Before the COVID-19 pandemic or manufactured debacle, the American economy was growing like gangbusters. Under Trump we had low taxes, reduced regulations, and an avalanche of cheap domestic energy. This resulted in an abundance of job opportunities, with increasing wages, historic highs in family income, along with historic lows in the rates of unemployment and poverty. Despite the drivel of the Left — i.e., tax cuts were only for the rich — everyone participated, especially minorities and low-wage earners.
Let’s look at the metrics, provided by Andrew F. Puzder, in a talk delivered on February 22, 2023, at Hillsdale College National Leadership Seminar in Indian Wells, California:
“In 2019, the last year before the pandemic, median family income grew to nearly $73,000. It went up $4,600 in that year alone, a 6.4 percent increase over 2018—the largest annual increase going back to 1967. That amounted to 45 percent more growth in one year than the $3,200 increase that the Obama [-Biden] administration achieved in eight years. And contrary to what would become an election year talking point, the economic benefits were widespread. Every racial group experienced a record high median family income: for white Americans it rose 5.7 percent; for black Americans, 7.9 percent; for Hispanic Americans, 7.1 percent; and for Asian Americans, 10.6%.”
“As incomes grew in 2019, the poverty rate plummeted 1.3 percentage points to a 60- year low of 10.5 percent—the lowest poverty rate since government started reporting the statistic in 1959. This lifted 4.1 million people out of poverty.”
“For comparison purposes, during the eight years of the Obama [-Biden] administration, the number of people living in poverty increased by 787,000. And again, the decrease in the poverty rate under Trump disproportionally benefited minorities. . .”
“The year 2019 should be remembered as the year of the worker. And that wasn’t due to mandated wage increases, racial reparations, climate regulations, tax increases, or any other redistributionist policy.”
“Working class Americans saw their circumstances materially improve in 2019 because of policies that encouraged freedom.”
When Biden took office on January 20, 2021, he immediately began to upend Trump’s economic policies. Perhaps those running the Biden Administration thought that with everything shutdown because of the pandemic, they would inherit a dynamic economy and be able “to fundamentally transform the country.” The current administration is trying to transform the country, but too many people have been negatively impacted by their socialist policies and, as a result, in November 2024, we may be able to elect a President, Congress, and local officials that believe in prosperity, energy independence, private property rights, and individual freedom.
Until then, we need to take control of our own destiny. Political and economic upheaval leads to investment opportunities. However, NOT everything advertised by Wall Street and its minions will lead to your financial independence; maybe to theirs if you take their advice and jump into their promotional offerings!
What’s the old saying, “If most people are jumping into an investment, then it probably is time to get out of that investment. You don’t want to be that person holding the rotten egg!” Hint, they keep advertising Gold and putting Gold into IRA accounts…
Dr. Mark Skousen, Ph.D. in Economics, an Austrian Economist, NOT a Keynesian, believes we are heading for a “bumpy” recession, which will be a “cleansing process;” and because of “the Volcker Rule, the big banks will be fine.” “But it’s not just the banks that are safer this time [which they were NOT in the great Recession of 2008].” “The biggest U.S. companies” according to Skousen, “are also in a great position to recover faster and come out stronger than ever.”
How can we discover the “biggest U.S. companies” that will “recover faster and come out stronger than ever?” Let’s look for Dividend Champions—companies that have paid and raised their dividends for at least 25-years straight, through recessions, depressions, and wars. Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM) has been paying dividends for 141-years (since 1882); for the past 38-years, XOM has not only paid dividends, but it has also increased or raised its dividend payout each year over that 38-year period. In addition, XOM is not an oil company, it is an energy company. When an efficient energy alternative to oil is developed, XOM will be on the forefront, by either developing it or acquiring it. XOM is a DRIP that we have in our portfolio. Its dividend yield at today’s price range of about $109 is over 3.4%... a strong buy.
However, in our DRIP-A-WEEK program which we introduced on January 10th, we are now adding Bank OZK (OZK), a Dividend Champion, which has paid and raised its dividend, each, and every year, for 27-years; over the past ten years its average annual dividend increase has been 17.02%. This Bank is headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, has 240 offices in eight states and has been around since 1903. At its current price of $31.42 per share, the dividend yield is 4.33%... a strong buy.
Want more choices, go to our FREE March 12, 2023, Newsletter, Issue 40-2023, Newsletters — Jeffersonian Group | Financial Planning & independence where we identified over 20 additional DRIPs that were great buys back then… many are still great buys, just concentrate on yields above 3% when you acquire the specific DRIP or DRIPs of your liking.
Remember, you are buying an increasing income stream. Any drop in share price during your reinvestment period (10-to-15 years) is to YOUR benefit, i.e., you end up buying more shares, with your reinvested dividends, at less cost generating a faster growing income stream.
For our newer readers, we expect your reinvestment period to be 10-to-15 years based on several studies by two finance professors, who concluded: “For those investors who adopt ten and fifteen year horizons, the dividend investment strategy [DRIPs] will lead to financial independence for life. Regardless of the direction of the market, a constant and growing dividend is a never-ending income stream.”
DRIP… DRIP… DRIP… All the way to financial freedom! Control your OWN destiny . . . Start investing for cash flow today. Before you know it, financial independence will be yours!
Dum Spiro Spero—While I breathe, I hope.
Slainte mhath,
Robert G. Beard Jr., C.P.A., C.G.M.A., J.D., LL.M.