Ouch! Avoid the 67% Income Cut

Back in the 1980s, folks used to live off their dividend income.
But as yields have fallen, that’s gotten to be nearly impossible.
That changes this Friday.
Because one profitable American corporation is mailing out huge checks on Friday. And there’s still time to claim your $2,906 payment.
Go here to confirm your shipping address.
I grew up in a family that put a premium on saving money and making investments.
The genealogical logistics are kind of complicated but, despite only being in my late 30s, I spent my childhood surrounded by great-aunts and great-uncles who grew up during the Depression.
Benjamin Franklin may or may not have said, “A penny saved is a penny earned.” But if he did, my family would have made him proud.
When I was turning six years old, all I wanted for my birthday was a Teddy Ruxpin. I thought my Aunt Mary would get one for me.
I got 50 shares of Consolidated Edison (NYSE: ED) instead.
I’m not really the sentimental type, so those shares are about the only material thing I have left over from my childhood.
And they’ve deposited dividend income in my brokerage account every quarter – my last check was $37 – for more than 30 years now.
Not much, I know. But the dividend income really added up over the years and funded a lot of other stock purchases.
Aunt Mary lived off her dividend income for years – and lived pretty well.
She was always taking expensive trips, eating in nice restaurants and never seemed to want for anything.
If she were still around, she might have been struggling these days, though.
Back when Aunt Mary was gifting stocks in the mid-1980s instead of talking bears, the average dividend for a S&P 500 company was close to 6%.
Unfortunately, dividend yields have been steadily falling since then, though.
They’ve been more than cut in half over the past decade alone.
After spiking at nearly 4% in February 2009, dividend yields have been generally trending down ever since. And the only reason yields were high in 2009 was because stock prices had recently crashed!
The average yield on the S&P 500 is now just 1.9%.

I’m not sure Mary would be living so well these days. And you might be feeling the pinch, too.
Sure, you can chase after high yielders to make up the difference. But you’re taking more risk in the process.
The good news is that you don’t have to.
My colleague Steve Mauzy has unlocked the secret of Liberty Checks (go here to collect Friday’s $2,906 payment).
These payments are similar to dividends. They’re cash payments from some of America’s best – and most profitable – companies.
They’re completely legal.
And they come like clockwork about every 20 days or so.
All you need is a brokerage account and some cash to invest. And you can lock in yields like it’s 1986 again, without taking on huge risks.
If you’re like my Aunt Mary, you can even gift them to your nephews . . .
You just have to click here to collect Friday’s check for $2,906.
Here’s to Profits (and my Aunt Mary),
Ben Shepherd