I am a dividend investor, and I do know what it feels prefer to discover shares providing a double-digit yield. You wish to consider it’s a diamond within the tough that can pay you 10%-plus dividends ceaselessly. These conditions do happen, however not fairly often. Whether or not you have got $500 or $5,000 to spend money on dividend shares proper now, you should be sure to deal with dependable dividend payers.
Picture supply: Getty Photos.
Actual property funding trusts (REITs) are designed to go revenue on to buyers in a tax-efficient method. They keep away from corporate-level taxation in the event that they pay out not less than 90% of their taxable revenue as dividends. The offset is that shareholders should report the dividends as in the event that they had been earned revenue (taxes might be utterly prevented by proudly owning a REIT in a Roth IRA). Typically talking, REITs pay engaging dividends and have comparatively massive dividend yields.
If you’re attempting to dwell off the revenue your portfolio generates, REITs ought to be within the combine. Nonetheless, similar to non-REITs, you need to watch out about which corporations you purchase. Some REITs have spectacular dividend histories, whereas others have risky dividend histories. Some REIT enterprise fashions, by design, pay variable dividends.
If dividend consistency is your high precedence, there’s one REIT that stands above all others: Federal Realty(NYSE: FRT). It has elevated its dividend yearly for 58 consecutive years, which makes it a Dividend King. That’s the longest dividend streak within the REIT sector, and Federal Realty is the one REIT to have achieved Dividend King standing.
Federal Realty achieved this aim by specializing in high quality over amount. It owns roughly 100 strip malls and mixed-use belongings. They are usually positioned close to massive inhabitants facilities which have excessive concentrations of wealth. Moreover, Federal Realty is an energetic portfolio supervisor, frequently making capital investments to reinforce the worth of its properties. It is usually keen to promote belongings which have reached their full potential, so it could purchase new properties that want a bit love.
Federal Realty’s dividend yield is 4.4% immediately. That’s roughly 4 occasions greater than the 1.1% yield of the S&P 500(SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) index and above the three.9% REIT common. For many dividend buyers, Federal Realty will likely be a stable portfolio holding, with $500 netting you round 4 shares of this dependable dividend inventory.
For some buyers, nevertheless, 4.4% will really feel like a low quantity when you should purchase a REIT like AGNC Funding(NASDAQ: AGNC) with a 12.5% yield. That yield is very engaging, and the mortgage REIT is effectively revered. Nonetheless, it’s not a dependable dividend payer. The graph beneath highlights the issue.
If you should use the dividends you acquire to complement your Social Safety checks, you’d have been sorely disillusioned with AGNC Funding. Not solely has the dividend been risky, however it has additionally trended steadily decrease for over a decade. And the inventory worth has adopted the dividend decrease. Much less revenue and fewer capital are usually not what most dividend buyers keep in mind after they purchase a high-yield inventory. I do know for a incontrovertible fact that this is not my aim.
Federal Realty is the cream of the crop in relation to dividend-paying REITs. However it’s hardly the one dependable dividend payer within the REIT sector. For instance, Realty Earnings(NYSE: O) has elevated its dividend yearly for 30 years and has a 5.4% yield.
The corporate owns single-tenant properties utilizing a web lease strategy, which suggests the tenant is accountable for most property-level prices. Realty Earnings is the business big, with a portfolio of greater than 15,500 properties unfold throughout the US and Europe. Though it’s primarily concentrated in retail belongings, the corporate additionally owns industrial properties and a various assortment of distinctive belongings, together with information facilities and casinos.
Furthermore, it’s branching out into lending and asset administration for institutional buyers, as effectively. A $500 funding will mean you can purchase eight shares of this month-to-month paid dividend inventory.
Federal Realty and Realty Earnings are foundational investments for dividend lovers. Nonetheless, they don’t seem to be the one dependable dividend shares you may discover within the REIT sector. They’re simply two excellent examples of what you’ll find should you dig into the sector.
AGNC Funding, in the meantime, is an instance of the kind of dividend-paying REIT that you should be cautious of. The corporate meets its aim of manufacturing engaging whole returns, however that aim assumes dividend reinvestment. Which means you may’t use the dividend, which is very risky, to pay for residing bills.
Ensure you put all of the items of the puzzle collectively before you purchase a dividend inventory. Dividend yield alone is not sufficient data so that you can make a ultimate funding determination.
Before you purchase inventory in AGNC Funding Corp., take into account this:
The Motley Idiot Inventory Advisor analyst group simply recognized what they consider are the 10 greatest shares for buyers to purchase now… and AGNC Funding Corp. wasn’t one in all them. The ten shares that made the minimize might produce monster returns within the coming years.
Think about when Netflix made this listing on December 17, 2004… should you invested $1,000 on the time of our suggestion, you’d have $474,578!* Or when Nvidia made this listing on April 15, 2005… should you invested $1,000 on the time of our suggestion, you’d have $1,141,628!*
Now, it’s price noting Inventory Advisor’s whole common return is 955% — a market-crushing outperformance in comparison with 196% for the S&P 500. Do not miss the newest high 10 listing, out there with Inventory Advisor, and be a part of an investing group constructed by particular person buyers for particular person buyers.
*Inventory Advisor returns as of January 17, 2026.
Reuben Gregg Brewer has positions in Federal Realty Funding Belief and Realty Earnings. The Motley Idiot has positions in and recommends Realty Earnings. The Motley Idiot has a disclosure coverage.
![[Vantage Point] Why Jollibee ought to cease pondering like a restaurant and begin pondering like McDonald’s](https://www.rappler.com/tachyon/2026/01/JOLLIBEE-v-MCDO-1.jpg "[Vantage Point] Why Jollibee ought to cease pondering like a restaurant and begin pondering like McDonald’s")
