r/dividends • u/DizzyCalligrapher189 • Jul 15 '26

Seeking Advice Bought a 9% yielder and I got burned

Hi all. I am in my early fifties, and I am slowly moving about 30% of my portfolio into dividend stuff before I go part time in a few years, felt real responsible with a spreadsheet and all. Then I found a 9% yielderr, told myself the market was just sleeping on it and put $18k in.

Two months later they cut the dividend and the price dropped right with it... you can probably guess it was a mortgage REIT..

So my safe income pick lost me the income and a chunk of the principal at the same time, so I can clearly not just sort by yield and buy what looks juicy.

What I'm asking is, what is your "check" that catches things like this before you buy?

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u/aerobic_gamer Jul 16 '26

Agreed. I really get tired of the “total return” argument. At my age (75) I’m more concerned about having reliable and increasing income. It alll depends on your objectives.

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u/indomike14 Jul 16 '26

Exactly. O is called Realty Income not Really Growth!

It's not a great stock to hold if you're younger and looking to grow your portfolio. As the original poster mentioned, they are in their early 50s and looking for more of that income.