Many investors lost money over the past couple of years, but the endowments at prestigious universities suffered even worse. Investment performance at Harvard and Yale "badly trailed" the results at the average college, as The Wall Street Journal so delicately put it. I'm shocked -- but not because of these endowments' lackluster returns.
With exotic strategies and illiquid investments, Princeton registered a 24% loss in 2009, while Cornell took a 26% hit, and Harvard suffered a 27% drop. Compare those losses to the 18% drop for the median large endowment. Worse yet, many such institutions fund their operating expenses with the capital from endowments like these. If they don't generate capital gains, they may be forced to cut budgets and slash salaries.
So what?
Rather than relying on capital gains to sustain our own budgets, we need to seek additional safety in the power of ever-increasing dividend streams. With such a strategy, you'll never have to float debt in order to avoid whittling down your principal. Princeton only wishes it could say the same.
The companies below provide a dividend yield at least as high as that of the S&P 500 (about 2%), and they've grown their dividends at more than 5% per year over the last half-decade:
|
Company |
Trailing Dividend Yield |
5-Year Avg Annual Dividend Growth Rate |
FCF Payout Ratio |
Sustainable Dividend Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Coca-Cola |
3.1% |
9.9% |
56.7% |
14.4% |
|
McGraw-Hill |
3.1% |
7.9% |
21.9% |
31.5% |
|
Unisource Energy |
4.7% |
14.2% |
58.1% |
8.8% |
Source: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's. Sustainable dividend growth assumes constant payout ratio.
Coca-Cola has increased its dividend payments almost 10% over the past five years, and its sustainable dividend growth rate is even higher. Its solid dividend performance is one reason I call Warren Buffett, a huge owner of Coke shares, a closet dividend investor. McGraw-Hill has also increased its dividend respectably over the past five years, and it has a much higher sustainable dividend growth rate, partly because its low payout ratio gives it room to ramp up its payout. Unisource Energy has the highest yield of the three, and its dividend growth rate over the past five years is the highest, but its sustainable dividend growth rate suggests that it may have to slow its payout growth in the future.
These are a handful of the thousands of public companies that can help you secure a third income for life. If you'd like to see which others make the cut, try Income Investor free for the next 30 days.
