This 8%-Payer Crushes ETFs (and We Get to Buy for 84 Cents on the Dollar)

On the surface, investing through an index fund sounds great. It’s simple, cheap and, as you’ve likely heard over and over , few active managers beat their benchmarks anyway. But we closed-end fund (CEF) investors know better. Truth is, there are lots of CEFs out there that beat their benchmarks while throwing off healthy dividends north of 8%. And when you step beyond the world of stocks, into areas like corporate bonds, REITs and municipal bonds, benchmark-beaters are the norm with CEFs. That’s because those markets, which are much smaller than the stock market, give a savvy manager lots of advantages—like a well-stacked contact book—that a “robotic” index fund just can’t match.… Read more