If You'd Invested $1,000 in AGNC Investment 10 Years Ago, This Is How Much You Would Have Today

It is very easy for dividend investors to get drawn in by an ultra-high dividend yield, like the 15% yield on offer from AGNC Investment (NASDAQ: AGNC). More often than not, however, focusing too heavily on yield ends up being a mistake. The past 10 years shows that very clearly with this unique real estate investment trust (REIT). Here's a look at what happened, and why shareholders have been painfully let down.

If you had purchased $1,000 worth of AGNC stock a decade ago, it would be worth just over $413 today. That's brutal, particularly when you compare that result to that of the average REIT, using Vanguard Real Estate ETF (NYSEMKT: VNQ) as a proxy, which would have turned $1,000 into a bit more than $1,132. Okay, that's not exactly great either, but it is way better than the deep losses investors would have suffered with AGNC.