Although there's no right or wrong way to spend your retirement, most people envision a relaxing period of spending time with family, travelling, picking up a new hobby, or even starting a new side venture.
Not too many picture themselves managing $29 billion worth of family and charitable funds... especially at the age of 83.
While he hasn't retired in the traditional sense,George Soros said in 2011 that he'd be returning funds to investors. He hung up his client asset management hat, opting to keep a distant eye over operations as chairman of Soros Fund Management.
But fortunately for us, his company is still required to submit Form 13F filings to the SEC, giving us a glimpse at how the legendary investor (as well as his chief investment officer and their team of analysts) interpret this changing market landscape.
Soros' latest 13F disclosure is ripe with information, but I've decided to first focus on it from a retirement-friendly income perspective. That said, let's take a look at some of the highest-yielding stocks that Soros Fund Management piled into in the first quarter of 2014.
| North Atlantic Drilling (NYSE: NADL) |
 As its name suggests, North Atlantic Drilling is the leading offshore harsh-environment driller in the North Atlantic Basin. The company is relatively young and newly public, having listed its shares on the New York Stock Exchange in January. NADL received a $3.5 million investment from Soros Fund Management, which is quite small for a $29 billion fund, hinting at its speculative nature. Although the stock hasn't posted any gains since its IPO, NADL does pay a massive dividend north of 10%. |
| Blackstone Mortgage Trust (NYSE: BXMT) |
 Blackstone Mortgage Trust received a more substantial investment from the fund, with nearly $15 million. As is typical with real estate investment trusts (REITs), BXMT pays a substantial dividend in the neighborhood of 6.5%. Focusing primarily on commercial real estate-backed mortgage loans and securities, BXMT has attracted fellow billionaire Ken Griffin of investment firm Citadel, who invested roughly the same amount as Soros. |
| Mack Cali Realty Corp. (NYSE: CLI) |
 Mack Cali Realty Corp. is another REIT position, although CLI was allocated $35 million, a fair amount more than BXMT. Mack Cali also has a commercial real estate focus. Despite its 5.9% dividend yield, CLI has delivered poor price performance, registering a loss of nearly 27% over the past 12 months. Now trading near 2008 lows (while most of its peers have recovered), CLI is not favored by the Street, receiving recent downgrades from Cowen and KeyBanc. However, analysts at Zacks think that a reversal might be imminent, as Mack Cali has turned its focus to more stable multi-family residential properties.
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| Cypress Semiconductor (Nasdaq: CY) |
 Cypress Semiconductor rounds out the bottom of my dividend screen with a yield hovering around 4.5%. Soros Fund Management dedicated about $23 million to the designer and manufacturer of high-performance, mixed-signal, programmable semiconductor solutions (think USB controllers, programmable clocks, memory and so on). Cypress took a big spill last September after issuing cautious third- and fourth-quarter guidance and has not been able to recover, held under by downgrades from sell-side ratings firms. Joining Soros in hoping for a rebound is billionaire Mario Gabelli of GAMCO Investors, who owns roughly $30 million of the stock.Even with seemingly infinite funds, Soros Fund Management isn't afraid to unwind positions that are still paying high yields. A good example is Starwood Property Trust (NYSE: STWD), which carries a 7.9% yield but was cut from Soros' portfolio last quarter. While I can only speculate why, the REIT split off its single-family rental segment in late January, perhaps prompting Soros to exit before the ensuing post spin-off drop in price. |
Risks to Consider: These stocks fall under the small-cap category, with market caps ranging from $1.4 billion to $1.9 billion, so they may not be as established (read: safe) as other investments.
Action to Take --> Although Soros has taken a step back from the day-to-day operations of Soros Fund Management, his influence is still clear throughout the firm's portfolio. Keep some of these dividend payers in mind the next time you're looking to up the yields in your own holdings.
