Who says that money doesn't grow on trees? Did you know that timber was one of the ONLY assets that appreciated in 2008? Just take a look at the high yield stocks in the diversified timber REIT sub-industry, and you might just might launch into a verse of Monty Python's "Lumberjack Song"...

One Timber Reit which emerges in a screen for high dividend yields is Potlatch Corp., (PCH). A figure that many investors use when analyzing timber companies is the amount of acres/share. At Potlatch's current price of $26.77, you get approximately 38-39 acres/share, plus you get the rest of the business for free, (land sales & development, and wood products manufacturing).

Potlatch recently announced a cutback in timber harvesting, due to soft market prices, but is maintaining their dividend of $.51/share/quarter, for a 7.62% yield.

What we state generically as a Lender is someone or an entity who lends you the money for whatever you want to purchase with it. A finer consideration would be Bank, Lending Company or Loan Broker. But there are differences between them and we will try to point out advantages and disadvantages of each one.

A Bank Is A Bank

Well, we all know what a bank is and how to spot one as we walk in the street. A lending company might be anybody who does not fit in the bank category, but has money to lend. The loan brokers are the most varied of the lot, as we shall see and have a unique feature. Mind you, there are good guys and bad guys everywhere, so that will certainly NOT be the subject. Each kind of lender has its pros and cons.

In the case of a bank, there is a notorious difference in backup. There is a financial power behind the bank that makes it the first option when we need a loan. Definitely it is the most reliable of the lot, on average, of course, since they have a good name to care for. But the bank has a rather limited range of loans. Maybe they might say, We are sorry, but we do not do car loans, or currently we are concentrating only on mortgage loans, or whatever, but they are not so ample.