One approaches financial independence, not with vulgar enthusiasm, but with a sort of resigned practicality. The aim, naturally, is to accumulate sufficient income to cover the necessities – and perhaps a few of the less essential extravagances – without resorting to the indignity of actual work. A portfolio designed to yield a modest return, therefore, is less a matter of ambition than a recognition of inevitable decline. This month, I propose a few additions, less as investments than as bulwarks against the prevailing economic absurdity.
I intend to allocate further capital to Energy Transfer (ET 1.68%), the Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF (SCHD +0.65%), and W.P. Carey (WPC 2.01%). These are not, let me assure you, selections made with any particular optimism for the future. Rather, they represent a pragmatic acceptance of the present, and a hope, perhaps futile, of mitigating its less agreeable aspects.
The Persistence of Petroleum
Energy Transfer, a master limited partnership, continues to yield a return that, while hardly extravagant, is at least discernible. At around 7.3%, it offers a rate that, compared to the general profligacy of the market, is almost… quaint. A distribution of $7.30 on a $100 investment, while not likely to fund a Riviera villa, is preferable to the vanishing returns on offer elsewhere. The quarterly increases, predictably around 3-5%, are less a sign of prosperity than a desperate attempt to remain relevant.
The company’s insistence on expansion, with a planned $5 to $5.5 billion investment, strikes one as either admirable tenacity or a spectacular delusion. The demand for natural gas, driven by power plants and data centres, is, of course, relentless. One trusts, however, that this demand is fuelled by a genuine need, and not merely by the insatiable appetite of modern technology for pointless consumption.
A Fund for the Sensible Investor
The Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF offers a certain… reassurance. Tracking 100 high-yielding dividend stocks, it represents a diversification of risk, or at least, a diffusion of responsibility. The current yield of 3.8% is, admittedly, modest, but the steady increases in quarterly payments suggest a degree of underlying stability. The five-year average dividend growth of over 8% is, one suspects, more a reflection of inflation than actual prosperity.
The holdings, predictably, include the usual suspects: Chevron, with its 39-year dividend streak, and Coca-Cola, which has been dispensing sweetness for 63 years. One imagines these companies will continue to endure, not through innovation or ingenuity, but through sheer inertia.
Bricks, Mortar, and the Illusion of Security
W.P. Carey, a real estate investment trust, offers a more tangible, if equally illusory, sense of security. Investing in industrial, warehouse, and retail properties, it relies on the enduring need for physical space. The net leases, with built-in rent escalations, provide a predictable income stream, though one suspects the tenants are merely delaying the inevitable decline of their own businesses. The current yield of 5.2% is, again, hardly spectacular, but it is preferable to the alternatives.
The record $2.1 billion investment in new properties last year, particularly in warehouses and industrial buildings, suggests a degree of optimism, or perhaps, a desperate attempt to keep pace with the relentless march of commerce. The acquisition of fitness facilities, leased to Life Time Fitness, strikes one as a particularly curious venture. One trusts they have considered the inherent ephemerality of fashionable leisure.
A Modest Shield Against the Inevitable
Energy Transfer, the Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF, and W.P. Carey, therefore, represent not a bold investment strategy, but a pragmatic attempt to mitigate the risks of a fundamentally unsound economic system. They offer a modest income stream, a degree of diversification, and a faint hope of preserving some semblance of financial independence. It is a strategy born not of optimism, but of a weary resignation to the prevailing absurdity.
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2026-02-03 01:12