Whirlpool Suspends Dividend. Share Price Sinks.

​Whirlpool Suspends Dividend. Share Price Sinks.
Wall Street keeps hitting new highs. So, why did Whirlpool’s stock sink -22% last week, and why is it down -83.5% over the five-year period? Have you been lured into dividend stocks for easy income without understanding the risk of losing money, as investors in Whirlpool did?
 
Whirlpool is just one example of why we are using value replacement funds in our sample nest egg pie charts.
 
Here is what I’ll cover in this blog.

Earning Income
The Higher the Dividend, the Higher the Risk
Dividends Can be Cut Without Warning
Gap Down in Stock Price
Country Diversification for Value Replacements
Other Solutions?

And here is more information on each point.
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Earning Income
Value and growth play different roles in our portfolio. The growth funds typically offer capital gains in sectors that have high revenue growth year over year. We’re aiming to buy stocks on sale and earn income in our value funds.
 
The Magnificent 7 have been the super performers on Wall Street since 2023, accounting for most of the gains. The three-year total return of the S&P 500 (2023-2025) was 86.11%, or 23.01% annualized. Without the Magnificent 7, the performance would have been cut in half, at 38.89%, or 11.57% annualized (source: S&P Dow Jones Indices). If you did not have large cap growth in your wealth plan, your plan probably performed at half the speed of this broad-based index.
 
In a normal world, value funds would add stability, in addition to income. However, in today’s Debt World, we’ve seen traditionally stalwart assets lose. As one example, in 2022, long-term government bonds lost -26% -- more than the S&P 500. (Bonds are often used as the safe side of our wealth plan, while stocks are the at-risk side.) Weakness in long-term bonds was at the heart of the bank failures in early 2023 and would have taken out more if the Federal Reserve had not stepped in with some financial engineering to prevent more banks from wiping out.
 

Because of the legacy perception that value funds are more stable, and particularly if we are a conservative investor, many of us are going to have a lot of value stocks and funds in our wealth plan. How many of these income stocks are vulnerable to the kind of losses that we have seen in Whirlpool and long-term government bonds over the past 5-years?
 
Many broker/salesmen will tell us that it all works out in the end because the yield increases when the stock price plunges. However, that assumes that the company has a renaissance. If what’s happening is just borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, without a significant improvement in the company’s products and profitability, there can come a time when the dividend is cut or suspended and the stock slides even further, as we just saw in Whirlpool and in a great deal of commercial real estate companies.
 
We’ve seen this story plenty of times before. General Electric was a dividend darling in 2017, before the company slashed its dividend by half. (We warned of this for years before GE’s cut happened. Keep reading for the red flags.)

The Higher the Dividend the Higher the Risk
The higher the dividend, the higher the debt and leverage and the lower the credit quality. If the company has a great credit rating, it doesn’t need to give you a higher coupon rate to get you to loan money. The higher the risk, the more likely there could be a loss of principle. How many Whirlpool investors were aware that the company was downgraded to junk status on May 1, 2025, and was at the lowest rung of investment grade since May 6, 2024? The stock has been on a downtrend since 2021. As the shares lost value, the dividend soared, until it was suspended last week. However, the additional income doesn’t make up for losing most of our principal investment.
 
iRobot, makers of the popular Roomba, filed for bankruptcy on December 14, 2025. The company is selling itself on the cheap to its Chinese manufacturer. Other U.S.-based home goods manufacturers, particularly those that were founded more than 50 years ago, have very high debt and very low credit quality. Hamilton Beach Brands was also below investment grade when they requested that their rating be withdrawn in 2011 (source: S&P Global).
 
Dividends Can be Cut Without Warning
When we wait for the headlines, it’s too late. By the time, a company announces a suspension of their dividend, as Whirlpool did on May 6, it’s too late to protect your investment. In truth, the whales of Wall Street understood the risks of Whirlpool far sooner than retail investors did. The stock was trading very high in 2021 and gradually began its descent. It was already down by more than -77.6% before the dividend suspension announcement.
 
While dividends can be suspended or cut without warning, there are red flags flying for years before that sad day. In addition to low credit quality, high debt and leverage, many companies also experience slow growth or contracting revenue and thin or negative profit margins. If companies are borrowing to stay afloat, there comes a time when the lenders demand a pathway to profitability and to stem the capital burn. When Whirlpool suspended the common dividend on May 6, 2026, the company explained that they were going to “prioritize debt paydown.”
 
Gap Down in Stock Price
The minute that there is a shock, such as a dividend cut or suspension, there is a gap down in share price. (This often happens after the markets are closed.) Main Street investors who try to sell are trying to catch a falling knife. That’s why it’s important to know exactly what you own and why during the good times. Wall Street is at an all-time high. Do you know what you own? Is it time to fix the roof while the sun is still shining?
 
Country Diversification for Value Replacements
Most of us are aware of the $38 trillion in public debt, while few of us are aware that the total debt and loans in the U.S. is closer to $108 trillion, with non-financial corporate debt and liabilities, including bonds and loans, topping $14 trillion. Check out the Asset & Debt Bubble Chart below.
 

The country-diversified value replacement funds that we feature in our Financial Freedom Retreat have much lower debt to GDP than the U.S. Some offer a much higher yield, as well. So, we are getting paid more to take on less risk.
 
 
Other Solutions?
The solution that has been working quite well is to opt for value replacement funds in countries that have much lower debt. One of our value replacement funds was Peru (symbol: EPU). That fund outperformed Wall Street with gains of 85% year-over-year, while also paying a dividend. The Australia fund offers double the dividend of its U.S. based equivalent.
It is important to understand whether your portfolio is concentrated in value or growth, is age-appropriate, and is properly diversified. You can read about it in my bestselling books. You can learn and implement this easy system by attending my Financial Freedom Retreat. If you’d like an unbiased second opinion on your current plan to discover how exposed you are to heavily indebted companies that might be subject to losing share price value and/or cutting their dividend, email [email protected] for pricing and information.
 
Bottom Line
We want to earn income safely without principal loss. That is the role of our value funds. However, with so much debt in the U.S., and with many legacy brands struggling with high debt and leverage, low credit ratings, intense global competition, squeezed profit margins (if they’re making money at all) and revenue that might be contracting, it’s a great idea to look for income and value outside of this country. Now is the time to know exactly what we own and why.
 

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​Are you aware that the hot funds we've been featuring in our sample pie charts and retreats performed at the top of Wall Street in 2025? Silver tripled. Peru (copper) was on fire with over 100% gains. Even clean energy scored 55%... 

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Natalie Wynne Pace is an Advocate for Sustainability Financial Literacy & Women's Empowerment. Natalie is the bestselling author of The ABCs of Money (6th edition) and The Power of 8 Billion: It's Up to Us, and is the co-creator of the Earth Gratitude Project. She has been ranked as a No. 1 stock picker, above over 835 A-list pundits, by an independent tracking agency (TipsTraders). Her book The ABCs of Money remained at or near the #1 Investing Basics e-book on Amazon for over 3 years (in its vertical), with over 120,000 downloads and a mean 5-star ranking. The 6th edition of The ABCs of Money and the 2nd edition of The ABCs of Money for College are the most recent releases of these books. Follow her on Instagram. 
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Natalie Pace's easy as a pie chart nest egg strategies earned gains in the last two recessions and have outperformed the bull markets in between. That is why her Investor Educational Retreats, books and private coaching are enthusiastically recommended by Nobel Prize winning economist Gary S. Becker, TD AMERITRADE chairman Joe Moglia, Kay Koplovitz and many Main Street investors who have transformed their lives using her Thrive Budget and investing strategies. Click to view a video testimonial from Nilo Bolden.​​

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Important Disclaimers
Please note: Natalie Pace does not act or operate like a broker. She reports on financial news, and is one of the most trusted sources of financial literacy, education and forensic analysis in the world. Natalie Pace educates and informs individual investors to give investors a competitive edge in their personal decision-making. Any publicly-traded companies, funds or projects mentioned by Natalie Pace are not intended to be buy or sell recommendations.

ALWAYS do your research and consult an experienced, reputable financial professional before buying or selling any security, and consider your long-term goals and strategies. Investors should NOT be all in on any asset class or individual stocks. Your retirement plan should reflect an age-appropriate, diversified wealth plan, which has been designed strategically, with the assistance of financial professionals who are familiar with your goals, risk tolerance, tax needs and more. The "trading" portion of your portfolio should be a very small part of your investment strategy, and the amount of money you invest into individual companies should never be greater than your experience, wisdom, knowledge, patience and diversified strategy.  
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Information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. However, NataliePace.com does not warrant its completeness or accuracy. Opinions constitute our judgment as of the date of this publication and are subject to change without notice. This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any financial instrument.