Real Estate Investment Trusts Facilitate Real Estate Investment

J. William “Billy” McFarland, Jr. serves as a managing member of SmithMack, LLC, an Alabama-based investment company that he cofounded. SmithMack focuses on energy and real estate investment. In addition, J. William McFarland, Jr. is a managing member of Buffex, LLC, a real estate investment company that has holdings in multiple states.

For the everyday investor, purchasing real estate as an investment is often not a possibility. However, individuals who still want to diversify with real estate assets can turn to a real estate investment trust (REIT). Shares in an REIT trade much like stocks, and pay dividends. However, the shares represent partial ownership of a real estate portfolio rather than a company.

Different REITs may focus on very different parts of the real estate industry, from business properties to single-family homes. Many investors use REITs as a way of having a mall or office building represented in their portfolios without needing to purchase such a large property all on their own. REIT shares also have the benefit of being much more liquid than actual real estate, since they are exchange traded.

Southern Rail Commission Receives $33 Million in Federal Funding

Train station Photo by Chris Yang on Unsplash

The co-founder of the investment firm SmithMack, LLC, J. William “Billy” McFarland, Jr., is an accomplished financial executive based in Birmingham, Alabama. Alongside the management responsibilities at his firm, J. William McFarland, Jr. serves on the Southern High-Speed Rail Commission, an appointee of the Alabama governor.

Recently, the Federal Railroad Administration awarded a $33 million grant to the Southern Rail Commission to fund upgrades to rail infrastructure that was damaged by Hurricane Katrina more than 14 years ago. The federal funding is expected to cover about half of the project’s nearly $66 million price tag, with the rest being funded by investments made by Amtrak and several of the Gulf Coasts states.

After the upgrades are complete, the Southern Rail Commission anticipates launching a new Amtrak passenger line connecting Mobile, Alabama to New Orleans, Louisiana, which would replace the discontinued Sunset Limited east route. Restoring passenger rail service symbolizes the large steps the Gulf Coasts states have made in the extended recovery effort after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Applications Open for the 2019-2020 Alabama Student Grant Program

Graduation
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Birmingham, Alabama resident J. William “Billy” McFarland, Jr. served as special assistant to the president for business development at Judson College. One of J. William McFarland, Jr.’s many achievements at the institution of higher learning was his role in doubling annual appropriations to the Alabama Student Grant Program by the Legislature of Alabama in 2015. 

Established in 1978, the Alabama Student Grant Program is a state-funded scholarship program that offers financial assistance to students attending college in one of the state’s participating independent colleges and institutions of higher learning. The Alabama Student Grant Program grants scholarship based on academic merit. 

Applications are open for the 2019-2020 Alabama Student Grant assistance. To be eligible for the grant, an applicant must have attained a secondary school graduation certificate or equivalent and be enrolled as a full-time or part-time student at a higher education program that’s at least six months long. Additionally, an applicant must be a resident of Alabama and a citizen or soon-to-be citizen of the United States. The student should not be enrolled in an undergraduate religious or sectarian study. Students of theology, divinity, and other religion-inclining courses are precluded from the grant program.

Students seeking financial assistance for the fall term 2019 must apply before September 16, 2019. Applications for the winter quarter must be received by January 15, 2020, for the spring semester by February 17, 2020, and for the spring quarter by April 15, 2020.