Chris’ note: All eyes are on the midterms. And although our beat is money, not politics, it’s often hard to separate the two. Especially with the media pumping out all sorts of nonsense about the results and what they mean for markets.
That’s why, today, you’ll hear from friend of Legacy Research Brad Thomas. He’s one of America’s most widely followed income investing experts. And he’s warning against the “sure thing” investing themes the media wants you to believe.
Instead, he’s urging folks to use today’s choppy market to build reliable income streams. And below, he shares the name and ticker of his favorite way to do that.
It’s midterm Election Day in the U.S.
That means it’s the last day for Americans to cast their ballots to determine who will have control of congress for the next two years.
And politicians are tripping over themselves promising the sun, moon, and stars.
They want us to believe every election is the “most important in history”… and will lead to sweeping changes.
But we know by now that this kind of rhetoric is almost always overblown.
The same is true for the coverage of elections in the mainstream financial press.
It wants you to believe the results will crush some industries and send others soaring.
And that’s only natural.
Folks in the media earn their money from advertisers. And advertisers want engagement. These extreme narratives may keep you from switching the channel.
But as I’ll show you today, investing in “sure thing” election themes tends to be a losing strategy.
So regardless of how you cast your vote, don’t make drastic changes to your portfolio… or sell out of fear.
No matter the outcome, history suggests we’ll see a boost to stocks when the dust settles.
In the past, conventional wisdom had people believing the following “sure thing” election themes…
-
Sure Thing No. 1: President Obama would be great for green energy.
Reality: Green energy stocks fell 90% during his administration.
-
Sure Thing No. 2: Obamacare would kill private health insurance.
Reality: Insurance companies rallied 10x over the 10 years after he signed the Affordable Care Act into law.
-
Sure Thing No. 3: President Trump would be wonderful for infrastructure stocks and energy.
Reality: Energy got crushed. Trump didn’t pass an infrastructure bill.
-
Sure Thing No. 4: President Biden would be terrible for energy stocks.
Reality: Energy has been the best-performing sector since his election, due to factors that have nothing to do with politics.
Investing in these “sure things” would have been a disaster for your wealth.
Why?
Because the world is more complex than politicians or the media like to admit.
And letting our personal politics skew our market outlook is almost always a mistake.
So what’s the bottom line for your portfolio?
Since 1950, the average 12-month post-midterm market rally is 16%.
That’s going by figures from financial services firm State Street.
Over the last 18 elections, stocks posted gains within 12 months of midterms 100% of the time.
Investors hate uncertainty more than anything else. And after the results, uncertainty fades.
So a diversified portfolio of blue-chip stocks should do well over the coming year.
And you can do even better by focusing on stocks that pay you a rising stream of income in the form of dividends.
Dividends are regular income payouts companies make to shareholders.
And plenty of companies are rewarding shareholders with dividend increases.
I know because I’ve built my career on stocks that pay reliable, growing income streams.
I call it SWAN investing. That’s because it helps my subscribers and me sleep well at night. We know no matter what the stock market does, we’ll have a steady flow of cash coming into our accounts.
It’s the best way I know to become financially free.
You’ll hear folks with all sorts of definitions for what it means to have financial freedom.
But to me, it means my passive income is higher than my expenses in retirement.
REITs (real estate investment trusts) are my favorite way to build financial freedom.
They trade like a regular stock on a public exchange. They own income-producing real estate. And they pay out the rents they collect to shareholders.
To qualify as a REIT, a company must pay out at least 90% of its taxable income to shareholders in dividends. Most pay out 100% of their net income to shareholders.
They’re pass-through businesses. This means they’re not subject to corporate income tax, which eats up 21% of regular companies’ profits.
And thanks to the bear market, you can invest in REITs today with dividend yields of 4%, 5%, 6%, and higher.
Even better, real estate is a great inflation hedge.
As inflation goes up, landlords raise their rents. This increases the income REITs earn on their properties… and the dividends they pay to investors.
My favorite REIT right now is Realty Income (O).
It owns more than 11,000 properties across America and Europe. And its tenants are recession-resistant businesses. These include grocery stores, convenience stores, and dollar stores.
Realty Income sends its shareholders dividend checks every month. And it’s trademarked the name The Monthly Dividend Company® to reflect that.
Right now, it carries a dividend yield of 4.7%.
And it has a tradition of raising its dividend every three months.
Realty Income recently announced its 100th straight quarterly dividend increase. That’s 25 years of increasing income.
I’m willing to bet it’ll keep growing for the next 25 years and beyond.
So no matter the media narratives coming out of the midterms, your best bet is to tune out.
Realty Income… and other best-in-breed REITs… will continue paying rising streams of income, no matter who’s in control on Capitol Hill.
And if the stock market rallies over the next 12 months, you’ll get extra oomph from a rising share price.
Happy SWAN (sleep well at night) investing,
Brad Thomas
Editor, Intelligent Income Daily
P.S. REITs have been around through all kinds of political environments. And they’ve produced reliable and increasing income for shareholders through it all.
They also helped me make back my millions after I lost nearly everything as a real estate developer in the 2008 financial crash. To access my list of the best REITs to boost your portfolio coming out of the midterms, go here.