If you invested $10,000 in Realty Income (O -0.21%) at the turn of the last century, it would be worth around $56,000 today. That is a long way off from $1 million, but don’t look at this result in a vacuum. The truth is, Realty Income has outperformed the S&P 500 index (^GSPC 0.40%) over that span. And even if Realty Income can’t repeat that feat, there’s still a very good reason to own this high-yield real estate investment trust (REIT). Here’s what you need to know.

Times have changed, but history is important

Back at the turn of the century, REITs were still a somewhat obscure asset class. In fact, they remained a niche segment of the financial sector until 2014, when real estate finally got its own sector designation. Ultimately, way back in 2000, REITs weren’t well followed and were largely the purview of small, income-oriented investors. A material portion of the growth over the past 25 or so years has come from the inclusion of REITs in the portfolios of larger investors.

Image source: Getty Images.

But the performance numbers are still interesting to consider. The growth of $10K noted above for Realty Income compares to the same investment increasing to roughly $43,000 for the S&P 500 index. That, however, is a price-only figure. That same amount with dividend reinvestment would have grown to nearly $68,000 in the S&P 500 and, hold your hat, over $230,000 for Realty Income.

O data by YCharts

How is that possible? The answer is that back in the 2000s, Realty Income’s yield was quite high. Compounding the dividend via dividend reinvestment supercharged the stock’s total returns. The S&P 500’s yield wasn’t nearly as high. So, Realty Income benefited from both the increase in price that came with the broader acceptance of the REIT asset class and its lofty, and steadily growing, dividend.

What’s the future going to look like?

Obviously, the future is unknowable. However, given the past, Realty Income is likely to be a reliable dividend stock. It has increased its dividend annually for 30 consecutive years. If it keeps that up, even though growth is generally fairly modest in any given year, it will be a solid foundation for a broader income portfolio.

But there’s another bit to consider here. While Realty Income’s dividend yield isn’t as high as it was back when REITs were less popular, it is still pretty high at roughly 5.6%. For comparison, the S&P 500’s yield is only about 1.2%. Compounding that dividend will still help to supercharge Realty Income’s return.

But that’s not the only thing worth noting. Realty Income’s stock price is down around 30% from the highs it reached prior to the coronavirus pandemic. That suggests that there is some recovery potential here to go along with the lofty dividend. Put the two together, and investors could see pretty attractive and reliable long-term returns over time.

Realty Income is a foundational investment

That said, Realty Income isn’t going to excite you. But that’s the point of buying this REIT. It is a boring and slow-growth business that will provide you with a lofty yield. You can pair it with lower-yielding but higher-growth investments to create a portfolio that will help turn you into a millionaire. That’s the value of a $10,000 or $100,000 investment in Realty Income. It can give you the emotional and financial strength to take on the kind of investment risks that will drive the value of your portfolio into seven figures. And yet, as history shows, this REIT, which has outperformed the S&P 500, is anything but dead money.

If you’re looking to build long-term wealth, investing in the stock market is an excellent way to reach financial freedom. The key is to focus on quality companies and hold on to their stocks for the long haul. Patience is your best friend, as your investments will have the chance to compound over time.

One company that’s been making waves in the fintech world is SoFi Technologies (SOFI 2.06%). The company is rapidly attracting customers and has successfully expanded beyond student loans to become a comprehensive financial services provider.

Over the past year, SoFi has shown impressive growth, and the company has enjoyed robust demand for its loans. With multiple avenues for expansion, you may wonder: Could SoFi be a millionaire-maker stock in your investment portfolio?

SoFi’s platform has evolved in recent years

SoFi, a dynamic player in the fintech space, began its journey helping people refinance their student loans. However, during the pandemic, it had to adjust to the student loan forbearance and shifted its focus more toward personal loans. In recent years, SoFi has expanded its offerings to provide a diverse range of products, including banking and savings accounts, investment accounts, and other financial planning tools.

One pivotal moment in SoFi’s growth story came in 2022 when it acquired Golden Pacific Bancorp. The move provided it with a much-needed banking charter. With this, SoFi could accept deposits, retain loans, and roll out a suite of banking products that extend beyond its initial loan offerings. As a result, SoFi’s deposit base has grown rapidly over the past several years.

SOFI Total Deposits (Quarterly) data by YCharts

Another advantage of owning a banking charter is the opportunity for SoFi to offer financial products to nonbanking companies. The fintech has invested in technology platforms like Galileo and Technisys, positioning itself to provide essential back-end banking services that can support a wide array of financial products simultaneously. SoFi’s technology segment is compelling due to its steady, fee-based revenue, helping SoFi differentiate itself in the competitive fintech landscape.

Can SoFi become a millionaire-maker stock?

For a stock to be a millionaire maker, several key things must align for investors. The company needs to experience consistent, long-term growth. After all, building long-term wealth isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon, and patience is essential as you navigate the inevitable highs and lows of investing in growth stocks.

Image source: Getty Images.

Not only that, but the size of your initial investment and any subsequent contributions can significantly impact your journey. If you invest $10,000 in SoFi today and don’t add any more to it, you will need that investment to grow at a 20% annual compound rate for the next 25 years.

SoFi is growing at a very impressive pace. Last year, it reported $2.67 billion in total revenue, representing 26% growth from the previous year. A rapidly expanding deposit base helped it, which grew 39% to $25.9 billion. Its net interest income growth was stellar, and analysts covering the company believe it could generate an additional 23% growth in revenue this year.

On top of that, SoFi achieved generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) profitability for the first time in a full fiscal year last year. Earnings per share of $0.39 crushed estimates. It posted another profitable quarter in the first quarter, with EPS of $0.06 on revenue of $771 million, representing a 33% increase from the same period in the prior year.

SOFI Revenue (TTM) data by YCharts

Is SoFi right for you?

SoFi has what it takes to be a solid stock for long-term investors, but a few things need to go its way. One, continue to grow and expand its customer base and get existing customers to use its offerings more. An important aspect is that SoFi must not only maintain but also cross-sell to customers, engaging them with all of its various offerings.

Second, its credit must hold up. A promising sign is that alternative investors have shown a strong interest in scooping up loans. SoFi has expanded its loan platform business, where it refers pre-qualified borrowers to loan origination partners. The loan platform enables SoFi to meet borrower demand while shifting toward less capital-intensive, fee-based revenue sources, as its investor partners retain ownership of those loans.

Last year, the fintech agreed to a $2 billion agreement with Fortress Investment Group. It has further built upon this agreement and now has a commitment of up to $5 billion from the investment company. The company also agreed with Blue Owl Capital for up to $5 billion in loan commitments, showing incredibly strong demand for personal loans.

Third, its technology platform needs to continue to grow as well. This business offers SoFi the potential for higher margins and is one aspect that can differentiate it from competitors.

SoFi has the potential for strong returns, but it should be viewed as part of a larger investment strategy. As a long-term investor, focus on building wealth by investing in quality companies across various industries with different strengths, with SoFi being one part of your diversified approach to building wealth.

Warren Buffett’s incredible track record allocating capital for Berkshire Hathaway makes him a legend. For the average investor, following the conglomerate’s portfolio to find potential ideas is a smart use of time.

In Berkshire’s massive $277 billion portfolio, one well-known consumer brand is currently the third-largest position. There’s no doubt that investors are familiar with this business, as it’s been around for over a century.

If you invest $1,000 in this top dividend stock, could you become a millionaire one day?

Image source: Getty Images.

Generating sizable income for Berkshire

Berkshire has a stake in numerous companies. However, it owns a whopping 400 million shares in Coca-Cola (KO -0.04%), giving it control of 9.3% of the beverage giant. Berkshire has been a shareholder for decades, which highlights Buffett’s appreciation of Coca-Cola.

Coca-Cola currently pays a quarterly dividend of $0.51 that yields 2.84% on a yearly basis. The business deserves a lot of credit for raising the payout for an unbelievable 63 straight years, a track record that investors will probably struggle to find anywhere else. This demonstrates the company’s staying power.

This position generates a huge income stream for Buffett. Berkshire rakes in $816 million in annualized income from its stake in Coca-Cola. It’s no wonder shares aren’t being sold.

Coca-Cola is a high-quality business

It’s easy to understand why Buffett likes Coca-Cola’s business. For starters, it has one of the world’s most recognizable brands. Coca-Cola has a successful history of providing consumers with consistent products that satisfy their thirst. Add to this effective marketing, a truly global footprint with a presence in more than 200 countries, and 2.2 billion servings consumed daily, and it’s obvious that Coca-Cola’s high visibility is a key part of its success.

What’s more, the brand supports ongoing pricing power, a trait Buffett loves. Just in the latest quarter (Q1 2025, ended March 28), the company’s sales benefited from a 5% impact from favorable pricing and mix. The fact that customers are loyal to the brand means that Coca-Cola can likely continue to increase prices within reason and not deal with tapering demand.

Coca-Cola is also an extremely profitable enterprise. The company relies on third-party bottlers and distributors to get its products to consumers. This results in a more efficient operating model that helped drive a 32.9% operating margin in Q1.

Another important characteristic that Coca-Cola has that long-term investors should appreciate is its longevity. It seems that the economy is undergoing rapid change these days, thanks to the continuing impact of technology. Coca-Cola simply doesn’t invite much in the way of disruption, which means its profits and dividend payouts face minimal threats. This reduces risk.

What investors should expect

In the past 10 years, Coca-Cola has produced a total return of only 137%. This figure includes dividends. That performance is worse than the three stock market indexes, which is discouraging for investors looking to amass serious wealth.

Since the business is so mature with muted growth prospects, it’s a good idea to temper expectations. The share price isn’t going to skyrocket in the years ahead.

The valuation also isn’t cheap. As of this writing, the stock trades at a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.8, above its trailing-five-year average.

The lack of substantial growth prospects, coupled with the elevated valuation, means Coca-Cola won’t turn you into a millionaire. But dividend investors might still be interested in adding the stock to their portfolios.

The multimillionaire Michael Arrington, who also founded TechCrunch, launched a blistering attack on X in response to last week’s data theft.

In an extraordinary post that pulled no punches, he warned the leak of home addresses and account balances of Coinbase users “will lead to people dying.”

Arrington even suggested “it probably has already,” but it’s important to stress that there’s nothing concrete to back up this assertion. He wrote:

“The human cost, denominated in misery, is much larger than the $400m or so they think it will actually cost the company to reimburse people.”

He went on to say that he is “very disappointed in Coinbase right now” — and crypto companies should urgently review their business models.

“Using the cheapest option for customer service has its price. And Coinbase’s customers will bear that cost.”

Coinbase broke its silence last week with a detailed blog post, in which it admitted that criminals had bribed some of its overseas customer service agents to hand over sensitive details belonging to “a small subset” of users.

The exchange was quite upfront about what happened — and said it had refused to pay a $20 million ransom in order to cover the breach up.

While it insisted less than 1% of monthly transacting users were affected, that’s a substantial amount considering how many people have a Coinbase account.

And given the breach included home addresses, balance snapshots, transaction histories and copies of photo ID, the data that has been compromised could cause a lot of damage.

Coinbase’s initial blog post vowed that work has now begun to trace stolen funds — confirming that some customers have lost crypto as a result — with the trading platform later revealing the incident could cost the business up to $400 million.

Opportunistic scammers are already trying to take advantage by sending bogus emails warning people they have fallen victim to “critical security concerns.”

Of course, this wide-ranging breach comes at a time when crypto investors have been specifically targeted in a spate of violent incidents, including kidnappings. One influencer was confronted by armed gunmen after she had (willingly) posted a screenshot of her Coinbase balance on X.

For Coinbase users told their balances have fallen into the hands of malicious actors, you can imagine recent developments will cause a lot of anxiety.

It’s now been confirmed that the U.S. Justice Department has launched an investigation into the data breach — but Coinbase’s chief legal officer Paul Grewal has stressed that the company itself is not being scrutinized.

Arrington’s bombastic post has led some in the crypto space to leap to Coinbase’s defense, arguing regulations are to blame for what happened. Balaji Srinivasan, who served as the exchange’s former chief technology officer, replied:

“The state forces companies to collect KYC data that they do not want to collect. This issue is much bigger than crypto, and regulation is the actual thing to target. With ZK, no need for KYC.”

That led Arrington to brusquely reply: “When enough people die, the laws may change.”

But it seems unusual to argue that the solution here is to stop exchanges from performing Know Your Customer checks. Instead, the focus should be on tightening the rules surrounding data collection — with stricter safeguards to prevent rogue actors from leaking confidential information, and punishing fines for companies that let their customers down.

We’re already starting to learn about some of the people affected by this incident.

An artist called Ed Suman held 17.5 BTC and 225 ETH on Coinbase, worth about $2.4 million at current market rates. He told Bloomberg that he lost it all as a result of a social engineering attack directly linked to this leak, and said the exchange should have emailed every customer to warn of impersonators — adding:

“They could have prevented a huge amount of theft. In my opinion, they’ve been woefully remiss and, in my case, the consequences of that have been significant.”

This sorry tale overshadows the fact that Coinbase has now joined the S&P 500 — becoming the first crypto company to do so. The theft adds ammo to those who firmly believe in self-custodial solutions — using the mantra “not your keys, not your Bitcoin.”

And in the weeks and months ahead, there’s likely to be further drama as the breach is investigated and new revelations unfold. Michael Arrington is now on the warpath — and won’t be the only one.

The post ‘People Will Die’ After Coinbase Data Leak, Millionaire Warns appeared first on Cryptonews.

As artificial intelligence use cases grow, the demand for energy from data centers is set to skyrocket. This ever-increasing need for power opens doors for innovative energy solutions, and nuclear energy is rapidly coming back in favor, backed by nations eager to embrace it.

Enter NuScale Power (SMR 2.80%), an innovator in advanced small modular reactors that could revolutionize how nuclear energy is distributed. These compact reactors promise efficient deployment and could help reduce the cost of deploying nuclear power. Could investing in NuScale be your ticket to millionaire status? Let’s explore the company and its opportunity to find out.

NuScale’s nuclear innovation

Small modular reactors (SMRs) are cutting-edge technology that could change nuclear power generation as we know it. Founded in 2007, NuScale designs compact SMRs that could provide a scalable, efficient, and safer alternative to traditional nuclear plants.

Its NuScale Power Module is the first SMR to receive a standard design approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), giving NuScale a critical first-mover advantage over peers. The NRC has approved its 50 megawatt-electric (MWe) design, and NuScale is looking to upsize that reactor to 77 MWe and expects this larger version to receive approval sometime this year. Up to 12 modules can be assembled per plant, providing up to 924 MWe in energy.

NuScale has significant backing from Fluor, a construction company that provides services across industries, including energy. Since 2011, Fluor has invested over $600 million in NuScale to support its development and has been instrumental in helping NuScale bring its VOYGR power plant to the market.

What’s next for NuScale Power

NuScale is looking to build its plants efficiently and is targeting existing coal plants, which could save up to 15% to 35% on construction costs. With Fluor’s help, NuScale is developing a small modular reactor power station at a former coal plant in Doicești, Romania. This project is known as the VOYGR-6 SMR power plant and will consist of six NuScale Power Modules and generate 462 megawatts of electricity.

The project is backed by public and private funding, including contributions from the United States, Japan, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates. The U.S. Export-Import Bank has committed up to $99 million for initial work, with additional funding of up to $4 billion being considered for the project’s deployment.

Image source: Getty Images.

Investors should consider the following

NuScale’s technology is exciting, but investors shouldn’t ignore the risks of buying the stock. For one, the company continues to rack up losses as it works to get its technology approved and build its facilities. Over the last 12 months, NuScale has lost $137 million against $37 million in revenue. In the fourth quarter, the company bolstered its balance sheet with $446.7 million in cash — providing it with a runway for the next few years.

Second, it will take several years before NuScale achieves widespread commercial operations. The target date for opening its Romanian plant is 2029, and four years is a long time when things could go wrong. Any cancellations (such as with its UAMPS project a couple of years ago), delays, or a lack of customer interest would be detrimental for the stock.

Is NuScale Power a millionaire-maker stock?

NuScale Power has long-term potential and could be a key player in helping countries deploy nuclear power on a large scale. Over the past few years, 31 countries have signed a Declaration to Triple Nuclear Energy by 2050. If NuScale’s products work well and prove cheaper and more efficient, it could grow tremendously.

NuScale certainly has millionaire-maker potential once it gains footing, but it remains highly speculative at this point, leaving it best suited for aggressive investors. Even so, those wishing to own the stock should maintain a small position as part of a more extensive, diverse portfolio and build up that position over time as NuScale reaches key milestones and works toward commercial operations at scale.

Costco Wholesale (COST -0.37%) is one of the most iconic and recognizable retailers in the world. Its massive warehouses are often packed with customers, and its treasure hunt experience inevitably leaves shoppers spending much more than they planned. That’s evident with the company’s strong and impressive growth over the years.

And with so much room to expand, especially in international markets, it’s hard to not like Costco as a long-term investment. But does it have enough upside to potentially turn a $25,000 investment into $1 million over the next 25 years?

Costco’s growth has been robust

What’s impressive about Costco’s business is that it always seems to do well. It generated fantastic numbers during the pandemic and even amid inflation. Whether consumers have been loading up on essentials, discretionary purchases, or trying to save money, there always seems to be plenty of traffic at its stores. The company has been able to consistently grow its top line over the past decade at a fairly high rate — close to double digits.

COST Operating Revenue (Quarterly YoY Growth) data by YCharts

The bulk of its warehouses, however, are still in North America; the United States, Canada, and Mexico account for 767 of its 897 warehouses. The company has been growing its presence in China, but with just seven warehouses there, it’s barely scratching the surface. And it’s the massive long-run opportunities in international markets that can make this a top growth stock to own for not only years, but decades.

Over the past 10 years, the stock has risen an impressive 520%. The one potential problem, however, is that its high valuation could make it difficult for it to replicate those types of returns in the years ahead.

The stock trades at a massive premium

Costco is a beloved business and stock, but to own a piece of it, you have to be prepared to pay a big premium. Today, it’s trading at more than 50 times trailing earnings. That’s expensive, given its single-digit growth rate. The danger when paying such a high multiple for the business is that sky-high expectations are priced in, and if the company doesn’t deliver, there could be a sharp drop in its share price.

COST PE Ratio data by YCharts

Investors have been paying an elevated multiple for the stock since the pandemic began and when its growth rate took off. But now as that growth rate is coming down and staying around more normal levels, I would expect to see the price-to-earnings multiple to also come down, which is why I wouldn’t be terribly optimistic that this can be a millionaire-making stock to hold, even over the long term.

Costco is a good buy, but investors should temper their expectations

While Costco has delivered some great gains for investors in recent years, for it to turn a $25,000 investment into $1 million, it would need to be a 40-bagger; its market cap would need to eventually reach $16.6 trillion. A lot can happen over 25 years, but I wouldn’t expect Costco to turn out to be 40 times more valuable than it is today, as it looks to be overdue for a sizable correction.

This is still a good stock to buy and hold, but investors should be careful not to assume that the stock’s impressive gains in recent years will continue for decades.

The SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF (SPYD -0.42%) is one of many dividend-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) income investors can buy today. What sets it apart from the rest is the simplicity of its stock selection approach. While it is often a good idea to keep things simple when investing, if you buy this ETF, you also need to ensure that you understand the limitations of its simple approach.

What does the SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF do?

There are really just two factors that are important to understand when you are looking at the SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF. The first is that it selects stocks from the S&P 500 index (^GSPC -1.59%). This is important because the S&P 500 is a broad market performance gauge. It contains roughly 500 stocks that represent around 80% of the total U.S. market capitalization. The companies in the index tend to be large and well followed on Wall Street.

Image source: Getty Images.

The SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF simply takes all of the companies in the S&P 500 index and lines them up by dividend yield, from highest to lowest. The 80 highest-yielding stocks get put into the ETF. That is, pretty much, as simple as you can get.

There is one important difference between the S&P 500 index and the SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF. The S&P 500 is market cap weighted, ensuring that the largest companies have the greatest impact on performance. However, the SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF uses an equal weighting methodology, so each stock has the same opportunity to impact performance. This is an important issue, but to understand why requires a bit more of a discussion.

SPYD Dividend Yield data by YCharts.

What does the SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF’s portfolio look like?

Just buying stocks because they have high yields has a material impact on the portfolio that is being created. For example, there are some sectors that are historically known for offering investors high yields, including real estate investment trusts (REITs), utilities, and financials. There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of these sectors, but if you just focus on yield, you will likely end up with heavy weighting in them. And that’s exactly what you get when you buy the SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF, with REITs at around 23% of assets, utilities nearly 17%, and financials about 15%. Add those three up and you get around 55% of the portfolio in just three sectors. That’s a lot of concentration when you consider there are only 80 stocks in the ETF.

The next issue you’ll find when only selecting based on yield is that troubled companies often end up with high yields. For example, pharmacy company CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) is currently the largest holding in the ETF. The stock has fallen around 40% since hitting a high in early 2022 and is currently out of favor on Wall Street as its business model faces increasing pressure. There’s a lot more to the story, of course, but the important fact is that CVS isn’t hitting on all cylinders today and, yet, it is the largest position in the ETF. Buying this ETF means you will end up owning stocks you might otherwise not think to buy.

CVS data by YCharts.

That said, equal weighting helps out on this front. Even though you may own stocks you wouldn’t otherwise buy, they aren’t likely to “blow up” your portfolio if they underperform. And in a year that stock could end up out of the portfolio (when the ETF rebalances its holdings) if things go really poorly for the business (resulting in a dividend cut) or really well (the stock rallies to the point where the yield is no longer near the top of the yield pile). In other words, the equal weighting approach is an important way to minimize overall risk.

What do you get with SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF?

The S&P 500 index is offering a yield of just about 1.2%. The SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 High Dividend ETF’s dividend yield is 4.2%. That’s an attractive yield, but this ETF alone probably won’t make you a millionaire. Or at least it won’t achieve that very quickly. But it can be an integral part of a broader portfolio, in which you augment the ETF with more growth-oriented ETFs or individual stocks.

That could actually make the ETF a very attractive buy, effectively allowing you to ignore select sectors and contrarian investments so you can focus your precious time and energy on investments that have more growth potential. But if you are going to make use of this ETF, you really need to make sure you know what it does and why.