Where to find Income on Financial Investments ?

[JimBaker48.8]

Money Market & CDs rates are of course terrible, and it's pretty clear that interest rates will continue to be low to very low for some time based upon what Bernake said the other day.
So where to find income ? Anybody getting a good yield off of MF/ETF equities they'd care to recommend ?
The big oil majors are among the best individual equities for yields, but I personally have got too much exposure in that area already. Wonder about Nat Gas MLPs ?

[NaCl H2O addict]

PMed you

[NaCl H2O addict]

Ah the age old question of where to get yield in an interest depressed enviornment. One of my friends asked me the same thing about 3 months ago. Looked at preffered shares fund, lots of exposure to oil and in my opinion not worth the risk/return. Looked at some LNG pipeline MLP's, found some in the 8% range. Thing I like about them is that you make money on the volume not the price of the commodity being transported. However, you carry the risk of losing your principal and have liquidity risk. If you want to go more risky, there is one publicly traded REIT that my client went with that is returning 18% dividends. Stock got beaten up in 08' bought all new property in 09' and the loans are locked until 13'. We'll get out in late 12'. Since it is a REIT the general public is staying away, you have all kinds of risk here. I am seeing really good dividends in financials on companies that on paper are strong, but the toxic asset play is not over, and makes me nervous. Did find a structured note that is FDIC principal insured 2 year lockup against 12 future commodities basket of goods, think.......(don't hold me to this) 8-12%.

[JimBaker48.8]

Originally Posted by NaCl H2O addict

Ah the age old question of where to get yield in an interest depressed enviornment. One of my friends asked me the same thing about 3 months ago. Looked at preffered shares fund, lots of exposure to oil and in my opinion not worth the risk/return. Looked at some LNG pipeline MLP's, found some in the 8% range. Thing I like about them is that you make money on the volume not the price of the commodity being transported. However, you carry the risk of losing your principal and have liquidity risk. If you want to go more risky, there is one publicly traded REIT that my client went with that is returning 18% dividends. Stock got beaten up in 08' bought all new property in 09' and the loans are locked until 13'. We'll get out in late 12'. Since it is a REIT the general public is staying away, you have all kinds of risk here. I am seeing really good dividends in financials on companies that on paper are strong, but the toxic asset play is not over, and makes me nervous. Did find a structured note that is FDIC principal insured 2 year lockup against 12 future commodities basket of goods, think.......(don't hold me to this) 8-12%.

Got one real sweet REIT - PCL (timber).
One thing that worries me a lot about the NatGas & LNG MLPs is all the Dems in Congress, because you how bad they want to bust the tax rate up on any and all things O&G, especially now with our fiscal/budget mess.

[cpthook]

just invested in a mutual fund with included bonds. the mutual funds consist of 100's of companys. my neighbor lives off the return on his mutual fund investment, and is getting a 15% return, he is retired. i've always invested in my companies but decided to give these mutual funds a try since my neighbor does so well and has used the same guy for years. my investment is in a 10% return, not as risky as his. any comments???

[TexasTom]

Originally Posted by cpthook

just invested in a mutual fund with included bonds. the mutual funds consist of 100's of companys. my neighbor lives off the return on his mutual fund investment, and is getting a 15% return, he is retired. i've always invested in my companies but decided to give these mutual funds a try since my neighbor does so well and has used the same guy for years. my investment is in a 10% return, not as risky as his. any comments???

Can you clarify what you mean by "my investment is in a 10% return"? I you are basing that on a long track record of average or annualized returns, that doesn't mean it can't go down and lose a lot of money. If you are referring to the dividend or yield, I would be very concerned about any mutual fund that is paying a 10%, much less a 15% return or dividend in this environment. Returns are inversely correlated to risk level. Typically only higher risk bonds, often called "junk bonds" would pay out that kind of rate (and usually not that high). If they are paying that out, that is because there is most likely a substantial risk of default, otherwise, they would borrow their funds elsewhere and/or at a much lower rate. Most funds have lots of information available about their holdings, should be included in the prospectus. Be careful.

[NaCl H2O addict]

I am still sticking to my REIT, there are just as many greedy bast**** as myself out there and the stock price is maintaining (fundamentals are there). However, we have had 4 solid weeks of loss on the S&P (finger on the trigger for my reit). Thus, I have pulled the trigger on my clients for equities (yeah, I know little late, I ain't even close to perfect). Anything yielding 10%-15% be real nervous. We are heavy SHORT term bonds, light in commercial paper, managed options, managed commodities, non U.S. currencies (no, I am not talking euros), silver, and heavy cash. I can make a pretty good argument that really volatile times are HERE NOW. Forget yield, think defensive.The turtle always wins the race, every single time I read the story to my kids. Here is a kick in the you know whats. I predicted with the downgrade that treasuries, and maybe municpals would go south. WRONG on treasuries and no effect on munis. Exactly the opposite. TLT which is a long term treasury ETF has gone through the roof. OOPS. Still scratching my head on that one. In the long run, still think that the future will show that I am right.However, I did say gold might to go ape **** Just sayin.......(on 8-5 when I posted that it was 1660 now 1845). There is another reason that I pulled the trigger on my clients. The old Grey hairs in my office are scared, not nervous, scared of the market. These guys are not talking about making money for their clients, just preserving capital. Look forward to your comments.

[cj6530]

Originally Posted by NaCl H2O addict

I am still sticking to my REIT, there are just as many greedy bast**** as myself out there and the stock price is maintaining (fundamentals are there). However, we have had 4 solid weeks of loss on the S&P (finger on the trigger for my reit). Thus, I have pulled the trigger on my clients for equities (yeah, I know little late, I ain't even close to perfect). Anything yielding 10%-15% be real nervous. We are heavy SHORT term bonds, light in commercial paper, managed options, managed commodities, non U.S. currencies (no, I am not talking euros), silver, and heavy cash. I can make a pretty good argument that really volatile times are HERE NOW. Forget yield, think defensive.The turtle always wins the race, every single time I read the story to my kids. Here is a kick in the you know whats. I predicted with the downgrade that treasuries, and maybe municpals would go south. WRONG on treasuries and no effect on munis. Exactly the opposite. TLT which is a long term treasury ETF has gone through the roof. OOPS. Still scratching my head on that one. In the long run, still think that the future will show that I am right.However, I did say gold might to go ape **** Just sayin.......(on 8-5 when I posted that it was 1660 now 1845). There is another reason that I pulled the trigger on my clients. The old Grey hairs in my office are scared, not nervous, scared of the market. These guys are not talking about making money for their clients, just preserving capital. Look forward to your comments.

what do you mean by managed options and commodities?

[NaCl H2O addict]

Unless you have a ton of money, time, and experience you cannot do commodities and to a degree options. There are a couple of new actively managed mutual funds that are filling this niche . Good place to put a small portion of your portfolio as a hedge. Very expensive, but I would rather pay hefty management fees now than exposure in equities. There are also ETF's which do the same thing on the commodities, but most of these are not managed. An unmanaged commodity is beyond my comfort zone, so I don't mind paying someone. Just sayin.......On the options mutual fund, this fund is very opportunistic and usually have 97% of the fund in cash. When they go in, it is heavy and with good reason. Still, with that being said, it is absolutely up there on the risk reward scale. 3% of my personal portfolio is in the option fund and as it makes money I am walking those proceeds elsewhere.

[southtexasreds]

Originally Posted by cpthook

just invested in a mutual fund with included bonds. the mutual funds consist of 100's of companys. my neighbor lives off the return on his mutual fund investment, and is getting a 15% return, he is retired. i've always invested in my companies but decided to give these mutual funds a try since my neighbor does so well and has used the same guy for years. my investment is in a 10% return, not as risky as his. any comments???

In today's market????