Day: September 6, 2024

Tesla plans to launch full self-driving technology in China and Europe in the first quarter of next year.

The advanced driver assistance system is currently pending regulatory approvals with the Tesla X account announcing upcoming technology launches.

Tesla made strides gaining approval for the Chinese market after passing data security assessments and reaching a mapping and navigation deal with Chinese tech giant Baidu.

Elon Musk’s company also got the nod to test fully autonomous technology in Shanghai’s streets, with the latest announcement signalling that the company is on track to gain permission from Chinese state authorities for the technology.

Chinese approval for Tesla’s full-self driving technology would help the company’s fortunes in the Chinese market.

During the first eight months of this year, Tesla’s China shipments have fallen about 6% compared with last year, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association.

Musk said on an earnings call in July that he expected the Tesla’s full self-driving system to be approved in Europe, China and other countries by the end of the year.

He also wrote on X in April that the roll-out in China “may be possible very soon.”

Full self-driving technology has come under increased scrutiny in the US, however, after a spate of high-profile accidents involving Tesla’s autopilot functionality.

Tesla and many industry experts still recommend that drivers must keep their hands on the steering wheel and pay attention to the road while using the software.

The announcement has signaled that the company is on track to boost sales and stay ahead of Chinese rivals who are also working on similar driver assistance systems.

“Tesla announces plans to launch full self-driving technology” was originally created and published by Verdict, a GlobalData owned brand.

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What is the benefit of having a trust versus a will? We own our home, have a rental property and we have no debt.  My husband and I are retired and both have IRAs, over $500,000 in the stock market and approximately $100,000 in CDs. We have three grown children – one is a stepchild. We currently have a will but are wondering if a trust is a better option.

– Judith

This is a good question that many people don’t stop to ask. Each has its purpose, and whether one of them is better for you – or if you should have both – is a matter of what you want to happen to your assets when you die.

Both a will and a trust can dictate the distribution of your assets, but there are key differences that might help guide your decision. There is much more to estate planning than the basics of wills and trusts, so I strongly recommend you consult with an estate planning professional for specific advice. (And if you’re looking for a financial advisor, consider finding one specifically with estate planning expertise.)

What Does a Will Do?

A will provides instructions to your heirs and the court for how to distribute any assets you have when you die and how you’d like your general affairs handled. For someone with minor children, you can also appoint a guardian through a will.

A key element is that your will takes effect upon your death. Wills, which are pretty simple and inexpensive to create, are a baseline document that everyone should have. If you don’t have a will, state law will dictate how to settle and distribute your estate. A will can make things much easier on your family. (And if you need help making a plan for your assets and eventual heirs, a financial advisor can potentially help.)

What Does a Trust Do?

Trusts are legal entities that hold assets to be managed by a trustee for the benefit of the beneficiaries. There are many different types of trusts.

A trust can also determine how your assets are distributed at death. However, it does not always require that you pass away to go into effect. Instead, a trust takes effect when you transfer ownership of your assets to it. This can happen before or after you die. You can even fund a trust and receive income from it while you’re still alive.

Trusts do not go through probate, the legal process by which a court validates your will. This means your estate will be distributed in private. It may also expedite the process.

Trusts can also provide you with more control over how and when your assets are distributed. Common examples here are if you want to spread distributions over many years or require your beneficiaries to achieve certain milestones before receiving an inheritance.

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This could be very effective for ensuring your beneficiaries receive ongoing support or provide incentives for them to make responsible choices.

For you, this may be something to consider if you think you’ll leave any IRA balances to your kids. If they inherit them directly they’ll likely fall under the 10-year rule, meaning they’ll have to withdraw all the money within 10 years. You may set up a trust to name as the IRA beneficiary, which could then distribute the assets to your children.

Additionally, trusts can reduce the size of your taxable estate and help you avoid paying estate taxes. However, the vast majority of people won’t be subject to estate tax liability, considering this federal levy only applies to estates valued at $12.92 million in 2023 ($25.84 million for married couples). Given your assets, it doesn’t seem like you would be subject to estate taxes. (A financial advisor with estate planning expertise may be able to help you set up a trust or make additional plans for your estate.)

What About Account Beneficiaries?

A simple but important note to be aware of is that any accounts with named beneficiaries will transfer to those beneficiaries regardless of what your other documents say.

This is why it’s very important to review your beneficiary designations periodically, particularly with blended families. Since there is a stepchild in your case, you may want to make sure that your beneficiary designations include (or not include) your stepchild the way you and your husband intend to.

Bottom Line

Everyone should have a will, but some may want or need a trust as well. As with most financial planning decisions, it comes down to your own goals and priorities. If you want additional privacy or would like to set more specific parameters around the distribution of your estate, a trust may be a good addition to your estate plan.

Tips for Finding a Financial Advisor

• Finding a financial advisor doesn’t have to be hard. SmartAsset’s free tool matches you with up to three vetted financial advisors who serve your area, and you can have free introductory calls with your advisor matches to decide which one you feel is right for you. If you’re ready to find an advisor who can help you achieve your financial goals, get started now.

• Consider a few advisors before settling on one. It’s important to make sure you find someone you trust to manage your money. As you consider your options, these are the questions you should ask an advisor to ensure you make the right choice.

• Keep an emergency fund on hand in case you run into unexpected expenses. An emergency fund should be liquid — in an account that isn’t at risk of significant fluctuation like the stock market. The tradeoff is that the value of liquid cash can be eroded by inflation. But a high-interest account allows you to earn compound interest. Compare savings accounts from these banks.

• Are you a financial advisor looking to grow your business? SmartAsset AMP helps advisors connect with leads and offers marketing automation solutions so you can spend more time making conversions. Learn more about SmartAsset AMP.

Brandon Renfro, CFP®, is a SmartAsset financial planning columnist and answers reader questions on personal finance and tax topics. Got a question you’d like answered? Email AskAnAdvisor@smartasset.com and your question may be answered in a future column.

Please note that Brandon is not a participant in the SmartAsset AMP platform, nor is he an employee of SmartAsset. He was compensated for this article.

Photo credit: ©iStock.com/shapecharge, ©iStock.com/kate_sept2004

The post Ask an Advisor: What’s the Benefit of Having a Trust vs. Will? We Own 2 Homes, Have IRAs and Another $600k in Assets appeared first on SmartReads by SmartAsset.

Berkshire Hathaway‘s record-high cash stockpile might give some investors the wrong impression. Warren Buffett isn’t completely avoiding buying stocks. Granted, he’s being very selective — but that’s nothing new for the legendary investor.

Buffett recently bought eight stocks. And I think one of them is the best of the bunch for income investors.

All the stocks Buffett bought

Buffett initiated new positions in two stocks during Q2. He bought over 1 million shares of Heico. This marked the first time the aerospace and defense stock has been part of Berkshire’s portfolio.

The second quarter also brought Buffett’s first transaction involving Ulta Beauty. He bought over 690,000 shares of the cosmetics retailer worth around $266 million at the end of Q2.

Berkshire increased its stakes little in several existing holdings in Q2: Chubb Limited, Occidental Petroleum, Liberty Media Series A, and Liberty Media Series C. It also significantly boosted its position in audio entertainment company Sirius XM Holdings (NASDAQ: SIRI).

Finally, Buffett bought himself a birthday present in August (he turned 94 on Aug. 30, 2024). After trimming Berkshire’s position in Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) earlier this year, he recently added more shares of the big bank.

A process of elimination

A simple process of elimination to rule out several of Buffett’s recent buys for income investors. The two Liberty Media stocks don’t pay dividends. Neither does Ulta Beauty.

Heico pays a dividend, but I doubt income investors would even give it a moment’s thought. Its forward dividend yield is a puny 0.089%.

Chubb presents a somewhat tougher decision. Its forward dividend yield of 1.27% is low. On the other hand, the property and casualty insurer has increased its dividend payout for 31 consecutive years. My view, though, is that Chubb’s yield isn’t enough to be attractive to most income investors.

Occidental Petroleum pays a dividend yield of 1.59%. That’s getting closer to a level that might entice some income investors. However, Oxy’s dividend track record isn’t that great. The company has increased its dividend for only three consecutive years. It slashed the dividend in 2020 because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The best of the bunch for income investors

That leaves two remaining candidates: Bank of America and SiriusXM. At first glance, SiriusXM might appear to be the best pick with its high forward dividend yield of 3.41%. However, I think Bank of America is the best of the bunch for income investors for several reasons.

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BofA’s forward dividend yield of 2.56% is attractive. More importantly, the dividend is growing. Bank of America has increased the dividend for 11 consecutive years (longer than SiriusXM’s six years of consecutive dividend hikes).

SiriusXM’s declining free cash flow in recent years is concerning. That’s not a trend income investors like to see. Meanwhile, Bank of America’s free cash flow has grown by leaps and bounds.

That’s not the only problem for SiriusXM. The company’s revenue declined 3% year over year in the second quarter of 2024. Its satellite radio segment’s self-pay subscribers also fell by around 100,000 year over year in Q2.

Perhaps the biggest challenge for SiriusXM is the huge increase in competition from digital content providers. Satellite radio is still appealing to many people, but the wide range of free podcast offerings can present an alluring alternative.

Sure, Bank of America faces some threats from online banks and other digital competitors. However, it’s responded well in recent years, as evidenced by BofA being recognized as the “Best Consumer Digital Bank in the U.S” in 2023 by Global Finance and the “World’s Best Digital Bank” by Euromoney.

Buffett is buying both Bank of America and SiriusXM, so he obviously thinks positively about both stocks. However, I think it speaks volumes that Bank of America is Berkshire’s third-largest position with a value of nearly $36 billion while SiriusXM is a much smaller position worth less than $415 million.

Should you invest $1,000 in Bank of America right now?

Before you buy stock in Bank of America, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Bank of America wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $661,779!*

Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*.

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Bank of America is an advertising partner of The Ascent, a Motley Fool company. Keith Speights has positions in Bank of America, Berkshire Hathaway, and Chubb. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bank of America, Berkshire Hathaway, and Ulta Beauty. The Motley Fool recommends Heico and Occidental Petroleum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Warren Buffett Recently Bought 8 Stocks. Here’s the Best of the Bunch for Income Investors. was originally published by The Motley Fool

Arguably the most important decision for investors to make is which stocks to buy. But when to buy them ranks pretty high on the list, too. Sometimes, it makes sense to wait to buy a given stock. However, there are other times when moving quickly is better.

I think several stocks fit into the latter category right now for income investors. Here are three high-yield dividend stocks to buy sooner rather than later.

1. National Storage Affiliates Trust

National Storage Affiliates Trust (NYSE: NSA) is a real estate investment trust (REIT) that focuses on self-storage units. It operates 1,052 self-storage properties in 42 states and Puerto Rico.

As a REIT, NSA must return at least 90% of its income to shareholders as dividends. The company’s forward dividend yield stands at 4.8%. NSA has increased its dividend by 75% over the last five years.

Self-storage has proven to be a resilient sector through the years, delivering higher returns than most REIT sectors with lower volatility. NSA has been one of the best self-storage REITs on the market, generating higher core funds from operations (FFO) per share growth since its IPO in 2015 than most of its peers.

Why buy NSA stock now? For one thing, the Federal Reserve is likely to cut rates later this month. REITs tend to respond well to rate cuts because their borrowing costs are reduced. NSA should especially benefit from rate cuts since they could spur increased home buying, which often drives higher demand for storage units during the moving process for homeowners.

2. Realty Income

Realty Income (NYSE: O) is another REIT that is a fantastic stock for income investors to buy sooner rather than later. It ranks as the seventh-largest global REIT with 15,450 properties.

I suspect that most income investors will like Realty Income’s forward dividend yield of 5.07%. However, they’ll probably love the REIT’s dividend track record. Realty Income has increased its dividend for 29 consecutive years with a compound annual growth rate of 4.3%.

This REIT’s business is rock-solid. Realty Income’s real estate portfolio is diversified across over 1,550 clients operating in 90 industries. Roughly 90% of the company’s rent is insulated from economic downturns.

The main reason to buy Realty Income stock now is the likely interest rate cut on the way. Like NSA, Realty Income will benefit from lower borrowing costs if the Fed makes a move as is widely expected. Lower rates will also cause bond yields to fall, which could cause strong REIT stocks such as Realty Income to be more attractive to income investors as they move away from bonds.

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3. United Parcel Service

No, not every high-yield dividend stock to buy soon is a REIT. United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) is the world’s largest package delivery company, serving customers in over 200 countries and territories.

UPS offers a juicy forward dividend yield of 5.11%. The company has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years. I fully expect this streak to continue for years to come.

To be sure, UPS has faced some challenges. Shipping volumes have decreased from the levels seen during the worst part of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has also incurred higher costs associated with its union contract signed last year.

However, these issues underscore why now’s the time to buy UPS stock. The company is turning things around, with U.S. shipping volumes rising in Q2 for the first time in nine quarters. The expenses in the union contract were largely front-loaded, meaning that UPS’ bottom line should improve going forward. The company has also resumed stock buybacks, a positive sign that should reassure investors.

Should you invest $1,000 in National Storage Affiliates Trust right now?

Before you buy stock in National Storage Affiliates Trust, consider this:

The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and National Storage Affiliates Trust wasn’t one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years.

Consider when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005… if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you’d have $661,779!*

Stock Advisor provides investors with an easy-to-follow blueprint for success, including guidance on building a portfolio, regular updates from analysts, and two new stock picks each month. The Stock Advisor service has more than quadrupled the return of S&P 500 since 2002*.

See the 10 stocks »

*Stock Advisor returns as of September 3, 2024

Keith Speights has positions in United Parcel Service. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Realty Income. The Motley Fool recommends United Parcel Service. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

3 High-Yield Dividend Stocks to Buy Sooner Rather Than Later was originally published by The Motley Fool

(Bloomberg) — The stock price of Donald Trump’s once-high-flying media company is sinking just as the lockup period from its blank-check deal is about to end, potentially flooding a saturated market with even more shares.

Most Read from Bloomberg

Trump Media & Technology (DJT) Group Corp., which was worth nearly $10 billion in mid-May, has fallen 69% since its market capitalization peaked on May 9 and is now worth less than $3.4 billion. The selloff has accelerated in the past month, with the shares falling in 22 of the 27 sessions through Wednesday’s close and losing more than 45% in the process. That pressure is only expected to increase when the deal lockup expires as soon as Sept. 19 and insiders can start unloading their equity.

The spiral is happening as retail traders grapple with the Republican presidential candidate’s return to X after using his own platform for years. In addition, Trump’s opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, is showing momentum in recent polls. Real Clear Politics has Trump polling at 46.2 nationally down from a high of 48.1 on July 29, while Harris is up to 48.1 from 46.2 when President Joe Biden dropped out of the campaign.

For Trump, the stumble wipes out more than $3.7 billion from the former president’s paper profit off the deal, falling from a high of almost $5.8 billion to roughly $2 billion. And it delivers over $200 million in paper profits to short sellers who’ve bet against the company since its July 15 peak, data from analytics firm S3 Partners show.

The stock, which trades under Trump’s initials and went public in March through a blank-check merger, is now below where the special-purpose acquisition company traded at before Trump’s success in the Iowa caucuses in January kickstarted a 193% surge in just six sessions.

“Anybody who looks at this knows that the current price of the stock has no relationship to the underlying value of the company,” said Brian Quinn, a law professor at Boston College. “Until recently it’s been nothing more than a financial indicator of MAGA loyalty.”

Even with the selloff, Wall Street sill sees Trump Media’s valuation as lofty considering it lost more than $16 million in the second quarter while delivering less than $1 million in revenue. It has struggled to establish a modest user base, according to third-party trackers, while Trump’s return to his preferred mouthpiece, X, has busted the bull thesis some investors had pitched.

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Of course, the volatility isn’t new for the stock, which has climbed as high as $79.38 in its debut and is trading around $17 now, an all-time low for the public company. That degree of price gyration makes some speculative corners of the market look like ports in the storm by comparison. Take Bitcoin, which has a 30-day realized volatility of around 44. For Trump’s company that figure’s about 70. Indeed, since mid-January Trump Media has seen wider price swings than the highly volatile cryptocurrency.

The stock is on pace to fall for a seventh-straight week with Trump and other insiders able to start selling shares this month. That potential pressure could extend the latest decline, though industry watchers agree that it won’t be easy for Trump to extract billions in cash.

“It’s going to be very difficult for him to dump his shares” given restrictions on how quickly Trump can sell down his stake and the appropriate regulatory filings that are required, said Quinn.

The stock’s decline from a near-term peak in mid-July in the wake of the failed assassination attempt attempt against the former president at a Pennsylvania rally has been similar to the sinking betting odds that Trump will win in November, according to PredictIt.

It is illegal for US sportsbooks to set odds on American elections. But offshore gambling sites can take those bets, so there’s active wagering globally on the outcome of the vote. Bettors give Trump a 48% chance of winning, up from 43% on Aug. 12 but well below the peak at 69% on July 15 shortly after the assassination attempt, according to PredictIt data. But they give Democrat Harris a 53% chance of winning, up from 13% on July 15, PredictIt data show.

—With assistance from Elena Popina.

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