Total return

Total return — price change plus dividends/distributions over a period. The only honest scoreboard for any equity, REIT, or fund: a REIT that paid 6% while its price fell 30% made you poorer, and a stock that paid nothing while doubling made you richer. Judging on yield alone — the alternative — is how every yield trap gets sold. On price alone, 3 of 8 PH REITs looked like losers in 2025; counting dividends, 5 of 8 had positive total returns.

First used in: 2.1 · Dividends without the traps