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10 Best Stocks for Rising Interest Rates

In March, the Federal Reserve raised benchmark interest rates for the first time since 2018. And in the intervening weeks, Fed Chair Jerome Powell has been increasingly clear that even higher rates may be on the way soon. That has investors scrambling to scrape up the best stocks for rising interest rates.

Speaking on March 21, Powell said the central bank will move “expeditiously” and “more aggressively” towards higher interest rates. That has left little doubt in the minds of many investors about what’s in store for the markets in the coming months.

To be clear, rates are still relatively low even after all this. The effective federal funds rate now sits at 0.33% instead of 0.08% prior, but that’s not even within earshot of rates from prior decades that were several full percentage points higher.

Furthermore, rising rates should never be seen as a death knell for the economy. In fact, the presence of rate increases is because the Federal Reserve sees inflation as a bigger risk to the U.S. economy than the burden of higher borrowing costs. If businesses and consumers weren’t churning along, there would be concerns of how these rate hikes would be absorbed, keeping Powell and other policymakers in check.

There are certainly changes that are afoot as a result of higher interest rates, but investors should not make the mistake of thinking these moves means you should abandon the stock market entirely. Indeed, several of the best stocks for 2022 had the potential for rising rates on the mind, and today, we’ll be looking at a few that are tailor-made for this environment.

Here are 10 of the best stocks for rising interest rates. The potential options presented here are for those concerned about mitigating the impact of rising interest rates throughout 2022.

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Data is as of April 3. Dividend yields represent the trailing 12-month yield, which is a standard measure for equity funds.

Tax Deadlines Extended for Puerto Rico Storm Victims

The IRS has granted victims of a recent natural disaster in Puerto Rico more time to file various individual and business tax returns and make tax payments. Specifically, victims of the severe storms, flooding and landslides that began on February 4, 2022, now have until June 15, 2022, to file and pay tax returns and payments due between February 4 and June 14.

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The tax relief is available to anyone in any area designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as qualifying for individual assistance. At this point, only affected taxpayers who live or have a business in Cataño, Dorado, Toa Baja, Vega Alta and Vega Baja qualify for the extensions, but the IRS will offer the same relief to any taxpayers in other Puerto Rico localities designated by FEMA later.

The IRS will also work with other people who live outside the disaster area but whose tax records are in the disaster area. Call the IRS at 866-562-5227 if you face this situation. This also includes workers assisting the relief activities who are affiliated with a recognized government or philanthropic organization and anyone visiting the impacted area who was killed or injured as a result of the disaster.

Deadlines Extended

The deadlines that are pushed back include the April 18, 2022, due date for filing a 2021 personal income tax return and paying 2021 taxes, and various business returns normally due March 15 and April 18. Storm victims in the designated area will also have until June 15 to make 2021 IRA contributions.

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Puerto Rico storm victims will also get more time to make the first quarterly estimated tax payment for the year that’s due on April 18, 2022. In addition, farmers who would normally skip estimated payments and file their returns by March 1, 2022, can now wait until June 15 to file their 2021 return and pay any tax due.

The due date for quarterly payroll and excise tax returns normally due on May 2, 2022, are extended to June 15 for Puerto Rico storm victims, too. Penalties on payroll and excise tax deposits due from February 4 to February 21 will also be waived as long as the deposits were made by February 22, 2022.

Taxpayers don’t need to contact the IRS to get this relief. However, if an affected person receives a late filing or late payment penalty notice from the IRS, he or she should call the number on the notice to have the penalty abated.

Deduction for Damaged or Lost Property

Victims of the Puerto Rico storms, flooding and landslides may be able to claim a tax deduction for unreimbursed damaged or lost property. To do so, they typically must itemize and file Schedule A with their tax return. However, victims who claim the standard deduction may still be able to deduct their losses if they can claim them as business losses on Schedule C.

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The deduction can be claimed on the tax return for the year the damage or loss of property occurred or for the previous year. So, for any damage or loss in 2022, the deduction can be claimed on either a 2021 tax year return or a 2022 return. In either case, you must write the FEMA declaration number on the return claiming the deduction. For the recent Puerto Rico storms, flooding and landslides, the number is DR-4649-PR.

If you decide to claim a deduction for 2021 and you have already filed your 2021 tax return, you can amend your 2021 return by filing Form 1040X. For this purpose, you must file the amended return no later than six months after the due date for filing your return (without extensions) for the year in which the loss took place. So, for Puerto Rico storms, flooding and landslide losses in 2022, you would need to file an amended 2021 return by October 16, 2023. Affected taxpayers claiming the disaster loss on an amended 2021 return should also put the Disaster Designation (“Puerto Rico Severe Storm, Flooding, and Landslides”) in bold letters at the top of the form. See IRS Publication 547 for details.

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What is the Fair Housing Act and How Does It Impact Renters?

Housing is an equal opportunity for everyone.

The post What is the Fair Housing Act and How Does It Impact Renters? appeared first on The Rent.com Blog : A Renter’s Guide for Tips & Advice.

Why Now Might Be a Good Time to Sell Your Investment Real Estate

Historically speaking, independent real estate investors who held for the long-term walked a relatively straightforward (although bumpy and slow at times) path toward achieving asset appreciation and long-term wealth. This path would often look something like this: An investor would purchase a piece of property that would potentially generate enough cash flow to cover the expenses, including principal and interest on the mortgage, insurance, property taxes and maintenance costs. Over time, the property would (hopefully) increase in value, income (rents) would rise, and certain tax advantages, like the ability to deduct operating and depreciation expenses, could be utilized to improve cash flow.

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However, the steady march of new government regulations, the impact of COVID-19, and some basic real estate economics have helped some real estate investors recognize that the real estate investments they own have become less profitable and could even worsen to the point where investors could actually lose money each year.

The Growing Impact of Rent Control Before and After COVID-19

While this may sound like hyperbole to some, our firm is actively working with numerous apartment owners across the country, and we hear firsthand some of the challenges and pressures property owners are facing. Even national media are picking up on this trend. For example, a  recent Wall Street Journal article cites that apartment owners and investors are leaving California and the Northeast for places like Florida, Texas and the other Southern states where warm weather, business-friendly governments and laws, lower taxes and fewer regulations seem like a breath of fresh air.

Reuters recently lamented that beset by COVID-19 and its fallout, many smaller local landlords are offloading their properties and selling to national institutional investors, and CNBC recently reported that at least 60% of single-family rental homeowners are owed back rent and are being forced to sell their rental properties to recoup losses. Finally, CBS announced that as a last-ditch effort to claw back tens of billions of dollars in unpaid rent, a national group of landlords is suing the federal government for back rent.

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However, even before COVID-19 rolled across the nation’s multifamily rental real estate investment market, landlords were seeing new rent-control legislation start to encroach on their investment real estate portfolios, and squeeze owners’ profits. When COVID-19 arrived in the United States, cities across the country started expanding rent-control laws and eviction moratoriums at an alarming rate, directly exposing landlords to financial peril. Legally speaking, the term “rent control” can be defined as any statutory rule that regulates the timing or frequency of increasing tenants’ rent, the services landlords must provide tenants, and the limited ability of landlords to evict tenants.

Today, multiple cities, states and jurisdictions are under some form of strict rent-control regulation, including Washington, D.C., Maryland, New Jersey and New York. Most recently, Oregon and California have enacted statewide rent-control laws that have greatly reduced landlords’ ability to raise rates. Cities like Santa Ana and St. Paul have both passed bills limiting rent increases to 3% a year. Seattle even passed a bill requiring landlords to pay the moving costs for tenants who can’t afford to stay in their homes, and Los Angeles passed a law that protects tenants from eviction for unpaid rent.

Perhaps no other region in the nation is more challenging for landlords than California’s Bay Area. For example, Berkely has had one of the strictest rent-control environments in the country, capping not only rents, but also garbage and parking fees; Hayward caps rent increases at just 5%, and rent increases following voluntary move-outs cannot be more than 5%; Oakland’s Rent Adjustment Program (RAP) limits rental increases to 30% in a five-year tenancy.

Even more worrisome for landlords, cities like Portland and Oakland have recently created new restrictions limiting the ability of landlords to screen potential tenants, including:

  • Prohibiting the use of criminal background checks.
  • Limiting the use of financial background checks.
  • Requiring landlords to accept previously evicted tenants.
  • Limiting security deposits to 1.5 x month’s rent.

Adding to these growing restrictive rental laws, landlords today must also face the reality of complicated and costly eviction laws and the soaring costs associated with repairs and maintenance.

Finally, many owners are recognizing that perhaps their rental property may not make as much financial sense as it once did. Why?  Well, for several years now, property values in certain situations have risen faster than an owner’s ability to raise rents. The result is that the cash-on-cash return, or “equity yield,” gets compressed the higher property values rise. In some cases, this cash-on-cash return can be squeezed from a double-digit return to a low single-digit return. Add to this the uncertain factors, like inflation and unemployment, higher taxes, and a softening rental market, combined with city- and government-imposed rent-control and eviction moratoriums, and more landlords are coming to the conclusion that now might be potentially a good time to sell their investment real estate.

Enter the Delaware Statutory Trust and Passive Real Estate Investing

So why don’t rental owners simply take their equity positions and cash out? The simple answer because of the tax liabilities — including federal capital gains (15%-20%), state capital gains (0%-13.3% depending on the state), depreciation recapture tax (25%) and possibly the Medicare surtax (3.8%) — will now be due upon sale. These associated taxes could potentially take up to 40% of the asset’s sale price out of the seller’s proceeds.

In addition, while it is true that a 1031 exchange would allow them to defer their taxes, it is also true that they would most likely be limited to exchanging into another multifamily building or a single-tenant NNN building. What’s the problem with these assets? Nothing, except investing in another multifamily building doesn’t offer the owner much diversification, and because the proverbial “Three T’s” of tenants, toilets and trash will still be involved, there will always be headaches and management expenses involved. A single-tenant net-lease property relies heavily on the quality of that sole tenant, and if that tenant fails, the investor’s income is likely to be reduced or eliminated (during COVID-19 there were a number of NNN tenants who went bankrupt or sought rental relief from their landlords). Also, triple net lease properties can be hard to locate, and conducting proper due diligence can be difficult to accomplish within the time frame of 1031 exchange.

That’s why many landlords are utilizing Delaware Statutory Trust (DST) 1031 exchanges to exit the active management role of owning rental real estate.  Delaware Statutory Trusts are a form of fractional ownership that can be used to make passive investments in real estate and achieve monthly income potential via ACH direct deposit and diversification across multiple assets. Also, because DSTs are eligible for 1031 exchanges, investors can sell their investment property and reinvest the proceeds into one or more DST investments while deferring capital gains and other taxes.

Another reason DST investments are popular among real estate investors is because many types of diverse real estate assets can be owned in a DST, including industrial, multifamily, self-storage, medical and retail properties. Also, it is not uncommon to find properties within a DST investment that include institutional-quality assets like those owned by large investment firms, such as a 450-unit Class A multifamily apartment community or a 100,000-square-foot industrial distribution facility leased to a Fortune 500 logistics and shipping company.

In addition, Delaware Statutory Trust 1031 exchanges offer real estate investors the following specific potential benefits as well:

  • The ability to close their 1031 exchange within typically three to five days.
  • The opportunity to eliminate the hassles of tenants, toilets, and trash (i.e.. the Three T’s).
  • The potential to receive regular monthly distributions via ACH direct deposits/
  • The ability to access institutional-grade real estate assets.
  • The potential advantages associated with greater portfolio diversification by geography, tenants, and asset class.*

The Bottom Line

Investment properties have gone through significant changes over recent years, and in many cases, owners have been faced with challenges they have never seen before, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and ensuing eviction moratoriums. For qualified property owners who are motivated to sell soon and are facing capital gains, reinvesting the proceeds in qualifying properties, including DSTs, will allow them to not only defer capital gains taxes but also become part of a diversification* strategy with the potential for appreciation and monthly income.

*Diversification does not guarantee returns and does not protect against loss.

This material does not constitute an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. Such offers can be made only by the confidential Private Placement Memorandum (the “Memorandum”). Please read the entire Memorandum paying special attention to the risk section prior investing.  IRC Section 1031, IRC Section 1033 and IRC Section 721 are complex tax codes therefore you should consult your tax or legal professional for details regarding your situation.  There are material risks associated with investing in real estate securities, including illiquidity, vacancies, general market conditions and competition, lack of operating history, interest rate risks, general risks of owning/operating commercial and multifamily properties, financing risks, potential adverse tax consequences, general economic risks, development risks and long hold periods. There is a risk of loss of the entire investment principal. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results. Potential cash flow, potential returns and potential appreciation are not guaranteed.
Nothing contained on this website constitutes tax, legal, insurance or investment advice, nor does it constitute a solicitation or an offer to buy or sell any security or other financial instrument. Securities offered through FNEX Capital, member FINRA.
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When to Change Tax Withholdings — and How to Do It

Wondering when you need to change your tax withholdings — and how to actually do so? We break it all down quicker than you can say “W-4.”

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.