I’ve been writing about timber for some years — e.g., here (for your serious consideration) and here (for your amusement) — and suggesting a timber stock with the symbol PCL.
Well guess what? After decades of decent pay-outs – and after “trading around $35” for quite a while, as noted in the 2010 edition of my book – Weyerhaeuser (WY) is acquiring it for about $50 a share in WY stock. Nice.
So now what?
If you’re in it for the long haul, just hang on.
If you’re new to this concept, consider buying WY, most recently at around $32 a share. It yields nearly 4% and over time, the dividend, and with it the stock price, could rise to match, or even outpace, inflation. Two similar stocks to consider: Potlatch (PCH) and Rayonier (RYN).
You could also buy either of two Exchange Traded Funds, with the clever symbols CUT and WOOD, giving you broad diversification. But you pay an annual management fee. Perhaps check to see which stocks they own, and each year diversify – over different timber stocks but also over time, by not investing all at once – directly buying shares in a new stock each year.
You’re 24 and have $3,800 to invest? Forget timber—you’ll die of boredom. But if you’re 50 and have accumulated $700,000 to help hold you from age 70 through 98, gradually accumulating a timber portfolio this way with 5% or 10% of your assets could make sense.
Sorry about the Viagra spam that appeared sporadically in the last two posts . . . and may be appearing now as you read this despite our attempts at repair. If the ads should persist for more than four hours . . .
