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Strategies & Market Trends : A.I.M Users Group Bulletin Board -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Floyd Stern who wrote (7357)	4/29/1999 3:07:00 PM
From: Bernie Goldberg	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 18928

Hi Floyd, I guess a little disagreement is good for the soul. My recommendation to Keith on closed end funds was based upon the desire to secure income. site-by-site.com is the best site I have found for doing research on closed end funds unfortunately the weekly review report of the site didn't seem to be working when I checked it just before I started typing this response. I haven't checked out the exact numbers but I don't think the majority of CEFs trade at a discount. On page one of the weekly review at the above mentioned site there are lists of the top and bottom ten CEFs in changes of discount/premium. Both Tom and I use a CEF that hold govt. bond funds predominantly for income. While there is some fluctuation in price (such as when a country like Russia has economic problems) they are usually rather short lived and give an opportunity to purchase some more shares with a higher yield. It would be difficult to find other investment vehicles today that pay a monthly dividend of 10%. It is a fairly simple matter to go through the weekly report from the above site and find several such investments selling at varying discounts to the net asset value. Most high yielding investments are not purchased with the idea in mind of capital appreciation. The CEFs are good for income which is what they provide handsomely. I believe Tom as well as others on this thread have done well with Mexico Fund as well as other CEFs. To use Mario Gabelli as an example. One could buy his open end funds or his closed end funds at a discount when that occurs. You would be buying shares in the same companies. With an open ended fund you would have $1000 dollars worth of companies for every $1000 invested. Assuming a 5% discount you would have $1050 worth of companies for every $1000 invested. Based on what I have seen at the CEF site discounted funds with good management will eventually either narrow the discount or change it to a premium given enough time. It's good to hear from you here. Don't be such a stranger. Regards Bernie