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Thanks for your feedback. Keep at it because the freedom is priceless!

MAIN has gone from strength to strength for decades. I share your admiration. Happy New Year!

The portfolio is linked at the bottom of each edition of Armchair Insider. Here's a link to every edition:armchairinsider.beehiiv.com/

I'm happy with those 3 too! Happy New Year :)

I sold it before the election then bought it back. However, the performance has fallen off. If interest rates continue to decline and volatility levels remain high, I'll reconsider holding it.

@armchairincomechannel Thanks for the response. You are right the performance has ticked down recently

If that happens I'll buy more!

@@armchairincomechannel we are in the "higher for longer" scenario right now

Glad you like them! Welcome to the Armchair Community :)

Yes! If you subscribe to Armchair Insider, each edition includes a link to my portfolio. It comes out monthly. Here's a link to join: armchairinsider.beehiiv.com/subscribe. Thanks for watching :)

Thank you for the suggestion but I'm not in the EU and can't buy that fund. Given that my channel is based on sharing the research I do for my own portfolio, it would be challenging to review that fund.

Yes, I've been having similar thoughts. I see 2 factors. 1/ The Fed cut rates so the income has dropped slightly from the credit part of the portfolio. 2/ Volatility increased to above average after July 2024. If the Fed keeps raising rates and the VIX remains above average, I'll look to sell SVOL.

I don't hold any Yieldmax funds, nor do I own COIN, so I'm not really the person to ask regarding strategy for these types of investments. I like consistent income with no long term continuous NAV erosion. Generally, the underlying stocks far outperform the Yieldmax ETF's that follow them, and that margin seems to wide for me for the ETF's to make sense. I would also suggest comparing any Yieldmax ETF's to their equivalent on Kurv. I compared GOOY to GOOP and GOOP was ahead last time I looked.

@@armchairincomechannel Thank you for the reply, I will deploy my strategy with a small account and study the return. 68% of the time stocks trade within a 1 std deviation which is easily shown on a chart using Bollinger Bands and I have correlated that when the body of a daily candle on the common asset such as TSLA for (TSLY & CRSH) or Coin for (CONY & FIAT) then the High yield instrument has reached it's peak. So I am going to invest in both High yielding instruments when they are inside the 1 std deviation when one side of the 1std deviation has a daily close above or below I will sell the Loser and add to the winner :) I believe this strategy from back testing will blow the doors off of the underlying asset :) Small sample size but so far so good, 1 dividend distributed and up over 20%, without the dividend in 1 week and now time will tell if this is a winning idea or folly :)

Happy new year! Thanks, as always, for watching and for commenting on so many videos :)

Good question. There are a lot of factors that go into determining the yield. All other things being equal, higher yield means higher risk...but of course all other things are almost never equal :) It would be more accurate to say higher return equates to higher risk. A stock or fund might pay a higher yield because it is structured for income (eg REIT, BDC) and given that it pays out a minimum of 90% of its income to shareholders, the high yield is compensation for the lack of potential growth that comes with a regular stock. I wouldn't put all my money, or even half my money into any one stock or fund. That's concentration risk! If you want to learn about preferred stocks you could buy a portfolio of them individually. Or you could buy a fund like PFFA that holds about 200 of them. Regarding the risk of bankruptcy, yes, generally, lower distributions are paid by preferreds with higher credit ratings. Volatility is more complicated and varies with factors like whether the preferred is fixed or floating. Fixed usually comes with more volatility.

Thanks for watching the channel for so long! I hope you buy and sell based on your own strategy and only use my portfolio to look for new ideas :) There is no one portfolio that's perfect for everybody. Your results will depend a lot on when you bought (or sold) each stock. Tracking results is challenging with a constantly evolving portfolio. I started using Snowball to track my portfolio (and share it) in May 2024. Before then I just followed the numbers on 3 separate brokerage accounts. Since then I have made about 4 trades a week and reinvested a portion of my dividends every month. Not counting the reinvestment of dividends, the portfolio is up 6.7% since May, and the yield is currently 11.54%. Total return would require annualizing the 6.7% and adding the income. I don't have software that can do that for my portfolio. So no NAV erosion, but the market has been kind to us.Those numbers were calculated on Dec 27 of this year. I don't sell anything for tax reasons or because the price dropped. I made a video earlier this year that explains my top reasons for selling. In general, I sell because I don't think the investment will continue to deliver the level of consistent returns that I originally purchased it for. That might be because the market changed, the company changed, or the price went up so much that the yield is no longer competitive with other opportunities. As for 2025, I don't time the market so I'll remain 100% invested and reinvest every month. But that suits my personality because I accept the ups and downs of the market. That's not for everybody. I tried to time the market during the pandemic by going to cash, then I bought back in too late and that strategy cost me a small fortune. You have to do what works for your risk tolerance as it relates to your portfolio value, and your income stream. I'm ok with my portfolio value dropping considerably if my income remains relatively constant.

I'm not familiar with NCLO but its so new that there isn't any data to analyze so I'd prefer to focus on the established funds.

I use both. I have a long term visa that allows me to stay in one country long term, if I want to. Most trips are less than 90 days so for example Vietnam is an easy place to visit for 90 days on a tourist visa. As for Thailand, long term options include Thai Elite Privilege Visa, Digital Nomad Visa, and Long Term Resident Visa. Digital Nomad is the cheapest/easiest.

@ Good to know. I have looked into Thailand’s elite visa and it keeps moving up in price. I’ll check out the digital nomad visa. 👍🏻

It went through a reverse 5:1 split. No change to the economics. It was simply to adjust the price from what's normal for a mutual fund (which it used to be) to what's normal for an ETF.

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for your feedback. I'm glad that you found value in the information. I figure if its interesting to me it might be interesting to some other people too :)

Thanks for watching twice! The addition of the options strategy is a new feature introduced by NEOS.

You're most welcome!

If QDTE continues to perform well I'll do a video about it. Need more time/data. I covered XDTE recently in this video: th-cam.com/video/lbcsePrvpIw/w-d-xo.html

Glad it was helpful! I find this stuff interesting but it barely gets mentioned on CNBC or other finance channels. Maybe tech stocks are more exciting.

Bitcoin is the most volatile of all investments so I would expect it to swing wildly. I don't try to time the market, it's literally impossible to win if you do that.

Glad it was helpful!

Great question. The IRS treats foreign investors favorably, specifically when it comes to capital gains and interest. I suggest checking 1/ If your country (of tax residence) has a tax treaty with the US 2/ What the dividend withholding rate is. Let's say it's 15%, for example. 3/ As a non-US investor, you can pay the withholding rate and do nothing more...I don't recommend that. 4/ Look for a tax accountant in your country that files US tax returns and ask them how much they charge. If you file a tax return with the IRS, you will be responsible to pay the ACTUAL TAX DUE, instead of the withholding amount. There's a good chance that the actual amount due will be less than 15%. If that's the case, the IRS will refund you the difference. I can't speak for the tax system in the UK, but generally, non-US tax residents don't pay tax on interest or capital gains.

@@armchairincomechannel Yep UK is 15%. I didn't realise I had the option to file with the IRS directly. Might look into this, thanks. So that means dividends classed as return of capital, short term, and long term capital gains are all exempt and we should just get back all of it isn't it?

You're welcome! Regarding the ANGN distribution history, the blue bars and the red arrow cover previous distributions only. Some charts have a light blue bar for "Forecast" but not that AGNC chart. Also, on another chart I pointed out to ignore all forecasts for dividends on all websites as they can't be predicted. I don't hold or follow AGNC so I don't know the story behind its current/future ability to pay dividends. One look at its dividend history and it didn't fit my criteria. But I do hold AGNCN :)

I agree that dividend coverage is an important factor but it's quite complicated. For example, BDC's have regular dividends, supplemental dividends, and special dividends. Then they can also retain undistributed taxable income (UTI) for later distribution when they're short on cash. Covered call index funds mostly distribute close to 100% of their income which is OK for that asset class but not for others. I don't think there are any magic percentage numbers that work as a general guide.

Thank you so much for answering all my questions.

I prefer funds with a NAV that's rising, flat, or at least rising a significant portion of the time (eg when interest rates are going in a specific direction). So YMAX isn't for me. If you hold it you have to reinvest a significant portion of the dividends to maintain the amount invested.

I don't hold JAAA but I have JBBB. Sorry, but I don't know what "pups" is so I can't comment about it.

Great minds think alike :)

Thanks! I've looked into them briefly. They're not for me for many reasons, including 1/I don't follow the gold or oil (or any commodity markets) so I don't know when to invest in those areas 2/ ETN's come with additional risks, including counterparty risk. I prefer ETF's. All non US tax residents can file a tax return to pay the actual tax due instead of the withholding (which usually works out to less than 15%), then receive a refund for the difference from the IRS.

Thank you and best wishes for a healthy and happy 2025 :)

Thanks for your feedback. FSCO is doing really well. I'd buy more but I'm already at my 5% cap.

Much like a stock or a bond, preferred stocks don't have an expense ratio.

@armchairincomechannel Loving the low volatility and high sharpe ratios on this funds. I am one of those investors who is constantly checking his phone for price changes.

Yes, that's a good point. In the case of thinly traded preferreds its best to use limit orders to prevent paying or selling at an unfavorable price relative to the market.

Thank you for sharing this.

That's a difficult question to answer because its not listed on their website. In the video I made about EIC I reviewed their financial statements and by my calculations the expense ratio is 1.6%. That's quite high, and I'd like to see a simple break down of their expenses so that I could understand what goes into it.

I would say that AAA is the lowest risk, but risk to return ratio is a different matter. If JBBB paid a lot more but was only slightly higher risk then it would be an attractive risk return. The yields on these are constantly changing but the market generally keeps the risk return in line for each level of risk....meaning if JBBB DID become a great risk return opportunity, more investors would buy it, driving up the price, and lowering the yield.

@@armchairincomechannel Thanks for the reply! Maybe you can correct me but I think we might be agreeing in some sense. The spread between JAAA being tighter than JBBB would imply there is a greater appetite for AAA CLOs, and I think you would agree given the current market composition being about 70% AAA. JBBB offers about 200-300 extra basis points over JAAA but you end up with a significantly smaller default threshold, so why would it make sense over for example maybe purchasing something like JAAA when the spread is wider - arguably it would be a much safer strategy and potentially as lucrative and you get the seniority benefit in securitization as well as the overcollateralization? Additionally, given the recent macroeconomic trends such as tarrifs, wouldn't it make sense to probably stay clear of anything not in AAA/AA? Default rates could realistically cause issues for the mezzanine and equity tranches in the foreseeable future.

Australia doesn't tax its citizens if they reside outside Australia and generate their income outside Australia. I don't use any form of leverage, nor do I invest in growth. Some of the funds I hold use leverage and that's enough risk for me. I don't want to add more. As for growth, using it to pay bills requires either 1/ The ability to time the market or 2/ Being OK with selling stocks/funds at a loss when the market is down. I don't like trying to do either of those things. Having said that, perhaps your strategy offers tax benefits, but its outside my expertise to evaluate the risk vs benefit.

@@armchairincomechannel Thank you so much for answering.

Glad you enjoyed it! Best wishes for 2025 :)

You're probably right. The distributions change every month so 1 month doesn't necessarily mean anything. I'm keep an eye on both :)

I haven't owned TLTW for some time. It has proven impossible to predict the direction of interest rates; a major factor in the performance of this fund. If you'd like to see which stocks/funds I currently hold, my portfolio is available at: armchairinsider.beehiiv.com/subscribe

My pleasure!

You're most welcome. Happy New Year!

Thanks for sharing your preferred stocks and FRA. Good to know that it's volatility is so low.

I'm newer to preferreds. What is and why are we looking at series F? Thanks.

That's a great question. I favor consistent income over maximizing returns. High return growth stocks don't pay the bills unless you sell the stock (or fund). That works quite well during a bull market. During a bear market, selling your losers isn't as easy. My goal isn't to beat the market, my goal is to pay for my life without having to be a good trader that can time the market.

Thanks for your feedback. I like Adam's channel but Adam is focused on gold and skews his guest list to experts that predict crashes. If you want to balance that with a bullish analyst, I suggest also listening to Fundstrat's Tom Lee. He has been right on most of his predictions in recent years.

Appreciate the response. Adam certainly has guests who are bullish and I will check out Tom Lee as well. Totally open to that! I didn't really get the impression that Adam is trying to sway the content one way or the other. In fact, in so many of his interviews, he's very careful to say " I don't want to put words in your mouth, but here's what I think you are saying" He's an excellent communicator, and I didn't really find him to be biased. Could I be wrong? Of course! I certainly cannot speak to how he acquires his guests and if there is a bias there. You seem to respond with some conviction that Adam is focused on gold and skews his guest's list, but I'm curious where you're getting that information or if that is just opinion? (no offense meant here) If there is a bias there I would certainly like to know about it and that may sway my future decisions. I base a lot of my decisions on feedback from his guest. Most of them have 30 plus years of experience in the macroeconomics field. At this point I'm about 30% or so into income investing, and I would certainly like to increase that amount but I am proceeding slowly as I gain understanding. Today's video was very helpful in that regard. Always good to have hedges in your portfolio. And funny you mentioned Tom Lee as after checking today he's actually predicting a 20% pullback in the next 40 days.