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“Once You Grab Your First Payday, You’ll Never Put Your Money in a CD Again”

By Travis Johnson, Stock Gumshoe, November 21, 2013

I write about Bryan Perry’s Cash Machine every now and again — he’s generally focused on high-yield stocks, and he has pitched a variety of them over the years, from telecoms to MLPs to BDCs, anything that sports a nice, high payout.

This time around, though, he made a promise that caught my attention — here’s what he said:

“Once You Grab Your First Payday, You’ll Never Put Your Money in a CD Again

“That’s because you’ll not only be getting over 10 times more money than a 1-year CD, but you’ll also know that your money will be equally as safe.

“This is why Wall Street’s biggest insiders are already in on this deal!”

Your money will be “equally as safe” as in a 1-year CD? Either he’s got a wildly pessimistic opinion about the FDIC and it’s ability to guarantee the value of your Certificate of Deposit down at the bank, or he’s on to something remarkable. Or, of course, he could just be, well, exaggerating.

And frankly, we’re a bit short on time here at HQ today so I’m going to make this quick: No way is this investment as safe as a CD if “guaranteed return of capital” is what you mean by safety. I can tell that even without telling you the name of the stock just yet, because he lets slip a few paragaphs later that he’s teasing a Business Development Company (BDC), which is basically like a pass-through small business lender — they borrow money cheap at short term rates, including money from the government’s funding for small business loans, and they lend it out at much higher rates to small and mid-size companies. They have similar tax status to REITs or MLPs, which is why they have such high payouts — they pass the tax obligation on to shareholders and don’t pay any corporate tax (so these, like REITs, can be appealing choices for retirement accounts — particularly ROTH IRAs, since that income will then either never be taxed or can accumulate tax-deferred for years … MLPs, for a variety of other reasons, are not generally good choices for an IRA if you have a taxable account handy).

There are all kinds of BDCs out there, we’ve had a bit of an explosion in the marketplace for these tax-pass-through investments in recent years, but there aren’t any of them that I’d say are “safer than a CD”. Which one, though, is Perry teasing?

Here are our clues:

“I’ve sent you this special message to tell you about a little-known income investment my readers and I own that pays 11.6% annually — and that is legally required by the government.”

OK, I Can’t let that frequently used bit of tease go by without comment: “Legally required by the government” means they have to pay out dividends if they make money — BDCs are required to distribute at least 90% of their taxable income to investors, so it’s very much subject to their operating performance, they are not “required by the government” to keep paying out a specific dollar figure, or to pay out a rising amount, it’s a function of their income and can go down or be suspended. BDCs in general can, and have, cut their distributions dramatically on occasion when their income dropped.

More from Perry:

“This Is Why the Vanguard Group Owns Over 3 Million Shares…

“…and will be collecting their own $331,909 payday this month, along with us, BlackRock, UBS and the some of the biggest hedge funds and institutional investors on the planet….

“all they are doing — I repeat, all they are doing — is parking their money in this high-yield business development fund, that pays you 11.6%, and laughing all the way to the bank!

“This is why Blackrock’s, State Street’s, and UBS’ profits have been shooting through the roof as income investors have seen their monthly payouts decrease.

“By simply enrolling in this fund, as I’ll show you in your free online report, you’ll finally be able to enjoy the same kind of fat government-mandated payouts that hedge funds and institutional investors have enjoyed for years, and bank an easy 11.6%, too.”

Then Perry explains BDCs a bit:

“Frankly, they use a modified version of the 3-6-3 rule that bankers have been living on for centuries: Pay 3% on deposits. Earn 6% on loans. Be on the golf course by 3 o’clock every afternoon.

“Only BDCs make a whole lot more money on the spread. How?

“By borrowing directly from the government’s own pay window at record low rates while lending the money to cash-starved start-ups that need the money to grow their businesses.

“What’s more, because of the guaranteed nature of these investments, the government not only grants BDCs preferential tax treatment for making these business loans, but also passes the corporate tax benefits directly to investors.

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“As if that weren’t exciting enough, BDCs also get to take a management-like stake in the companies they lend money to, to make sure they’ll get paid back.”

And a few more tidbits:

“Northern Trust owns nearly 4 million shares… why BlackRock Fund Advisors owns almost 11 million shares… and many other BIG NAME Wall Street insiders are ALL IN in on this deal.”

Now, don’t take it too seriously when newsletters pitch these stories about institutions owning huge chunks of the shares of their favorite stock. Institutions like these own huge chunks of almost every stock in the market, and often these are simply mutual fund managers who hold a large number of the shares across dozens of funds. There’s no reason to believe that Northern Trust or Vanguard has singled this out as the best income investment available … who knows, those same funds and institutions probably own similar chunks of many of the BDCs.

And then we get one last little hint about our stock of the moment:

“Join me now at Cash Machine and grab my little-known, high-income play now before it goes ex-dividend on November 26, 2013.”

So … 11.6% yield from a BDC, ex-dividend on November 26, and our littany of specific institutional owners and their position sizes … feed all that into the Mighty, Mighty Thinkolator and we learn that this must be… Prospect Capital (PSEC)

Which is not quite the highest-yielding BDC out there … but it’s the highest-yielding of the really big BDCs, this has a market capitalization of over $3 billion and is several times larger than most of the 10%+ yielders. I’m pretty sure that the only two larger BDCs are the better-known Ares Capital (ARCC), which bought the ashes of pioneer Allied Capital, and American Capital (ACAS).

In terms of “safety” PSEC has actually been quite a bit more stable than many of the BDCs over the years — it fell much less than those two more familiar names during the 2008-2009 financial crisis (meaning PSEC dropped only 50% or so — some BDCs fell 90%), and it has a “beta” much closer to the overall market than the average BDC, meaning it moves about as wildly as the S&P, on average.

And it does go ex-dividend for their next monthly distribution on November 26 — though it’s a monthly dividend payer, so don’t get all hot and bothered about buying it in order to get that next dividend, there will be another one, probably the same size, in the following month. The monthly payout is current 11 cents, and the stock has moved 11 cents just today, so it makes sense to take your time and understand the stock rather than rush in to get a dividend check.

Is this BDC any good? Well, they don’t look dramatically overlevered (debt is less than equity), and analysts think they’re not growing — so the consensus seems to be that they’re going to keep churning out the same payment and that yield will be pretty much all you get. BDCs and REITs and all such income-focused investments are quite sensitive to interest rates and to perceptions about future interest rate changes, both because they compete with bonds in investors’ minds and because they’re levered entities who live on the spread between their borrowing cost and their lending income, so you’ll see them react sometimes violently to sentiment shifts among Federal Reserve pundits. For that reason, I’d guess that we’ll probably see dips in price again before too long, as we have over the past year, but I can’t really predict such things.

I don’t know PSEC or any of the other individual BDCs particularly well, other than being quite familiar with their meltdown during the financial crisis, they do offer an investor presentation on their website here if you want to familiarize yourself with the company. And other than that, I’ll leave it in your capable hands — sound like the kind of investment you might like? Have other high-yielders that you prefer? Let us know with a comment below.

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Ron Homan
Guest
Ron Homan
November 21, 2013 4:16 pm

I own PSEC but not for long enough to judge it yet. For the year I’ve held it it has been fine. I will probably put more money into it, as well as TICC, ARCC, and MAIN. Possibly also into HRZN and GLAD. I still have AINV but am very leery of it after it cut its payout in 2008 and 2011.

jay_
Irregular
jay_
November 21, 2013 4:59 pm

I like BBEP, VNR, HTGC, TICC, BKCC amongst various others.

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kevin donohue
Member
kevin donohue
November 21, 2013 5:04 pm

Thank you very kindly and very much for your timely revelation of Louis Nevalliere’s reco on Santarus.Was able to get a number f clients as well as myself (Thank you,Lord) into the stock just before the buyout………..Thank you,again and God bless you………………Kevin Donohue

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pcolajoe
pcolajoe
November 21, 2013 5:53 pm

Well it is kind of hard to buy a CD when you can do so much better with stocks. Best to be conservative, and not to try and get rich quickly! Also, look at overall return. A stock going up with a low dividend (say less than 4% like MMP) can pay overall 25 to 50 percent a year, while one with a high dividend of 10 percent will not approach that figure. Also it is more comfortable when the stocks you own are going up.

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ctorti
November 21, 2013 7:28 pm

I bought PSEC on August 29 and over that time it is up 4.47%, but I own it for the dividend yield, not the price performance. As long as they can keep paying their dividend I’m fine with them.

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cecilpatterson
cecilpatterson
November 21, 2013 7:35 pm

As always, Travis, thanks for the report. I bought PSEC two and a half years ago, when its trade price was $11.83 and its dividend was $1.21, with a yield of 10.27%. I have received steady dividends to the tune of $2.92 per share (total), with another dividend due soon. Today, PSEC closed at $11.44 – down slightly from my purchase price, but the dividend is now $1.33, for a current yield of 11.62% and a yield on cost of 11.24%. If I reduce my cost basis by the dividends received, the current return is 14.9%. I also own AGNC, NLY, ANH, AI, and a few other BDC’s, but overall, PSEC has held its value better. I also dabble in some of the growth stocks mentioned, but I am at that point where steady income is more important than growth.

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Quincy Adams
Guest
Quincy Adams
November 21, 2013 8:12 pm

I recently bought PSEC, but not because of Mr. Perry’s rec. No way a Main-Streeter like me should own BDCs without a very tight stop. I owned Alliied Capital well before and during the crash. It went from $30 to $4 while I was waiting for Morningstar to figure out a “fair value”. (They might just as well saved their effort and called it zero–it would have been quicker and more accurate.) I sold Allied for 20 cents on the dollar. If Mr. Perry really believes these things are as safe as a CD, would someone please email him and have him send me a check for the 80% of the capital I lost, plus interest?

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rkatz0
Member
November 21, 2013 9:36 pm
Reply to  Quincy Adams

Hey Quincy, great hints at the kind of attention these sorts of positions require, and nice to see you are on with tighter stops this go around. Best regards.

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Andrea
Member
Andrea
November 22, 2013 12:52 pm
Reply to  Quincy Adams

read the stock charts,sale when they are going wrong direction,but buy when they bottom out

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katherine
katherine
November 21, 2013 8:48 pm

What would be a few good and stable REIT stocks worth owning?. I am always looking for a good place to park my annual ROTH IRA contribution. Just as an point of reference, can anyone point me in the right overall direction?

rkatz0
Member
November 21, 2013 9:39 pm
Reply to  katherine

The most stable REITs will be found in the Holdings of VNQ, however, you should calculate your risk and exposure, not sure you want to park 100% of your ROTH IRA contributions in REIT, much better (IMHO) to develop a target allocation and stick with it, there is a lot of helpful info and discussion about this at bogleheads. Best regards!

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jamespaul108
jamespaul108
November 22, 2013 12:03 am
Reply to  rkatz0

Katherine, be aware that in the 2007-2009 market downturn, VNQ was $83.94 in January 2007 and dropped to $23.18 in February 2009 (according to tdameritrade.com.

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Dave
Dave
November 21, 2013 11:40 pm

Could a current owner of PSEC describe how the div. income is taxed (in a taxable account), and what are the tax consequences of a capital gain when you sell? Is an accountant required to deal with it, or is it simple enough for mere mortals who use TurboTax? Thanks.

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John
Member
John
November 24, 2013 7:52 am
Reply to  Dave

I’m not an accountant nor do I play one on the web. Here’s their web page on divs.
http://www.prospectstreet.com/divs.aspx?IID=4092630&KeyFndg=149169

Per that web page, the divs have been a combination of qualified and non-qualified for years and sometimes include a return of capital. .

Eric
Member
Eric
November 22, 2013 2:28 am

More stable and higher yielding than this BDC is a very well respected mREIT (DX) Dynex Capital. Currently yielding around 13%. The comany is internally managed by very experienced execs who take a long term view to protect their investment in the company which is substantial. DX has paid an increasing dividend pretty much every yr since 1989. I’m fairly risk averse and in spite of what is said about MREIT’s I’m in with them for the long haul.

Sonny
Sonny
November 22, 2013 10:30 am
Reply to  Eric

DX stable? What happened on 1 Aug 2013?

rgs1
Member
rgs1
November 22, 2013 5:34 am

How do I invest through Bryan Perry, I live outside the USA and only have a few thousand to start.

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Myron Martin
Irregular
November 22, 2013 9:37 am

Interesting reading, but as a Canadian a lot of this stuff dosen’t apply. What stands out is that BDC’s are apparently HIGH RISK given their meltdown in adverse market conditions. What did stand out for me is Bryans quote of a bankers mantra as follows: ““Frankly, they use a modified version of the 3-6-3 rule that bankers have been living on for centuries: Pay 3% on deposits. Earn 6% on loans. Be on the golf course by 3 o’clock every afternoon.”

This FANTASY has been bandied about for what seems like centuries as well, even though it is a COMPLETE FICTION, well except maybe for being on the gold course by 3 o-clock!
As everybody knows, currently banks pay almost nothing for deposits and loans for major borrowers can be had for below 1%, so does anyone fall for the deception that bankers operate on similar margins to grocery stores? Give me a break, their top executives earn millions per year in salary, millions more in bonuses, they pay hundreds of millions in fines for their white collar crime without admitting liability, (described by many as a “licence to steal” write of hundreds of millions more on bad loans and they operate on a couple of % margin? Not happening, just another smoke screen thrown up by bankers. REALITY:
“every bank loan is a new creation of money, and when it bis paid back it ceases to exist” testimony under oath before the Canadian Parliament by its then Governor of the Bank of Canada, Graham Towers. Bryan, like most of the population is under the delusion that banks keep a 10% reserve of their deposits and loan out the other 90%, the theory being that this provides enough “FLOAT” to cover the average withdrawals. Clever disguise of how banking really works as articulated by Henry Ford who studied the matter in depth as I have, and is quoted as saying, “IF people in general understood how banking really works there would be a revolution by morning” because the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 should really be called the MONOPOLY Act of legalized counterfeiting. How it really works is that according to the TRUTHFUL testimony of Canada’s Central Banker in 1939, banks are “allowed” on the strength of deposits being reclassified as “RESERVES” (instead of the liabilities they actually are) to CREATE out of thin air, (a term much in vogue these days) up to 20 X in NEW MONEY for every dollar on deposit. REALITY, for every million a bank has in deposits, they can loan out $20. million in NEW MONEY, so rather than collecting interest on $900,000 as per the official version being put out as deceptive propaganda, the leverage in some institutions has been documented as high as 30 to 60% because loans in one institution become deposits in another as part of normal commercial transactions and are leveraged again several times over. This “Tower of Babel” is about to collapse and is really the “Mother of all Ponzi schemes” and if you still buy the official version of the banking monopoly then I suggest you read one of the best and most definitive books on the subject; “The Creature from Jekyll Island” by G.Edward Griffin where this nefarious plot of “perpetual debt” was hatched. NO, slavery has not been abolished, our fractional reserve banking system still has shackles on our feet and a rope around our necks.

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DANIEL
Guest
DANIEL
November 25, 2013 5:41 pm

Myron you forget to mention the bail-in wich Poland,Chiprus,Canada,Holland and G.Britain so farr agreed to sign,this will give the governments access to your savings and retirements in order to protect the financials system in the case of default,Change the TARPS for TRAPS.

Myron Martin
Irregular
November 26, 2013 11:52 am

Quite correct Daniel, and thank you for adding that additional information. Probably 95% or more of the population of major western nations like Canada and the U.S. are blissfully unaware of the economic typhoon bearing down on them that may well leave a path of economic destruction equal to the infrastructure levelling in the Philippines recently.

YES, TRAPS are being set for the uninformed and unwary, the powers that be will do virtually ANYTHING to preserve the status quo because it has been so lucrative for them, we are on our own in taking action to preserve our wealth and purchasing power. DEBT instruments are what will fall like a row of dominoes when the right catalyst comes along.

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loans and grants
Guest
February 2, 2014 8:06 pm

I’m definitely in the finance ccamp especially att this interest rate.
In 10 many years, youu can be absolutely surfe inflation is going to be muc higher than now aand
also the rent will goo up. I’ll srem at the numbers in more drtail tonight.
Good post. rwtirebyforty recently posted..Save Funds
With Craigslist

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Richard Addison
Guest
Richard Addison
November 24, 2017 10:02 pm

This is interesting. I have been here before, but could not consider PSEC, however now I think I should watch the stock more carefully, today at $6.80.
It’s just turning down and has been lower, but I think if it is possible to buy it may be best as a fully paid up keeper, not on a Contract For Difference (CFD), but then again who knows? I quite like the video on YouTube I’ve seen of Bryan Perry:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tepcT45qvWM

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