You picked a heckuva time to make your first investments within the inventory market. The S&P 500 has misplaced 13% of its worth thus far this 12 months, and the Nasdaq Composite index is down over 19%.
We have had two consecutive quarters of financial contraction, rates of interest are rising, the housing market is all of the sudden slowing, inflation is hovering, and power costs, whereas down sharply from final month, are nonetheless terribly excessive.
And also you say now could be whenever you need to put your cash to work?

Picture supply: Getty Photos.
Effectively, it is really a good time to start out investing! Development shares that had been exorbitantly priced are actually reasonably priced as soon as extra. It is why seasoned market veterans start rubbing their arms collectively when the market tumbles: It is when you possibly can create substantial wealth for your self since you’re shopping for low with the aim of promoting a lot larger within the years to come back.
It is true the market might fall much more within the months and quarters to come back, so solely make investments cash you needn’t pay your payments and repeatedly add to your account regularly. If you happen to’ve received these fundamentals down, then these two development shares could possibly be nice methods to start out off.
Realty Revenue
Actual property funding belief Realty Revenue (O -2.80%) may seem to be a posh first alternative, however the REIT is fairly easy, and among the finest within the enterprise.
Like all REITs, Realty Revenue is required to pay out 90% or extra of its income to shareholders within the type of a dividend, a pretty function throughout a recession because the regular earnings stream helps offset the shortage of capital appreciation, which could possibly be arduous to come back by. And Realty Revenue goes one higher by making its payout month-to-month.
In reality, the industrial REIT payments itself as “The Month-to-month Dividend Firm”, and its payout is one of many most secure, most safe, and reliable within the trade. Within the 53 years since Realty Revenue was based, it has made 625 consecutive month-to-month dividend funds, and has hiked its dividend for 99 straight quarters, or nearly 25 years. The dividend at present yields a pretty 4.1% yearly.
Industrial actual property can definitely be dicey, however Realty Revenue is constructed on long-term leases — the common is 10.3 years — which smooths out any tough spots, and it boasts stable, financially steady tenants throughout 50 completely different industries. Over half of them are investment-grade, they usually are typically recession-resistant companies, reminiscent of low cost shops, drugstores, and supermarkets. They’re additionally chargeable for taxes, upkeep, and insurance coverage, and no single firm accounts for 10% or extra of the REIT’s income.
Given its observe file and stability, Realty Revenue is a stable alternative for brand new buyers on the lookout for steady development.
Walgreens Boots Alliance
Pharmacy chain Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA -0.33%) may additionally seem an odd alternative for a brand new investor coming into the market, however this isn’t the identical firm it was only a few years in the past.
Walgreens is within the midst of a turnaround program that’s seeing the chain reduce prices, strengthen its stability sheet, drive regular natural development, and additional bolster its Walgreens Well being initiative to attract repeat enterprise. It additionally lately thought-about shedding its U.Okay.-based Boots pharmacy chain (and a magnificence care merchandise enterprise) to focus extra immediately on its U.S. healthcare operations, however finally determined it would not get the value it wished. The market despatched Walgreens inventory down on the time, however buyers must be grateful.
Boots and No7 Magnificence are really rising companies. Boots’ comparable retail gross sales jumped 24% final quarter, and although its pharmacy comps had been down 0.4%, that was due to a one-time reimbursement from the U.Okay.’s Nationwide Well being Service within the year-ago interval. Equally, No7 continues to achieve market share.
Walgreens has invested closely in its digital presence, and that is paying off, too. Digital gross sales had been up 25% from final 12 months, a interval which noticed 95% development, and its myWalgreens membership is approaching 100 million clients.
Walgreens has been in a position to cut back prices by $2 billion a full 12 months forward of schedule even because it invests in its future, with initiatives reminiscent of its full-service well being clinics at its pharmacies. What differentiates them from different pharmacy clinics is they’re staffed by physicians, which ought to enhance buyer loyalty whereas driving return visits to its shops.
Walgreens inventory is affordable, going for six occasions trailing earnings, lower than 9 occasions subsequent 12 months’s estimates, and only a fraction of its income. Its dividend, which it has paid for 89 years (and raised for 47 straight years, making it a Dividend Aristocrat), yields 4.9%.
With shares down nearly 30% from their current excessive, Walgreens Boots Alliance affords new buyers an ideal worth in the event that they’re keen to have the persistence to let the turnaround work.