Alternative And Esoteric Assets And Platforms To Consider

Summary

• The alternative asset class is moving well beyond what was once niche equity strategies (hedged equity, market neutral, covered calls).

• Today, family office investors are looking well beyond public equities into far more esoteric areas once relegated for the uber-rich.

• Those areas include:  wine, art, collectibles, direct lending, hard assets, real estate and private equity/debt).

• We go through a bunch of the platforms available to retail investors today in some fashion.  These areas of the market were only accessible to accredited investors previously.

• Please consider the risks of both the asset class and the platform before making any investment.

Real assets and alternative asset platforms are springing up all over the place these days.  These are platforms that promote 'the democratization of investing' to the retail investor.  These are areas of the alternative space previously relegated to institutional investors (pensions, endowments, hedge funds, etc) whereas the retail investor was locked out.  

We have been stressing that the classic 60/40 portfolio is antiquated and needing some new thought behind it.  Unless you are willing to accept lower returns, you need to do something different.  

Most advisors are now allocating more than 10% of their clients' portfolios to alternative assets.  These include but are not limited to real estate, private markets, commodities, and esoteric's like art/collectibles, cryptocurrency, and other 'new' asset classes.

What Are Alternative Investments?

Most commonly, alternatives are private securities, primarily private equity and private dent.  But we must also add in hedge funds, real estate, real assets and venture capital.  

Large institutions typically incorporate large allocations to alternative assets in order to increase diversification and reduce draw down potential.  The goal of these larger pools of capital are to create a more steady-eddy return sequence instead of experiencing larger draw downs.  

The bear market math can be atrocious- especially for an endowment that must withdraw a certain percentage of the assets each year.  Many retirees want this.  If asked if they would take a 4% annual return with little or no volatility or market returns of 7% per year for the next few decades but with all the volatility, the majority took the former. 

Alternative Assets Should Be In Portfolios

Personal Capital, a retail advisor website, recommends placing about 10%-20% in alternatives today.  That includes hard real estate assets and hedged equity.  

We've discussed a few of these good options that are available in 1940 Investment Company Act structures.  One of our favorites is Victory Market Neutral (MUTF:CBHIX)(CBHAX).  It provides bond-like risk (but has a low correlation to the bond market) plus 3-4% annual returns.  A great compliment to traditional bond portfolios.  

But these options are new "democratized" platforms to gaining access to various esoteric assets.  Those include direct real estate, wine, art, collectibles, and loans.  We will go through some of these platforms.  

With One Caveat......

Investors should be aware that many of the options below are "high risk."  This means that they are in many ways riskier than stocks.  You should not be placing all your eggs in one basket but spread them out across multiple platforms and multiple sub-asset classes.  

In other words, have some in art, some in farmland, some in loans, and some in real estate.  Even within each of those categories, you should also be spread across multiple investments.  And you should monitor them closely.  

While the correlations of these assets can be low compared to stocks, that just means they don't move in conjunction with stocks.  They can fall just as far if not farther.  Be careful and due your homework.  

I'm testing a few of these platforms but if others have tested one or more and have some feedback, please leave them in the comment section below.  

Let's go through the list of platforms.  This is by no means all of them.  More are launched by the day.  

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MultiAsset

(1)  Yield Street:  Yieldstreet offers a unique suite of products across a range of asset classes with various yields, durations, and minimums.  It allows access to a variety of asset classes including art, commercial, real estate, and more.  

With Yieldstreet, you are lending money to borrowers and therefore earn frequent interest payments on your invested (or loaned) principal. Yieldstreet provides investors access to alternative investments, typically with low correlation to the stock market. They work with experienced originators who provide a loan for a project (or need) that is collateralized by an underlying asset from the associated borrower, such as a real estate property, legal settlement or shipping vessel. Their offerings currently focus on a number of alternative asset classes, including Real Estate, Legal Finance, Marine Finance, Commercial and Consumer Finance, and Art Finance and have an IRR of 11.54% since 2015. Beside their individual offerings, as an accredited investor you have the ability to also invest in their short term notes.

If you are a unaccredited investor you can still participate with Yieldstreet's Prism Fund. With a single investment, the Yieldstreet Prism Fund allows you to build a fixed-income portfolio, spread across multiple asset classes selected by Yieldstreet. Currently, the Fund has holdings in five asset classes: Art, Commercial, Legal, Real Estate, and is also invested in Corporate preferred bonds. Distributions are made to investors quarterly. As of September 16, 2020, the weighted average yield of the Fund's assets, excluding cash and cash equivalents, was 9.29%.

Real Estate

(1)  Equity Multiple:  An online investment platform that connects accredited individuals with exclusive, pre-vetted commercial real estate investments from experienced sponsors and lenders at low minimums. They help accredited investors create and build a diversified real estate portfolio, making passive investments through a secure online platform, from anywhere. While access to real estate has traditionally been synonymous with high investment minimums and limited opportunities, they offer access to frequent and varied opportunities across the country, with investment minimums as low as $5,000. Their focus is on commercial real estate: the core asset classes of multifamily, office, retail and industrial, as well as emerging and alternative real estate asset classes like self-storage, manufactured home communities, and student housing. 

(2) Fundrise:  You can invest in a low-cost, diversified portfolio of institutional-quality real estate. The company combines state-of-the-art technology with in-house expertise to reduce fees and maximize your long-term return potential.

Fundrise’s investments are focused on long-term growth. As a result, your investment will naturally form a J-curve (meaning negative returns early on followed by gains) that takes time to play out. There will be an initial period of low expected returns as the properties are acquired and business plans are executed. However, this should contribute to generating higher returns as your investment matures. Following the ramp-up stage in which Fundrise acquires properties, your investment will act like a dividend-paying stock. Fundrise provides steady monthly dividend income, and you can choose to receive your dividends in cash or reinvest them. You will also benefit from increasing property values over time. This can result in higher dividend payments due to rent increases or a higher sale price when the property is sold.

(3)  PeerStreet:  Another real estate loan, crowdfunding platform.  Invest in real estate, without the hassle or expense of managing property. It bills itself as the first marketplace for investing in real estate debt. You can invest in the loans made to borrowers, and as they pay back their loans, you make money. They manage a two-sided marketplace that connects you to investments sourced from a nationwide network of vetted private lenders and brokers. Browse and select from investments offering different yields, terms, and LTV ratios, across either residential or multifamily properties.  PeerStreet relies on cutting edge technology like advanced algorithms and big data analytics to review each potential investment.

(4)  Roofstock:   Roofstock is an online marketplace that provides investors with opportunities to invest in single-family rental homes with great cash flow potential. Roofstock differentiates itself from competitors by offering already-occupied homes, so investors can start earning a return as soon as they close on a Roofstock property. Additionally, Roofstock doesn’t own the properties. Instead, they evaluate, negotiate, and close the transactions on behalf of the investor.  

Roofstock sells homes with tenants already in them. Investors purchase these properties and have a steady flow of income right from the start. Returns are earned from the rental cash flow on your investment properties and any appreciation in the property value when it’s sold. If you decide not to self manage, a Property Manager can be appointed to collect rents, pay expenses, and remit the net income to each investor.

(5)  Fund That Flip:  Fund That Flip is an online investment platform for residential real estate redevelopment projects. Thousands of distressed homes hit the market every day.

Invest in residential real estate redevelopment projects online. Earn a 10+% annual yield on your investments. You can now invest in pre-vetted real estate projects from the comfort of your home in $5,000 increments. Fund That Flip's experienced team thoroughly vets each loan, and less than 8% of applicants are approved for funding. They invest alongside you to make sure incentives remain aligned. On average, investors have earned an annualized return of over 10.75% with principal repayment in under 10 months. You do NOT participate in the appreciation of the home value if sold.

(6)  Streitwise:   They invest primarily in cash-flow (rental) real estate, so investors benefit from quarterly cash payments throughout the life of the investment.  Streitwise is an online real estate investment platform that aims to provide investors exposure to a portfolio of primarily cash flowing properties located in markets where they feel the risk-return characteristics are favorable. They are a real estate investment trust, whose goal is to provide a professionally managed, diversified portfolio consisting primarily of high-quality office properties. Streitwise is sponsored and managed by Tryperion Partners. 

(7) Concreit:  Concreit is an easy-to-use real estate investing app that lets you buy shares of their private REIT for as little as $1. The REIT invests in private loans that are backed by short-term real estate and multi-family assets located in the United States. Concreit aims to make lucrative commercial real estate investment opportunities that were once reserved for millionaires accessible to everyone with their easy-to-use app and low minimum investment requirement. You can quickly invest in a diversified portfolio filled with real estate properties and loans collateralized by buildings.  Investors are buying into a portfolio of income-oriented real estate assets. You buy shares of a non-traded REIT fund, Concreit Fund I LLC (CF1), that includes a redemption (withdrawal) program. CF1's portfolio has a mix of debt instruments secured by residential & commercial real estate and a mix of other dividend-yielding real estate investments. The aim of CF1 is to provide consistent returns and alternative ways to hedge against inflation.

(8)  GroundFloor:  This is a slightly different take on group real estate investing.  They allow investors to select individual loans for short-term real estate financing to borrowers.  Individual investors, non-accredited and accredited alike, can participate directly in real estate investment loans on a fractional basis. Loan out as little as $10, see returns in a matter of months, rinse and repeat. Typical loans have returned 10 percent annually on a 6 to 12 month term. 

GroundFloor offers short-term residential real estate loans to professional builders and developers and then sells pieces of those loans to investors. When you invest with GroundFloor by buying a portion of one of these loans, you then get to share in the profit (or loss) that GroundFloor makes via interest payments on the loan. Unlike other real estate investment platforms where investors own an equity stake in real estate property through eREITS or other types of funds for 3 to 5 year terms, GroundFloor investment options are based on secured, collateralized real estate debt with much shorter terms.  

Farmland

(1)  FarmTogether:  An online farmland investment platform that enables accredited investors to invest in US institutional quality farmland. Investors can select from different properties, locations, and crop types curated by FarmTogether. Unlike a fund, the investor has full control of what they invest their money into.

Investors make money in two ways.

• Land income: Land generates income, typically either from rent or from profit off crops. In all cases, experienced farmers and farming companies pay rent or contract to work the land. The owners (FarmTogether on behalf of investors) take care of property taxes, expenses, etc. Investors receive cash flow from distributions of net profits after expenses and taxes.

• Land price appreciation: The team uses land assessment and market measures to value the property annually. Upon the property's sale, investors receive their proportional share of the profits.

(2) Acretrader:    Alongside a rapidly growing global population and demand for food, farmland offers a truly diversified investment opportunity with attractive long-term returns. They select less than 1% of the parcels they review. Each farm and its legal title are placed into a unique entity (usually an LLC). AcreTrader Management will handle all aspects of administration and property management- from insurance and accounting to working with local farmers and improving soil sustainability. You can expect an unlevered yield of 3% - 5% for lower risk properties on top of land appreciation. Although not recommended, you have the ability to exit your investment early through their marketplace.

AcreTrader is a real estate investing platform offering income-producing shares in farmland. Investors earn money two ways: annual cash rent payments from tenant farmers plus long-term appreciation of the land. Farm cash rents are typically paid once per year, as farmers usually pay rent up front.

(3) Live Stock Wealth: Through crowdfunding, they give you the chance to own real farm assets as they grow on a farm and earn profits at harvest. Crowdfarming is a simple way to help anyone buy & own real profit-earning assets, helping farmers grow and maintain assets until ready for market. You buy the young asset (livestock or plant-based) from the farmer, through Livestock Wealth. The asset grows in the farmers care. The farmer buys back the asset once it has fully grown at harvest. You, the investor, make a profit from the sale.

(4)  Precious Timber:  They are a Central American purveyor of nature’s finest sustainable products. We grow valuable agricultural commodities for both corporate and client financial goals. We pride ourselves on the personalized attention given to each client in tailor-building ownership opportunities for institutional, corporate, and private investors.

Owning tropical timberland as part of a diversified investment plan has historically produced higher than average rates of returns with less exposure to risk. Commercial coconut production provides a long-term cash-flow for many decades, and the added environmental and social benefits produced helps ownership in this space to promote good will for future generations.

Art/Collectibles

(1) Masterworks Io:  This is an interesting and well-vetted platform.  Here you invest in shares of paintings of master artists.  You own shares of artwork, and when that artwork appreciates in value, you gain a return. Masterworks' team of experts targets artists whose work has historically achieved a 9% to 15% annual return. There are two ways you can cash out: when the artwork is sold by Masterworks, or by selling your shares on their secondary market (think the stock market for art). Masterworks aims to hold paintings for three to seven years while they increase in value. Meanwhile, each painting is displayed in a members-only art gallery in SoHo, New York. When the time is right, paintings are sold to private collectors or at auction. The proceeds are then divvied up across shareholders. If you don't want to wait that long, Masterworks’ Secondary Market trading platform lets you sell (or buy) your shares at any time. 

(2) Collectibles:  They are the number 1 fractional investing platform for sports (memorabilia).  Here you buy real equity shares of different sports items (cards, jerseys, signed pieces, etc).  Once an asset is fully funded, and if you bought shares in that asset, you now own an equity stake in that specific item. If the value of this asset rises, so should the value of your shares. You can buy and sell shares via our secondary market powered by Templum Markets, LLC a member of FINRA and SIPC and an SEC-registered broker dealer and Alternative Trading System (“ATS”). If we receive an offer to purchase the item at a significant premium, we will empower shareholders with a vote on the offer. Your vote will be weighted pro-rata to your ownership position. If a majority of shareholders vote to sell the asset, we will do so and every shareholder will get paid out. 

(3)  Rally: A broad collectibles platform with one-of-a-kind items, sports collectibles, rare books, cards, comics and cars.  They source, verify, and acquire the most noteworthy items from collections and individuals all over the world.  They then turn that item into “a company” via regulatory qualification, then split it into equity shares.  They then open an “Initial Offering” on Rally where investors of all sizes can purchase shares & build their portfolio.  After 90 days, investors have the chance to sell shares in-app or add to their position on periodic trading days (through registered broker dealers).

Wine

(1) Vinovest:  Their marketing stich is that fine wine as an asset class has consistently produced better returns than the S&P 500 for the last 30+ years. 

Vinovest is an online platform that lets you invest in fine wines easily. Vinovest chooses investment grade wines and authenticates, stores, and sells them for you. And, if you’d like to take a sip out of your favorite fine wine, they’ll even ship it to you.

Just as with value stocks, returns are made from asset appreciation and the sale of wines in your portfolio (a process which Vinovest manages). Vinovest’s average five-year historical back-tested return with a moderate risk tolerance is 12.40% net of fees and 16.60% with the aggressive plan. The annualized return of fine wine as an asset class over the last 15 years is 13.6%, outperforming the S&P 500. This implies consistent growth, even during economic downturns, making wine a stable asset class. You can also sell wines from your investment portfolio at any time if you want to increase your cash flow or invest in new wines.

(2) Vint: They claim to be the future of wine investing. Here you own shares of world class wine collections. Over the last 30 years, fine wine has generated strong returns. Once an exotic market, investing in high quality bottles can diversify your portfolio.

Investors can liquidate their shares in a secondary trading market (in development), or after a 3-7 year hold and Vint decides to sell the asset. Wine as an asset class offers return opportunities through sourcing arbitrage, long-term supply & demand shifts, sales channels, and catalysts.

Loans

(1) Mainvest:  Their motto, invest in main street, not Wall Street.   Discover local businesses, review their business plans and financial statements, chat with the owners, and invest with as little as $100. With Mainvest you invest with revenue sharing notes.  Put your money into real brick & mortar businesses that agree to share a percentage of their revenue each quarter in exchange for your investment.  Revenue is shared until investors receive their investment multiple. If investors haven’t received this amount by the maturity date, the remaining amount is owed to them as a balloon payment. 

(2)  Lenme:  Earn monthly passive income by lending.   Invest in lending, generate passive income and diversify your portfolio in a low volatile market. Lenme is a subscription-based P2P lending platform that helps you invest in lending. They give you the latest machine learning technology and analyze thousands of data points to help you understand the level of risk. With only a couple of clicks, you can fund a loan. Lenme is the first platform to offer a subscription-based lending platform, giving you access to a variety of risk/gain models that suit your investment preference. 

You lend money to borrowers and therefore earn interest payment on the loans you fund. You will choose the return that suits your needs based on the borrower’s risk profile. Lenme provide investors access to borrower’s credit score, credit report, historical data and banking data.

(3) Kiva Loans:  These are crowdsourced loans for people around the world that are unbanked.  In as little as $25 increments, they note " you can be part of the solution and make a real difference in someone’s life.  100% of every dollar you lend on Kiva goes to funding loans." They are a 501(3) so they are a non-profit.  So far they have had 4.1mm borrowers from 77 countries with 1.9mm people lending them money for a total of $1.66B loaned out.  The repayment rate is about 96.3%.  

(4)  MyConstant:  "Experience multi-market peer-to-peer lending. Invest in people and businesses around the world for up to 9% APR. Earn across multiple markets, spreading risk and maximizing reward. No investing fees. Free USD withdrawals. 24-7 customer support."

MyConstant offers three investment products:

1) Flex – earn 4% APY. Instant Access is an anytime-withdrawal investment account that pays 4% APY. Your money funds collateralized lending pools and supplies liquidity to trading exchanges. In return, you earn interest and a cut of trading fees and can withdraw anytime for free.

2) Crypto-backed – earn up to 7% APR. Crypto-backed is a secured P2P lending product that pays up 7% APR. Your money funds a lending pool from which up to 200% is collateralized, and borrowers get loans in return for interest. If borrowers default, their collateral is sold to repay you. You can invest for 1, 3, or 6 month terms.

3) Crypto-lend – earn 9% APY. Crypto-lend lets you earn 9% APY on Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Binance Coin (BNB) by supplying liquidity to lending pools and exchanges. Your interest is paid and compounded every second in the same cryptocurrency you use to invest, and you can withdraw anytime for free.

Private Equity

OurCrowd:  A retail investors way to invest in pre-vetted startups.  You can invest in individual companies that are on their platform or by creating a portfolio reserve investment account with the benefits of preferred allocation and reduced administration paperwork.  This platform does require accreditation which is annual income of $200K ($300K joint) for the last two years.  

StartEngine:  This one allows "everyday people" to invest. Equity crowdfunding lets startups and private businesses raise capital from the crowd, and it allows everyday people to invest for as little as $100. Everyone can be an investor, not just VCs and private equity firms.  They have more than 100 different companies raising capital at any given time.  These are pre-IPO companies that they vet beforehand.  Less than 1% of the vetted companies are allowed on the platform.

Other

(1)  BlockFi:  An easy way to store your crypto currency and earn up to 8.6% APY interest paid out in a few crypto currencies.  There are no hidden fees, no minimum balances, and no reason to wait. With a BlockFi Interest Account (BIA), your cryptocurrency can earn up to 8.6% APY. Interest accrues daily and is paid monthly. With BlockFi Trading you can buy, sell, or exchange a variety of cryptocurrencies at competitive prices and start earning interest the moment your trade is placed.  

The BlockFi Interest Account enables individuals and companies that own cryptoassets to earn interest in crypto on their crypto held at BlockFi. BlockFi Interest Account clients can deposit their crypto and earn interest. Paid out at the beginning of every month, the interest earned by account holders compounds, increasing your annual yield.

(2)  Ember Fund:  Invest like a cryptocurrency hedge fund with $500. Ember Fund is a decentralized asset management platform, aiming to bring DeFi (decentralized finance) to everyone. With curated crypto portfolios managed by industry experts, hedge funds, and quantitative analysts.

Ember Fund aims to be the easiest place to invest and participate in the upside of DeFi, NFTs and the broader crypto space. Each of Ember’s portfolios are non-custodial and future-proofed, with the ability to support new layers of yield generated from developing DeFI protocols. You can earn as the assets in your portfolio appreciate, along with built-in yield farming via lending on DeFi protocols to generate additional return. Ember also has a daily rewards program, where you can earn Bitcoin by learning about crypto.

Yield Hunting Premium Subscription

Our strategy, simply put, is to create a portfolio of fixed income closed-end funds and alternative asset classes (such as REITs, Preferred Stock, and Baby Bonds) to create a risk managed approach to retirement income.

This approach can either be a standalone strategy (i.e- for most or all of your portfolio) or as a replacement for the failed 'fixed income' portion of your equity/ bond mix.

Either way, the goal is to create a safe income stream that meets as much of your monthly retirement expense needs as possible- thereby leaving the principle (as well as any equity positions) alone to grow unmolested. If selling is not necessary, we have effectively removed any or all sequence of returns risk from the portfolio.

We urge you to not miss this opportunity to take advantage of this really great offer. You really have nothing to lose with the one week free trial which locks you in at the lower rate.

We always give a 7-day free trial to show what our service offers- don’t hesitate! Give us a try!

This is a unique opportunity to create a fixed income closed end fund portfolio utilizing extremely rare discounts and high yielding securities. Yield Hunting can be utilized in various ways- to be the 'bond side' of your 60/40 diversified portfolio, your paycheck replacement strategy for retirement, or as a way to de-risk away from lofty equities and risky dividend stocks.

Our service utilizes Closed-End Funds, ETFs, Muni's, REITs, and Preferred Stocks to decrease risk, while still achieving a 8+% yielding portfolio.

With a subscription to Yield Hunting, you get access to:

Our Three Portfolios that help create a safer and consistent 8% income stream:

1. Core Income Portfolio This is our main model. It has about a dozen securities (almost all CEFs) with almost no equity exposure. The risk profile by NAV is less than half that of the S&P 500. It is a bit more passive than most portfolios, with only a couple of trades per month- making it very easy to follow even for the novice investor. Current yield 8.3%.

2. Flexible Income Portfolio: This is our active trading portfolio. It is designed for more aggressive investors looking to maximize capital gains along with yield- looking for funds that have a high probability of mean reversion (extremely large discounts that have a good chance of closing in the short term). Current yield of 7.4% (some tax-free muni income).

3. Taxable Income Portfolio: This portfolio takes a more tax-advantaged approach, attempting to maximize after tax gains by utilizing funds that keep an eye on tax liability. Current yield of 4.9% (mostly tax-free).

4. Peripheral Portfolio Database: This is aimed at diversifying the Core Portfolio by investing in equity CEFs and REITs, preferred stocks, exchange-traded baby bonds, ETFs, Mutual Funds, and other securities. It is less a full portfolio than a list of researched funds that we recommend for those that want to expand beyond the conviction list of securities but don't have the time or inclination to do the research themselves. This includes a "Safe Bucket" section detailing the highest yielding cash-plus securities where excess cash can earn upwards of 4%. The model portfolios are designed with real time pricing detailing specific "buy, hold, sell" ratings.

5. Low Maintenance Models: This is for the pure, hands-off novice. In these models, you will assess your risk tolerance and can simply follow the model as you see fit within your risk profile.

Our premium service is organized in the following manner:

• Morning Note - An almost daily note on the current situation in the market and what you need to know as the trading day starts.

• Monthly Newsletter - Details the current investing environment, portfolio construction techniques and advice, and a review of our model portfolios. It is the perfect place to start for new subscribers!

• Weekly Commentary - Goes through the events of the week and things to watch for in the upcoming week. This also includes performance of our holdings and the effects the current market situation will have on them.

• Yield Hunting Review - this will take a more macro approach to the market for more long-term

• Spotlight - Several write-ups each month, with specific analysis on securities we want to bring to our members attention where we see specific opportunities.

• Alerts - Buy/ sell alerts on securities within the portfolio as conditions warrant

And finally....

• Access - You are not on your own! We are available weekdays during market hours via email for any and all questions or concerns. We also offer a complimentary cursory review of your portfolio, so you know you are not going it alone and always have a professional's ear whenever you need it.

Why Yield Hunting?

While our service is aimed primarily at late stage career and retired investors, the strategy can also be used to lower risk by augmenting traditional equity investing via open-end mutual funds or ETFs. This includes those who have spent many hours researching and selecting the equity side of their portfolio, but don't have the knowledge or time to do the same for the fixed income side. We use high quality institutional research to avoid distribution cuts, opportunity risk, and other pitfalls which can derail your strategy.

Our Team

Three For The Price Of One! Being one of the larger services means we have a larger budget. We believe we've assembled some of the best talent on Substack and Seeking Alpha analyzing closed-end funds.

Our stacked team includes:

1) Alpha Gen Capital (Yield Hunting) - I am a career financial advisor (non-practicing) and investor. Not someone from another career doing this on the side. The AGC team and I use detailed analysis to provide safe and actionable insight without the fluff or risky ideas of most other letters. Our goal is to provide a relatively safer income stream with CEFs and mutual funds. Maybe more importantly, we also help investors learn about investing and how to properly construct a portfolio.

2) George Spritzer - Another career financial guru who runs a registered investment advisor with a specialization in closed-end funds for individuals. George uses the following investment strategies: 1) Opportunistic Closed-end fund investing: Buy CEFs at larger than normal discounts to NAV and sell them when the discounts narrow. 2) Exploit special situations: tender offers, fund terminations, fund activism, rights offerings etc.

3) Landlord Investor- Spent his career as a management consultant for public sector clients at a multinational consulting firm in the DC area. He has transitioned to a new career as a full time landlord. His investment portfolio is comprised of two parts -- broad-based index funds and income plays such as preferred stock, CEFs, and REITs. He also owns individual/baby bonds which he buys on margin to boost total return. Landlord is our 'individual preferred stock' expert analyst.

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