owe tax on $35 in capital gains.

Of course, this is still a proposal and not yet a piece of legislation. Even if it passes the House of Representatives, it still has to get through the Senate, which is not a slam dunk – especially if Republicans hold on to their majority.

Lastly, as a partner in the business, you receive a K-1 tax statement each year instead of a 1099-DIV like you would for a dividend stock.

These K-1s are more complicated and are often amended throughout the year. As a result, your tax professional may charge more for handling K-1s.

So in the end, are MLPs really worth it?

I believe they are. When you can enjoy an average 7% tax-deferred yield plus potential upside in the beaten-up energy sector, it’s worth a little extra paperwork.

Good investing,

Marc

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My Top 3 Strategies for Vetting Charities https://investmentu.com/charitable-giving-how-confirm-legitimacy-before-donating/ Mon, 16 Nov 2020 23:30:45 +0000 https://investmentu.com/?p=81702 Charitable giving is as easy and important as ever in 2020...

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This year’s Thanksgiving is going to be odd for my family. We’ll have less than half as many people as usual, and we’ll be eating outside, as two of us will need to be distanced from the rest of the family.

Despite facing a brutal year and missing family who won’t be able to attend Thanksgiving, I remain grateful. One way I express that gratitude (that makes me feel even happier) is by giving to causes that are important to me or to my friends and family.

There are so many worthy causes out there. Unfortunately, there are also some that sound worthy but pay their executives exorbitant salaries and do not use much of their funds to help those in need.

There are a few ways of ensuring your generosity is used properly. Donate to causes that you know personally, or use a site that rates charities.

Charity Watch Groups

There are organizations that evaluate charitable organizations based on a number of factors, including their financial health, the percentage of funds that go to programs versus administrative expenses, the independence of the board of directors, etc.

Not all worthwhile charities are rated by these organizations.

If one is not rated, it doesn’t mean it has issues. But if one that you’re considering comes up with a low rating, it’s worth understanding why before donating.

Charity Navigator has been around for 19 years and rates 160,000 charities.

CharityWatch is 25 years old and bills itself as “America’s most independent, assertive charity watchdog.”

The BBB Wise Giving Alliance, affiliated with the Better Business Bureau, rates charities based on 20 variables.

These three organizations don’t all rate the same charities, so it’s worth checking more than one of them when researching the charity you’re interested in.

Causes on My Short List

I prefer to donate to organizations that I have experience with or to organizations where I know the leaders. That has led me to build connections with organizations in a variety of categories…

  1. Health. For example, The Oxford Club is a big supporter of The Roberto Clemente Health Clinic in Nicaragua. Oxford Club CEO and Executive Publisher Julia Guth is Chairwoman of the Clinic’s Board.

    I have visited the Clinic twice and met its staff. It does incredible work for the people in that region of Nicaragua, one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.

    The Clinic also helped a friend of mine who was badly injured in an accident years ago, so I am very thankful that the staff was ready and able to assist.

    Unfortunately, Hurricane Eta ripped a hole in the Clinic’s roof and caused other damage.

    If you’re inclined to donate to health-related organizations that have a direct and meaningful impact on people’s lives, please consider giving to The Roberto Clemente Health Clinic.

  2. Kids and financial literacy. Another organization that The Oxford Club supports and that I have personally volunteered with is World of Money.

    I have long believed that an important way to improve equality and opportunity in this country is through financial literacy.

    World of Money provides financial education to underserved children and families to break generational cycles of poverty.

    I have volunteered in its classrooms working with kids, and let me tell you, the kids and the educators are amazing.

    The students devour information from the financial professionals teaching them. I was blown away at how good the program is and how much these kids wanted to learn.

  3. Veterans. Years ago, I lost a bet here in Wealthy Retirement. I promised I’d make a donation to an organization voted on by Wealthy Retirement readers. The winning organization was Disabled American Veterans. I’ve continued to support the organization since that day.

Charitable Giving Gets Even Easier

If you’re an Amazon customer, you can use AmazonSmile to direct 0.5% of eligible purchases to the charity of your choice. Once you enroll, it’s an effortless way to support your favorite charity.

There are also new tax incentives this year that encourage filers to donate to charities. If you take the standard deduction, you can take a $300 deduction for charitable giving on top of the standard deduction.

If you itemize, you can take up to 100% of your adjusted gross income for cash donations.

(As I always recommend, be sure to talk with a tax professional before making any tax-related moves.)

This year has been a doozy to say the least. There are a lot of people hurting and many worthwhile organizations that need help.

If you plan to give this year, be sure your money is used wisely.

Good investing,

Marc

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Global Partners’ Dividend Safety: Can This 13.8% Yield Recover? https://investmentu.com/global-partners-glp-dividend-safety/ Wed, 11 Nov 2020 22:00:11 +0000 https://investmentu.com/?p=81558 When it comes to Global Partners' dividend safety, this partnership’s distribution may come up short when it matters most...

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Today, Investment U’s Income Expert, Marc Lichtenfeld, takes a look at Global Partners’ dividend safety.

A Note From Chief Income Strategist Marc Lichtenfeld: Before we dive into today’s Safety Net, just a quick note to thank all of our veterans on this Veterans Day. I and everyone at Wealthy Retirement are deeply appreciative for all you have done. Thank you.

And now on to Safety Net…


A little more than a year ago, my colleague Kristin Orman wrote that the distribution of Global Partners (NYSE: GLP), a large owner of gas stations in the Northeast, could be in trouble if oil prices fell. At the time, the distribution’s safety was rated “D” – at a high risk of being cut.

(Global Partners is a partnership, so it pays a distribution instead of a dividend.)

Kristin was right. Global Partners cut its distribution by 25% in April. But since then, it has raised the distribution twice – almost back to the level where it was before it was reduced.

Global Partners owns 21 gas terminals and more than 1,500 gas stations, which fill 1 million gas tanks per day.

Now that Global Partners’ distribution is back to $0.50 per share quarterly, which comes out to $2 on an annual basis or 13.8% per year, can the company maintain that double-digit payout or do shareholders need to remain wary?

Last year, as oil prices fell, so did Global Partners’ distributable cash flow (DCF). In fact, it crashed 44%.

SafetyNet Pro does not like to see declining cash flow. And a 44% drop is particularly bad…

This year, DCF is forecast to rise a little bit, which is certainly good.

It is also encouraging to see that even the lower DCF can still cover the distribution.

Global Partners’ Dividend Safety Rating

Last year, Global Partners generated $95.7 million in DCF. This year, that total is expected to rise to $99.8 million. Meanwhile, the company paid out $76.6 million in distributions last year and is projected to pay $60.2 million this year. So DCF easily covers the distribution.

So should you consider the payout safe?

SafetyNet Pro doesn’t think so. While its DCF covers the distribution right now, Global Partners has a history of cutting the distribution when things get tough.

Global Partners dividend safety rating and distribution history

With cuts in 2016 and 2020, it’s clear that management will cut the distribution when necessary. The huge drop in DCF last year also hurts the safety rating.

If Global Partners can boost DCF by a meaningful amount next year, it could get an upgrade. Until then, however, the distribution has to be considered at risk of being cut if DCF slips again.

Dividend Safety Rating: D

Dividend Grade Guide

Global Partners’ dividend safety is at a high risk of being cut. But a DCF rebound in early 2021 could give this dividend a boost going forward. While it isn’t very safe at the moment, the tide could quickly turn over the next year.

You can discover the next big dividend trend before it hits. For the latest market insights, be sure to sign up for the Wealthy Retirement e-letter below. This FREE e-letter provides expert analysis on blue chips, hidden gems and everything in between.

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Collect Secure Income by Investing in Bonds https://investmentu.com/bond-investing-income-capital-gains/ Mon, 09 Nov 2020 23:30:05 +0000 https://investmentu.com/?p=81461 It’s almost impossible to lose...

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You always remember your first…

I’m talking about investments, of course. What did you think I was referring to?

I bought my first stock in 1990. It was Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG). I bought 50 shares at $12. Three months later, I sold it at $18. Stock trading commissions were $49 per trade, so I made a cool $202.

A few years later, my wife worked at a household-name consumer goods company. The company was doing okay, but it had some upcoming initiatives I thought would work well.

The company was privately owned, so there were no shares to buy. I discovered that it had bonds. I knew very little about bonds at the time, but I wanted in on this company.

As I dug into the financials and learned more about bonds, I remember thinking, “You’re telling me that I can buy this bond for $820 and in three years, I’ll receive $1,000 – all while being paid 7.25% per year? I am definitely in.”

You see, bonds are very different from stocks. When you own a stock, you have an ownership stake in the company. And your fortunes are tied to those of the company.

When you own a bond, you do not own a piece of the company. You are a creditor of the company. A bond is a loan – and loans must be paid back.

Pretty much the only time those loans are not paid back is if a company goes bankrupt.

I bought the bonds. And right on time, at maturity, I received $1,000.

Now, here’s the thing about bonds. Those initiatives the company had that I was excited about didn’t work out as well as I thought they would. If I had owned the stock, it probably would not have gone anywhere. The price might have even been down.

But with a bond, it doesn’t matter if earnings are down, if the company disappointed Wall Street or if it is embroiled in a scandal. If the company is going to remain solvent, it pays back its loans. The bond is backed by a contract that is enforced by law.

This company was still profitable, just not as highly profitable as many expected it to be. So paying off the loans was absolutely no problem, and I made a nice return – all while receiving a decent yield.

I’m still a stock guy. I love collecting dividends, seeing the dividends increase every year and watching stock prices go higher. But as I get older, income and capital protection become more important each year.

And bonds are how I achieve that. I collect solid streams of income knowing I’ll receive $1,000 back per bond at maturity no matter what I paid.

If I paid $1,000, I get my money back while being paid a decent interest rate. If I paid less than $1,000, I have a profit at maturity, also with interest.

If I can find a solid company whose bonds pay a good yield and are trading at a discount – say, in the $900s or even $800s – I jump on them, confident I’ll be paid $1,000 at maturity.

One thing many people don’t realize about bonds is you can make big profits on certain speculative bonds.

For example, let’s say a bond pays a 4% coupon but the company has run into trouble and the bond is trading at only $500 instead of $1,000. This is known as a distressed bond. The market is telling you that it does not have confidence in the company’s ability to meet its obligations.

But if you believe the company will in fact pay back bondholders (as required by law), you could buy the bond for $500, collect an 8% yield (because if the bond is half-price, the yield is twice the stated coupon) and double your money when the bond matures at $1,000.

Keep in mind, the last example is for investors who can handle high risk. Most bond investors are perfectly content buying a safer bond in the $900s, collecting a solid yield and pocketing a profit at maturity.

Owning bonds is a great way to ensure you collect income, stabilize your portfolio during volatile markets and make some profits along the way.

I was a bit lucky the first time I picked a stock that it worked out. With bonds, you don’t have to be so lucky. They’re built to work out – that’s the whole point of them.

Good investing,

Marc

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Will Soaring Net Interest Income Keep This 13.5% Yield Safe? https://investmentu.com/starwood-property-trust-stwd-dividend-safety/ https://investmentu.com/starwood-property-trust-stwd-dividend-safety/#respond Wed, 04 Nov 2020 23:30:59 +0000 https://investmentu.com/?p=81321 It’s one of the highest-paying companies out there...

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Starwood Property Trust‘s (NYSE: STWD) 13.5% yield is one of the highest yields among mortgage real estate investment trusts, or mREITs as they are known.

These companies make money by borrowing funds short term at low interest rates and lending them out longer term at higher interest rates.

The difference between what an mREIT borrows and what it makes from lending (minus expenses) is called net interest income. That’s the metric we look at when evaluating an mREIT’s dividend.

Starwood Property Trust has been in business for 29 years and boasts a $17 billion portfolio.

This year, Wall Street forecasts a giant 81% jump in net interest income to $528 million from $292 million in 2019.

That is certainly good news.

What is not such good news is the fact that even with the spike in net interest income, Starwood Property Trust cannot afford its dividend.

This year, Starwood is forecast to pay $546 million in dividends, eclipsing the $528 million in net interest income. That’s certainly better than last year, when it paid $538 million – which was nearly double the company’s net interest income.

Starwood Property Trust Pays More Than It Makes

You can see from the chart that Starwood Property Trust pays shareholders more than it makes.

That is not sustainable…

The company has never cut its dividend since it began paying one in 2010, and it has maintained the $0.48 per share quarterly payout since 2014. That is somewhat impressive, especially considering Starwood hasn’t been able to actually afford that dividend in years.

Will the next 12 months be the time that Starwood Property Trust finally has to face the music and cut its dividend?

Hard to say. Management has clearly stated it will do whatever it can to continue to pay shareholders, but the numbers simply don’t work. It will have to continue to raise or borrow money, like it often does, to sustain the dividend.

So while the company’s commitment to the dividend is admirable, the dividend has to be considered at-risk.

Dividend Safety Rating: D

Dividend Grade Guide

Good investing,

Marc

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The Secret to Keeping Your Cool This Election https://investmentu.com/financial-impact-2020-election/ Mon, 02 Nov 2020 23:30:24 +0000 https://investmentu.com/?p=81213 It’s one of the most valuable lessons I’ve ever learned...

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Well, tomorrow is it – the day we start waiting weeks for the final election results and fighting over whatever the 2020 version of hanging chads is.

There is a lot of built-up anxiety surrounding the election, and regardless of what happens, nearly half of the country is going to be bitterly disappointed.

At best, there will be protests in the streets. I don’t even want to think about “at worst.” The loser is likely to claim that the election was stolen. It’s going to be an emotional time.

One thing we know is that emotions and money do not mix.

I’ve never once made an emotional financial decision that was the right move.

But separating emotions from money is hard. Money issues run deep. Money is tied to security, freedom, comfort, health and – for some people – self-worth. Money can bring up a lot of feelings from how we grew up. It’s complex stuff.

I learned many great financial lessons from my dad, particularly about saving and not getting into debt. I also learned how not to handle my investments.

The Black Monday stock market crash in 1987 sent stocks plummeting 23% in one day. I can’t imagine how scary that must have been for my dad, at the time a 51-year-old educator and the sole breadwinner of his household with a kid in college and another one going in a few years.

He immediately dumped his stocks and put his money into safe Treasurys.

That was the absolute worst choice he could have made.

It took only two years for stocks to recover from the crash. Had he held on, my dad would have made all of his money back – and then some – because he also likely missed a good chunk of the massive bull market that ran until 2000.

As we head into a period that is likely to be filled with heightened anxiety and perhaps fear, it is important to remember markets go up over the long term.

They have for well over 100 years, and that’s not about to end anytime soon. Not as long as companies find new ways to satisfy customers’ needs, which grow their earnings…

Sure, some companies that don’t grow long term will stagnate or fail altogether. But they will be replaced with many new companies whose products and services we can’t even begin to imagine.

Back when my dad was selling his stocks, certainly he couldn’t have fathomed the existence of Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN), Tesla (Nasdaq: TSLA), Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and many, many other winners that came along.

Over the past 100 years, the S&P 500 (or a proxy for the index before it was created) has returned an average of 6.1% per year. When you include dividends, that comes out to 10.4%.

Think of all the things our nation has endured during that time: the Great Depression, World War II, the Cuban missile crisis, the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr., civil unrest, Watergate, and the financial crisis.

Despite it all, the market returns double digits annually over the long term.

Will the results of the presidential election be important? As Jerry Lundegaard from the movie Fargo might say, “You’re darn tootin’!”

Will it impact the long-term performance of the market? Not likely.

If your emotions start to get heightened in the aftermath of the election, think back to some of the awful events mentioned above and how scary those times were. And remember that the market goes up over the long term.

Also remember the lesson of my dad selling after a crash. I do every time stocks take a dive.

Good investing,

Marc

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