To read the first one (which came out on Tuesday), click here.

– James Ogletree, Senior Managing Editor

In the 1990s, my wife and I went on a weeklong summer trip to the Canadian Rockies.

We stayed in a small town on a gorgeous lake. One day, strolling by a local real estate office, we looked at the listings in the window and were shocked by how inexpensive the homes were.

The American dollar was very strong against the Canadian dollar at the time. A modest home could be had for around $50,000. We started to dream of escaping the rat race and settling down in this charming Canadian town.

And then I found out it gets down to minus 30 degrees “only a few times a year.”

Dealbreaker.

But ever since then, when we travel, if we really love a location, we’ll look at real estate listings and sometimes go out with a realtor. And we’ve even bought a couple of places.

We recently had another one of those experiences in Costa Rica.

I’d been there before – once for an Oxford Club conference many years ago and then again in 2024 on vacation. It’s simply one of my favorite countries I’ve ever visited.

The natural beauty is stunning, and we love that it is very protected.

While there is development going on, there are strict rules in order to preserve the environment, wildlife, and scenery. That’s also good from an investment perspective, as it won’t ever get overdeveloped.

Costa Rica is also known for its people.

Nearly everyone I met spoke English. They are among the warmest and friendliest in the world. I’m not just talking about the waiter at the luxury hotel. I mean the construction worker in the street and the locals watching soccer at the neighborhood field.

Speaking of waiters, though, the food is outrageously good. You can get gourmet meals at incredibly beautiful restaurants – or very tasty (but cheap) eats at local establishments called “sodas.”

A friend took this picture of my wife and I toasting as we watched the sunset from an amazing restaurant in Las Catalinas…

We like to be outside, so Costa Rica is perfect for us. The hiking, the beaches, the water… it’s all there to enjoy.

This was us after a morning hike where the trail ended on the beach.

You can probably tell that I’ve fallen in love with Costa Rica. But when it comes to money, I use my head, not my heart.

That’s another reason why Costa Rica is so attractive to me.

I’m looking to buy a place in Guanacaste, which is on the Pacific side of the country. I plan on renting it out when I’m not using it.

I also expect prices to rise significantly there.

Costa Rica is a democracy and one of the most stable governments in Latin America.

Luxury hotels and homes are being built, more flights are being added to Liberia airport, and the area is attracting more tourists.

There’s a definite buzz about Costa Rica these days, and while it’s hardly undiscovered, it still feels like I’ll be on the early side of things.

My hope is that in the near future, in addition to my family having more vacations down there, you’ll be reading a column that I wrote while eating fish tacos at the local “soda” – after which I’ll take a stroll on the beach, go for a quick swim, and return home to watch the sunset from my balcony.

Pura vida!

The post My Keys to Real Estate Investing… and Where I’m Buying Next appeared first on Wealthy Retirement.

I didn’t want Wealthy Retirement readers to miss out, so today, we’re kicking off a two-part series on international real estate investing.

Part 1 is below – stay tuned for Part 2 on Saturday morning.

– James Ogletree, Senior Managing Editor

I didn’t buy a home until I was 36 years old. And that was just as the real estate bubble was inflating – so not the best timing.

But over the following seven years, I bought three real estate investments: two condo units and some vacant land in different parts of the country.

I’ve since sold the condos. We did OK on one. The other was a home run. We still own the vacant land. My wife and I (half) joke that our kids can deal with it someday.

Now that I’m a little older and (hopefully) a little wiser, I’m exploring investing in overseas real estate for the first time.

Other than some international stock index funds, nearly all of my assets are U.S.-based. I need to diversify.

It’s smart to have investments in different geographies. For most people, that will mean funds, like the ones I mentioned above. There are a variety of index funds that are focused on international markets like Europe and Asia, and there are even country-specific ETFs.

You don’t have to be a real estate economist to know that housing prices in the U.S. have gone bonkers. With mortgage rates around 6% and sky-high prices, it’s very challenging for potential homebuyers and real estate investors.

For the first time in my life, I’m looking at real estate outside the U.S.

In some places in Europe and many in Latin America, you can find beautiful new-construction homes in the $300,000s to $400,000s. If you’re willing to spend more, the home will probably be exquisite.

I love the idea of having a place that my family can use anytime for vacation, but also rent out to defray the costs when we’re not there.

So often, when we travel, it’s like the scene in the Chevy Chase movie Vacation where they pull up to the Grand Canyon, stand there for a minute, and jump in the car to the next destination. I relish the idea of getting to know a place and the people on a relaxed schedule.

Besides making sense financially, here’s what I’m looking for in foreign real estate:

• Quality health care. I want to know that if there’s an emergency or just a simple illness, there are doctors and pharmacies that can help me out.
• Good food. I don’t necessarily need fancy restaurants, but fresh food cooked well is important. I also want access to a good market. I know I won’t have Publix or Trader Joe’s, and that’s fine. Fortunately, most of these towns that cater to expats have great markets with fresh local produce.
• Not too far from the airport. Some folks may want a place far removed from civilization. I know that I don’t want to drive three or four hours after getting off an airplane. For me, that would be a disincentive to visit my place.

And perhaps most importantly, I need an expert who knows the area that can guide me. It can be a local real estate agent who has been referred by someone I trust… or a person/company that specializes in helping expats find their dream home or just an investment overseas.

When it comes to investing in a foreign country, I’m certainly not familiar with the laws and customs of each location, so having that expert who can tell you what to expect – not only in the transaction, but also after you own the property – is essential.

There’s no way I would do this without that person helping me.

I’m hopeful that within the next year or so, we will start enjoying new family traditions in another country – and getting paid when other families do the same.

The post Why I’m Considering Investing Overseas appeared first on Wealthy Retirement.

The reason for my skepticism is risk.

When a company pays a double-digit yield, the risk is higher that the stock is going to perform badly or the dividend is going to be cut. It’s not a guarantee that those things will happen, but it is more likely to happen than when the dividend yield is lower.

With that knowledge, let’s find out whether 15% yielder Dynex Capital (NYSE: DX) is in danger of cutting its dividend.

Dynex Capital is a mortgage REIT. It borrows money and then lends it out at higher interest rates. The difference, after expenses, is called net interest income.

Last year, Dynex generated $5.9 million in net interest income while paying out $117.8 million in dividends. That means it paid 20 times more cash in dividends than it took in.

This year, I expect net interest income to rise significantly to $94.5 million. However, dividends paid are still forecast to be substantially higher at $133.2 million.

The dividend track record isn’t great either. Though Dynex has raised the monthly dividend twice in the past year from $0.13 per share to $0.17, it is still well below where it was 10 years ago.

At the time, Dynex paid a quarterly dividend of $0.72, which is 41% more than the current monthly dividend extrapolated to a quarterly dividend ($0.17 per month equals $0.51 per quarter). That $0.72 per share dividend in 2015 was cut to $0.63 in early 2016, and the company lowered the dividend again in 2017 to $0.54.

Two years later, Dynex began paying a monthly dividend, reducing it again to $0.15 ($0.45 quarterly) in mid-2019 and once more to $0.13 ($0.39 quarterly) in 2020.

So we have a stock that can’t afford its dividend and has cut the payout four times in the past 10 years.

Dynex Capital will very likely cut its dividend again soon.

The dividend is not safe.

Dividend Safety Rating: F

What stock’s dividend safety would you like me to analyze next? Leave the ticker in the comments section.

You can also take a look to see whether we’ve written about your favorite stock recently. Just click on the word “Search” at the top right part of the Wealthy Retirement homepage, type in the company name, and hit “Enter.”

Also, keep in mind that Safety Net can analyze only individual stocks, not exchange-traded funds, mutual funds, or closed-end funds.

The post Dynex: Will This 15% Yield Get Cut Again? appeared first on Wealthy Retirement.

Part of that total return has been from the company’s dividend yield. The current yield is 3.7%, though Oxford Income Letter subscribers who bought it when it was first recommended are earning over 8% annually on the original price.

Whether you’re earning more than 8% or today’s 3.7% or anything in between, you need to feel confident that the dividend is safe.

Let’s dig in and see if it is.

CareTrust REIT leases nursing homes and assisted and independent living facilities to operators. It has over 400 properties across 35 states and another 130 properties in the U.K.

Because CareTrust is a REIT (real estate investment trust), we use a measure of cash flow called funds from operations, or FFO.

In 2024, FFO grew 66% to $331 million. Over the past three years, it has grown by an average of 17% per year. That’s exceptional.

This year, that growth is forecast to slow to 8%, with FFO coming in at $359 million. In 2026 and 2027, growth is expected to accelerate into the double digits again.

CareTrust REIT paid shareholders $172 million in dividends last year for a payout ratio of just 52%. This year, the projected $189 million in dividend payments should result in a payout ratio of 53%.

So the company generates nearly double the cash flow that it needs in order to pay the dividend. With FFO expected to continue to rise, the company should be able to keep raising the dividend, as it has every year since it began paying one in 2014.

CareTrust REIT has everything you want to see in a Perpetual Dividend Raiser. It has a stellar track record of annual dividend increases, it generates strong cash flow, and it has a low enough payout ratio to ensure that the dividend should remain intact even if the company hits an unexpected obstacle.

It’s no wonder the stock has performed so well over the past several years.

CareTrust REIT’s dividend is very safe.

Dividend Safety Rating: A

What stock’s dividend safety would you like me to analyze next? Leave the ticker in the comments section.

You can also take a look to see whether we’ve written about your favorite stock recently. Just click on the word “Search” at the top right part of the Wealthy Retirement homepage, type in the company name, and hit “Enter.”

Also, keep in mind that Safety Net can analyze only individual stocks, not exchange-traded funds, mutual funds, or closed-end funds.

The post This REIT Continues to Reward Investors appeared first on Wealthy Retirement.

I covered the stock twice in 2024, giving it an “F” rating both times.

In January 2024, I wrote that it had “about as bad a dividend history as I’ve seen” and said the dividend was “at great risk of being cut.”

Then, in November, I called the dividend “extremely unsafe and a strong candidate for a cut.”

At the time, AGNC was coming off of a year with negative net interest income (NII), the measure of cash flow that we use for mortgage REITs. It was expected to post another negative number in 2024.

Instead, the company generated $18 million in positive net interest income. However, it paid out $1.2 billion in dividends.

That’s like if you made $18 and gave your buddy $1,200. You might be a hell of a friend, but it’s not smart or sustainable.

This year, net interest income should be much improved at over $600 million, but dividends paid are expected to be more than double that figure at over $1.3 billion.

AGNC has slashed the dividend three times over the past 10 years. The last one was in April 2020, right as the pandemic was kicking in. The $0.12 per share monthly payout that was established then has remained the same since. That track record shows us that management is willing to slash the dividend when necessary – and it certainly seems necessary now.

With three recent dividend cuts and an expected dividend payout that is still miles above the amount of net interest income the company generates, AGNC’s dividend remains very unsafe.

Dividend Safety Rating: F

What stock’s dividend safety would you like me to analyze next? Leave the ticker in the comments section.

You can also take a look to see whether we’ve written about your favorite stock recently. Just click on the word “Search” at the top right part of the Wealthy Retirement homepage, type in the company name, and hit “Enter.”

Also, keep in mind that Safety Net can analyze only individual stocks, not exchange-traded funds, mutual funds, or closed-end funds.

The post AGNC Investment Corp.: Can This 14% Yielder Finally Afford Its Dividend? appeared first on Wealthy Retirement.

Since then, the company has maintained its quarterly dividend at $1.90.

While the dividend has remained stable, the same can’t be said for the stock price. It’s been cut in half in the past year.

That has jacked the yield all the way up to 13.6%.

Can Innovative Industrial Properties keep paying this double-digit yield?

When we last evaluated the landlord to cannabis operators, it was steadily growing its funds from operations (FFO), which is the measure of cash flow used by REITs.

It was estimated that the company would bring in $250 million in FFO last year. Instead, FFO totaled $231 million. This is important – not because it fell short of the estimate, but because it was slightly lower than 2023’s figure of $232 million.

Lower FFO earns a company a one-grade penalty in the Safety Net model.

Making matters worse, FFO is forecast to decline again this year to $191 million.

That will cost Innovative Industrial Properties another point toward its Safety Net rating.

And the bad news continues… If the company’s FFO in 2025 is just $191 million, it won’t be enough to cover the expected $211 million in dividends. (I raise my payout ratio threshold from 75% to 100% for REITs, because they are required to pay out the vast majority of their earnings to shareholders. But even with the adjustment, Innovative Industrial’s 110% payout ratio is still too high.)

So that’s yet another downgrade.

Now, the company has boosted its dividend every year for nine straight years. That’s a solid track record that I’m sure it would like to extend. But it can’t afford to at the moment.

If Innovative Industrial Properties is able to get FFO growth moving in the right direction again, that would be a big plus. But until then, the dividend is at risk of being cut.

Dividend Safety Rating: D

What stock’s dividend safety would you like me to analyze next? Leave the ticker in the comments section.

You can also take a look to see whether we’ve written about your favorite stock recently. Just click on the word “Search” at the top right part of the Wealthy Retirement homepage, type in the company name, and hit “Enter.”

Also, keep in mind that Safety Net can analyze only individual stocks, not exchange-traded funds, mutual funds, or closed-end funds.

The post Innovative Industrial Properties Puts the “High” in High Yield appeared first on Wealthy Retirement.

The winner was Iron Mountain (NYSE: IRM), a real estate investment trust, or REIT, that’s focused on data management and storage.

The company pays a $0.785 per share quarterly dividend, which comes out to a 3.2% yield.

Is the dividend safe, or should investors consider getting off the mountain?

Since the company is a REIT, we’re going to use adjusted funds from operations (AFFO) as our measure of cash flow.

Over the past several years, Iron Mountain’s AFFO has been steadily growing. In 2024, AFFO totaled $1.3 billion, up from $1.2 billion the prior year. This year, AFFO is forecast to grow to $1.5 billion.

For most companies, I want to see a payout ratio of 75% of their cash flow or less.

However, with REITs, I am comfortable with a company paying out all of its cash flow in dividends. By law, REITs must pay 90% or more of their earnings in dividends, and they often exist for the purpose of paying dividends to shareholders. Therefore, they usually have higher payout ratios than a typical company.

Iron Mountain paid shareholders 59% of its AFFO in dividends in 2024. According to forecasts, the payout ratio should dip to 54% this year. So its payout ratio is healthy. As long as a REIT’s payout ratio is below 100%, I’m fine with it.

The company also has a solid dividend-raising track record.

It began paying a dividend in 2010 and has raised it every year since, except during the pandemic between 2020 and 2022. It began boosting the dividend again in 2023.

Iron Mountain doesn’t have the highest yield in the REIT space, but its dividend is reliable and growing. With increasing cash flow and a solid history of annual dividend raises (as long as there isn’t a pandemic happening), the company’s dividend has a very low risk of being cut in the near future.

Dividend Safety Rating: A

What stock’s dividend safety would you like me to analyze next? Leave the ticker in the comments section.

You can also take a look to see whether we’ve written about your favorite stock recently. Just click on the word “Search” at the top right part of the Wealthy Retirement homepage, type in the company name, and hit “Enter.”

Also, keep in mind that Safety Net can analyze only individual stocks, not exchange-traded funds, mutual funds, or closed-end funds.

The post Will Iron Mountain’s Dividend Keep Climbing? appeared first on Wealthy Retirement.

Despite the fact that I literally wrote the book on dividends, I find it sad that the then-richest man in the world only received pleasure from businesses distributing excess cash to shareholders.

That being said, I do love me some dividends – and all forms of passive income, really.

When I open my brokerage statement, the first thing I look at is not the account balance – it’s the income that has been earned and the projected income for the rest of the year.

I like a growth stock that goes to the moon as much as the next guy. But with those kinds of stocks, you have to do some babysitting: placing trailing stops, making sure you don’t give up too much of your gains, and worrying about them in bear markets. There’s a lot of hope involved.

Passive income strategies tend to have much lower risk and generate immediate income (rather than making you wait to cash in after the stock hopefully rises in the future), and the income can help offset downward moves during volatile markets like we’ve been experiencing lately.

Below are some of my favorite ways to pocket passive income:

Dividend Growth Stocks

Owning dividend growth stocks is an important strategy for not only generating income today, but also maintaining or increasing your buying power tomorrow. Whether inflation is high or low, prices rise over the years, and your income better keep up. Otherwise, your standard of living will suffer.

Stocks that have histories of raising their dividends every year will help you boost your buying power year after year.

Bonds

Bonds have become an increasingly important part of my portfolio.

When the market tanks, I don’t worry at all about my bond portfolio. That’s because I know that no matter what stocks are doing, my bonds are going to be just fine. They’re going to continue to pay me interest, and then at maturity, they will pay me $1,000 per bond, regardless of what I paid for them. If I paid $1,000, I get my money back. If I paid $950 or $900, then I make a profit on them in addition to the interest I’ve been paid.

The only way that doesn’t happen is if the company goes bankrupt. Otherwise, I get paid $1,000.

No stock can guarantee what its price will be on a specific date in the future.

I love the stability, predictability, and profitability of bonds.

Options

Many people think trading options is risky. And it can be – if you’re speculating with them.

But professional options traders make consistent money by selling options rather than buying them. Smart regular investors do the same.

There are various types of option trades that are considered conservative strategies because they minimize your risk and generate income, such as selling covered calls, selling naked puts, trading credit spreads, and others.

These strategies are easier than you think and can produce hundreds or even thousands of dollars in income in a few weeks or months, depending on your timeline and how much you invest.

Rental Real Estate

Renting out your properties certainly can come with headaches, but it’s often worth it. Not only do you generate income, but you also get tax write-offs, and someone else essentially pays down your mortgage.

If you are handy, it can be especially lucrative, as you won’t have to pay a handyman or plumber every time there’s a leaky pipe.

Turn That Frown Upside-Down

I am currently using dividend stocks, bonds, and options to generate income. I have owned rental real estate in the past, and I am looking to do so again if real estate prices drop.

I’m fortunate that I love my job and don’t mind working hard for my paycheck. But seeing that passive income come in every month definitely puts a smile on my face – maybe as big as John D. Rockefeller’s.

The post These Income Investments Will Make You Smile appeared first on Wealthy Retirement.

Looking at Dynex’s stock chart, we see quite an up-and-down ride. The shares climbed steadily from around $11 in October to nearly $14 in March, but then suffered a dramatic plunge back to $11 in April before partially recovering to around $12.24 today. This volatility reflects the sensitivity of mortgage REITs to interest rate expectations and market turbulence.

Dynex delivered mixed performance in the first quarter of 2025. The company reported comprehensive income of $14.4 million despite posting a net loss of $3.1 million. Book value per share slipped slightly to $12.56, down $0.14 from the previous quarter, resulting in a modest economic return of 2.6% for the quarter.

The company also maintained its monthly dividend of $0.17 per common share, which translates to an annual yield of over 16% at current prices.

Management is preparing for what they call a “more dynamic market.” In the first quarter, Dynex raised $240 million by issuing new stock while buying $895 million in residential mortgage securities and $55 million in commercial mortgage securities.

The company also increased its “to-be-announced” investments – which allow them to gain exposure to mortgage securities without immediately taking ownership – by $430 million. The company maintains solid financial flexibility, with $790 million in available liquidity and a leverage ratio – a key measure of how reliant a company is on borrowed money – of 7.4. (In other words, it’s borrowing $7.40 for every $1 of its own capital. That may seem like a lot, but it’s a reasonable number for a mortgage REIT.)

When we run Dynex through The Value Meter, we see that the stock’s enterprise value-to-net asset value (EV/NAV) ratio sits at 6.38, a bit higher than the average of 5.72 for similar companies.

Meanwhile, its free cash flow-to-net asset value (FCF/NAV) is 0.49% – better than the average of -0.65% for companies with similarly inconsistent cash flow. (Dynex has generated positive cash flow in just two of the last four quarters.)

While Dynex’s premium valuation might raise some eyebrows, its above-average cash flow generation helps justify the price. The company’s economic net interest income rose significantly from $18.8 million to $28 million in the first quarter, showing improving fundamentals despite market challenges.

The Value Meter rates Dynex Capital as “Appropriately Valued” – not a screaming bargain, but fairly priced for investors seeking high dividend income from a company that’s actively positioning for changing market conditions.

What stock would you like me to run through The Value Meter next? Post the ticker symbol(s) in the comments section below.

The post Dynex Capital: Is This 16% Yielder a Bargain After the Recent Volatility? appeared first on Wealthy Retirement.

Editor’s Note: Today, I’m excited to announce the latest addition to the Wealthy Retirement website: a new-and-improved commenting system that will allow you to share your thoughts, ask questions, submit Safety Net and Value Meter requests, and interact with your fellow readers like never before!

After you read today’s Safety Net, be sure to check it out below!

– James Ogletree, Managing Editor

In June of 2022, I reviewed the dividend safety of Annaly Capital Management (NYSE: NLY). I warned investors, “If you own Annaly, expect another dividend cut within the next year or two.” At the time, the quarterly dividend was $0.88 per share. Nine months later, it was lowered to $0.65.

It stayed there through all of 2023 and 2024. Then, this year, it was raised to $0.70 in the first quarter.

Now, with a juicy 16% yield, has Annaly turned the corner back toward dividend growth?

Annaly Capital Management is a mortgage real estate investment trust, or REIT, that focuses on individual residences. It has an $81 billion portfolio that has financed more than 900,000 homes.

Net interest income is the cash flow metric that we look at for mortgage REITs. Annaly’s is not good. It’s been falling like a stock market in the face of new tariffs (too soon?).

Last year, net interest income rose to $248 million from -$111 million the year before. But that was still a fraction of the nearly $1.5 billion the company made in 2022. This year, net interest income is expected to be nearly cut in half to $130 million.

An even bigger problem is that Annaly pays out about $1.5 billion in dividends each year, but it hasn’t generated that much cash flow in several years. It can’t afford its dividend.

Making matters worse, Annaly has a notorious reputation of being a dividend cutter, with multiple reductions in the past 10 years (and even more if you go back further).

Management has proven that when the going gets tough, they cut the dividend.

Given the company’s history of lowering its dividend and the fact that net interest income doesn’t come close to paying for the current $0.70 per share quarterly dividend, I’ll repeat what I said in 2022.

If you own Annaly, expect another dividend cut within the next year or two.

Dividend Safety Rating: F

What stock’s dividend safety would you like me to analyze next? Leave the ticker in the comments section.

You can also take a look to see whether we’ve written about your favorite stock recently. Just click on the word “Search” at the top right part of the Wealthy Retirement homepage, type in the company name, and hit “Enter.”

Also, keep in mind that Safety Net can analyze only individual stocks, not exchange-traded funds, mutual funds, or closed-end funds.

The post Will History Repeat Itself for Annaly Capital? appeared first on Wealthy Retirement.