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 Average Annual Dividend Growth Rate |
FCF Payout Ratio |
Sustainable Dividend Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
CNOOC |
2.9% |
34.7% |
46.5% |
16.3% |
|
VF Corp. |
3.1% |
17.4% |
23.9% |
8.1% |
|
Foot Locker |
4.2% |
16.1% |
40.3% |
(0.9%) |
Source: Capital IQ, a division of Standard & Poor's. Sustainable dividend growth assumes constant payout ratio.
CNOOC has increased its dividends substantially over the past five years, but its sustainable growth rate and the portion of its free cash flow going to dividend payments suggest that it may not be able to sustain that same enormous growth rate in the future. Things still look good there, though.
VF Corp. has also plumped its dividend quite a bit over the past five years, but its sustainable growth rate is also lower than its past growth rate. Still, its payout ratio sits at a manageable level. Foot Locker offers the highest dividend yield of the three and solid past growth, but its negative sustainable dividend growth ratio suggests that it may have reached a high point for its dividend.
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.
