CEF Holdings ---- January 2026

[dickoncapecod]

We made it! Here are my holdings going into the new year. I'll post my annual results and observations/self-crits after Fidelity computes returns overnight.

PDI 34% PFN 16% PHK 12% GOF 11% PAXS 11% PTY 10% WDI 5% Cash and FNMAS 1%.

Happy New Year, Dick

 

[dennis5502]

Taxable Account: EXG 2.38%; FFC 4.12%, GOF 8.78%, HPI 4.58%, JPC 3.03%, NEA 5.08%, NPFD 3.95%, NVG 5.46%, PDI 8.10%, PFN 5.61%, PTY 7.31%, Cash 8.80%. Balance individual stocks

IRAs: DSL 2.98%, DSU 6.54%, GOF 11.49%, KIO 4.14%, PAXS 8.24%, PCM 8.99%, PDI 10.44%, PFL 3.61%, PGP 6.05%, PHK 12.04%, WDI 8.87%, Cash 7.59%

Thx again Dick for your continued wisdom. Dennis

 

[COcheesehead]

GOF, PDI, PTY
Exited PHK, NZF

 

[Flyfish1]

Happy New Year!
Thank you to everyone who participates on these threads, especially to @dickoncapecod who migrated over from a different forum. His input has really reshaped and improved this forum in my opinion.

I have too many positions to post all of them- but I will say this, I value the info provided by everyone's input and I do listen closely.

Best wishes to all going into a New Year!

 

[Bill E]

Bond CEF: PDI 29% GOF 16% PTY 12%
PAXS 10% PDO 10% PFN 10% PHK 10%

MREITs: AGNC NLY DX = 0%

Sr Loan/CLO: = ECC OXLC 1%

Equity: QLENX = 1%

Cash: 1%

Continue to focus on 'depressed' PDI PTY and GOF. Distribution yield, distance to resistance, z scores.

Happy New Year wishes to all!
Bill

 

[upwiththesun]

PDI 5.8% PAXS 3% PFN 1.5% PHK 1.8% WDI 2.2% GOF 2.1% CPZ 2.3%

Happy New Year!

 

[keppelbay]

PDI 14%.
1-5%: PDO, PAXS, DMO, DBL, FFC, PFN, PAXS
too small to matter: JFR, KIO, OXLC, PHK

PDI currently yields ~15% vs 11-12% for its PIMCO sibs. All are performing fine at the NAV level, so I see this as mis-pricing. I've been buying PDI. Tax loss season is over, so lets see what happens now...

 

[Flieger]

Staring the year here. Will likely make some adds Friday or early next week:

Flieger

 

[dickoncapecod]

Okay.....returns:

Per Fidelity, my portfolio total INVESTMENT return for 2025 was 12.9%. My portfolio balance is significantly lower than its all time high because of a large program of tax-advantaged gifting to heirs. When I add back total gifts, the portfolio is extremely close to the all-time high ---- and since the gifts subtract from go-forward capital just like losses, they created a modest drag, probably about 0.5% on computed 2025 returns. (And although they ended at mid-year, the crushing cost of Mrs. Cod's custodial ALZ care was also a drag on investment returns, as they had been for the previous 3+ years.)

I suffered the same two drawdowns as many other CEF investors in 2025: the April Tariff Tantrum and the October Institutional Dump of millions of shares of several widely held income CEFs. There was no way to anticipate either "event," but it was possible to shift some exposures from unaffected CEFs into those that had been crushed.

Although I have purposefully stopped reacting to perceived dangers with radical moves to cash, I did run cash up several times with mixed but very modest net positive results. What I did achieve is a new high in go-forward monthly income, which has always been my primary objective.
Regards, Dick

 

[Budswhizzer]

Happy New Year!!

My current holdings are:
PDI 35%, PHK 23%, PFN 12%, GOF 9%, PAXS 7%, PTY 2.4%, DMO 2%, WDI 3%.......I DRIP all of these.

I may be a little top heavy on PDI, but I can't pass up on the 15%.
@dickoncapecod I really appreciate your guidance and level reasoning in this chaotic environment. I sure hope we find a more stable environment in 2026. Thank you!!

 

[dcowboys101]

IRA: FSCO 7.6% GOF 14.5% PTY 20.5% PDI 26.5% PHK 5.9% CASH 25.3
TAXED ACCT: MLPI 5.9 GOF 12.1% NEA 13.7% NVG 13.7% NZF 13.6% NAD 13.6% CASH 27.5%
IRA 2: PDI 60.5% CASH 39.5%
Have a good New Year

 

[FlyingCircus]

Here's a 1 month lookback price performance chart of the common CEFs discussed here. A notably flat price-only month with the exception of PAXS which seems to be selling off, down ~4% for the month. PBDC relatively volatile.

Live version @stockcharts:
Happy New Year, I am lucky to have found this forum. Over $5K in divs last month from the CEFs; $7K including annual dists from major index funds.

 

[mykes2025]

Added 3x GOF at $12.12 (CB) and WDI 2x $14.22 (CB). The percents shown are the percent of my CEF basket, the CEF basket is now 8.3% of my equity portfolio. Getting near 10% which was my goal in 2025. Let's go 2026!

DNP	6.8%
AIO	6.4%
BME	11.8%
UTG	6.6%
THQ	7.8%
BST	7.8%
BDJ	7.2%
EOS	5.9%
CSQ	7.2%
BUI	4.0%
ASGI	3.6%
NBXG	3.2%
ERH	2.6%
PDI	13.1%
WDI	3.2%
GOF	3.0%

 

[Cognito]

GOF 13% CPZ 9% FAX 9% HGLB 6% JGH 6% PDO 4% PFN 4% FSCO.3%.. avg yield 12.5%

 

[Anitya]

Happy New Year!

Other than to receive updates through the bell icon, is there a better way to bookmark the thread?

 

[Old Dog Seeks New Tricks]

All in all - a pretty nice year -
MAIN IRA A/C
Stock positions in size order - 45% of a/c total
LLY / BRK/B / GOOG / NVDA / GS / MRK / HD / AMZN / WVE
---------------
CEF Positions in size order - 33%
PDI / PHK / PFN / WDI / PFL
---------------------------
Cash and Equiv = 25%
=====================
Taxable a/c
JPM shares & small ET shares position = 48%
TBills & cash = 49%
-----------------------------
CEFs - PAXS / PDI / PTY / GOF = 3%
==========================
Small Inherited IRA
AVGO Stock = 46%
PDI = 53%

all the CEF positions were new in 2025 - their addition with no other changes to total portfolios will increase total income by $100,000 in 2026. Large TBill maturity this month will have me getting off the side-lines, hopefully, and replacing with more CEFs. I do worry about how many CEFs are too many -- not in percentage terms but in actual dollar terms. Everybody posts percentages / but do folks have multi-million positions in CEFs -- maybe getting too personal.

recap of 2025 -
just to mention a few -
my worse trade -- sold Micron at 111 / now it's 286 = ouch
my best non-trade -- watched LLY go from circa 950 to near 650 and now back up near 1075 -- sometimes, if not always, it's better to be lucky than smart.
more embarrassing moments in trading to follow.

and, mostly to dick and flieger and cheesehead and all - best wishes for a very happy, prosperous but mostly HEALTHY 2026.

 

[Budswhizzer]

Happy New Year!

Other than to receive updates through the bell icon, is there a better way to bookmark the thread?

Hi,
Click on the Thread and look for the "Watch" button to the right side of the Thread. Once you do this then you just click on the "Watch" button. This will show all the Threads that you set up to watch. Hope this helps!!

 

[dickoncapecod]

All in all - a pretty nice year -
MAIN IRA A/C
Stock positions in size order - 45% of a/c total
LLY / BRK/B / GOOG / NVDA / GS / MRK / HD / AMZN / WVE
---------------
CEF Positions in size order - 33%
PDI / PHK / PFN / WDI / PFL
---------------------------
Cash and Equiv = 25%
=====================
Taxable a/c
JPM shares & small ET shares position = 48%
TBills & cash = 49%
-----------------------------
CEFs - PAXS / PDI / PTY / GOF = 3%
==========================
Small Inherited IRA
AVGO Stock = 46%
PDI = 53%

all the CEF positions were new in 2025 - their addition with no other changes to total portfolios will increase total income by $100,000 in 2026. Large TBill maturity this month will have me getting off the side-lines, hopefully, and replacing with more CEFs. I do worry about how many CEFs are too many -- not in percentage terms but in actual dollar terms. Everybody posts percentages / but do folks have multi-million positions in CEFs -- maybe getting too personal.

recap of 2025 -
just to mention a few -
my worse trade -- sold Micron at 111 / now it's 286 = ouch
my best non-trade -- watched LLY go from circa 950 to near 650 and now back up near 1075 -- sometimes, if not always, it's better to be lucky than smart.
more embarrassing moments in trading to follow.

and, mostly to dick and flieger and cheesehead and all - best wishes for a very happy, prosperous but mostly HEALTHY 2026.

Hi Old.....well, my 100% allocation to bondish income CEFs amounts to several million bucks, and almost every one is on auto-reinvest so the positions grow. CEFs are neither explosives nor an asset class...except, well, they ARE really just bond funds.
Regards, Dick

 

[IncomeOriented]

CEF - Income Portfolio - as of Jan 1, 2026
Happy New Year to Everyone!
Non-Qualified -
Cash 10.0%
GOF 17.5%
PCN 15.6%
PDI 13.6%
PFN 16.0%
PHK 16.5%
PTY 10.5%
IRA’s
Cash 1.1%
DX 1.0%
GOF 20.5%
PCN 19.0%
PDI 19.5%
PHK 19.3%
PTY 19.6%

 

[retired at 48]

My Current CEF Holdings: (CEF's only/all in IRAs)...My approach to the fixed income allocation is to be diversified...Diversified as including owning various high-yield assets as part of the mix. The high yielders include junk bond funds, preferred stock funds, Master Limited Partnerships Funds (pipelines-now none), leveraged FI CEFs, and Income-Builder (stock) Funds (TIBIX). Currently own zero REIT funds.

HPS
JPI
PAXS...opened a starter position last day of 2024.
PDI...largest holding (largest was PCI until the merger)
PDO
PFN
PTY

After several years of spending the dividends (RMD's), changed the PIMCO holdings to "auto divy reinvest", over a year ago. Has worked out well. Added PAXS to relatives accounts I assist with, and recently added to PDI.

Note: These are longer term holdings, not trading accounts. However, will actively manage same.

Good luck all.

R48

 

[Bill E]

Hi Old.....well, my 100% allocation to bondish income CEFs amounts to several million bucks, and almost every one is on auto-reinvest so the positions grow. ......
Regards, Dick

Same here. edit: 2025 total return per Fidelity 12.7%

Although I have been somewhat diversified at times - and plan to be again - with positions in stocks (QLENX, FOCPX in future) and mortgage REITs.

Bill

 

[drs]

JUMBO: DNP, PDI (added to PDI, have been dripping both for a long time now)
Large: PAXS (almost jumbo),
Medium: ADX (in process of accumulating so letting it drip and will add on dips), GOF, UTF
Small: DXYZ, GNT
mreits: DX
CLO's : CCIF, EARN, EIC
BDC's: BSXL, SLRC

Mutual funds of note: PRPFX, QAMNX, QLENX, QMNNX (increasing this one)

25% S&P500 passive index.

Worst CEF trade : OXLC. Yep, I'll completely own that one. Brutal.
Best CEF trade: FSCO - bought low and exited high.

 

[dobig]

CEF's currently make up 14% of portfolio. In order of size PDI. UTG, PFN, PFL, PHK, GOF,PDO

Have been as high as 35% of PV and as low as 7%. Made some timely trades between CEF's, growth and COcheeseheads AQR funds which allowed me to recoup all losses from CEF's and comfortably into multiple new ATH's.

Still plagued by my comical misunderstanding of WASH sales. Perhaps another dozen explanations will set me straight. The latest mind bender is someone mentioning WASH sales extend beyond taxable and across to tax deferred accounts for same positions.

 

[southpoint]

CEFs are 17% of my portfolio. Of that: PDI 72% ETV 16% PTY 6% PDO 6%.

 

[IncomeOriented]

ETV - that’s a nice long term performer. I’ve owned it in the past. Good for reducing taxes, too.