📅 On This Day
Katrina Strikes Gulf Coast, Shaking Energy Markets and Dividends
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall as a Category 3 storm, devastating New Orleans and shutting down roughly 25% of U.S. crude production in the Gulf of Mexico. Oil futures surged past $70 a barrel, and the storm's roughly $125 billion in damage rippled immediately through insurance stocks and energy companies with Gulf operations. Dividends in both sectors felt the aftershock as earnings were reassessed in the storm's wake.
A reminder that geography matters in dividend investing — natural disasters can reshape payouts overnight.
🇺🇸 US
Source: EveryCRSReport.com; NOAA
🌍 Around the World
Belgium's 30% Dividend Tax Makes Gross Yield Numbers Deceiving
Belgium applies a 30% withholding tax on dividends — one of the steeper standard rates in Europe. Many tax treaties reduce that to 15%, but reclaiming the difference often means paperwork and frustrating delays. The practical lesson: a Belgian stock yielding 5% gross may deliver less real cash than a Dutch stock at 4.5% gross, once withholding is accounted for.
Always look past the gross yield — Belgium is a masterclass in why net yield is the number that counts.
🇧🇪 BE
Source: PwC Tax Summaries
🔥 Dividend Streak
Parker-Hannifin Mails Its 301st Consecutive Quarterly Dividend Check
Founded in 1917 by prolific inventor Art Parker, Parker-Hannifin declared its 301st consecutive quarterly dividend in August 2025 — meaning the industrial giant has written a dividend check every 90 days since 1949, through 12 recessions. The company has also increased its annual dividend for 69 consecutive years, a record of discipline that few industrials can match. It is the kind of consistency that quietly compounding investors quietly dream about.
301 quarters, zero misses — Parker-Hannifin (PH) turns reliability into an art form.
PH — Parker-Hannifin Corporation
Source: Parker Hannifin Investor Relations press release
💡 Did You Know
History's Earliest Dividends Came in Spices, Not Cash
In 1610, the Dutch East India Company paid shareholders in mace — the spice valued at 75% of their capital — eight years after shares first traded on the Amsterdam exchange. Shareholders, led by Isaac Le Maire (one of history's earliest known short sellers), had been demanding returns since 1602. The VOC didn't relent with a cash dividend until 1612, and only then under intense investor pressure.
From mace to direct deposit: the shareholder's demand for returns has never really changed.
🇳🇱 NL
Source: O'Shaughnessy Asset Management, 'Dividends: A 400-Year Practice'; Investor Amnesia