IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS: Greg has retired and is living the passive income dream! Please take a moment to click the "like" button to show your support for Greg. And, please make sure to "congratulate" him in the comments below. Last, please make sure to "subscribe" because part 2 of this epic video interview with Greg is on the way! HELPFUL RESOURCES: Greg shares his passive income portfolio over on Instagram. He's @thedividendmonster: instagram.com/thedividendmonster/ Just over 1 year ago, I first interviewed Greg here on PPC Ian. This was shortly before his early retirement. That video is a PPC Ian subscriber favorite, so please make sure to check it out here: ruclips.net/video/3Wbl8zQLSuA/видео.html In today's video, Greg mentions a book that helped shape his opinion on high-yield credit investments called "The Income Factory" by Steven Bavaria. I have not read this book yet, but look forward to checking it out soon! CHECK OUT MY PATREON: I'm sharing exclusive bonus content over on Patreon! I offer two tiers: Backyard Patreon and Corner Patreon. My Backyard Patrons see my stock trades, each accompanied by a blog post write-up. They also have access to 50 historical Patreon-exclusive videos. In addition to all Backyard Patron perks, my Corner Patrons also have access to my complete dividend stock portfolio (% allocation to each position) AND my complete bond portfolio (% allocation to each position). They additionally enjoy exclusive portfolio update videos, Corner Patreon virtual meet-ups, and more. Head on over to Patreon to join today: www.patreon.com/ppcian PPC IAN TWITTER: I'm always sharing fun updates on Twitter. Here's my dividend investing Twitter: twitter.com/ianlopuch PPC IAN INSTAGRAM: I'm sharing some great content over on Instagram. Check out my Instagram stories. I'm @ianlopuch: instagram.com/ianlopuch/ COOL DIVIDEND INVESTING MERCH: I offer some really amazing dividend investing merch that is sure to make you look and feel great. Each purchase supports my RUclips channel: teespring.com/stores/ppcian Thanks so much, everyone, for your support. I hope you enjoy the video today! (Disclosure and Disclaimer: Please see video description.)
Ian, I mentioned in months ago when in was .1808/month. Declared for 2023 is .1228/month. That is 21%, and you can reinvest at NAV, so a 20% discount. This restarts every year. I'm now 95% in this. The next RO is probable in June. Don't buy a lot, but get 9 shares. This will give you 3 rights at the RO.
Glad to hear Steven Bavaria's approach mentioned by Greg. It calls to mind another approach worth exploring: income generation on blue chip dividend stocks via options. That may have merit and provide a booster to conservative investors who concentrate on dividend aristocrats. It would be nice to get more income from those stalwarts who are core holdings for many of us.
I would love you to interview more people in the future, I know it is not your background but you are a natural interviewer! Interview people who have achieved fire, close to it, and people who have unique ways of doing it. Love the content please keep it up!
Thank you for your incredibly kind words!!! I really would like to do more interviews. They are so much fun, and they bring so much value to the channel (and, from a selfish standpoint, to me personally). I learned so much through this process, and am very thankful for Greg. Definitely plan to have more interviews in the future! Stay tuned for part 2 with Greg (will be out in about 1 week). Love this community, so many amazing people like Greg!
Thank you, my friend, for your longtime support! I really appreciate you. Thank you for being here since the early days. Wishing you an amazing holiday season!
Greg is the man. It made me change some things in my portfolio that will help in the future. It's always easy to hear from people who want to hypothetically retire, but harder to find people who created their path to retirement.
Completely agree! It is my honor to have Greg here on the channel because HE DID IT! He is "one of us" who actually achieved the dream. So much to learn from him, indeed.
Greg does not understand markets or financial risk. He invests into what he “thinks” will do well in the future and if you follow his advice you are simply parroting him. Read some Larry Swedroe Please
@@blackfiree91 there are kernels of wisdom in successful people views. I read the book which the foundation for his views. I'm a little bit more risk-averse so I only added a few closed-in funds to my portfolio.
Great discussion! I have about 30% growth ETFs, 20% blue chip, 50% REITS, mREITS, BDCs. My dividend income is about 40K annual. I am retired, but have not had to rely on dividends yet, so most everything is reinvested. I live in Mexico, which is less expensive to live than the states, and which allows me to live on Social Security alone. I bought my house here, so that helps a great deal in terms of what I pay in overall housing costs.
I think I speak for most people when I say, you don't have to sell early retirement or financial freedom. We know we want it. The how is the only thing we watch videos like this for.
Congratulations on you FIRE retirement Greg! Great interview to the both of you! Ian, I really liked your commentary at the bottom of the screen throughout the video. Thumbs up!
Congratulation Greg! 🎊 I have a question Ian, if you don't mind answering, what is your thoughts regarding company pension schemes x dividend investing,
Thank you for your very kind words, my friend! I appreciate your longtime support! God Bless America, indeed! For those who work hard/smart, there truly are great opportunities!
Always great to hear someone's strategy who has reached critical mass...and at such a young age! Congrats Greg and thanks to you for such a great interview.
Always appreciate your comments, my friend! Wishing you an amazing Holiday Season! (And, thankful for the opportunities I've had in the past to interview you!)
Ian you look very tired my friend. Please take care of yourself. My journey is a little different. As a young attorney I planned on retiring on rental income. At 34 I did and now age 58 my advice is to retire early from the daily grind but don't stop building your assets. Multiple sources of income are a necessity. I continued to invest in more rentals and as cash flow grew I invested in dividend stocks which have grown to a solid second income. Best of luck to all!
Great insights! Thank you for sharing! And, yes, you are very right. I have worked too hard this year, and need to try to slow down. My health is not where it was just 1-2 years ago. I agree that it’s a great idea to always keep building. FIRE can open so many doors, as well, to try different side hustles that might not work or “make sense” when fully employed.
Thoroughly enjoyed your journey, Greg. I am an 84 year old who shares your point of view and holds many of your core holdings and income producing assets. I am heavy on real estate income producing assets and bolster that income with dividend producing assets similar to your holdings. Looking forward to part w.
Great interview and congrats Greg! Sounds like Greg and I are very similar in how we invest and look at higher risk funds. I also invest in BDCs, closed end funds, MLPs, Reits, and high yield corporate bonds for income. We own similar funds in MAIN, PTY, and PDI. My guess is that we hold a lot more of the same funds. I tend to prefer monthly payers. I also like to hold high quality funds with a track record and try to have multiple different funds from different companies in various different accounts to mitigate risk. I use half of their dividends/interest to fund broad based S & P 500 and dividend funds, and I reinvest the other half. I go against the grain and hold a lot of these funds in my taxable account-just in case I would need the income in an emergency and just in case I want to retire early. Id rather pay short term capital gains on a fund that pays 10% vs long term capital gains on a total market fund that pays 1.5%. I know I will be sacrificing some growth. It’s nice to know that income is there if I need it. I can now pay my monthly mortgage payment with the income. I just have to plan a bit more for tax time. I’ve lost my tail on MMM, INTC, VZ, an Meta this year. I realize that no matter how much research you do, or how well you think you know a company, there are things you just can’t see coming. I loved Greg’s quote “I don’t want to be tethered to so many individual entities.” I’ve cut back from 30 individual dividend stocks to just 5. I’m sticking with dividend etfs from here on out. Looking forward to part 2, and thanks for the book recommendation👍
@@SteelHorse1015 I’ve kept a few individual stocks for the following reasons: 1. I’ve lost money and don’t want to sell at a loss, 2. I still believe in the companies despite their losses, and 3. They pay high enough dividends. I still own INTC, MMM, USB, VZ, T, META, and MO. So, I guess I still have 7 individual stocks. The others I’ve swapped out at a profit for tax exempt muni bond etfs, BDCs, covered call etfs, dividend etfs, S & P 500, etc. I really prefer getting paid monthly vs quarterly, and with bond prices beat up so much over the past 6 months, it seemed like a decent time to jump in.
Greg, the legend! Awesome guy & always appreciate his transparency and ability to share his knowledge! Very much so an inspiration for myself as well as many others in the divy community!
Thanks for your kind words! I completely agree! He has so much knowledge and inspiration to share. I especially like that his strategy is not exactly the same as mine. There are some differences, so he brings a very unique perspective to the channel and conversation here. Thanks again, Greg!
Great one Ian. Please consider doing one live interview on youtube. Love to have some interactive interview. Great job Greg and congratulations on FIRE.
This stuff is good, gives me hope. Im 40 with nothing but 2 months ago jumped into investing with my low income. I'm doing some stuff different like trying to seek out Quality High Interest Dividend Investing. I've already seen some small growth it's exciting
Thanks Ian, just started the video but was scrolling the comments and absolutely appalled at the amount of people saying he reired too early..wtf is wrong with people..there are a million things he can do now besides working..so many things I would love to do if lucky enough to retire at his age..thanks so much for sharing his story..its very inspiring
A lot of this interview resonnated with my own journey. Congratulations Greg for achieving you goal. But just a personal note the power of intention is real.
BST used to be my favorite closed end fund. That's no longer the case, but I'm still holding the position that I have for t he eventual tech rebound, however far off that may be. Currently I prefer credit CEFs that are earning their distributions through NII instead of funds that pay out LTCG like BST.
Fantastic Video - so happy to see more from Greg - I tend towards Gregs style but am older and have less money - he continues to be an inspiration!! Congratulations to Greg on 8 months of retirement!!
BIZD is a decent pick for people who don't want to pick individual BDCs. I prefer to cherry pick the top tier companies and I have them spread out in a couple different accounts as well.
Hey Ian. I absolutely love this. I am looking forward to part 2. I am interested to hear more specifically how taxes work for him. What he did and what in hindsight he has learned? Thank you for doing this interview. Amazing dude!
I hope to watch this soon. Just no time at the moment. I should be doing this but at age 60 I'm still investing like I'm much younger. Not all of us get smarter with age.
I have timestamps in the description to save you time, if you want to come back and just watch certain sections of the video. Wishing you all the greatest!
@@ppcian Thank You Ian. I think I'm a subscriber 1-2 years and was not on youtube a while but back to get truly good advice. You're both a businessman & dividend investor and I value that. I own 22 apartments, some good vacant land & a vanguard account. Zero debt except a manageable mortgage on apartments so after many rough years living on edge I'm ok but either farming out management or will just sell and pay the capital gain. Got through a heart attack 7 years ago and ready to jump out of the fire the next 1-2 years. Apartments are really the opposite of "passive". Over 20 years taught me that. All the best to you.
I love my Roth IRA, all holdings are monthly paying dividends, but I only use about 60%, 40% is reinvested. Sure helps in my retirement. Not looking for growth in value, looking for growth in monthly payments.
sounds great and ..well, naturally paced to retire..the addictions/over-consumption we have is mainly due to the fact that we don,t have the time to enjoy ..time.. buying gives us the only power we think we have..
Amazing interview Ian. I get worried with higher yielding single stocks. But a higher yielding indexed etf like JEPI feels "safer". I'd be curious on Greg's thoughts.
I own JEPI its the largest holding in my 401k currently and one of my largest holdings overall. As far as being concerned about higher yielding single stocks, other than tobacco and pipelines, my high yielders are mostly BDCs and while they are stocks, they function much more like credit entities as their revenues come from senior and floating rate loans to many (sometimes 100+) businesses. A single BDC is the same a closed end fun as they have the same structure. Hope that helps!
I don’t like closed end funds that have return of capital. I think that shows lack of management. I’m buying Preferred stocks that are cumulative and that is way under $25.00. Because I think most companies will not call the preferred under original price. If it gets over $25 I will sell it. Preferred stock will be paid before regular stocks. A dividend will be cancelled before a preferred stock. Dlr,Duk, Psec, are some companies preferred . LANDO ,Htibp, ozkap are the others. Looking into Dbrg-pj right now. Balance is the key to all holding.
This is a great question. In the USA, the two big contributions that most workers want to be mindful of are social security and medicare. Each pay period, typically, both the employer and employee contribute to social security and medicare. (Some jobs also offer pensions and/or retirement account plans such as the 401k Greg discusses in the video, that are employer-specific. And, some government jobs have their own pensions/retirement benefits with unique rules.) For those who are aiming to achieve social security/medicare benefits, it's important to accumulate sufficient credits. I found some info about it here on the SSA website: www.ssa.gov/myaccount/assets/materials/eligibility-for-benefits.pdf Overall, it looks like about 10 years of employment is required (if 4 credits are earned per year). Great question!
Ian, and Greg you guys are AMAZING! I greatly appreciated this wonderful interview, filled with so much real life encounters into FIRE mentality once finalized! Loved Greg's point of view of no regrets!:) Thank you both for putting this together! It was truly a great inspiration of where dividends & passive cashflows can take a person!:)
Now I have a whole lot more on my ToDoList…. Thanks Greg for all the inputs. I have to put some hours in to educate myself on the topics I’m not so familiar with. And the book is already bought ;-)
Nice job Ian. I always enjoy your videos and have been a big fan for over 2 years. I’d be game to swap interviews with you. I focus more on option trading with some dividend discussion. Let me know if you’re interested. Randy
Great story and achivement.I assume he is single,lives at home,and no kids I am guessing.Not taking his achievement from him.Just wish I was that smart at his age congrats.He is taking alot more risk than most but seems comfortable with it.I wish him the best of luck.
Hey Adam! If you really want to maximize your learning about BDCs, I suggest getting a premium membership on Seeking Alpha. There are several high yield communities dedicated to analyzing those entities.
Please check out link to Greg’s Instagram in the pinned comment. He shares his complete portfolio over there with monthly passive income updates. Some of the best dividend content on Instagram!
I bought the dip on GPC. pretty sure i told yall in the comments when I was loading the boat. More than doubled on that investment so far and they pay a decent dividend.
I didn't have time to watch the whole video, but I caught Greg saying he had to think about how to use his 401k and didn't hear him say Substantially Equal Periodic Payment (SEPP) as a solution. Ian, if it wasn't mentioned and you haven't covered it before, possibly do a video about Substantially Equal Periodic Payment (SEPP) and possibly interview someone that is currently using it.
In our last video I had mentioned setting and doing SEPP through the 72t rule but had decided at the time it wasn't for me due to the lumpy nature of my income and I wanted the flexibility to create an income stream based on needs. It might be something that I revisit in the future.
🗽Very well done.... 👍👍 I also work less and less as a self-employed person and live off my cash flow from investments. I have much more time for hobbies, for sport... and I'm pretty fit again now! Now in winter time it get's dark very early (sun set 4:00 here in Austria) and I can do outside things during daylight time. .
Congratulations 🎉Greg! and thank you Ian for the content. When I see an email from you…. I open it asap it has to be good bcz you don’t send them often.
@@ppcian On part 2 did you touch on what State does he live in? What's his overhead expenses? Married, kids? what is his portfolio multiple to yearly expenses? Just to get an idea of when enough is enough to retire? I just turned 51, and have 2 kids in college, oldest is a Junior. I'm paying for all this, and I'm thinking about when I can throw in the towel also. I'm getting very close... Thank you.
The high income plays have historically had far lower long term total returns than SPY or SCHD. For any level of income need, investors would be better off simply owning SPY or SCHD and selling shares as needed for anything above the dividend. Math and historical data don’t lie…
Thanks for the comment! We hear these types of criticisms frequently in the passive income community. In my experience, they are guilty of something we call 'recency bias'. Most of the comparisons involve the secular bull market of 2009-2020. With an arbitrary metric like that, most things will fall behind entities like SCHD, SPY, QQQ, ect. But that was also a decade of unprecedented money printing, and therefore a large part of those market returns was due to multiple expansion. When planning a system that will pay bills for the rest of my life, I don't want to rely on exogenous factors like QE to generate the returns I need. Like many, I'm skeptical of how SPY's performance will be this decade. I won't be surprised if many of my credit CEFs outperform SPY over the next 10+ years. While I do think SCHD is a stellar dividend growth ETF, I wouldn't want to rely on it in totality to make my system work. Also, the benefit of having a 4 bucket systems with 35-40 different entities, it increases the probably of something always being on sale or worthy of reinvestment. That wouldn't be a true of having everything in a broad market fund like SPY.
@@gregory4410 thanks for the reply. Where to begin… SCHD has only been around since 2011, but its index can be traced back for decades. And through that time, has proven to be a superior index during both bull and bear markets. It’s one fund, however it represents 100 stocks, and even with the concentration in the top 20, is still plenty diversified. For the high income basket of stocks and funds, the vast majority of them will suffer worse if we find ourselves in a depression. They are no safe harbor. They rely on the same economic factors as everything else. And ultimately depend on the success of the market and continued earnings growth of the major companies found in broad market index funds. Some may do better in short term periods, but over a multi-decade retirement, they are going to fall short. We certainly don’t know the future. We could be in world war 3 soon and face extinction as a country or global power. But none of our funds will matter much if that’s the case! Either style of investing is a bet the US economy will remain strong. And if it is strong, SCHD will continue to outperform. I would encourage you to use portfolio visualizer or another back tester to analyze some withdrawal scenarios with different funds. There are a couple good YT videos out there that analyze SCHD’s index and compare it to the market and other DGI indexes over decades and various market cycles. It is definitely proven. Recency bias isn’t a concern. You should also read Jeremy Siegel’s book, “Stocks for the Long Run”. You’ll learn that dividends matter and the high income plays are all but guaranteed to cost you a vast amount of wealth over time vs funds like SCHD or VOO. One other point. The fed has no choice but to eventually begin another round of QE and lower rates again due to the enormous interest expense refinancing our national debt carries. We can’t remain solvent as a nation without low interest rates due to decades of deficit spending. Better times are ahead. You’ll miss a lot of the upside if you’re in funds that limit growth on purpose to generate “income”. 7 out of 10 years, the market goes up. And when it goes up, it goes up a lot higher in magnitude than it falls. In any scenario good or bad, I’d rather be invested in high quality companies that create massive value for the market. As well as rental real estate sought after by the middle class (teachers, firefighters and nurses). Good luck to you. The best news is you don’t have to have the winning strategy. You just need one that’s good enough. And while the data shows the high income strategy vastly underperforms, it’s still “good enough” to give you a secure retirement if you have a large enough margin of safety in income vs your expenses and inflation over time.
@@CalmerThanYouAre1 thanks for such a lengthy response, its rare to meet someone who likes to write as much as I do. :) You made some very great points. There a few I'll share my thoughts on.. 1) Stocks for the Long Run is one of my favorite books, I read it way back at the beginning of my journey. Professor Siegel is still one of my favorite guest speakers on CNBC. 2) I have a four bucket strategy, meaning I'm pulling me from four different accounts, each with unique tax consequence and opportunity costs. In one account, a growthier strategy like owning something like SCHD or VOO might make more sense, but it doesn't work for me across the whole board where I am aiming for a higher cash distribution. 3). Portfolio visualizer tools are great. I used them sometimes when comparing funds in certain peer groups. However its still studying the past, and I'm still not convinced its as helpful for telling me how I might perform buying tranches of certain funds at the yields and entry points available today. 4). If we are talking about historical performance, several income CEFS and BDCs I own have outperformed the S&P since their inception. Some of the entities I own , like agency MBS reits, are countercyclical and have beat the S&P in 3-5 year cycles. 5). I totally agree that interest rates will come down again in the future due our unsustainable debt load. When/if that were to happen, my credit funds should appreciated in value just like equities. 6). There's a difference between going from the theoretical to the practical. I don't know your employment situation, but if you do retire early off of a 1-2 fund strategy and a 4% withdrawal or something similar, I hope it works. I hope you chart and track your progress and share it with other people so they can learn from you. I'm in a small minority of people who have actually had the courage to embrace a FIRE lifestyle and make a system work. I've had to change many things I believed in theory when I actually needed to start paying bills. I currently believe I'm making the best decisions with my available pool of dollars to make my lifestyle work. If I'm wrong about anything, I'll no doubt be correcting and updating my system in the future. I wish you the best on your journey!
I actually do not own any MSFT, but it's one of Greg's large positions (that has been truly successful for him). The disclosure today is to encompass the stocks that either Greg and/or I own. I wish everyone who owns MSFT much success, but it's a position I do not foresee myself owning directly.
As an investor who’s learning to follow a more non consensus approach, this was great to hear and really got me thinking again about BDCs and the like. Although in my short experience it seems the higher the yield, the higher the risk. I will say though that it feels like a bit of a shortcut, and whenever I’ve tried to take those it hasn’t worked out. Definitely going to give Income Factory a go and super happy to hear you’re no longer day drinking, Greg!🙌
Thanks for tuning in and sharing your thoughts, Russ! And, I too am going to read The Income Factory. My wife placed an order at our local library for the book. Once it arrives, I'll be reading!
@@ppcian Yes!! That’s my hack too Ian…The library. Also, I’d recommend the Hoopla and Libby apps. Free audio and eBooks courtesy of the public library system, as long as you have a library card and valid email address. I “read” 1-2 books a week while I’m driving and out working.
Consider that when you buy an equity - say KO - you are buying their debt as well. So, why buy the debt via the common shares where you now have to also worry about the company not only making enough to pay the debt but also make enough to make the stock appreciate enough to also pay a dividend? Just buy their debt via a BDC or High-yield bond fund. If a company you buy stock in has troubles, the debt has to be paid first, before the dividend. Buy their debt and bet on them to "just survive" rather than betting on them to win/place/show is another common theme from Steven Bavaria's book.
@@anthonyansley3490 That’s a really interesting thought, but my question would be is what if the KO debt is spread out over decades and they’re leveraging that debt to grow the business and are easily able to pay it back? I’ll need to learn quite a bit more, I suppose.
Very interesting info. Another alternative for us looking for income. Thanks much. Read up on these a bit. They're down 20% plus this year. Anything paying 10% plus in interest is high risk. Like to hear a bit more on his thoughts about risk especially in our current rising rate environment.
Many equities have a high rate now only due to depressed market price. As long as the business cash flow supports the Div payment don’t get hung up on the number. 😊
As one who thinks they are nearing the ability to retire, I was interested to see some of his ideas about how to get there from here. Since my crypto bets went bust this year, I will have to find something else to speculate on in that higher risk bucket that gives a higher return than the blue chips. Thanks, and congrats!
It is really not as high risk as you think. A BDC is basically a commercial bank making loans to companies. If you buy the common shares of said company, you are also buying their debt...BUT you are not only betting on them paying their debt, but also betting that they will excel. By buying their debt directly, you are only betting on them breaking even (bottom line) since they have to pay their debt before any other benefits are given to shareholders.
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Greg has retired and is living the passive income dream! Please take a moment to click the "like" button to show your support for Greg. And, please make sure to "congratulate" him in the comments below. Last, please make sure to "subscribe" because part 2 of this epic video interview with Greg is on the way!
HELPFUL RESOURCES:
Greg shares his passive income portfolio over on Instagram. He's @thedividendmonster: instagram.com/thedividendmonster/
Just over 1 year ago, I first interviewed Greg here on PPC Ian. This was shortly before his early retirement. That video is a PPC Ian subscriber favorite, so please make sure to check it out here: ruclips.net/video/3Wbl8zQLSuA/видео.html
In today's video, Greg mentions a book that helped shape his opinion on high-yield credit investments called "The Income Factory" by Steven Bavaria. I have not read this book yet, but look forward to checking it out soon!
CHECK OUT MY PATREON:
I'm sharing exclusive bonus content over on Patreon! I offer two tiers: Backyard Patreon and Corner Patreon.
My Backyard Patrons see my stock trades, each accompanied by a blog post write-up. They also have access to 50 historical Patreon-exclusive videos.
In addition to all Backyard Patron perks, my Corner Patrons also have access to my complete dividend stock portfolio (% allocation to each position) AND my complete bond portfolio (% allocation to each position). They additionally enjoy exclusive portfolio update videos, Corner Patreon virtual meet-ups, and more.
Head on over to Patreon to join today: www.patreon.com/ppcian
PPC IAN TWITTER:
I'm always sharing fun updates on Twitter.
Here's my dividend investing Twitter: twitter.com/ianlopuch
PPC IAN INSTAGRAM:
I'm sharing some great content over on Instagram. Check out my Instagram stories. I'm @ianlopuch: instagram.com/ianlopuch/
COOL DIVIDEND INVESTING MERCH:
I offer some really amazing dividend investing merch that is sure to make you look and feel great. Each purchase supports my RUclips channel: teespring.com/stores/ppcian
Thanks so much, everyone, for your support. I hope you enjoy the video today!
(Disclosure and Disclaimer: Please see video description.)
Ian, I mentioned in months ago when in was .1808/month. Declared for 2023 is .1228/month. That is 21%, and you can reinvest at NAV, so a 20% discount. This restarts every year. I'm now 95% in this. The next RO is probable in June. Don't buy a lot, but get 9 shares. This will give you 3 rights at the RO.
Glad to hear Steven Bavaria's approach mentioned by Greg. It calls to mind another approach worth exploring: income generation on blue chip dividend stocks via options. That may have merit and provide a booster to conservative investors who concentrate on dividend aristocrats. It would be nice to get more income from those stalwarts who are core holdings for many of us.
GO GREG YOU ROCK 🎉!
I would love you to interview more people in the future, I know it is not your background but you are a natural interviewer! Interview people who have achieved fire, close to it, and people who have unique ways of doing it. Love the content please keep it up!
Thank you for your incredibly kind words!!! I really would like to do more interviews. They are so much fun, and they bring so much value to the channel (and, from a selfish standpoint, to me personally). I learned so much through this process, and am very thankful for Greg. Definitely plan to have more interviews in the future! Stay tuned for part 2 with Greg (will be out in about 1 week). Love this community, so many amazing people like Greg!
Agreed great questions
Congratulations Greg! Living that passive income dividend life. Commenting before I even watch.
Thank you, my friend, for your longtime support! I really appreciate you. Thank you for being here since the early days. Wishing you an amazing holiday season!
Greg is the man. It made me change some things in my portfolio that will help in the future. It's always easy to hear from people who want to hypothetically retire, but harder to find people who created their path to retirement.
Completely agree! It is my honor to have Greg here on the channel because HE DID IT! He is "one of us" who actually achieved the dream. So much to learn from him, indeed.
Greg is my hero!
Greg does not understand markets or financial risk. He invests into what he “thinks” will do well in the future and if you follow his advice you are simply parroting him. Read some Larry Swedroe Please
@@blackfiree91 there are kernels of wisdom in successful people views. I read the book which the foundation for his views. I'm a little bit more risk-averse so I only added a few closed-in funds to my portfolio.
Great discussion! I have about 30% growth ETFs, 20% blue chip, 50% REITS, mREITS, BDCs. My dividend income is about 40K annual. I am retired, but have not had to rely on dividends yet, so most everything is reinvested. I live in Mexico, which is less expensive to live than the states, and which allows me to live on Social Security alone. I bought my house here, so that helps a great deal in terms of what I pay in overall housing costs.
I think I speak for most people when I say, you don't have to sell early retirement or financial freedom. We know we want it. The how is the only thing we watch videos like this for.
LOL, yes not a difficult goal to sell! Dividend-based FIRE truly is a dream state!
Congratulations on you FIRE retirement Greg! Great interview to the both of you! Ian, I really liked your commentary at the bottom of the screen throughout the video. Thumbs up!
Congratulation Greg! 🎊
I have a question Ian, if you don't mind answering, what is your thoughts regarding company pension schemes x dividend investing,
Love these success stories! And doing it in the midst of a downturn is amazing. Greg (and Ian), know that you are an inspiration to a lot of us.
Your kind words truly mean a lot! Thank you!
God bless America and capitalism. Thank you Ian for putting this on. Changing lives my friend.
Thank you for your very kind words, my friend! I appreciate your longtime support! God Bless America, indeed! For those who work hard/smart, there truly are great opportunities!
Always great to hear someone's strategy who has reached critical mass...and at such a young age! Congrats Greg and thanks to you for such a great interview.
Always appreciate your comments, my friend! Wishing you an amazing Holiday Season! (And, thankful for the opportunities I've had in the past to interview you!)
Ian you look very tired my friend. Please take care of yourself. My journey is a little different. As a young attorney I planned on retiring on rental income. At 34 I did and now age 58 my advice is to retire early from the daily grind but don't stop building your assets. Multiple sources of income are a necessity. I continued to invest in more rentals and as cash flow grew I invested in dividend stocks which have grown to a solid second income. Best of luck to all!
Great insights! Thank you for sharing! And, yes, you are very right. I have worked too hard this year, and need to try to slow down. My health is not where it was just 1-2 years ago. I agree that it’s a great idea to always keep building. FIRE can open so many doors, as well, to try different side hustles that might not work or “make sense” when fully employed.
Good video, you're thoughts on gel genisis energy with 15 cent div
Great interview Ian! Enjoyed Greg knowledge and insights! Wishing all the best!
Thank you for your kind words! Truly appreciate your comment!
Thank you Ian for interviewing Greg. Learned some things hearing his perspective.
You are welcome! I was really lucky to get Greg on the channel here. He definitely has a wealth of knowledge. Happy New Year!
Great insight. Thank you both for this video.
Thanks for your kind words!
Thanks for doing an update video with Greg, made my day. Congratulations to Greg for showing all of us it is possible.
Thank you for your very kind words! Greg is an inspiration, for sure!
Thoroughly enjoyed your journey, Greg. I am an 84 year old who shares your point of view and holds many of your core holdings and income producing assets. I am heavy on real estate income producing assets and bolster that income with dividend producing assets similar to your holdings. Looking forward to part w.
Thank you for sharing!!! Thank you for your comment!
Great interview and congrats Greg! Sounds like Greg and I are very similar in how we invest and look at higher risk funds. I also invest in BDCs, closed end funds, MLPs, Reits, and high yield corporate bonds for income. We own similar funds in MAIN, PTY, and PDI. My guess is that we hold a lot more of the same funds. I tend to prefer monthly payers. I also like to hold high quality funds with a track record and try to have multiple different funds from different companies in various different accounts to mitigate risk. I use half of their dividends/interest to fund broad based S & P 500 and dividend funds, and I reinvest the other half. I go against the grain and hold a lot of these funds in my taxable account-just in case I would need the income in an emergency and just in case I want to retire early. Id rather pay short term capital gains on a fund that pays 10% vs long term capital gains on a total market fund that pays 1.5%. I know I will be sacrificing some growth. It’s nice to know that income is there if I need it. I can now pay my monthly mortgage payment with the income. I just have to plan a bit more for tax time. I’ve lost my tail on MMM, INTC, VZ, an Meta this year. I realize that no matter how much research you do, or how well you think you know a company, there are things you just can’t see coming. I loved Greg’s quote “I don’t want to be tethered to so many individual entities.” I’ve cut back from 30 individual dividend stocks to just 5. I’m sticking with dividend etfs from here on out. Looking forward to part 2, and thanks for the book recommendation👍
What were the 5 individual stocks you decided to keep and why, please?
@@SteelHorse1015 I’ve kept a few individual stocks for the following reasons: 1. I’ve lost money and don’t want to sell at a loss, 2. I still believe in the companies despite their losses, and 3. They pay high enough dividends. I still own INTC, MMM, USB, VZ, T, META, and MO. So, I guess I still have 7 individual stocks. The others I’ve swapped out at a profit for tax exempt muni bond etfs, BDCs, covered call etfs, dividend etfs, S & P 500, etc. I really prefer getting paid monthly vs quarterly, and with bond prices beat up so much over the past 6 months, it seemed like a decent time to jump in.
What a fantastic update. Congrats, Greg! Look fwd to part 2
Thank you!
Congratulations, fantastic accomplishment
Way to go, Greg!!!
Greg, the legend! Awesome guy & always appreciate his transparency and ability to share his knowledge!
Very much so an inspiration for myself as well as many others in the divy community!
Thanks for your kind words! I completely agree! He has so much knowledge and inspiration to share. I especially like that his strategy is not exactly the same as mine. There are some differences, so he brings a very unique perspective to the channel and conversation here. Thanks again, Greg!
you're thoughts on kraft heinz with 40 cent dib KHZ
So much to unpack. Can't wait for Part 2!💯👏👏👏 Thanks, Ian. and Greg.
Thank you, Chris!!!
Awesome video, time flew listening to you both. Looking forward to part 2!
Thank you so much! Part 2 is amazing. Wishing you a great one!
Good interview! Been following Greg for a while now. Looking forward to part 2!
Thank you! Appreciate your kind words!
Great one Ian. Please consider doing one live interview on youtube. Love to have some interactive interview. Great job Greg and congratulations on FIRE.
Thank you, my friend! That’s a neat idea on the live interview.
This stuff is good, gives me hope. Im 40 with nothing but 2 months ago jumped into investing with my low income. I'm doing some stuff different like trying to seek out Quality High Interest Dividend Investing. I've already seen some small growth it's exciting
Wishing you tremendous success with your investing journey!
Nice wrk 👍 Get after it and keep investing 🎉
@@ppcian thanks
@@The_Bronze_Spoon_Investor thanks
Thanks for content
I always appreciate your support! Thank you!
Great video Ian! Love hearing about Greg’s success in dividend investing!
Thank you for your kind words!
Thanks Ian, just started the video but was scrolling the comments and absolutely appalled at the amount of people saying he reired too early..wtf is wrong with people..there are a million things he can do now besides working..so many things I would love to do if lucky enough to retire at his age..thanks so much for sharing his story..its very inspiring
LOL I completely agree. There is SO much to do out there, above and beyond work. Thank you for your comment, this needed to be said!
Unfortunately haters are gonna hate. The sooner ya can retire the better!
Awesome, very nice. Luv the contents on the Retirement. Thank you.
Can't wait to reach FIRE one day.
Thank you for your kind words! Appreciate your support!
Thanks Ian for this interview video with Greg. I like it and it is informative. Also, like to congratulate Greg on his retirement and achieving FIRE.
Thank you for your kind words!
I love his approach.
A lot of this interview resonnated with my own journey. Congratulations Greg for achieving you goal. But just a personal note the power of intention is real.
Thanks for your kind words! And, thank you for that note on intention!
Amazing interview. Thank You Ian and Greg. Really resonated with me.
Your kind words truly mean the world!
Motivated me to go harder! Love this segment !!
That is awesome! Thank you for your comment!
Congrats Greg - you were the one that put me onto BST and have bought a small position in it. Always nice to have a solid monthly payer.
Thanks for your comment! Look forward to taking a look at BST!
BST used to be my favorite closed end fund. That's no longer the case, but I'm still holding the position that I have for t he eventual tech rebound, however far off that may be. Currently I prefer credit CEFs that are earning their distributions through NII instead of funds that pay out LTCG like BST.
Interested in what he is doing for healthcare
Congrats 🎉
Thanks for sharing your support! Yes, huge CONGRATULATIONS to Greg!
This was really awesome - thank you Ian!
Appreciate your kind words and longtime support!
Congratulations Greg! Very interesting stuff.
Fantastic Video - so happy to see more from Greg - I tend towards Gregs style but am older and have less money - he continues to be an inspiration!! Congratulations to Greg on 8 months of retirement!!
Thank you for your very kind words!
i love this video ian and greg........
Thank you!
I remember that initial interview. It was 👍 awesome. Well done to both of you.
Thank you! Really appreciate your kind words!
Greg is a legend! 🤴 Thank You Ian for making this video 🙌
Thanks for your kind words, my friend!
Excellent guest. This could be any of us. Thank you both for putting this on.
Thank you for your kind words!
Congrats Greg and thanks for sharing your story !
Thank you for your comment!
Fantastic Video. Really has me thinking - Math is Math. Will need to buy the Bavaria book.
Thanks for your comment! I’m reading the book right now!
Thanks to you and Greg for this video. What about BIZD - an etf that holds BDCs?
BIZD is a decent pick for people who don't want to pick individual BDCs. I prefer to cherry pick the top tier companies and I have them spread out in a couple different accounts as well.
@@gregory4410 Thanks
just got into bdcs, they're awesome.
Right on!
Great interview
Waiting for part 2
Thank you!
Does Greg have a channel? Awesome information
He has an amazing Instagram! Check out the pinned comment for a link.
Hey Ian. I absolutely love this. I am looking forward to part 2. I am interested to hear more specifically how taxes work for him. What he did and what in hindsight he has learned? Thank you for doing this interview. Amazing dude!
Thank you for your kind words and great questions!
Hey Bon Sai, if you follow my Instagram, I frequently blog in my stories about my taxes and how I invest and micromanage each of my 4 accounts.
Thanks Ian, nice to see your friend. I'm happy for him. Don't forget CLM, and you can drip at NAV. don't look at the price.
Thank you for your kind words! And thank you for sharing! Look forward to taking a look at CLM.
I’m glad I didn’t pull the trigger on CLM when it was trading around $14.
@@MuzixMaker look at the top holdings of CLM.
@@joinjen3854 Div really dumped this past year. They announced another decrease.
@@MuzixMaker divvy is still high. It went from a 25% div to 18%. Amaxon ,Apple, Google, United health care and many more. Apple is top holding
I hope to watch this soon. Just no time at the moment. I should be doing this but at age 60 I'm still investing like I'm much younger. Not all of us get smarter with age.
I have timestamps in the description to save you time, if you want to come back and just watch certain sections of the video. Wishing you all the greatest!
@@ppcian Thank You Ian. I think I'm a subscriber 1-2 years and was not on youtube a while but back to get truly good advice. You're both a businessman & dividend investor and I value that. I own 22 apartments, some good vacant land & a vanguard account. Zero debt except a manageable mortgage on apartments so after many rough years living on edge I'm ok but either farming out management or will just sell and pay the capital gain. Got through a heart attack 7 years ago and ready to jump out of the fire the next 1-2 years. Apartments are really the opposite of "passive". Over 20 years taught me that. All the best to you.
Thank you for the insight. On my journey like many of us are.
Thank you!
I love my Roth IRA, all holdings are monthly paying dividends, but I only use about 60%, 40% is reinvested. Sure helps in my retirement. Not looking for growth in value, looking for growth in monthly payments.
Thanks for sharing! Wishing you all the greatest!
Congratulations 🎉
Well done !
Thanks for your comment! Well done, indeed!
That's awesome! This is very inspiring!! Congratulations Greg!!!
Thanks for your comment!
sounds great and ..well, naturally paced to retire..the addictions/over-consumption we have is mainly due to the fact that we don,t have the time to enjoy ..time.. buying gives us the only power we think we have..
Thanks for sharing! Interesting thoughts on consumerism too!
Amazing content sir. You continue to inspire me to keep on this dividend journey!!!
Thank you for your very kind words!
Amazing interview Ian. I get worried with higher yielding single stocks. But a higher yielding indexed etf like JEPI feels "safer". I'd be curious on Greg's thoughts.
I own JEPI its the largest holding in my 401k currently and one of my largest holdings overall. As far as being concerned about higher yielding single stocks, other than tobacco and pipelines, my high yielders are mostly BDCs and while they are stocks, they function much more like credit entities as their revenues come from senior and floating rate loans to many (sometimes 100+) businesses. A single BDC is the same a closed end fun as they have the same structure. Hope that helps!
Very good interview, great job guys.
Thank you!
Two great guys with inspiring stories. Congrats again Greg!!
Your kind words truly mean a lot! Thank you!
I don’t like closed end funds that have return of capital. I think that shows lack of management. I’m buying Preferred stocks that are cumulative and that is way under $25.00. Because I think most companies will not call the preferred under original price. If it gets over $25 I will sell it. Preferred stock will be paid before regular stocks. A dividend will be cancelled before a preferred stock. Dlr,Duk, Psec, are some companies preferred . LANDO ,Htibp, ozkap are the others. Looking into Dbrg-pj right now. Balance is the key to all holding.
Great …thank u for the inspiration.
Thank you for your kind words! Greg definitely is inspiring!
May I ask how does it works in the USA if you stop pay contributions for social pension as I believe Greg did?
Thanks from Italy
This is a great question. In the USA, the two big contributions that most workers want to be mindful of are social security and medicare. Each pay period, typically, both the employer and employee contribute to social security and medicare. (Some jobs also offer pensions and/or retirement account plans such as the 401k Greg discusses in the video, that are employer-specific. And, some government jobs have their own pensions/retirement benefits with unique rules.) For those who are aiming to achieve social security/medicare benefits, it's important to accumulate sufficient credits. I found some info about it here on the SSA website: www.ssa.gov/myaccount/assets/materials/eligibility-for-benefits.pdf Overall, it looks like about 10 years of employment is required (if 4 credits are earned per year). Great question!
Ian, and Greg you guys are AMAZING! I greatly appreciated this wonderful interview, filled with so much real life encounters into FIRE mentality once finalized! Loved Greg's point of view of no regrets!:) Thank you both for putting this together! It was truly a great inspiration of where dividends & passive cashflows can take a person!:)
Your very kind words mean a lot! Thank you so much!
I love this interview thanks to both of you, 1 question. What is the average dividend increase per year? Thanks
Now I have a whole lot more on my ToDoList…. Thanks Greg for all the inputs. I have to put some hours in to educate myself on the topics I’m not so familiar with. And the book is already bought ;-)
Nice! That was my takeaway too. I have a lot to learn on the topics Greg discussed. Wishing you a great one!
Nice job Ian. I always enjoy your videos and have been a big fan for over 2 years. I’d be game to swap interviews with you. I focus more on option trading with some dividend discussion. Let me know if you’re interested. Randy
Thanks for sharing
Thank you for your comment!
18:32 "It was time to go!!" Greg meant that shit!! 😂😂😂😂😂
LOL Gotta love it!
👍. Congratulations to Greg.🥂.
Yes, indeed! Thanks for your longtime support, T.
Congrats!!! Greg!
Thank you for your comment! Yes, indeed! Congrats, Greg!
Congratulations on achieving your goal! We are all on the same path! ….and thanks for the tips!👌👌👌👏👏👏🙏🙏🙏
Thanks for your kind words! Way to go, Greg!
Great story and achivement.I assume he is single,lives at home,and no kids I am guessing.Not taking his achievement from him.Just wish I was that smart at his age congrats.He is taking alot more risk than most but seems comfortable with it.I wish him the best of luck.
Can you two do a video just on the business development companies?
Hey Adam! If you really want to maximize your learning about BDCs, I suggest getting a premium membership on Seeking Alpha. There are several high yield communities dedicated to analyzing those entities.
Is Greg in the Northeast? Great interview!
The impression I got too
Was hoping for a link to Greg’s portfolio
Please check out link to Greg’s Instagram in the pinned comment. He shares his complete portfolio over there with monthly passive income updates. Some of the best dividend content on Instagram!
I bought the dip on GPC. pretty sure i told yall in the comments when I was loading the boat. More than doubled on that investment so far and they pay a decent dividend.
Right on! Thank you for sharing!
I didn't have time to watch the whole video, but I caught Greg saying he had to think about how to use his 401k and didn't hear him say Substantially Equal Periodic Payment (SEPP) as a solution. Ian, if it wasn't mentioned and you haven't covered it before, possibly do a video about Substantially Equal Periodic Payment (SEPP) and possibly interview someone that is currently using it.
In our last video I had mentioned setting and doing SEPP through the 72t rule but had decided at the time it wasn't for me due to the lumpy nature of my income and I wanted the flexibility to create an income stream based on needs. It might be something that I revisit in the future.
Thanks, Jordan and Greg. Great topic, indeed! Something I am unfamiliar with, so I look forward to taking a look myself, and learning more.
Love this, thank you
Thank you for your support!
🗽Very well done.... 👍👍
I also work less and less as a self-employed person and live off my cash flow from investments. I have much more time for hobbies, for sport... and I'm pretty fit again now! Now in winter time it get's dark very early (sun set 4:00 here in Austria) and I can do outside things during daylight time.
.
Well done, indeed! Congrats, Greg. And, congrats to you too, Jonnes! That is fabulous. I always appreciate your comments.
Congratulations 🎉Greg! and thank you Ian for the content. When I see an email from you…. I open it asap it has to be good bcz you don’t send them often.
Your kind words mean a lot! Thank you!
Congratulations on living off those juicy dividends. 💴💴💴
Yes, indeed! Congratulations, Greg!!!
would be better if he told us what he bought specifically
Please make sure to see the pinned comment. I have a link to Greg's Instagram where he shares his dividend portfolio with the positions owned!
@@ppcian thanks
Awesome job!
Thanks for your comment!
@@ppcian On part 2 did you touch on what State does he live in? What's his overhead expenses? Married, kids? what is his portfolio multiple to yearly expenses? Just to get an idea of when enough is enough to retire? I just turned 51, and have 2 kids in college, oldest is a Junior. I'm paying for all this, and I'm thinking about when I can throw in the towel also. I'm getting very close... Thank you.
Congrats Greg
Way to go, Greg!
Great video. Did I miss how old Greg is?
I believe Greg is in his early 40s.
WooHoo 🎉 👍
He is mentioning Credit, is it ECC?
Also what are the BDC companies he is mentioning ?
ECC, PTY, PDI, PDO and ARDC are the credit funds I own. ARCC, MAIN, OCSL, ORCC, and TPVG are the BDCs I own.
Thank you for sharing, Greg!!!
interesting interview glad he was able to retire on his terms
Thanks! Yes, very excited and happy for Greg!
The high income plays have historically had far lower long term total returns than SPY or SCHD. For any level of income need, investors would be better off simply owning SPY or SCHD and selling shares as needed for anything above the dividend.
Math and historical data don’t lie…
Thanks for the comment! We hear these types of criticisms frequently in the passive income community. In my experience, they are guilty of something we call 'recency bias'. Most of the comparisons involve the secular bull market of 2009-2020. With an arbitrary metric like that, most things will fall behind entities like SCHD, SPY, QQQ, ect. But that was also a decade of unprecedented money printing, and therefore a large part of those market returns was due to multiple expansion. When planning a system that will pay bills for the rest of my life, I don't want to rely on exogenous factors like QE to generate the returns I need. Like many, I'm skeptical of how SPY's performance will be this decade. I won't be surprised if many of my credit CEFs outperform SPY over the next 10+ years. While I do think SCHD is a stellar dividend growth ETF, I wouldn't want to rely on it in totality to make my system work. Also, the benefit of having a 4 bucket systems with 35-40 different entities, it increases the probably of something always being on sale or worthy of reinvestment. That wouldn't be a true of having everything in a broad market fund like SPY.
@@gregory4410 thanks for the reply. Where to begin… SCHD has only been around since 2011, but its index can be traced back for decades. And through that time, has proven to be a superior index during both bull and bear markets. It’s one fund, however it represents 100 stocks, and even with the concentration in the top 20, is still plenty diversified.
For the high income basket of stocks and funds, the vast majority of them will suffer worse if we find ourselves in a depression. They are no safe harbor. They rely on the same economic factors as everything else. And ultimately depend on the success of the market and continued earnings growth of the major companies found in broad market index funds. Some may do better in short term periods, but over a multi-decade retirement, they are going to fall short.
We certainly don’t know the future. We could be in world war 3 soon and face extinction as a country or global power. But none of our funds will matter much if that’s the case! Either style of investing is a bet the US economy will remain strong. And if it is strong, SCHD will continue to outperform.
I would encourage you to use portfolio visualizer or another back tester to analyze some withdrawal scenarios with different funds. There are a couple good YT videos out there that analyze SCHD’s index and compare it to the market and other DGI indexes over decades and various market cycles. It is definitely proven. Recency bias isn’t a concern.
You should also read Jeremy Siegel’s book, “Stocks for the Long Run”. You’ll learn that dividends matter and the high income plays are all but guaranteed to cost you a vast amount of wealth over time vs funds like SCHD or VOO.
One other point. The fed has no choice but to eventually begin another round of QE and lower rates again due to the enormous interest expense refinancing our national debt carries. We can’t remain solvent as a nation without low interest rates due to decades of deficit spending. Better times are ahead. You’ll miss a lot of the upside if you’re in funds that limit growth on purpose to generate “income”. 7 out of 10 years, the market goes up. And when it goes up, it goes up a lot higher in magnitude than it falls. In any scenario good or bad, I’d rather be invested in high quality companies that create massive value for the market. As well as rental real estate sought after by the middle class (teachers, firefighters and nurses).
Good luck to you. The best news is you don’t have to have the winning strategy. You just need one that’s good enough. And while the data shows the high income strategy vastly underperforms, it’s still “good enough” to give you a secure retirement if you have a large enough margin of safety in income vs your expenses and inflation over time.
@@CalmerThanYouAre1 thanks for such a lengthy response, its rare to meet someone who likes to write as much as I do. :) You made some very great points. There a few I'll share my thoughts on..
1) Stocks for the Long Run is one of my favorite books, I read it way back at the beginning of my journey. Professor Siegel is still one of my favorite guest speakers on CNBC.
2) I have a four bucket strategy, meaning I'm pulling me from four different accounts, each with unique tax consequence and opportunity costs. In one account, a growthier strategy like owning something like SCHD or VOO might make more sense, but it doesn't work for me across the whole board where I am aiming for a higher cash distribution.
3). Portfolio visualizer tools are great. I used them sometimes when comparing funds in certain peer groups. However its still studying the past, and I'm still not convinced its as helpful for telling me how I might perform buying tranches of certain funds at the yields and entry points available today.
4). If we are talking about historical performance, several income CEFS and BDCs I own have outperformed the S&P since their inception. Some of the entities I own , like agency MBS reits, are countercyclical and have beat the S&P in 3-5 year cycles.
5). I totally agree that interest rates will come down again in the future due our unsustainable debt load. When/if that were to happen, my credit funds should appreciated in value just like equities.
6). There's a difference between going from the theoretical to the practical. I don't know your employment situation, but if you do retire early off of a 1-2 fund strategy and a 4% withdrawal or something similar, I hope it works. I hope you chart and track your progress and share it with other people so they can learn from you. I'm in a small minority of people who have actually had the courage to embrace a FIRE lifestyle and make a system work. I've had to change many things I believed in theory when I actually needed to start paying bills. I currently believe I'm making the best decisions with my available pool of dollars to make my lifestyle work. If I'm wrong about anything, I'll no doubt be correcting and updating my system in the future. I wish you the best on your journey!
I thought that you (Ian) would never invest in Microsoft. I never understood why, but I would like to know what changed.
I actually do not own any MSFT, but it's one of Greg's large positions (that has been truly successful for him). The disclosure today is to encompass the stocks that either Greg and/or I own. I wish everyone who owns MSFT much success, but it's a position I do not foresee myself owning directly.
As an investor who’s learning to follow a more non consensus approach, this was great to hear and really got me thinking again about BDCs and the like.
Although in my short experience it seems the higher the yield, the higher the risk.
I will say though that it feels like a bit of a shortcut, and whenever I’ve tried to take those it hasn’t worked out.
Definitely going to give Income Factory a go and super happy to hear you’re no longer day drinking, Greg!🙌
Thanks for tuning in and sharing your thoughts, Russ! And, I too am going to read The Income Factory. My wife placed an order at our local library for the book. Once it arrives, I'll be reading!
@@ppcian Yes!! That’s my hack too Ian…The library.
Also, I’d recommend the Hoopla and Libby apps. Free audio and eBooks courtesy of the public library system, as long as you have a library card and valid email address.
I “read” 1-2 books a week while I’m driving and out working.
Consider that when you buy an equity - say KO - you are buying their debt as well.
So, why buy the debt via the common shares where you now have to also worry about the company not only making enough to pay the debt but also make enough to make the stock appreciate enough to also pay a dividend? Just buy their debt via a BDC or High-yield bond fund.
If a company you buy stock in has troubles, the debt has to be paid first, before the dividend.
Buy their debt and bet on them to "just survive" rather than betting on them to win/place/show is another common theme from Steven Bavaria's book.
@@anthonyansley3490 That’s a really interesting thought, but my question would be is what if the KO debt is spread out over decades and they’re leveraging that debt to grow the business and are easily able to pay it back?
I’ll need to learn quite a bit more, I suppose.
Very interesting info. Another alternative for us looking for income. Thanks much.
Read up on these a bit. They're down 20% plus this year. Anything paying 10% plus in interest is high risk. Like to hear a bit more on his thoughts about risk especially in our current rising rate environment.
Thanks for your comment!
Many equities have a high rate now only due to depressed market price. As long as the business cash flow supports the Div payment don’t get hung up on the number. 😊
Great interview, very insightful.
Thank you!
Since Lockdown and the majority of my co-workers are WFH the old type of office culture is gone. So not much to miss now.
Great point!
As one who thinks they are nearing the ability to retire, I was interested to see some of his ideas about how to get there from here. Since my crypto bets went bust this year, I will have to find something else to speculate on in that higher risk bucket that gives a higher return than the blue chips. Thanks, and congrats!
Thanks for your comment! Wishing you much success in your upcoming retirement!
It is really not as high risk as you think. A BDC is basically a commercial bank making loans to companies. If you buy the common shares of said company, you are also buying their debt...BUT you are not only betting on them paying their debt, but also betting that they will excel.
By buying their debt directly, you are only betting on them breaking even (bottom line) since they have to pay their debt before any other benefits are given to shareholders.