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Politics : High Tolerance Plasticity -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: upanddown who wrote (8288)	9/20/2001 1:23:36 PM
From: jim_p	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 23153

John, SHI is yielding close to 10% and is one of the largest petro chemical companies in China. Jim

To: upanddown who wrote (8288)	9/20/2001 1:28:07 PM
From: Telemarker	Respond to of 23153

Hi John. Thanks for your interest. Sounds like you're up on the fundamental realities of business and investing, so I won't bore you with my explanation of why dividends are so important. MLP - Master Limited Partnership. Buying units on the exchanges makes one a "partner". For income tax purposes, they are treated as partnerships, and thus are not taxpayers themselves. Taxes upon taxable income is paid by partners themselves (receive form K-1 at the end of each year). Eliminating one level of income tax is, of course, a very strong advantage. Large depreciation deductions eliminate current taxable income for the most part and thus the distributions received are effectively tax-deferred. RIC - Regulated Investment Company. Garden variety mutual funds are RIC's. The two that I was thinking about are ALD and ACAS (somewhat like diversified closed-ended funds) They do private market mezz. finance packages. ALD about 10% equity, 90% debt. ACAS about 30%/70%. Most debt is subordinated to other creditors. Proven managements. Pretty much like diversified mutual funds but with yield supported by interest on the debt holdings. Also, RIC's are not taxable entities - same a mutual funds they are required to distribute realized gains and investment income annually. REITS - again, not taxable entities. In this area, I like mostly Healthcare REITS, with a little bit of apartments. The finest business minds that I had the priviledge of working with all detested the corporate income tax and naturally the concept of double taxation. I fully agree with them. Eliminating one level of income tax is indeed a powerful concept for and yield investor, no, make that for any business. Hope this helps. Regards, T

To: upanddown who wrote (8288)	9/20/2001 1:54:36 PM
From: Telemarker	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 23153

Sorry John, forgot about the research part. Once I've decided upon a sector or business type that is attractive to me (this will in part depend on valuations) it's really a matter of determining relative valuation within the group. My research isn't terribly detailed as I'm basically a "basket player". Keep my position sizes relatively small so as not to get nailed by a company-specific disaster. In the yield area, I'm looking for reasonable consistency of earnings over last 2-5 years. Not looking for earnings growth, but the potential for such is definitely a positive. Even a slight downtrend is acceptable (if the price is right). Most important to me is cash flow and ample free cash flow to support generous dividend. So I'm looking mainly at price to cash flow ratio and dividend coverage ratios. Look at SEC filings mainly to detect large problems - litigation, etc. Also, a good track record of dividend increases is good to see. No hard and fast rules or formulas. Comfortable trusting my judgement with the above information in hand. As long as I remain comfortable with a sector, I'll rotate my holdings based upon relative valuations. When things start to get more expensive in that sector and appealing choices thus more limited, my exposure starts to naturally drop. Regads, T

To: upanddown who wrote (8288)	9/20/2001 6:18:29 PM
From: chowder	Respond to of 23153

Hi John! T-man has some good points with regards to yields being a part of an investment plan in these economically trying times. Value Line does an excellent job of defining these opportunities for you. Every library carries Value Line and they update it weekly. In the back sections of VL, there is a section devoted strictly to yields. This is very useful for getting some excellent prospects. dabum