GlobalTrekker

More on BDV, Investment Yields and Closed End Funds

CEFA should be praised for publishing its list, but investors should be aware the group of managed yields is larger than the 40 CEFA details, and some of their information is imperfect (e.g., RCG does not really have a managed distribution policy of "0.00%"). It's an old saw, but investors really should dive a bit deeper into the income, management fees, and history of return of capital of a fund before committing their hard earned dollars. While managed distributions often have the effect of decreasing discounts for a finite period, they, like most of the gimmicks managers use, often have little positive, long-term effect on shareholder value.

CEF Weekly Review: Wall of Worry

For the ETW distribution yield, I think it would be most useful to track the actual income of the fund. That, combined with its annual return, would give the best idea of true yield. For the buy/writes, even the return of capital is a confusing measure.