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Income Fund Securities Lists (Closed-End, REIT, MLP, BDC, ETFs, Other)
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This page describes the wide variety of securities other than fixed income securities that should be of interest to the income investor. The first listing is the closed-end funds (CEFs) or closed-end funds. The vast majority of CEFs are income funds that offer a wide variety of choices in the type of income they offer to investors (taxable, tax exempt, etc.). Next are the securities that are common stocks with special features which make them different in some manner from the conventional common stock that simply pays a dividend. Included in this category are real estate investment trusts (REITs), master limited partnerships, U.S. and Canadian royalty trusts, business development companies, closed-end funds and exchange-traded funds (index ETFs).
At the end of this list are the special investment products. Special investment products are generally medium term notes of the issuer with the major difference that they do not pay interest or periodic distributions. Instead they pay maturity payments that are linked to a market index, the price movement of the common stock of a company or group of companies, or that can result in the holder owning the common stocks at maturity.
Closed-end Funds List
This category includes the more than 600 exchange-traded closed-end management investment companies (closed-end funds or closed-end ETFs) traded on the stock exchanges. To see the entire list of Closed-End Funds, click on the main heading. We have also categorized the funds into types by their basic investment goal if you are interested in only a particular type of closed-end fund. To see any sublist of funds, click on the selected heading in the chart above.
The vast majority of closed-end funds (CEFs) or closed-end funds are income orientated and pay either taxable or tax-exempt income. Closed-end funds offer the income investor an alternative to direct investments in corporate or municipal bonds, REITS, preferreds, etc. Closed-end funds have a fixed number of shares outstanding. Following an initial public offering, their shares are traded on a stock exchange in the same manner as common stocks and they may be purchased and sold through discount or full-service brokers. Transactions in shares of closed-end funds are based on their market price as determined by the forces of supply and demand on the stock markets. The price of a CEF may be above (at a premium to) or below (at a discount to) it's Net Asset Value (NAV). The transaction price will also include a customary brokerage charge. The invested capital in a closed-end fund is fixed and will change only at the direction of management. Capital can be increased through the issuance of shares in conjunction with a rights offering or through the reinvestment of certain dividend payments. Capital can be reduced when shares of the fund are repurchased in conjunction with a stock repurchase program or tender offer. For further information on closed-end funds, go to the website of the The Closed-End Fund Association. Dividends received by the closed-end funds that are eligible for the 15% tax rate on dividends will be passed-through by the funds to their shareholders. Therefore a portion of the dividends paid by taxable income closed-end funds will be eligible for the 15% tax rate. The portion will vary from fund to fund and investors will have to consult each individual fund for information.
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) List - This category includes the approximately 200 real estate investment trusts (REITs) traded on the stock exchanges.
A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company dedicated to owning and, in most cases, operating income-producing real estate, such as apartments, shopping centers, offices and warehouses. Some REITs also are engaged in financing real estate. Most importantly, to qualify as a REIT a company is legally required to pay virtually all of its taxable income (90 percent) to its shareholders every year. A REIT may deduct the dividends paid to the shareholders from its corporate tax bill so long as the company's assets are primarily composed of real estate held for the long term, the company's income is mainly derived from real estate, and the company pays out at least 90 percent of its taxable income to shareholders. The main benefit of being a REIT is one level of taxation. The main limitation of being a REIT is a restriction on earnings retained by the company. For a REIT to grow, capital must come from money raised in the investment marketplace as well as money generated internally. For further information on REITs, see the website of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT). Dividends paid by REITS do NOT qualify for the 15% tax rate on dividends.
Master Limited Partnerships List - This category includes the 60+ master limited partnerships (MLP) traded on the stock exchanges.
Most Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) operate in oil & gas related businesses including energy processing and distribution. The remaining MPLs operate in a variety of businesses including coal, timber, other minerals, real estate, and some miscellaneous businesses. Master Limited Partnerships (MLP) are pass-through entities or businesses that are taxed at the unitholder level and generally are not subject to federal or state income tax at the partnership level. Annual income, gains, losses, deductions or credits of the MLP pass through directly to its unitholders. Unitholders report their allocated shares of these amounts on their individual tax returns, as though the unitholder had incurred these items directly. When the tax reporting season arrives, the MLP will furnish investors with a schedule K-1 to provide the information required for income tax reporting purposes. For a comprehensive discussion of what MLPs are and how they work, see the National Association of Publicly Traded Partnerships' (formerly the Coalition of Publicly Traded Partnerships) website. MLPs do not pay income taxes on their earnings and therefore their "dividends" are not eligible for the 15% tax rate.
U.S. Royalty Trusts List - This list includes the approximately 20 Royalty Trusts that are traded on the stock exchanges which may be of interest to income investors.
U.S. Royalty trusts are established to receive the royalties or net profit interests in a specific group of assets and to pay out those funds to their unitholders. The assets and the net profit interests in those assets are specified when the trust is originally established. Most of the U.S. royalty trusts provide dividend payments which are based on the oil and gas production of specified properties. The trust assets are limited to the net profits interests in their specific assets which have a limited economic life. Trust unitholders are taxed directly on their proportional share of the trust income. U.S. Royalty trusts distribute substantially all trust income to unit holders. Royalty trusts pay monthly or quarterly income that varies over time as the production of the underlying assets varies and generally gradually declines. Payments to unitholders will also vary with the market price of oil and natural gas. U.S. Royalty trusts are considered as grantor trusts for income tax purposes and the unit holders are taxed directly for their share of the trust income and entitled to their share of trust deductions. In the case of oil and gas royalty trusts, unitholders are entitled to tax depletion deductions and tax credits. The trusts provide unitholders with the quarterly and annual reports required so that the unitholder can properly report their share of the income and deductions of the trust for income tax purposes. The distributions of U.S. royalty trusts are not eligible for the 15% tax rate as the trust does not pay income taxes on their profits.
Business Development Companies List - This list includes about 15 Business Development Companies that are traded on the stock exchanges.
Business development company (BDC) regulation was created in 1980 by Congress to encourage the flow of public equity capital to private businesses in the United States. BDCs, like all mutual funds and closed-end funds, are regulated by the Investment Company Act of 1940. However, BDCs are unique because they focus on investing in private companies, rather than publicly traded companies. BDCs report to shareholders like traditional operating companies and file regular quarterly and annual reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission. BDCs are required to make available significant managerial assistance to their portfolio companies. By investing in a BDC, shareholders enjoy the liquidity of a publicly traded stock, while participating in the private equity industry. Private company investing has traditionally only been available to "accredited investors" - generally, large institutional investment funds and other sophisticated professional investors. Apart from the opportunity that BDCs offer to the general investing public, individual investors have few other opportunities to invest in private companies, particularly on a "pooled" basis, which diversifies the risk of any one investment across the whole portfolio.
Exchange-Traded Funds (Index ETFs) List - This category includes the 200+ exchange-traded funds (Index ETFs) traded on the stock exchanges, the NYSE Arca Stock Exchange in particular.
Exchange-Traded Funds (Index ETFs) are index funds or trusts that are based on a particular stock market index (i.e. the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 Index, etc.). The Index ETF seeks investment results that correspond to the price and yield performance of the target index, before fees and expenses. Essentially, an individual Index ETF attempts to achieve similar results to corresponding index by purchasing all (or a representative sample) of the securities included in the reference index and in percentages identical to (or similar to) the percentages reflected in the associated index. With Index ETF's, investors can buy or sell shares in the collective performance of an entire diversified stock or bond portfolio as a single security. Index ETFs are available with index portfolios reflecting the broad stock markets, stock industry sectors, international stocks, and U.S. Treasury and corporate bond indexes providing a wide array of investment possibilities. Index ETFs have very low management fees, no 12b-1 fees for commisions to selling brokers, and minimal capital gains distributions to effect your year-end taxes since the funds rarely trades their securities. Since the fund manager creates new shares when demand justifies their issuance, the market price of Index ETFs remains very close to the fund's net asset value.
Special Investment Products List - This list includes all of the 280+ Wall Street special investment products currently trading on the stock markets. Examples of these special products include BOXES, BRIDGES, BULS, ELKS, HOLDRS, MITTS, PIERS, PLUS, PRIZES, ProGroS, SPARQS, STRIDES, SUNS, TARGETS, TIERS, and many more. These are securities for sophisticated investors who do their homework. Any investment in these securities should definitely be preceded by the investor studying and understanding the IPO prospectus available via a link from the list or from our information page. This comprehensive list contains all of the special investment product securities which are also subdivided into the following three Special Investment Products lists below for ease of research by users interested in a particular type of special product.
Special Investment Products resulting in Common Stock Ownership List - This list is a sublist of the above Special Investment Products List and includes the 70+ special investment products where ownership will or may result in the holder becoming the owner of common shares of a company on a specific date.
These special securities are senior unsecured debt securities of the issuers. At maturity, the securities will deliver a specified number of shares of the related common stock to the holder generally only when the price of the associated stock has declined over the term of the security. Alternately, when the price of the common stock has increased, the securities will return the amount of the invested principal in cash. The securities generally pay quarterly distributions of 6% to 12% per annum. These securities mature in one to two years from the date of issue. Many of the securities are callable at the issuer's option at mid term and beyond. If called, the securities return a yield to call including all payments that can range from 15% to 30% per year or more. Acronyms and names for these special notes include include ELKS, SEQUINS, STRIDES, SPARQS, reverse exchangeable securities and others. The notes generally receive investment grade credit ratings based on the credit rating of the issuer. These excellent credit ratings indicate only that you are very likely to get the maturity payment when due but not how much that maturity payment will be. The potential purchaser needs to study and understand the effects of potential calls and the maturity payment provisions. These are securities for sophisticated investors who do their homework. Any investment in these securities should definitely be preceded by the investor reading our description of the security and also studying and understanding the security's terms as defined in the IPO prospectus.
Special Investment Products based on Indexes List - This list is a sublist of the above Special Investment Products List and includes 160+ securities that are senior unsecured medium term notes of the issuers and whose investment outcome depends on the results of a stock market index over the term of the notes.
These special securities are senior unsecured medium term notes of the issuers. Examples of these special notes include BOXES, BRIDGES, BULS, MITTS, MPS, SUNS, TIERS and a variety of market participation notes. Most of these notes make no payments prior to maturity and are generally not callable prior to maturity. At maturity, the securities offer maturity payments which are based on the results of a stock market index such as the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, etc. over the term of the note. The maturity payment can be based on the final return of the index or the average return of the Index at specified valuation dates over the term of the notes. The maturity payments are often subject to a appreciation cap or a participation rate. The securities often guarantee that the holder will get back at least the amount of the original investment. Other securities will have maturity payments with capped upside returns but no cap on potential declines in the value of the Index. The notes generally receive investment grade credit ratings based on the credit rating of the issuer. These excellent credit ratings indicate only that you are very likely to get the maturity payment when due but not how much that maturity payment will be. The potential purchaser needs to study and understand the effects of the maturity payment valuation methods (average or final values), the effect of appreciation caps (maximum appreciation per month or quarter), participation rates (i.e. 70% of the increase in the value of the Index) and other aspects of the securities. Each security needs to be carefully studied to be understood as seemingly minor differences in the terms of the securities could have major effects on the final maturity payment. These are securities for sophisticated investors who do their homework. Any investment in these securities should definitely be preceded by the investor reading our description of the security and also studying and understanding the IPO prospectus.
Special Investment Products based on Companies List - This list is a sublist of the above Special Investment Products List and includes the 35+ securities that are senior unsecured medium term notes of the issuers and whose investment outcome depends on the results of the price movement of a company's common stock over the term of the notes.
These special securities are senior unsecured medium term notes of the issuers. Examples of these special notes include include BRIDGES, PRUDENTS, TARGETS and others. These notes make no payments prior to maturity and are generally not callable prior to maturity. At maturity, the securities offer maturity payments which are based on the results of a basket of companies or on the common stock of an individual company over the term of the note. The maturity payment can be based on the average return of the basket at specified valuation dates over the term of the notes and sometimes on the final return of a company stock. The maturity payments are often subject to appreciation caps. The securities often guarantee that the holder will get back at least the amount of the original investment. Some securities will have maturity payments subject to capped upside returns but with no cap on potential declines in the value of the basket or company stock. The notes generally receive investment grade credit ratings based on the credit rating of the issuer. These excellent credit ratings indicate only that you are very likely to get the maturity payment when due but not how much that maturity payment will be. The potential purchaser needs to study and understand the effects of the maturity payment valuation methods (average or final values), the effect of appreciation caps (maximum appreciation per month or quarter), participation rates and other aspects of the securities. Each security needs to be carefully studied to be understood as seemingly minor differences in the terms of the securities could have major effects on the final maturity payment. These are securities for sophisticated investors who do their homework. Any investment in these securities should definitely be preceded by the investor reading our description of the security and also studying and understanding the security's terms as defined in the IPO prospectus.
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