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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Squidman who wrote (75024)	2/2/2000 12:48:00 PM
From: Knighty Tin	Respond to of 132070

Calamari Guy, Yes, love them all, but some better than others. There are three factors to safety in this area. Here are the ones I like best now: GAB-, RGL- and GAM-. General American is the safest as assets cover about 900% of the preferred issue. The Royce Focus Trust is the highest yield of the bunch with some low priced value stocks anchoring coverage. And Gabelli Trust is actively buying back preferred shares. RGL- is yielding near 9% while the other two are closer to 8%. They are rated AAA, but the ratings are misleading. These things are head and shoulders above the normal AAA bond issue with legal restrictions that make both the payouts and the principal a long term lock. However, they do go up and down with rates. There is also a tax advantage as some of the yield is paid in the form of long term cap gains. Other income choices I highly recommend are DSI and AOf, two outstanding global bond funds. The Alliance issue is more North American in focus while the Dreyfus issue is about 50% intl. That is why AOF is at an 8.8% discount while Dreyfus is at a whopping 19% haircut. AOL yields 9% while DSI yields 9.6%. Not as safe as the CEF preferreds, but higher yield, especially for non tax-advantaged portfolios.