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

To: bob s who wrote (82899)	8/12/2000 2:12:16 PM
From: Knighty Tin	Respond to of 132070

Bob, the first place to go is "Ask Michael Burke." <g> Then, get thee to the library and a copy of the July 10 issue of Barron's, which is the Mutual Fund Quarterly. That will tell you expenses and who is using leverage. Here are my criteria, but you may have others. 1. Total expenses have to be under 1%. 2. No leverage. 3. Insured by MBIA, Ambac or Fgic. Remember, if we have a tech disaster, California is the most vulnerable of all states. 4. The discount should be at least 6% to make up for commissions and friction. At less than 6%, CEFs are a wash with a good, low cost no-load muni fund (read Vanguard or Benham). If you use all of the caveats I listed, there aren't many candidates. In fact, with just a quick scan, Blackrock 2008 Ca insured is the only candidate, and they barely squeak buy on the expenses issue. Morgan Stuckup has a nice fund with low expenses, but they use leverage and you always have to worry about a rip-off rights offering with MSDW.