Well… this escalated quickly.
If you’ve been paying attention at all this week, geopolitics went from background noise to front-page chaos in about five minutes. Markets did what markets always do: overreact first, think later.
So let’s do what we always do instead — ignore the drama, follow the money, and figure out how not to blow ourselves up chasing headlines.
The good news?
This week’s dividend list is significantly better than last week’s. If you were sitting on cash and felt zero urgency before, congrats — patience paid off.
Let’s dig in.
Economic News
1️⃣ Venezuela, Oil, and Why Chasing the Herd Is a Bad Idea
Unless you’ve been under a rock, the U.S. essentially marched into Venezuela and kidnapped the president. I’m not here to debate politics or legality — that’s not our lane.
Our lane is money.
Markets immediately started getting way too excited about oil companies with Venezuelan exposure. Slow down. The infrastructure there is rough, outdated, and will take serious capital to modernize before meaningful production ramps.
Yes, Venezuela sits on massive oil reserves. That matters long-term.
Short-term? The optimism is premature.
Our stance is simple:
Stick with American oil companies with solid balance sheets.
No need to chase whatever the herd is chasing this week.
2️⃣ December Jobs: Better Headline, Same Problem Under the Hood
The ADP private payroll report for December came in better than November’s ugly loss of 29,000 jobs. December added 41,000 jobs, which sounds… fine.
But once you look under the hood, it’s the same story.
- Education + healthcare: +39,000 jobs
- Professional & business services: –29,000
- IT: –12,000
- Manufacturing: –5,000
Translation:
Jobs are being added in highly specialized fields, while sectors where “average” workers tend to find employment are shrinking.
So yes, the headline looks better — but accessibility is still a problem. Same theme, different month.
Top 10 IINvestments Going Ex-Dividend Next Week
We said it last week: if you didn’t like last week’s list, wait.
This week? Much better.
We’ve held TRIN (05/2023), VZ (10/2023), and SRV (11/2024) for a long time, and they’ve done exactly what we hoped:
- TRIN: +170% total return
(Initial investment fully recouped — all profit now) - VZ: +53%
- SRV: +15%
(Was over +40% before dilution — still solid income)
These three alone make this list worth paying attention to.
The remaining seven round out the diversification nicely:
- CSWC & SPMC – BDCs with strong financials and high payouts
- ERH – Deeply undervalued utility CEF (rare after last year’s utility run)
- EDF – Undervalued emerging markets CEF (also rare after 2025)
- DLY – Undervalued bond CEF (bonds quietly waking up)
- GNT – Undervalued gold & precious metals CEF
(Yes, even after gold crushed it in 2025 — I think the trend continues) - OXLC – Bank loan CEF
(Easing monetary policy makes this interesting for 2026–2027)
Even in a volatile market, I genuinely think any of these could deliver 10–30% total returns in 2026.
You’re welcome.
Portfolio Updates
1️⃣ New Preferred Share: AFGE
In the vanning portfolio, we deployed some dry powder into AFGE, a preferred share tied to AFG.
Why we like it:
- Insurance business with low debt
- Revenue growing 6–8% annually
- Debt-to-revenue ratio: 4.47:1
- Trades at $17.24 vs $25 par value (over 30% undervalued)
- 6.5%+ yield
It checks every box: income, margin of safety, diversification into insurance. This is a long-term hold.
2️⃣ Taking Profits (Because That’s Allowed)
In the retirement portfolio, we trimmed:
- 7 shares of ASTS
- 4 shares of PLTR
It is dramatically easier to take profits when everything left is house money. Highly recommend the strategy.
3️⃣ Recycling Profits Into Pepsi
With those profits, we added 10 shares of PEP.
Thanks to dollar-cost averaging:
- Cost basis now $140.01
- $135.75 after dividends
That’s how you build income without chasing.
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