September 2013 - The Dividend Ninja

SDY: A U.S. Dividend Aristocrat ETF

The following post was written by Ben Carlson from A Wealth of Common Sense. Reader Question: What are the best ETFs to invest in the U.S. Dividend Aristocrats? A reader asked this follow-up question in reference to the recent Hank Coleman post, What is a Dividend Aristocrat? The closest ETF to investing in the U.S. dividend aristocrats is the SDPR S&P Dividend ETF (ticker SDY). This ETF tracks the S&P High Yield Dividend Aristocrats Index (not to be confused with the Dividend Aristocrats Index). As a refresher, this index holds roughly 60 of the highest dividend yielding companies in the …

Are REITs a Buy?

by Ben Carlson

The following post was written by Ben Carlson at A Wealth of Common Sense. As interest rates have spiked higher since early May, many income producing investments have been hit hard. Higher interest rates act as competition for yield hungry investors. This is one of the main reasons why high yielding investments have sold off since the rise in rates began a few months ago. The 10 year treasury yield has increased by almost 1.3% since the lows of May. In that time, high yielding investments such as high-yield dividend stocks, preferred stocks, junk bonds and REITs (Real Estate Investment …