Here’s a stock with a 13% yield: Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc. (IVR)
Seems too good to be true… can they sustain this?
@rosered55, my father had a stroke at age 79.5 driving home from his weekly doubles match. He recovered from the stroke but died almost exactly a year later from cancer. He had two jobs as a theoretical physicist – at a private research lab and a university. The private research lab was supposed to stop paying him at 65 (or 70) but waited until 75 and apologetically told him they had to do it but that he could keep the office and assistant but he kept working at his university job until the stroke. After his stroke, I lined up his post-docs and former post-docs and they completed one of two books that he was thinking of publishing – I negotiated with Oxford University Press and they published it. So, he worked essentially until he died. He felt he lived a full life and his passing from the world was graceful – he decided he didn’t want to die at the hospital plugged into tubes and died at home with relatives.
I am standing here in line at a social security office.
So… I can’t see the financials. Looking at the stock price, the consensus on wall street is no. 
I believe the company borrows with short term debt and buys mortgages with the money. Leveraged up. Probably uses imperfect hedges.
If I am correct, the company has risk of short term rates increasing (raising its borrowing costs) and the value of its portfolio declining if longer term rates increase.
Ok… I killed 3 minutes in line.
Wow. Short-term debt to take on long-term obligations. That works for a while until it explodes.
That’s right!
"I lined up his post-docs and former post-docs and they completed one of two books that he was thinking of publishing – I negotiated with Oxford University Press and they published it. "
I’m a theoretical physicist. What area was your father working in?
I’ve owned nly a number of times in the past which also had a high yield. Everytime I owned it, I lost money. I still get the urge from time to time to buy it but I don’t. Companies that have that high of a yield, do for a reason.
@DocT, it’s a form of eating the seed corn.
My father was a theoretical physicist. (no, really!) But he died many years ago.
My dad was a barber and I am slowly going bald. Oh…the irony.
Think of all the money you can invest from saving on haircuts and hair products, @dstark.
@doschicos, lol.
Only two people have ever cut my hair. My dad and my wife. Never paid for a haircut if I don’t count the fact I have paid for electric razors.
This has left more money for retirement.
“Think of all the money you can invest from saving on haircuts and hair products”
My husband thought he was going to save us a lot of money by grooming the dogs himself, and bought a doggie barber kit. After the hack job he did, the girls were so ashamed and just hung their heads in embarrassment. People even mentioned it as we walked by. He hasn’t done it since, thankfully!
Character building, busdriver. 
Ha, ha, arabrab, these girls are too old to build character. The one on the right is always so ashamed and guilty, even if she’s done nothing wrong, and the one on the left can raid your suitcase, leave wrappers all over the floor…and when caught, she acts like what’s your problem? Rub my belly!
To bring this around to retirement, dogs could be a huge expense during retirement. Our girls are 9 and 12, and we have decided that when something happens, that we will not get more dogs. After we retire, we plan to travel, though maybe when we are very sedentary, we will get more cavaliers. They are awesome comfort dogs for older people. But right now, taking care of them costs us several thousand dollars a year. We have to pay a lot for good food, dental cleaning, vet bills, and for someone to take care of them while we’re gone. Plus, it’s really hard to get off the couch when they pin you down, difficult to accomplish anything. 
@busdriver11 We lost our dog to cancer about 3-4 years ago and decided no more pets for us. With an empty nest now, we didn’t want to be tied down with any living creatures and a new dog is at least a 10 year commitment. As much as we miss having one sometimes, its been nice not having to deal with the $ and things like pooper scooping, walking it in the cold and snow, etc. It’s been kind of freeing to be pet free. Now, if we could get the neighbor’s dog to stop using our yard as its toilet…
Oh, that’s annoying! I hope they at least scoop the poop up.
I can’t imagine how sad we would be when these girls pass away. But I also won’t miss the work and the cost, though right now their amazing ability to snuggle makes it worth the price. :o3
Oh my God. Just when I think my Dad is acting like a rational, sane person with this railing (now installed), I get this text from him:
“This morning I decided I was going to use a bunch of mountaineering gear to make myself super safe when using the railing or use rope and other stuff to slide down it. I wanted to make sure that something weird wasn’t going to happen. I attached the rope to the railing and under my arms. As I moved down the railing I slid the rope in front of me. However at the various attachment points, I had to untie the rope 10 times, so I used a mountaineering rope arrest technique to get past those difficult points. In spite of a family war of yelling and swearing before we started the project it worked. I got all away down to the road in about an hour but coming up to the house only took about five minutes”
I think this belongs in the aging parents thread, however, I just had to share it here. You know, everyone is concerned about physical ailments after they retire, but what happens if you just go nuts, instead? Save your money forever, and then you lose your sanity? I say, spend it now!
Oh so funny! How many steps?
(By the way, I am impressed that your dad sends text messages. My dad in NY has a laptop but struggles even with email. My mom in CO is very savvy with email, FB, etsy selling etc. But neither does text msg).