Can a stock market investment substitute your employment income? Probably not. However, it can complement your employment income by giving back 6-8% of your investments annually from the next month of investing. With investments, it is said that good returns come to those who stay invested. And that is true. Having a bad experience of losing money in one stock does not mean all other stocks are bad. It means you need to diversify your portfolio and manage risk.
Some companies may slash dividends. From large caps to small caps, from the resilient energy sector to the volatile lending sector, every business is prone to the risk of losses and dividend cuts. However, avoiding stocks is no solution, as bank deposits have a bigger risk of depleting your wealth by not growing with inflation.
Three ultra-high-yield stocks
A middle ground is to invest in super-safe dividend stocks that have a well-diversified cash flow. You should also invest in more than one company to ensure losses from one stock are offset by profits from another. Here are three stocks to help you build a monthly dividend portfolio.
Timbercreek Financial
The short-term mortgage lender Timbercreek Financial’s (TSX:TF) stock fell 4.9% after it reported weaker-than-expected third-quarter earnings. Its business model is to lend money to real estate investment trusts (REITs) and earn from interest and processing fees. The high interest rates encouraged many REITs to repay the loans and not take new ones. Moreover, some loans reached stages two and three of recovery.
While Timbercreek Financial enjoyed a high-interest income in 2023, a lower loan portfolio in the first half reduced its profit. Lower profits inflated the distributions to 101.9% of the earnings per share. Such numbers led to a dip in the stock price. However, the lender expects the loan activity to pick up in the coming quarters, which could help it increase its net income and sustain its monthly dividend payouts.
REITs
Balancing Timbercreek Financial’s high-risk are low-risk distributions from CT REIT (TSX:CRT.UN) and Slate Grocery REIT (TSX:SGR.UN). Both are retail REITs with resilient rental income.
CT REIT’s rental income is more secure as it gets this income from its parent Canadian Tire, which occupies more than 90% of stores leased by the REIT. It has eight years of weighted average lease term, and 99% of its debt is interest only. This means that REIT’s rental income has been stable for eight years — a testament to its stable funds from operations (FFO) is that the REIT paid out only 75% of its FFO as distributions even after increasing them by 3%.
Slate Grocery REIT also has a secure rental income as most tenants are grocers. In retail, grocers tend to be sticky as they can attract footfalls. Many other retailers open their stores near grocers to get customers. Slate Grocery, a pure-play grocery REIT, thrived during the pandemic, with high inflation and interest rates. It enjoys a stable occupancy rate of 94.6%. However, its net income fell in the third quarter as the fair market value of the properties fell. It did not hamper its dividend-paying capacity, and it paid out 90.7% of its adjusted funds from operations as dividends.
Invest $15,000 in stocks and earn $97 per month for several years
You can consider investing $5,000 in each of the above three stocks and get $1,164 a year, or $97 per month, in dividends. At this rate, 13 years of dividends could return you $15,000 while your initial $15,000 investment remains intact.
Stock | Dividend Yield | Current Share Price | Share Count | Total Dividend in 2024 |
Timbercreek Financial | 8.91% | $7.74 | $646.00 | $445.74 |
CT REIT | 6.09% | $15.19 | $329.00 | $305.97 |
Slate Grocery REIT | 8.21% | $14.80 | $338.00 | $412.36 |
You can either use this money or invest the dividend income in other opportunities. If you invest through a Tax-Free Savings Account, consider investing the $1,164 annual payout in risky stocks with higher growth potential, such as Hive Digital Technologies.