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Showing posts from September, 2022

Energy Transfer needs to get into the chemicals business

The future is export As stated in my  prior article , I am bullish on Energy Transfer ( ET ). As part of expanding its export business, I believe moving into the chemicals business is key. I hesitate to say  petrochemicals business  since the feedstock will largely be natural gas based. I also know that at this moment there are readers, those who want to see a laser focus on paying down debt, that are screaming “ no ”. They are the contingent of ET shareholders that don’t want to see ET make any significant expansion and investment. I think they are wrong. I believe an expansion of the export business can drive growth to ET’s bottom line. ET is already onboard. As Tom Long said on the last conference call,  “We believe that our cracker will be a very unique, world-class facility, providing unparalleled access to the lowest-cost feedstock through our pipeline systems” We have seen with the war in Ukraine and the resultant energy shortage around the world, especially in Europe, that the

The Taxman is coming for your IRA, Roth, or HSA – if you own MLPs

As I discussed in a prior article ,   I was shocked to see that my broker was sending in a Form 990-T for what I thought was a minor holding in my HSA (health savings account). This is a discussion of my personal experience. I hope it serves as a warning to others, though I am certainly not a tax expert or someone from whom you should be taking advice. While this example uses Energy Transfer and its subsidiaries ET, USAC, SUN as the example, I believe the topic is relevant to all the other MLPs (master limited partnerships) out there. It just might resonate more with Energy Transfer (ET) holders. The background I purchased 1,000 shares of Energy Transfer (ET) in the first quarter of 2020 in my HSA. I held those shares until the second quarter of 2021. In that time, I collected $1,372.50 total over six distributions. The last three distributions were half of the prior ones since ET had cut its distribution. When I sold the shares, 2Q21, I had a loss of $925. Given the reasonably small a