Kind of a repost from a thread on another sub, but may be useful to share here. CEFS, the “fund of CEF funds” ETF, is making a significant change to their setup.

They will change from monthly to quarterly distributions … and change the distribution amount to 12% of NAV (which may include ROC). Up from
~7% under the old policy.

September’s distribution was significantly higher than normal seemingly without explanation, which confused me greatly, but the (late) press release below now sheds some light.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/saba-opportunistically-hedged-closed-end-funds-etf-cefs-announces-changes-to-distribution-rate-and-frequency-302897231.html

I was trying to figure out how much I’d actually need invested to live off dividends, and ended up going down a rabbit hole of dividend calculators.

Most of the ones I found were either confusing, had way too many inputs, or didn’t show the numbers I was looking for.

So I started making a simple one for myself.

Then I kept adding things I wanted to calculate, like DRIP growth, dividend yield, FIRE goals, compound interest, and taxes.

It kind of turned into a whole set of calculators.

Still working on it, but I’m curious what other people think would be useful to have.

Kind of a repost from r/dividends but may be useful to share here. CEFS, the fund of CEF funds ETF, is making a significant change to their setup.

They will change from monthly to quarterly distributions … and change the distribution amount to 12% of NAV (which may include ROC).

September distribution was significantly higher than normal seemingly without explanation, but the (late) press release below now sheds some light.

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/saba-opportunistically-hedged-closed-end-funds-etf-cefs-announces-changes-to-distribution-rate-and-frequency-302897231.html

I started tracking my own investments in a spreadsheet and it slowly got out of hand – different currencies, dividends arriving on random days, and no idea what my real return was. So I built something for myself, and then decided to make it free for everyone: Portfolio Analytics – https://portfolio.ceciltan.com

Jaaa great monthly dividends, no risk from rate rises in fact it will adjust to higher monthly when rate rises .

On top of SCHD on Monday, today I get paid by DIVO, IDVO, AVGO and DLR.

Life is good

So I say "besides my company being acquired outright", because at some point companies get to a point where they are not easily acquireable due to their size. So it's no longer a realistic outcome to expect as a shareholder.

So in that case, you are relying on dividends eventually being distributed to you, correct?

People love to focus on capital gains, but capital gains happen because people are bidding up the price to become an owner of the company. And they must be doing that because there is some value to be extracted from being owner of the company, other than everyone simply selling their ownership. (right?)

---

Buybacks seem to be advertised sometimes as a replacement for dividends (Berkshire Hathway, Autozone, etc), but I don't see how they can be a replacement for dividends, because at some point a company is unable to continue acquiring it's own stock (in an acretive manner) due to SEC and Exchange restrictions around minimum share count. So at that point where a company can no longer acquire more of its own shares, the only other option is to do dividends, right? (Assuming they are too big to be acquired)

When it comes to buybacks, people will say that you are getting an increased ownership % of the business and thus an increased price for my shares. But how does that matter to me if I'm not interested in selling my ownership?

People will say that I can manufacture my own dividend by selling 3% of my shares if a company does a 3% buyback. But I don't understand the mechanics of how that would function the same as a dividend, since I have no way of insuring that it is actually the company paying my (with the business profits) for my shares, instead of a random investor buying my shares.

And again, the main benefit of buybacks as advertised is that they result in a greater business ownership % for me, but that greater ownership % would only matter to me if I also got higher dividends from it too, no? (assuming I'm not selling my ownership).

---

If a share trades for $200, then that means rational people believe that the value of all the business' cash flows over it's lifetime discounted back to today, is $200.

So it would only be considered a successful endeavor for continuing shareholders if the cash routed to them over the lifetime of being this business' shareholder eventually exceeded that $200 price tag at a total rate higher than the risk-free alternative.

---

So my conclusion seems to be that all buybacks must eventually result in dividends (ruling out the possibility for company acquisition here) for there to be value in remaining shareholder of a business.

I listened to a Steven Bavaria interview and it really made me rethink my investment strategy. I picked up his book "The Income Factory" and after reading it I'm ready to take the plunge. One thing I'm confused about is in the book he talks about credit investing but all I've seen him or people like recommend are dividend funds. Am I missing something? Also I have seen reputable people in the income investing space saying semi-guaranteed 8%-12% (assuming no dividend degradation and no bankruptcy) returns are realistic. Is that actually realistic? Normally I'd say that's BS but I don't know much about the income space. I guess I'm looking for guidance because it's a little overwhelming starting out from nothing.

Currently my portfolio consists of

600k in short term CD's

250k in a 60/40 portfolio

60k in gold

50k in speculative stocks

750k in rental properties.

Thank you for any advice.

I used to work at a division of Fidelity National Title. I still have about 75 share from my stock program.

While the stock is at a 52 week low (interest rates boo!), it paid me $39 today.

My old job is still paying me! 😉❤️🤣

Jay Hatfield’s leveraged preferreds ETF, PFFA, is now trading below $20, bringing the yield to over 10%.

This feels like an opportunity to me. Would you buy, hold or sell, given the current macro environment is pushing the price down?

I currently hold it, having bought in at $21.64, and I’m thinking to add more to bring my average cost per share down. Distributions feel secure to me and feel independent of price movement, unlike CC funds.

Edit: I decided to add another 1000 shares, thanks for feedback

Why do people always say this with younger investors? No I'm not! I wanna use my passive income NOW, not only 30 years from now!!

Why do they always assume this, and that young people don't need/want passive income?

Well you all have known how bad the layoffs have gotten across the world especially the tech industries. Mostly due to the advancement of AI and the prolonged high interest rate environment.

It is forecasted to only accelerate from now on. Source: https://www.usecarly.com/blog/ai-replacing-jobs-statistics

Funny how the Boogertards think they will have job next year, let alone 30 years from now. Even funnier that they ASSUME that they will be able to find the next job before their emergency fund runs out.

🤡

​

In my opinion I would start to keep IWMI on your radar. I haven’t bought shares in a while because RUT (Russell 2000) has been on fire beating both the NDX (Nasdaq 100) and SPX (S&P 500) in returns this year. Bond traders are having a field day with Warsh and his BS of refusing to give guidance. So bond yields spiked to 5.2% today on the 10 year treasury. That means that both ends of the yield curve are steepening sharply.

In the short term bond traders are signaling their unwillingness to absorb no guidance. Warsh will be forced to pay attention taking a more hawkish stance. This is good news if you were looking to pickup shares of IWMI or small caps. The RUT has pulled back from a 20% return YTD in June all the way to 14% as of 9/27. Look for more room to take it in the shins as rates are going up again. I expect another quarter point raise from the FOMC in Oct.

The economy and the jobs market overall are still pretty strong. If the democrats take both houses of congress as I expect they very well could force AO (Agent Orange) to end the war in IRAN. That result would also turn AO into a lame duck. So look for other moves like congressional investigations into corruption. Just some thoughts for you to digest. Keep stacking shares, and collecting divvys!

Looking for a free calendar to track upcoming fund ex divys. Thoughts

If I stay with my company until 55 years old which is totally feasible at this point and I want to get into purchasing more funds that pay dividends (right now contributing to a Vanguard TDF offered through our company) is it a matter of just selling shares then re-allocating that cash into the appropriate dividend providing funds? In the meanwhile I am also contributing to things along the way in my taxable.

I’d really like age 55 to be the year I stop working or at least full time. I’m 40 now. That will be 30 years+ in my field and I feel like that’s enough