QuantumOnline (QOL) specializes in providing unbiased online information on exchange-traded income securities such as preferred stocks and other income investments that would be of interest to income investors looking to safely maximize their current investment income. Our basic goal is to make the researching of exchange-traded income investments as easy as possible. The income investment information we offer is available from three basic categories: general investment information, income security tables, and income security lists.
Income Investment Information - The first information source we want to stress is the general information we offer on income investing in general and income investments in particular. This general information is offered through the "Information" menu above. Included in the general information are descriptions of the general types of income securities, very important information on preferred ticker symbols and names, some discussions on some important aspects of income investing, information on the 15% tax rate on dividends, credit ratings, and definitions of income investing terms and security acronyms. Finally are some pages on the QuantumOnline website itself. Especially investors new to income investing but even experienced investors would do well to take the time to look over the general information we offer. You don't have to read all the information presented but you should at least take the time to familiarize yourself with the information we provide for future reference. All QuantumOnline users should take the time to read our Preferred Tickers Symbols and Names page. Reading this page will minimize the inevitable confusion that the crazy system of preferred ticker symbols creates for any income investor. Most of the information pages offer printer friendly pages via the link near the top of the page if you wish to print the page to read offline and to keep for future reference. These printer friendly pages should print properly using your browser's print function. We recommend that you set your left and right margins (use File, Page Setup on Internet Explorer) to 3/4 of an inch for proper printing of these pages.
Tables and Lists - The second and third sources of income security information QuantumOnline offers are the income security lists and the income security tables. The security lists are found under the Income Lists, Stock Lists and Special Lists headings on the above menu bar.
Income Securities Lists - The "Income Lists" menu above provides lists of the six basic types of exchange-traded fixed income securities available on the stock markets. Those six categories are preferred stocks, trust preferred stocks, third party trust preferreds, exchange-traded debt securities, convertible securities and mandatory convertible securities. The Exchange-Traded Income Securities list includes all six categories of income securities on a single list. The All Preferred Stocks list includes all of the preferred stocks, trust preferred stocks and convertible preferreds on a single list. The Preferreds eligible for the 15% Tax Rate list includes all preferreds that we believe are eligible for the 15% tax rate on dividends.
LIST FEATURES: Aside from listing every security in the given category, the lists offer two additional features. First, clicking on the ticker symbol in the list will produce the QuantumOnline information page on the particular security. This QOL page will provide a detailed description of the security and a variety of contact information for the security issuer such as their Internet home page, address, telephone numbers, email address, etc. The second feature of the list is the link to the issue's IPO prospectus. For all U.S. securities issued after about 1994 and foreign securities issued after October 2002, the lists will provide a link to the issue's IPO prospectus on the SEC EDGAR system. The IPO prospectus is the definite and final source of information on any income security and is the legal contract between the issuer of a security and the investor. When in doubt, read the prospectus for the final answer to any question on a particular security.
Income Security Tables - The Income Tables menu offers the most important information sources on the QuantumOnline website. These income tables offer comprehensive data on all exchange-traded fixed income securities covered by QuantumOnline. The tables allow the QOL user to make quick comparisons between all fixed income securities to make the QOL user's research faster and more productive. The tables may be sorted by nine different data items and offer a quick and comprehensive view of the particular securities covered by the individual table. The tables offer the same two features as the lists as described above plus much more. First, the tables offer S&P and Moody's credit ratings on each individual security. Other data for each security includes the IPO date, the coupon rate and the amount of the annual distribution, the liquidation preference and call price, the call date and maturity date, whether the security is cumulative and/or convertible, and the distribution dates. The tables also offer links to the current price quote on the appropriate stock exchange, a link to historical price charts, and a link to MarketWatch for the latest ex-dividend date.
Stock Lists - The Stock Lists menu provides lists of a variety of other income securities plus lists of the special Wall Street products. Included are lists of closed-end funds, real estate investment trusts (REITs), master limited partnerships, U.S. and Canadian royalty trusts and business development companies. All these securities offer special opportunities for the income investor and a number of income investors semi-specialize in investments in especially royalty trusts and limited partnerships that can offer good returns to the knowledgeable investor.
Wall Street Special Products - The Wall Street special products are a very different type of security that are only semi-related to income investing. The security are generally short or medium term debt securities of the issuers with a major difference. These securities generally do not make periodic distributions. Instead they offer maturity payments that are based on the results on a stock market index or the price movement of the stock of a single company or group of companies. With some of these securities the holder may end up owning a common stock at the maturity date. These are securities for knowledgeable investors who do their homework. Before considering any investment in these securities, the investor needs to study and understand the unusual provisions incorporated in these issues.
Special Lists - The Special Lists menu provides lists of the IPOs of Preferred and Income securities, the issues recently called for redemption, and those securities whose distributions are suspended. The final offerings on the menu are lists of banks and bank holding companies.
How to Proceed - At this point we would suggest that you proceed to the above Information menu to check out the income investing information offered on that menu. Then you should look over the above table and lists menus to see what categories of securities they offer. Finally, pick out a few of the tables or lists that are of interest to you and look over the tables and lists to see how they are arranged and what information the offer. In particular, make sure you read the Special Features of this Table section to understand what the tables offer. Once you have a reasonable idea of what tables, lists and information are offered via the above menus, you should be able to comfortably and profitably proceed to research the many available income investments.
