Learn

Understand the machinery before the yield.

Plain-English explanations of what income assets own, how they earn, and which number actually tells you whether a dividend holds. Written in order, readable in any order.

Series 01

REIT Basics

This page is the series index. Chapters are published here first and distributed elsewhere afterwards.

What Is a REIT—and What Actually Pays the Dividend? A REIT owns income-producing real estate. Its dividend is paid out of the cash those properties generate, and the yield only tells you what the market pays for that cash. Chapter One · 3 min Why REITs Don't Use EPS Depreciation pushes reported earnings below the cash the buildings produce. What FFO adds back, what AFFO subtracts, and why AFFO has no standard definition. Chapter Two · 3 min
What the 90% Distribution Rule Really Means The rule is written in taxable income, not cash. Why satisfying it says less about dividend safety than most readers assume. Chapter Three · In preparation
Equity REITs vs. Mortgage REITs One owns buildings and collects rent. The other lends against them and earns a spread. Same tax structure, very different business. Chapter Four · In preparation
Why Property Type Changes the Risk A hotel reprices nightly. A net-lease property may be under contract for fifteen years. The lease decides how fast cash flow can move. Chapter Five · In preparation
The map

Where this is going

REIT Basics

Property, leases, payout

What a REIT owns, how rent becomes distributable cash, and how property type changes the risk.

BDC Basics

Lending, not leasing

Business development companies, senior secured loans, first and second lien, PIK income, net asset value.

Dividend Basics

The payment itself

Yield, payout ratio, coverage, dividend growth, cuts, and the dates that decide who gets paid.

Cash Flow & Accounting

Reading the statements

Free cash flow, FFO, AFFO, EBITDA, GAAP versus non-GAAP, operating cash flow and capital expenditure.

Why Investors Get Confused

The recurring traps

Why a high yield is not always good, why book value misleads, and why a payout ratio alone settles nothing.

Applied

Inside real companies

The same measures read through actual filings, so the definitions stop being abstract.

The Order

Start with the property.
Trace the rent.
Check the debt.
Then judge the payout.

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