andruomail

Profit from Obama's TARP 2 with Preferred ETFs

Only Lehman preferreds got burnt (so far) -- Wachovia and Bear's are still paying through the new parent co. A good detail with these is that in mergers, at least the ones whose prospectus I've read, their face value stays the same and the acquirer has to honor them. If you go for one try to find a cumulative preferred or capital trust which has to pay any skipped dividends eventually (if they don't go bankrupt first). The yield's plenty high enough across the board to go for something more stable than C if there really is such a thing.

Bank Investors Beware, Shareholder Interests Are Secondary

re TARP preferreds: while that 1st round was issued with equal seniority to existing lines, I think TARP's were cumulative, while a lot of normal lines are non-cumulative -- TARP's dividends could be stopped and would still have to be repaid someday, but missed noncumulative ones would be lost. So read the fine print if you're thinking about buying preferred today.