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May 28, 2023 24 mins

This week’s Suze School is all about preferred stocks and what the difference is between them and common stocks.  Plus, Suze does something brand new!


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Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Suze (00:28):
May 28th 2023. Welcome everybody to the Women and Money
podcast as well as everybody smart enough to listen. All right,
before we get into Suze School, there are a few
things the most important really being, tomorrow is Memorial Day

(00:50):
And this obviously is Memorial Day weekend and this weekend
is not just about barbecues and an extra day off.
This weekend, tomorrow is a true day of remembrance, remembrance
of what others did that allowed us to have our freedom.

(01:14):
So happy Memorial Day to all.
Also, I just want to remind everybody that many of
you who purchased three month certificates of deposits with Alliant
Credit Union, guess what? They are coming due. And I

(01:36):
want you to do what I did. And if you
do not need that money, I want you to renew
it
for an 18 month period of time at 5.15%.
I want you to Google, do all the research you can.

(01:58):
And I don't think that you will find anywhere,
any bank or any other credit union, a 18 month
where you're locking that interest rate in for 18 months,
certificate of deposit for 5.15%.

(02:18):
Now, I am very aware that in the past, I
would say no, no go short term, short term because
interest rates are gonna continue to go up. All of
that changed everybody. When Silicon Valley Bank went under
and when things change, you have to change, the investment

(02:40):
advice has to change. And across the board, when you
talk to financial institutions as well as economists, they truly
think that interest rates will be coming down. Therefore, you
want to lock in
as long of a rate that seems feasible for you

(03:03):
at the greatest interest rate out there. And right now
that is the 18 month certificate of deposit at Alliant
credit Union. If you don't know about it or you
haven't gotten one yet. Simply go to my alliant A
L L I A N T my alliant dot com

(03:25):
slash ultimate.
And that is where you sign up to get your CDs. Obviously,
they have the three month offer, the six month offer,
the 12 month offer, it goes all the way out.
But I'm going to tell you something next Sunday on
that Suze School that day. As to why the certificates

(03:50):
of deposit at Alliant Credit Union
are different than any certificate of deposit out there that
at least I know of. So you might want to
tune in and take advantage of it. All right.
Get out your Suze notbooks because today is kind of

(04:12):
a Doozy. All right.
Today's Suze School is about preferred stocks. Now, I mentioned
just a little bit ago that I really needed to
do a Suze School on preferred stocks. And I got
a tremendous response from all of you that said

(04:35):
I really need to do a Suze School on preferred stocks.
And I had preferred stocks in my head because sometime
back in April, I think it was, I got this
newsletter called Smart Money Monday and it's written by Thompson
Clark

(04:56):
of Mauldin Economics. Now, remember just a little bit ago,
I told you that I went to a conference and
it was called the Security Investors Conference SIC. And it
was put on by a man by the name of
John Mauldin of Mauldin Economics who I just think is so,

(05:17):
so brilliant and Thompson Clark is part of Mauldin economics
and he wrote this newsletter about preferred stocks. And that's
when I got that in my head and I briefly
mentioned it to you. I think it was a week

(05:37):
ago Sunday. So I think what I'm gonna do for
this podcast is simply maybe recap
everything in that newsletter and what I know and put
it all together for you so that you can understand
there is another way for you to invest, get a

(05:59):
great dividend and pretty much have your money safe and sound.
So first of all, let's begin, what is a preferred stock? Now,
most of you that own stocks, own what's called a
common stock or you own common shares of a company.

(06:22):
And the reason maybe that they call it common shares
is because it is the most common type of stock
that everybody owns.
But there is a class of stock issued by the
company that is above common stock and that is called

(06:44):
preferred stock. Now,
let's talk about the difference between preferred stock and common
stock which the majority of you happen to own
in common stock, you usually are able to vote on things.
All right. So whether it's the board of directors or

(07:06):
other major decisions, you usually get to have a vote
in that. But with Preferred stock,
it generally does not carry voting rights with it. So
in certain cases, it does, but the majority of the
time it does not
in common stock, when you get a dividend, it can

(07:30):
be variable and it's dependent on the company's profitability and
that's all at the board of directors discretion. Ok.
But dividends for preferred stocks, you just need to know
do not change. They are not variable. So common shareholders

(07:54):
like you are generally entitled to dividends, but only listen
to me closely. Now, after preferred shareholders have been paid, henceforth,
the name preferred.
So when a stock is paying a dividend
and let's say their money is tight or whatever. First,

(08:16):
those who own preferred stock, they get their dividend and
then the common shareholders get their dividend, that can be
a big difference. Just so you know, the other main
difference between preferred stock and common stock is the dividend.

(08:40):
So you could own a stock X Y Z company
and it could be the shares of the common stock
and those shares happen to pay you a 3% dividend
or you could own the preferred shares of X Y

(09:01):
Z and the preferred shares dividend would be five and
a quarter percent.
So there is a difference why? Because people normally buy
common stock for true growth and possibly a dividend,
but they normally buy preferred stock for income and more stability.

(09:28):
So it's things like that, that are the main differences
really because I don't want to go that heavily into
all the differences between preferred and common stocks. But that's
generally how it works. Now listen to me closely, ok,
preferred stock even though it is preferred and the dividend

(09:49):
needs to be paid there above preferred stock. In many
cases
are bonds of the corporation.
And as you know, bonds are considered debt instruments by
the company. So remember a bond is where you lend

(10:10):
the company X amount of money. They give you a
specific interest rate for a specific period of time and
then they try to give you your money back on
the date of maturity of that bond. OK. Everybody, a
stock
is an equity investment where you are investing in the

(10:34):
company very different than a bond, that is a debt instrument.
So now you know the difference between bonds, common stock
as well as preferred stock.
Now let me go back to bonds for one second
because you're familiar with this when you buy a bond

(10:55):
and let's say a company issues that bond, they issue
it at something called Power value, write it down
and for bonds, the power value is $1000 a bond.
So if you buy, you know, a bond when it's issued,

(11:18):
and let's say you just buy one and you pay
$1000 for that bond in between the day that you
bought it and the maturity date, it will go up
and down in value according to what interest rates are doing,
interest rates go up, bond prices go down. Did you

(11:39):
not all experience that a few months ago or a
year ago when as interest rates were going up, what
happened to your bond portfolios? They got obliterated everybody. But
the opposite is true. When interest rates go down, the
value of your bond goes back up. But when a

(12:02):
bond matures,
it usually always matures at par.
So I just want you to remember that and I'm
telling you that because preferred stock also is kind of
issued that way. When a company issues preferred stock,

(12:25):
usually they are issued with a par value and that
par value is $25 per share.
They also will declare a dividend payment that can be
paid either monthly or quarterly. Now listen, that dividend is
usually fixed or sometimes it can float. So remember in

(12:48):
a common stock,
the dividend can be variable, it can float, it can
do whatever it wants. Usually in preferred stock, the dividend
is fixed or like I said, in some cases, it
can also be variable or floating.
Now with preferred stock, if you buy preferred stock, you

(13:12):
also sometimes not all the time you have the right
to convert that preferred stock into common stock at a
specific price. Why would you want to do that? The
main reason you want would want to do that is
you really think that the company that you own preferred

(13:34):
stock in
is going to make you more money if you owned
the common stock. Because remember it's the common stock that
really goes up a lot faster in value.
But what I want you to remember is that the
main difference between a bond
and preferred stocks is a preferred stock usually does not

(13:59):
have a maturity date, but it is possible that they
do a preferred stock like a bond can also have
what's called a callable date, write it down.
So a callable date is when the company has the

(14:20):
ability to call that bond back if they want or
the preferred stock that they want back. And usually when
they do that, they have to pay you par for
the stock or the bond that you own. Now, why
would a company do that?
A company would do that if they issued you our

(14:42):
preferred stock paying you, uh, five or six or 7%
dividend yield or a bond paying you five or 6%
in interest. Now, interest rates went all the way down
and now new bonds really are only paying maybe 0% 1%.

(15:03):
Do you remember this? That was true a year or
two ago.
And they want to call in their bonds or preferred stock.
Because why should they pay you all that money in
interest when they can just give you your money back?
They can call in your stock or bond,

(15:25):
give you your money back and then take that and
offer it to new investors at a lot lower interest rates.
That essentially is how a preferred stock works. Now, not
all companies offer preferred shares of their company number one

(15:49):
And just like all stocks, not all preferred stocks are good.
So you have to really be careful.
Now, the key here is to make sure that the
company issuing their preferred is solid
and the preferreds that are most interesting as well as

(16:13):
dangerous right now are bank preferred stocks. For you have
to remember that just a little bit ago when Silicon
Valley went under
all the preferred stocks that were attached to banks absolutely
went down. Now, how do I know that? Because I

(16:36):
have a considerable amount of money invested in major banks
that I did preferred stocks with because I bought them
at like 24 or $25 a share
and they were giving a really great dividend at a
time when you could not get dividends anywhere.

(17:01):
And I was owning them, especially when interest rates were
down quite low. And I was getting a great dividend
from them. Then just like everybody else, when interest rates
started to go up, the value of those preferred stocks

(17:21):
absolutely started to go down in my portfolio. However,
the dividends stayed solid.
So I continued to get great income. Now that it's
possible that many people think that interest rates most likely

(17:42):
will come down.
Then the movement of a preferred stock should absolutely start
to go back up again. So I think it's absolutely
possible that while I've been earning 5.5% or more on
many of these preferred stocks that I own

(18:02):
that sooner than later, they will all go back up
to par, maybe a little bit above par. Quizzie
is par in a preferred stock? What does that mean?
Again when a preferred stock is issued by the company,
it is issued at par and par for a preferred

(18:26):
stock is $25. So they issue it at $25 with,
in most cases, a fixed dividend.
So, you know, very well, it's going to also behave
like bonds, interest rates go up. I'm repeating myself, I know.
Interest rates go up, the value will go down, interest

(18:50):
rates go down, the value will go up.
However,
I've already invested enough money in preferred stocks, but I
do think it is something for those of you who
are absolutely looking for income. You don't want a lot

(19:12):
of fluctuation and you want to know that you really
have a preferred situation in case of liquidity of the
company and, or the dividends being in jeopardy a little
versus the common stock,
then you would want to possibly take advantage of some
of these banks that got hurt and are down. Now,

(19:36):
you would want to look for the absolute strongest bank
out there if you were to do this and it's
just something that you should think about. So I'm gonna
do something now
that is new to the Women and Money podcast. And
remember at the beginning of this, I told you how

(19:57):
I had been reading this newsletter by Thompson Clark and
how great he is in the Mauldin Economics Group and
everything like that.
Well, in that issue that I read back in April,
he named his number one Preferred Stock and why he

(20:20):
would buy it and what he expects to see happen
with it
because that is his recommendation and not mine because I'm
not making any with preferred stocks right now.
I really think you might want to take a look
at it because I think it's a great idea there.

(20:43):
But you have to remember this is his recommendation, not mine,
but I think he is one seriously smart person. Therefore,
today Sunday, I will be posting on the women and
money app on the wall.

(21:04):
The little section that he wrote as to what his
number one pick is and why he picked it. And
the reason that I'm doing it that way is because
then you can read it over and over again. I
don't want to say something briefly on the podcast. You
listen to it while you're exercising, while you're walking and

(21:27):
you don't get it right. You make a mistake and
then I'm like, oh really? Are you kidding me?
So it's going to be there in writing and then
what can you do? You can read it over and
over and over again.
If you're not part of the women and money community,
you don't have that app. You simply go to Apple Apps,

(21:50):
Google Play, search for Women and Money and download it.
It is really just that simple. And then you go
on the app and look for, you know, events with Suze.
It's the wall. It's the very first one in the
upper left hand corner
and there you'll find Thompson Clark's number one recommendation of

(22:14):
a preferred stock that he thinks.
And good reason why he thinks that, that you could
easily make 10% a year for the next two years
on this stock. Ok.
That essentially brings us to the end of this Sunday's

(22:36):
Suze School. Now I'm gonna try my best to do
Suze Schools all the time that Robert is off galvanting around.
However, I don't know if we're gonna be able to
pull that off because he has to carry a little
computer with him and do all this stuff. It's not easy.
But at least right now we have a Suze School

(23:00):
next Sunday. I know we will have another Suze School
because I really want you to understand this incredibly different
unique feature of the certificates deposit at Alliant Credit Union
that somehow I just don't think you're aware of. So
I'll talk about that and we'll see what happens with

(23:22):
the debt ceiling and everything like that. All right.
But until Thursday when Miss Travis joins us again for
another Ask KT and Suze Anything, there's really one thing that
I want you to say every single day and it
goes like this today, wherever I go, I will create

(23:47):
a more peaceful, joyful and loving world. And if you
do that,
I promise you you will be unstoppable. See you Thursday.
Bye bye.
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