National Australia Bank Ltd (ASX: NAB) has long been a popular choice among Australian income investors.

With a large banking franchise, fully franked dividends, and a solid earnings outlook, I think there is still plenty to like for investors seeking passive income.

Here is why.

The dividend looks attractive

NAB shares are currently trading around $38.29.

According to CommSec, consensus forecasts point to fully franked dividends per share of $1.70 in FY26 and $1.72 in FY27.

At today’s share price, that represents a forward dividend yield of around 4.4% in FY26, rising slightly to 4.5% in FY27 before franking credits.

I think that is a solid level of income from one of Australia’s largest banks.

The expected growth in the dividend is modest, but I would rather see a payment that looks well supported than rely on an unusually high yield that could prove difficult to maintain.

Earnings should provide support

The outlook for profits gives me further confidence.

Consensus estimates are for NAB to generate earnings per share of $2.38 in FY26 and $2.54 in FY27.

That would represent earnings growth of around 7% in FY27 while the dividend is forecast to rise only slightly.

If those forecasts prove accurate, NAB would be retaining a greater proportion of its earnings rather than needing all of the growth to fund higher distributions.

I think that leaves the bank in a sensible position to continue rewarding shareholders while maintaining capital for the business.

Of course, bank earnings can be affected by bad debts, competition, interest rates, and economic conditions. Dividends are never guaranteed.

But the current forecasts give me confidence that NAB’s income outlook remains healthy.

I like the business behind the dividend

For me, a passive income investment still needs a business I would be comfortable owning.

One of NAB’s biggest strengths is its position in Australian business banking.

Companies need loans, transaction accounts, deposits, payments, and other financial services as they operate and expand. These relationships can become increasingly valuable as successful customers grow.

NAB also has a substantial personal banking franchise, giving it exposure to millions of households alongside its position with Australian businesses.

I think that combination gives the bank several sources of earnings to support future shareholder returns.

Foolish takeaway

I believe NAB is a good passive income stock at around $38.29.

A forecast yield of roughly 4.5%, full franking, and expected earnings growth make the income outlook attractive to me.

There will always be risks with owning a bank, but I think NAB has a strong enough underlying business to make it a worthwhile option for investors hoping to generate regular income from ASX shares.

The post Is NAB a good passive income stock? appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Grace Alvino has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

Warren Buffett turns 96 today.

Many of us have referred to him affectionately as “Uncle Warren” for years. Not because we’re related, sadly (though I continue to hope that Ancestry.com uncovers an as-yet unknown branch of the Phillips/Buffett family tree!) but because he’s probably the closest thing the investing world has to that wise older relative who has been around forever, has seen pretty much everything, and usually has something sensible to say.

(Before you write in, yes his birthday is August 30… but that’s ‘today’ in the US, where he lives!)

Yep, I’m an unabashed Buffett fan.

Not because he’s perfect. He isn’t. Buffett has made plenty of mistakes, and has spent a fair chunk of his annual letters telling us about them.

But if you were going to choose someone from whom to learn about investing, his record is pretty hard – essentially impossible – to beat.

So, on his birthday, let’s do that.

When Buffett took control of Berkshire Hathaway (I own – B class – shares, for the record) in 1965, it was a struggling textile company. What followed was one of the great business and investment stories of all time.

And the numbers are almost silly.

Berkshire compounded at roughly 20% a year for decades. The US sharemarket itself did very well over that time, but Berkshire did much, much better.

The difference between 10% and 20% in any one year doesn’t look life-changing.

Give it a few decades, though, and you get a very different answer.

Which, actually, is probably the first Buffett lesson: compounding needs time.

People spend an enormous amount of effort wondering what the sharemarket will do tomorrow, next month or next year. Buffett built his fortune largely by finding good places to put money and then giving them a very long time to work.

One of my favourite Buffett lines is:

“Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.”

Learning the difference between those two ideas is vital for investors.

A share price is just the price at which a buyer and seller happen to agree to transact today. It isn’t necessarily what the company is worth.

Often the two are reasonably close. Sometimes they’re miles apart.

And yet we tend to let the price tell us how we should feel about the investment.

A share price rises 30% and suddenly we’re more confident about the company. It falls 30% and we start wondering what we got wrong. (You’re nodding along, aren’t you?)

Maybe something really has changed. Often, though, it hasn’t. It’s just the market being its usual emotional, short-term, self.

Buffett has always encouraged investors to turn that thinking around: work out what you think the business is worth, then decide whether the price makes sense.

Which leads to another Buffett favourite:

“Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.”

That… doesn’t mean it’s easy.

Being greedy when others are fearful sounds terrific when you’re sitting comfortably at home and the market is behaving itself. It looks even better in hindsight, when you fantasise about buying those shares during the last crash.

It’s harder when shares have fallen 30%, the headlines are full of doom and gloom, economists are predicting recessions, and your brain is telling you that perhaps you should wait until things become clearer.

They will become clearer, of course.

Thing is, shares will probably also be more expensive by then.

You don’t get bargain prices and blue-sky headlines.

Buffett also changed as an investor, which I think is an underappreciated part of his story.

His early investing was heavily influenced by Benjamin Graham: buy something very cheap, ideally for less than the value of its assets, and wait.

It worked.

But the late, great, Charlie Munger helped persuade Buffett that there was another way.

As Buffett later put it, “It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.”

That shift helped produce investments such as Coca-Cola and American Express and, eventually, the purchase of entire high-quality businesses.

It’s also a useful reminder that even Warren Buffett had to get better at investing.

He changed his mind.

He learned.

He incorporated better ideas when he found them.

Which brings me to another Buffett idea more investors should take seriously: the circle of competence.

You don’t have to have a view on everything.

In fact, you really shouldn’t.

There are businesses I don’t understand well enough to value with any confidence. There are industries whose futures are too uncertain. And there are plenty of things I might understand reasonably well but where I have no particular insight that the market doesn’t already have.

That’s okay.

To use a baseball metaphor that Buffett has invoked, as an investor you get to choose which pitch you swing at.

There are thousands of listed companies. You don’t need to own all of them. You don’t need to understand all of them. You certainly don’t need to have an opinion on all of them.

And Buffett’s preferred holding period?

“Forever.”

Yes, he’s sold shares, so don’t take that absolutely literally.

The point is that when you buy shares in a company, you should be thinking about the business you’re becoming a part-owner of, not who might pay you more for the shares next week.

In fact, that’s the thread that runs through most of Buffett’s best advice.

Shares are businesses.

Price and value aren’t the same thing.

Time is your friend.

Temperament matters hugely.

You don’t have to swing at every pitch.

And avoiding stupidity can be every bit as valuable as trying to be brilliant.

None of those ideas is particularly complicated.

Maybe that’s why people keep looking for something more sophisticated.

But Buffett has spent more than 60 years showing what can happen when some fairly straightforward principles are applied with extraordinary discipline.

No, you won’t make 20% annual returns. Me either. There is only one Warren Buffett.

But I reckon we’d all be better investors if we borrowed a little more of his patience, rationality, humility and willingness to think like a business owner.

It’s Buffett’s birthday, but we get his lifetime of wisdom as our present.

Happy 96th birthday, Uncle Warren.

Fool on!

The post The world’s best investor turns 96 appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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American Express is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Motley Fool contributor Scott Phillips has positions in Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has positions in and has recommended American Express and Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool Australia has recommended Berkshire Hathaway. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips.

The Qualitas Real Estate Income Fund (ASX: QRI) share price is in focus after the fund announced a monthly distribution of 1.0668 cents per unit for August 2026, with payment due on 15 September.

What did Qualitas Real Estate Income Fund report?

• Monthly distribution: 1.0668 cents per unit (unfranked)
• Ex-distribution date: 3 September 2026
• Record date: 4 September 2026
• Payment date: 15 September 2026
• Distribution relates to period ended 31 August 2026
• Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRP) available; election deadline 7 September 2026

What else do investors need to know?

The August distribution from Qualitas Real Estate Income Fund is unfranked, with the entire payment declared as unfranked income. Unit holders can opt to reinvest their distribution via the DRP, with no discount applied to the reinvestment price.

The DRP price will be determined as the lesser of the most recent published weekly NTA prior to the record date or the average price of DRP acquisitions during the Board’s set period. If investors do not make a DRP election by 7 September, they will receive their distribution as a cash payment.

What’s next for Qualitas Real Estate Income Fund?

Looking ahead, the fund continues its approach of monthly income distributions aimed at delivering regular returns to its unit holders. Qualitas Real Estate Income Fund’s strategy focuses on real estate-backed investments, supporting steady income while navigating changes in property and credit markets.

Investors should keep watch for future monthly distribution announcements, as well as potential updates to the DRP or investment mandate as market conditions evolve.

Qualitas Real Estate Income Fund share price snapshot

Over the past 12 months, Qualitas Real Estate Income Fund shares have declined 6%, trailing the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XJO), which has risen 1% over the same period.

View Original Announcement

The post Qualitas Real Estate Income Fund declares August 2026 distribution appeared first on The Motley Fool Australia.

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Motley Fool contributor Laura Stewart has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia’s parent company Motley Fool Holdings Inc. has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool Australia has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. This article contains general investment advice only (under AFSL 400691). Authorised by Scott Phillips. This article was prepared with the assistance of Large Language Model (LLM) tools for the initial summary of the company announcement. Any content assisted by AI is subject to our robust human-in-the-loop quality control framework, involving thorough review, substantial editing, and fact-checking by our experienced writers and editors holding appropriate credentials. The Motley Fool Australia stands behind the work of our editorial team and takes ultimate responsibility for the content published by The Motley Fool Australia.