The plan for the SNOWBALL for the new financial year starting soon is £10,500 and the fcast is £10,500
The income for the SNOWBALL for this financial year will be £13,738, the amount includes some special dividends so it’s unlikely to be equalled this year.
The SNOWBALL has a comparator share VWRP where the 4% rule is applied. Current value £146,469, despite losing £11,318 from its recent high, still not too shabby.
Applying the 4% rule, after allowing for a 3 year cash buffer income of £5,200
Looking at the table above: the value of VWRP to match the income in the table would need to be £450,000 plus a cash buffer. GL with that.
If MRCH trades down to its recent low the yield will be a tad over 5%, which would be of interest for a pair trade to balance out one of the higher yielder renewables.
Will it go lower and therefore a better yield ? A little while before its xd date so there is no real hurry to buy apart from FOMO on the yield, remember it will be a buy and hold forever.
The large majority of non-Saba shareholders have shown by their votes in previous general meetings of the Company that they have no wish to be in a Saba controlled vehicle, and the Board understands from discussion with shareholders to date that many would like to remain invested in the Company’s current mandate, or, if not, in another suitable investment company. In particular, given the very strong long-term performance of Herald, which has delivered a 2,904% NAV total return since inception, many shareholders have significant capital gains on their holdings. The Board is conscious that should the Company be forced to proceed with the Backstop Tender Offer, in the absence of an alternative, such shareholders will be faced with a choice of realising these gains in the Backstop Tender Offer, which would crystallise an unwanted tax event, or keeping their investment in what will likely become a Saba managed and controlled vehicle.
Herald haven’t paid a dividend for many a year. To hold the share long term was an act of faith, which ultimately made a large return. Whilst always easier in hindsight, buy the dips.
Current market optimism over U.S./Iran de-escalation is likely misplaced, as both sides’ demands remain irreconcilable and military escalation continues.
Despite President Trump’s optimistic statements, Iran and the U.S. appear far from agreement, with each demanding terms the other cannot accept.
I remain bullish on oil and the U.S. dollar and short-term bearish on gold and global equities, given persistent geopolitical risks and ongoing troop deployments.
Historical analogs suggest the conflict’s market impact is far from over, with oil and equities yet to reflect full downside risk.
Alones Creative/iStock via Getty Images
The market wants to follow President Trump
Markets desperately would like to believe that the U.S./Israel–Iran conflict is about to end anytime soon, and President Trump’s recent statements fueled the optimism.
They’re talking to us, and they’re talking sense. It all starts with, they cannot have a nuclear weapon. They want to make a deal so badly, you have no idea how badly they want to make it. We’ve won this war.
In addition, the U.S. sent Iran a 15-point plan to end the war. President Trump also claimed that Iran sent him a present“worth a tremendous amount of money” related to energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz. We don’t know what kind of present we are talking about, but above all, the controversial fact is that we don’t know who the president is dealing with. In fact, there is no mention of any Iranian official dealing with peace talks. As of now, from Iranian officials, we have just heard words that are far from reassuring:
Has the level of your inner struggle reached the stage of you negotiating with yourself? You will see neither your investments in the region nor the former prices of energy and oil again, until you understand that stability in the region is guaranteed by the powerful hand of our armed forces.
Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters.
One of the two leaders is definitely lying, but as of now, the market has decided to support President Trump’s vision. In fact, even though Iran denies peace talks with the U.S., the market wanted to believe that we are close to the end of the conflict. While I am writing, stock market futures are up more than 1%, oil is declining by 5% (both WTI (CL1:COM) and Brent (CO1:COM)), and gold (XAUUSD:CUR) is rebounding by 2% as the U.S. Dollar (DXY) weakens.
I don’t want to ruin the party, but I am rather confident that this market enthusiasm is just short-lived. The reason why I believe we are going to test new lows is that the two parties are too far apart to even think about reaching an agreement. Here is what I am talking about.
An agreement is still a long way off
Firstly, Israeli officials are claiming that they need several more weeks to complete all the war goals in Iran. So, if Israel continues to bomb, I don’t think it is reasonable to expect a ceasefire anytime soon. Regarding the U.S.–Iran agreement, the evidence shows us that they are asking for totally different conditions. This is what the US asks, according to WSJ:
Dismantle the three main nuclear sites and end the uranium enrichment process permanently.
Suspend the ballistic missiles program.
Reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
If Iran follows these points, then it will be lifted from nuclear-related sanctions, and the domestic nuclear program will be assisted constantly by the U.S. In other words, what President Trump is asking is an unconditional surrender. Without ballistic missiles, Iran will not even be able to defend itself from future attacks, and it could no longer block the Strait to counterattack. At this point, you might think, if they end up reaching an agreement, why should Iran care about future attacks? Because both the U.S. and Israel have already attacked Iran twice during the negotiating talks.
Iran sees negotiations as a pretext for the U.S. to buy time and prepare for the next massive attack, resulting in a further escalation. Will this time be the same as in the past? Well, in my opinion, the probabilities are pretty high. While President Trump claims a potential agreement is close, the Pentagon has just sent 3,000 82nd Airborne Soldiers, and they are expected to reach the Middle East in the coming hours. In this conflict, weekends usually coincided with periods of escalation, and I am concerned about the next one. The recent market rebound might be completely wiped out in just one day following a potential escalation over the weekend. Signals are there.
Finally, to show you how distant the parties are, here is what Iran asks to end the war, according to WSJ:
No more U.S. military bases in the Middle East. Basically, the U.S. should no longer have any influence in that region.
Pay for all the damages done to Iran and lift all the sanctions.
Israel must stop bombing Lebanon.
No more wars in the region.
The Strait of Hormuz must always be under Iranian control. In fact, Iran wants to charge ships up to $2 million if they want to cross this route.
As you can see, totally different peace conditions than the ones proposed by the U.S. I want to be optimistic, but recent news is really not helping. Iran has probably understood that it is more powerful than it thought by blocking the Strait of Hormuz. An important point that we should all consider is that Iran is not asking for simple peace conditions that would revert to the pre-war situation. It is not just about receiving the money to rebuild damaged infrastructures; it is about having total military and commercial control over the Middle East. They want Israel to stop any war, they oppose any sanctions, and they want the exclusive control of the Strait of Hormuz: each ship must pay a toll whenever it crosses.
So, if you are betting on a market recovery due to the end of the war, consider that both parties are asking for conditions that are almost impossible to agree on. In my opinion, this war can end only when we have a clear winner, and the loser must accept an unconditional surrender. As of now, we don’t have a clear winner.
Final thoughts
In my opinion, investors shouldn’t downplay this conflict. The market still believes that the U.S. can easily win this war or end it whenever it wants, but the evidence shows otherwise. Both parties are quite distant, and the U.S. is sending thousands more troops to the Middle East. As long as I don’t see words of peace from Israeli/Iranian leaders, the escalation continues. Therefore, I am still bullish on oil and the U.S. dollar and short-term bearish on gold and global stock markets.
Now, a question arises: how do investors know when the escalation has reached its peak? Most people believe that it depends on oil prices, but I have a different opinion. The last phase of the escalation might be reached once the Gulf countries’ desalination plans are attacked. At that point, water would be worth more than oil.
chart made by the author, CSIS data
These countries can’t survive without desalination plants, and Iran threatened to attack them if its energy infrastructures are hit once again. If this happens, I believe the market will start acting in panic mode, regardless of President Trump’s statements regarding peace. This weekend is very important to understand where this war is heading, as the Pentagon sent many more troops to the Middle East.
I think there won’t be any de-escalation anytime soon, and the similar historical events support my disbelief.
Chart made by the author
None of these events ended in a couple of weeks, and I don’t believe the recent oil crisis is less important than the Iraqi invasion or the Russo-Ukrainian war. The median oil spike during these kinds of events was +169%; now we didn’t get further than ~70% (~35% after the recent drop). In addition, the S&P 500 (SP500) peak to trough has always been at least -17%; now it has declined by just ~5%: we are likely not even halfway through.
Why I Put 75% Of My Retirement In Infrastructure Assets
Mar 26, 2026
Jussi Askola, CFA Investing Group Leader
Summary
Most investors allocate most of their assets to equities and fixed income.
I think that infrastructure investments offer better risk-to-reward.
I discuss my unique retirement strategy and why it makes sense for me.
High Yield Landlord members get exclusive access to our real-world portfolio. See all our investments here »
tadamichi/iStock via Getty Images
My active income is very risky.
I run a small investment research business, which I know will eventually get disrupted by AI, as it breaks barriers to entry and will ultimately lead to much greater competition.
Already now, the majority of content online is AI-generated, and it likely won’t be long before this content is as good as human-generated and all over the place.
If, before AI, there were 5 articles posted each day on REITs, in the future, there will be 50 or 500, making it very hard for independent analysts to really stand out.
Knowing this, I am very conservative with how I invest my retirement funds, preparing already now for an eventual downfall of my small business.
This means that I generally stay away from risky equities like tech stocks, SaaS businesses, biotech, startups, crypto-related equities, and anything else that I think could get disrupted by AI over time. Unfortunately, as I have explained in a separate article, I fear that most businesses and their stocks will eventually suffer from this.
At the same time, since my investment horizon is multi-decade-long and I worry about inflation, I don’t invest much in fixed income either.
Even with a 4-5% yield from long-term Treasuries (IEF), there is not much left, if anything, after inflation and taxes, especially if we face a few more black swan-like events like the pandemic, requiring more money-printing down the line. The AI revolution could be that event if it leads to a difficult transition period with significant labor market disruption, as I expect.
Gold (GLD) and silver (SLV), while performing well lately, are not the solution for me either, as I will need to generate passive income to replace my active income in retirement. Precious metals have gone through very long periods of negative returns in the past, making them too unpredictable for a large allocation in retirement for me.
So where do I invest the bulk of my retirement funds then?
The answer is in infrastructure investments. I invest about 75% of my portfolio in them.
Things that our society absolutely needs, whether the economy is booming or in a recession, and AI can replace or replicate them. Yet, they generate significant income that’s consistently growing at, or ideally above, the rate of inflation.
Think here about things like:
Cell towers:
American Tower
Energy pipelines:
Energy Transfer
Timberland:
Weyerhaeuser
Windmills:
Brookfield Renewable
Industrial parks:
Prologis
Farmland:
Farmland Partners
Ports:
Tallinna Sadam
Affordable housing:
Mid America Apartment
Healthcare facilities:
Welltower
Airports:
Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico
All these infrastructure investments are today available on the public stock market via listed REITs, MLPs, and other listed infrastructure companies.
Just to give a few examples: Crown Castle Inc. (CCI) owns cell towers, Energy Transfer LP (ET) owns pipelines, Brookfield Renewable Partners L.P. (BEP) owns solar farms, Welltower Inc. (WELL) owns senior housing, Prologis, Inc. (PLD) owns warehouses, etc.
They share 5 characteristics that make them the ideal investment for retirement, especially for someone like me who fears AI disruption, has a long investment horizon, and needs safe and inflation-protected income.
High-Yield Potential
If you buy an e-commerce warehouse at a 7% cap rate with a 15-year lease that includes annual rent escalations of the greater of either a fixed 2% or the rate of CPI, and then finance half of the purchase with a mortgage at a 4% interest rate, you get a roughly 8.5% yield on your equity that will gradually increase over time.
That’s exactly what a REIT like W. P. Carey Inc. (WPC) is doing.
W.P. Carey
Best of all, because the REIT enjoys significant economies of scale, owning billions of dollars worth of assets, its management costs are very low. The REIT also enjoys an investment-grade rating, which gives it access to cheap debt, especially in Europe.
The REIT does not, however, distribute its entire cash flow to investors. Instead, it retains about 30% of its earnings to keep reinvesting in growth, acquiring new properties, and growing its cash flow and dividend. It results in a 5.3% dividend yield today, but also strong, steady growth.
Last year, its cash flow per share again rose by 6%, and it guided for growth to continue in 2026.
The long-term results speak for themselves. It has massively outperformed the S&P 500 (SPY) all while paying a high yield:
And that’s one of the main reasons why these listed infrastructure companies are such great investments for retirement.
They pay a solid yield that grows steadily. W.P. Carey did not even cut its dividend during the Great Financial Crisis or the pandemic. That’s how resilient its business model is.
Bond-Like Contractual Cash Flows
Investors often see bonds as the safest investments, and that’s in big part because there is a contract that clearly determines what return investors can expect to receive in exchange for lending their capital.
These infrastructure investments are similar in that sense.
You let someone borrow something from you (your property) in exchange for regular payments (rent) and then have a contract in place (a lease) to regulate those payments, often over a long duration.
Returning to the example of W.P. Carey, its initial lease terms are typically 15 years long, and the lease even includes annual rent escalations, which will happen even if we go into a recession.
The only way for the tenant to skip those payments is if it goes bankrupt and defaults on the lease. But even in that scenario, the recovery would likely be strong, as W.P. Carey would then recoup the property, which it could simply release to another tenant, and with industrial rents rising faster than lease escalations over the past decade, it may be able to release the property at an even higher rent.
W.P. Carey
The recovery is often a lot worse in the case of a loan default, as the collateral may have already been exhausted by the borrower by the time it goes bankrupt.
The point is that these listed infrastructure companies often earn highly consistent and predictable contractual cash flows that are bond-like in nature. There is a clear contract that protects investors, and even in case of troubles, there is typically a good recovery as the real property is still there and can be released to another tenant.
Inflation-Resistant
Infrastructure that’s essential to our society cannot be inflated away. The government can print as much money as it wants, but it cannot print more land, timber, energy pipelines, airports, etc.
These are some of the only assets in the world that have stood the test of time, resisting monetary collapses, currency changes, world wars, and other major crises over centuries.
European capital cities are full of old buildings, often hundreds of years old, standing there, more valuable than ever before.
Visit Tallinn
This reassures me as we live through periods of extreme uncertainty, with governments more indebted than ever, spending like there is no tomorrow, even as major wars are being fought in Europe and the Middle East with no end in sight.
This makes me uncomfortable investing heavily in fixed-income investments, which could significantly erode my long-term purchasing power in case of a monetary black swan.
AI-Proof Fundamentals
Finally, as I noted earlier, I worry a lot about AI and how it could disrupt large fractions of the equity markets.
I think that SaaS companies were just the first domino to fall, and the market hasn’t yet recognized this. Professional service providers, education businesses, healthcare, traditional retail, logistics, car manufacturers, entertainment, etc., will all suffer greatly from AI disruption over the long run.
Very few businesses are truly immune.
Infrastructure businesses are the exception. They are the ultimate anti-AI asset class, as they own real assets that cannot be replicated or disrupted by AI.
It cannot magically create more land in popular, already built-out locations, secure highly bureaucratic construction permits, or even produce construction materials.
AvalonBay Communities
These will always remain barriers that will protect essential infrastructure investments from the threat of AI.
There are, of course, exceptions. Offices could suffer disruption of white-collar workers. Malls could suffer from an acceleration in e-commerce growth.
But for the most part, infrastructure-like real assets cannot be easily disrupted. A dam producing energy will only become more valuable as AI requires tons of electricity. So will a solar park, windmills, data centers, cell towers, timberland, e-commerce warehouses, and lots of other property sectors, directly benefiting from AI.
Brookfield Renewable
Undervalued and Upside Potential
Here comes the most interesting part.
I am lucky that the listed infrastructure companies are today out of favor.
All the attention has been on Tech stocks lately, pushing their valuations to historic highs:
At the same time, the surge in interest rates led to a historic capital rotation from high-yielding equities, like these listed infrastructure companies, into fixed-income investments.
As a result, there has been little interest in these companies for years, pushing their valuations to historic lows.
REITs (VNQ), as an example, have not traded at such low valuations in decades:
Principal
Many individual REITs now trade at steep discounts relative to the fair value of their assets. To give you an example, BSR Real Estate Investment Trust (HOM.U:CA) (BSRTF) owns affordable apartment communities in the growing Texas Triangle, and yet, it trades at a 40% discount to its net asset value, allowing investors like me to buy an equity stake in their assets at just 60 cents on the dollar—with the additional benefits of cost-efficient professional management, diversification, and liquidity.
That’s far more attractive than buying a private, concentrated, management-intensive, and illiquid asset in the private market at a higher valuation.
BSR REIT
These low valuations provide a margin of safety, reducing potential downside risk in case of a black swan event, and they also could provide future upside potential as the narrative changes and these investments regain popularity.
I think that the AI revolution could trigger that, as it could destroy a lot of value in the tech sector and trigger a capital rotation back into these AI-resistant asset classes.
Investor Takeaway
I cannot think of anything better than listed infrastructure investments for retirement for people like me who have a multi-decade time horizon, need income, and worry about inflation and the potential impact of the AI revolution on various asset classes.
That is why I invest the majority of my portfolio in High Yield Landlord in these investments. They are essential to our society, cannot be disrupted by AI, enjoy strong inflation protection, generate high income, and are historically cheap, offering a margin of safety and future upside potential.
It is hard to beat that, in my opinion.
Editor’s Note: This article discusses one or more securities that do not trade on a major U.S. exchange. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.
I’ve sold the recent purchase in PHP for a tiny profit after all charges, as it’s a very dangerous market to make any new purchases and it frees up funds for a possible purchase in SUPR.
