📅 On This Day
Ford's 1896 Quadricycle Test Drive Births a Dividend Empire
On June 4, 1896, Henry Ford took his Quadricycle for its first test drive — a moment that would eventually seed one of the 20th century's great income stocks. The mass-production model that grew from that rattling machine generated the immense free cash flows behind Ford's remarkable 60-year dividend streak. That streak, born of assembly-line genius, only fell silent during the 2008 financial crisis.
Ford famously fought dividends early on — the 1919 Dodge v. Ford lawsuit is a reminder that even great cash machines resist sharing.
F — Ford Motor Company
🇺🇸 US
Source: The Henry Ford Museum Archives; 'My Life and Work' by Henry Ford (1922)
📅 On This Day
Ford's 1896 Quadricycle Test Drive Births a Dividend Empire
On June 4, 1896, Henry Ford took his Quadricycle for its first test drive — a moment that would eventually seed one of the 20th century's great income stocks. The mass-production model that grew from that rattling machine generated the immense free cash flows behind Ford's remarkable 60-year dividend streak. That streak, born of assembly-line genius, only fell silent during the 2008 financial crisis.
Ford famously fought dividends early on — the 1919 Dodge v. Ford lawsuit is a reminder that even great cash machines resist sharing.
F — Ford CDR (CAD Hedged)
🇺🇸 US
Source: The Henry Ford Museum Archives; 'My Life and Work' by Henry Ford (1922)
🌍 Around the World
Nordic Nations Look Alike but Withhold Dividends Very Differently
Sweden and Finland both withhold around 30% on dividends paid to many non-residents, while Denmark commonly withholds 27% and Norway around 25%. All four countries maintain treaty networks that can reduce these rates — but documentation and account registration requirements vary meaningfully from country to country. For income-focused portfolios, the gap between a 25% and a 30% withholding rate is far from trivial.
Grouping the Nordics together is a convenient shortcut — one that can quietly erode your dividend income over time.
Source: PwC Tax Summaries; Tax Foundation Europe
🔥 Dividend Streak
3M's ~64-Year Dividend King Streak Falls to Lawsuits and Spin-Off
3M had raised its dividend for roughly 64 consecutive years — a run that earned it comfortable Dividend King and Aristocrat status — when mounting legal liabilities forced a painful reset. Multibillion-dollar settlements over PFAS 'forever chemicals' and defective Combat Arms earplugs prompted a health-care spin-off (Solventum) in April 2024, followed by a roughly 54% dividend cut, from $1.51 to $0.70 per quarter. Even the most durable streaks, it turns out, are not immune to the balance sheet.
A liability-driven spin-off stripped away the cash flow that had sustained one of the market's most admired payout records.
MMM — 3M Company
🇺🇸 US
Source: 3M SEC filing (8-K, 2024); Dividend Power; INO.com
🔥 Dividend Streak
3M's ~64-Year Dividend King Streak Falls to Lawsuits and Spin-Off
3M had raised its dividend for roughly 64 consecutive years — a run that earned it comfortable Dividend King and Aristocrat status — when mounting legal liabilities forced a painful reset. Multibillion-dollar settlements over PFAS 'forever chemicals' and defective Combat Arms earplugs prompted a health-care spin-off (Solventum) in April 2024, followed by a roughly 54% dividend cut, from $1.51 to $0.70 per quarter. Even the most durable streaks, it turns out, are not immune to the balance sheet.
A liability-driven spin-off stripped away the cash flow that had sustained one of the market's most admired payout records.
MMM — 3M Company
🇺🇸 US
Source: 3M SEC filing (8-K, 2024); Dividend Power; INO.com
🔥 Dividend Streak
3M's ~64-Year Dividend King Streak Falls to Lawsuits and Spin-Off
3M had raised its dividend for roughly 64 consecutive years — a run that earned it comfortable Dividend King and Aristocrat status — when mounting legal liabilities forced a painful reset. Multibillion-dollar settlements over PFAS 'forever chemicals' and defective Combat Arms earplugs prompted a health-care spin-off (Solventum) in April 2024, followed by a roughly 54% dividend cut, from $1.51 to $0.70 per quarter. Even the most durable streaks, it turns out, are not immune to the balance sheet.
A liability-driven spin-off stripped away the cash flow that had sustained one of the market's most admired payout records.
MMM — 3M Company
🇺🇸 US
Source: 3M SEC filing (8-K, 2024); Dividend Power; INO.com
💡 Did You Know
REIT Earnings Look Terrible on Paper — That Is by Design
Under GAAP accounting, REITs must depreciate their properties annually, which hammers reported net income and can make thriving businesses look deeply unprofitable. Since well-maintained commercial real estate typically appreciates rather than decays, those depreciation charges are largely phantom losses that exist only on paper. Savvy dividend investors sidestep the distortion entirely by focusing on Funds From Operations (FFO) and Adjusted FFO (AFFO), which add depreciation back to reveal the true cash available for payouts.
Judging a REIT by its P/E ratio is one of income investing's most common traps — it will almost always mislead you.
Source: Nareit FFO definition; SEC REIT reporting guidance