Re: why not closed end funds?
I hold GIM, which is a CEF, but it is the only one I actually hold long term. CEFs have the nasty habit of having outsized expense ratios, since once the manager has the money, it cannot run. Many/most of the fixed income ones have lots of leverage, which usually juices both yield and risk.
You never want to buy CEFs when they are first offered, since they will inevitably go to a discount to NAV. But you can make some money with these things, provided you buy when the discount gaps out. I play with HPF and PDT, buying them whenthe dicount balloons, and selling when it narrows. This happens pretty reliably every year or so. PDT is especially attractive because an insurance company owns over 40% of it and would likely buy up all the shares and force the fund to dissolve (at NAV), if the discount got big and stayed big.
But I wouldn'tr make most of these things the foundation of my portfolio.
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"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."
- George Orwell
Ezekiel 23:20
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