Before Seeking Alpha, my two major sources for stock study ideas were Forbes and Barron's. I was introduced to W.P. Carey (WPC) through an April 2008 Peter Slatin article in Forbes. At that time, WPC was a real estate investment company but not yet organized as a real estate investment trust. The company completed the conversion to REIT status in September 2012.

My initial purchase was in July 2009 at $23.99. WPC is now 1.99% of my portfolio. The cost basis is $48.82.

This is my third article about W.P. Carey. In a June 2015 article, I wrote about the legacy of William Polk "Bill" Carey and the just-proposed "pivot" in WPC's business model, which led to an internal directional struggle within the company. In November 2015, WPC announced it was considering a break-up into three companies: (1) a domestic REIT, (2) an international REIT and (3) an asset management company.

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