September was the worst month for dividends since Standard & Poor’s began tracking them in 1956, and that’s spelling tougher times for retirees and other income investors.
Of the roughly 7,000 companies that S&P tracks, 138 cut their payouts during the third quarter. That doesn’t even count Bank of America’s Monday announcement that it was halving its dividend, dropping it from the S&P 500’s second-biggest payer to its fifth. The cuts over the third quarter took $22.5 billion out of the pockets of investors, according to S&P senior index analyst Howard Silverblatt.
Emptying nest eggs.
One out of five middle-age American workers has stopped putting money into his or her 401(k) or other retirement accounts over the past year, according to a survey by AARP.
The impact of those missed contributions grows over the years, as savers lose out on the magic of compound interest, jeopardizing their prospects for a comfortable retirement. Even more discouraging, 13 percent of workers age 45 and above have dipped into their retirement accounts for cash to cover day-to-day expenses, according to the survey.
The survey polled 1,628 people, all at least 45 years old, across the country between Sept. 3 and Sept. 21.
Looking down from above.
The economy is tanking, but things may not look so bad from the cushy, leather seat of a private jet. The business jet market is still growing: JPMorgan estimates the industry’s total deliveries will rise by 21 percent in 2008 and by another 21 percent in 2009.
The average asking price for a used business jet rose 1.7 percent to $15.7 million in September from the prior month. The industry is benefiting from a more international market.
Demand historically has lagged U.S. corporate profit trends by two years. With the economy now foundering, the business-jet industry likely will see deliveries flatten in 2010 and contract in 2011, JPMorgan analyst Joseph Nadol III estimates. Goldman Sachs analyst Richard Safran, meanwhile, says the mood at this year’s National Business Aviation Association meeting — an industry trade show held last week in Orlando, Fla. — was “more somber.”
Remember then?
The Dow Jones industrial average fell below 9,000 on Thursday for the first time since Aug. 6, 2003. That was the day Arnold Schwarzenegger went on “The Tonight Show” and announced his candidacy for California governor. It was the day Adam Everett hit the first inside-the-park home run at the Houston Astros’ stadium formerly known as Enron Field. It was four months before the capture of Sad dam Hussein. The Associated Press
