What's your favorite income/fixed income sources?

[marko]

Three CEFs, Floating Bank Rate fund, High Yield bond fund. That's it.

27% of the portfolio. Delivers 146% of income needs, including a little more via dividends and cap gains at year-end from growth funds.

 

[Semi-Retyrd]

That's the way I'm leaning. QRPNX, QNZNX, EGRIX and HOSIX are looking pretty good to add to. Want some more diversification beyond those.

If you are looking for more diversification beyond the AQRs you might consider PBDC and PFFA for BDC and preferred stock exposure. If interest rates go up BDCs benefit while preferreds see a headwind. If interest rates go down, preferreds benefit while BDCs see a headwind. Both are currently in value town due to excessive software worries with BDCs. Also you might consider CEFS for closed end fund exposure. Their unique positioning as an activist fund where they try to drive efficiency in some of their holdings makes them more uncorrelated than typical CEFs to equities. All of these do well over the long term but they each dance to the beat of a different drummer.

 

[VanWinkle]

Bond funds, MM funds, MYGAs, pensions, and Social Security make up our fixed income products. Our fixed income covers more than our expenses so no need to access the equities or bond principal.

 

[joejetski]

Trying to build out a fixed income basket and wanted to see what are the favorite stock, bonds, preferreds, cefs, etc,. that others like. Not inluding covered call income funds but feel free to add if you wish.

For myself here are some I like.


HTD - 7.3% yield. No nav erosion and history of dividend increases minus the GFC.

UTG - 5.6% yield. Utility Cef. History of asset and dividend appreciation. I buy when price is at a discount to Nav.

WFCPRL - 6.3% yield. Busted preferred. WFC common would need to reach $203/share for 20 days out of 30 for shares to be converted to common (around $1,300 conversion).

PFFA - 10.1% yield. Actively managed preferred etf. Uses leverage. Risk of nav erosion.

HOSIX/HOSAX - 6.7% yield. Active management income fund. 85% investment grade.

PIMIX - 5.99% yield. Steady Eddy PIMCO income fund. Stable nav.

Own PIMIX, PFFA, HTD, UTG. Also own VWEAX, GGN, BCX, KYN, FOF, CEFS, SPYI, QQQI, MLPI, BNDI, TLTW and PAAA. Hold cash like in CSHI. And a CD ladder covering 24 months expenses for SORR.

 

[OldShooter]

TIPS.

 

[Diogenes]

Thread title covers the world of income.

"What's your favorite income/fixed income sources?"

Somehow the discussion turns to fixed income only?

So far we've completely elided conventional stocks that happen to be high dividend payers, or "dividend aristocrats". Examples would be oil stocks or insurance companies. The former in particular have done exquisitely well this year.

If the OP wishes to diversify away from large-cap tech (which sounds like his objective, especially if we assume that he made excellent gains in recent years from such stocks), then I'd humbly suggest midcaps, small-caps and ex-US stocks.

 

[dobig]

So far we've completely elided conventional stocks that happen to be high dividend payers, or "dividend aristocrats". Examples would be oil stocks or insurance companies. The former in particular have done exquisitely well this year.

If the OP wishes to diversify away from large-cap tech (which sounds like his objective, especially if we assume that he made excellent gains in recent years from such stocks), then I'd humbly suggest midcaps, small-caps and ex-US stocks.

Yes want a basket that's safer than large cap and my value dividend etfs. In the last few days put a chunk in the alternatives COcheesehead likes and bought some HOISX and PFFA. Looking at PIMIX possibly.

Maybe just keep a couple hundred k in cash.

 

[dobig]

I like CLM which I DRIP

Are you sure you want to do that?

 

[dobig]

I have quite a few. Listed below - one point you mentioned you wanted to build a fixed income basket. UTG does not fall in that camp - I own it and it's been great but it's portfolio is 99.4% stock.
The list below is only my "fixed income " component of the portfolio.

AVK

BHK

BKT

CCD

CHMI-A

CIM-C

DFP

DLY

DMO

DSL

ETG

FAX

GHI

GHY

HIO

HYT

IGD

ISD

JPC

LTSAP

NEA

NFJ

NVG

PAXS

PDI

PDO

PFFA

PHK

PTA

PTY

RMM

SACH-A

ETG looks pretty good. Stable nav and nice 6.75% dividend. Appreciate the list.

 

[dobig]

iShares iBond investment grade corporate bond and high-yield corporate bond target maturity ETFs (2026 - 2031)................................................................. 11.8%
Two individual TIPS..................................................... 12.6%
13 individual corporate bonds................................12.9%
2 brokered CDs............................................................... 3.6%
EGRIX................................................................................... 7.6%..... 48.5% bond-like fixed income

PFFA.................................................................................. 8.7%
Four other preferred stock ETFs........................... 13.4%
Individual preferred stocks (6.27% yield)............. 9.8%..... 31.9% preferred stocks

VTSAX (inherited, low cost basis)........................... 4.3%
QLENX, ORR and other long-short funds........ 14.3%..... 18.6% my riskier assets

SWVXX..............................................................................1.0%....... 1.0%..... 100.0%

To make things easier for DW and DD if I get run over by a beer truck, I am transitioning from lots of individual bonds to target maturity bond ETFs and from lots of individual preferred stocks to preferred stock ETFs. I'm slow walking it, but if my runway get short at some point then I could finish the simplification quite quickly.

Pb4uski, correct me if I'm wrong but those ishare ibonds sort of work like a MYGA (or individual bond) in that you get a defined return at the end of the holding period with yearly interest payments but with the benefit of liquidity without penalty?

If so sounds pretty damn good to me. No headache of researching individual corporate bonds and you could model a pretty safe ladder between investment grade and high yield to get an easy 5% with low risk.

Want to make sure we're talking about the same funds. I'm looking at this site.

https://www.ishares.com/us/strategies/bond-etfs/build-better-bond-ladders

 

[dobig]

So just used the ishare ibond ladder tool and see if I do a 5 year ladder from 2027 - 2032 with a 50/50 mix between investment grade and high yield my net yield after expenses would be 5.43% and I'd have zero worries if held to maturity.

Even if I tilt 33/66 between high yield and investment grade I'm still getting over 5%.

 

[Flyfish1]

ETG looks pretty good. Stable nav and nice 6.75% dividend. Appreciate the list.

Yeah - it's along list and there are more including equities, REIT's and other CEF's. All in I presently have 89 positions, not counting cash. I follow the advice of keeping each position around 2% of the total and then if a few go south the entirety should do well. Obviously, it ain't that simple, but that's what I do. As to monitoring it, I enjoy it and I have the time to do so. In 20 years, who knows, maybe I'll trim to much fewer.

 

[Flyfish1]

Here's a few more: I apologize it's a lot - but....

AMLP

BGR

EPD

KRP

WES

AOD

BCX

BMEZ

BST

DPG

EMD

IDE

RVT

UTF

UTG

ADX

BTO

ETW

JEPQ

MO

USA

VZ

XYLD

AWP

EPR

IGR

JRI

NNN

NRO

O

RA

RLTY

RNP

RQI

 

[pb4uski]

Pb4uski, correct me if I'm wrong but those ishare ibonds sort of work like a MYGA (or individual bond) in that you get a defined return at the end of the holding period with yearly interest payments but with the benefit of liquidity without penalty?

If so sounds pretty damn good to me. No headache of researching individual corporate bonds and you could model a pretty safe ladder between investment grade and high yield to get an easy 5% with low risk.

Want to make sure we're talking about the same funds. I'm looking at this site.

https://www.ishares.com/us/strategies/bond-etfs/build-better-bond-ladders

Yup, you got it. I like that I can easily buy them in my brokerage account. No muss, no fuss. As I've said, I'm using a ladder of these as a substitute for individual corporate bonds or a bond fund. I might be giving up a little bit of yield because the underlying bonds are non-callable and when I bought individual bonds I could invest in callable as well, but it's a lot easier.

 

[target2019]

Here's a few more: I apologize it's a lot - but....

AMLP

BGR

EPD

KRP

WES

AOD

BCX

BMEZ

BST

DPG

EMD

IDE

RVT

UTF

UTG

ADX

BTO

ETW

JEPQ

MO

USA

VZ

XYLD

AWP

EPR

IGR

JRI

NNN

NRO

O

RA

RLTY

RNP

RQI

I just dabble in the divs now. O, VZ, NNN, SCHD, CSCO, DUK, SO, BX, AMP, ADM, RY. I guess some of those are more than a dabble.

 

[Lawrencewendall]

Are you sure you want to do that?

View attachment 63434

I started with CLM in 2016 with 60k. It is now 180k. I can live with that. Been DRIPing all the way.

 

[itsme2]

I am sure why people would be interested in having fixed income, not interested in having higher overall return. Focusing on overall return (dividend+growth) is the true return which can also be translated into higher income. Many seemingly high "yield" funds are more volatile and at the expense of NAV reduction.

 

[gauss]

STRIPS ( zero coupon USTs) laddered to fund spending the next 10 years or so until SS. I find having pre funded spending very calming.

gauss

 

[CyclingInvestor]

My largest income sources are Brookfield :
BIP and BEP currently pay 4.5% - 5% with dividend growth projected at 5-6%+ per year
BAM currently pays 4% with dividend growth projected at 12-15% per year

 

[gauss]

I am sure why people would be interested in having fixed income, not interested in having higher overall return. Focusing on overall return (dividend+growth) is the true return which can also be translated into higher income. Many seemingly high "yield" funds are more volatile and at the expense of NAV reduction.

(assuming you meant to say "not sure why")

Total Return was great during the acquisition phase of my financial life. Being a probabilistic method that offered higher expected return than anything deterministic, the issue was how long you would have to w*rk before attaining F.I. For me, things went better than expected so I was able to ER earlier than expected. If they did not, I just would have had to work longer to achieve the same standard of living in retirement.

In retirement, however, the downside to things not going as expected is higher. There aren't the do-overs analogous to working a few years longer like during the working years available in retirement. I view the extra spending that I could forego by not running a total return strategy in retirement as purchasing relative certainty instead.

I watched my fathers standard of living decline in retirement for factors that were external to him. I would never want to be in that position.

Also one of the benefits of "over saving" is that in retirement I can spend whatever I want regardless of whether my spending in retirement relies on total return or more deterministic/income oriented sources.

It's worth mentioning that just because I am not pursuing a total return spending strategy does not imply that I am 100% invested in income securities. Note I still have over 60% of my assets in broad stock index funds so I will be getting the market growth if/when it occurs.

With that growth I can purchase additional individual bonds or annuities or whatever to actually increase my deterministic income /spending ability if that is desired. The thing is that my quality of life does not depend on it.

I sleep better at night knowing all of this is in place.

-gauss

Note 20 year STRIPS (zero-coupon bonds) from the US Treasury are currently yielding over 5%.

 

[FD1000]

As usual, SORR is best addressed through better performance, and for most investors, especially retirees, that really means better risk-adjusted performance. There never will be another reliable way around it.
Any other strategy that worked successfully was usually supported by having excess money to begin with.

 

[itsme2]

"not sure why"

 

[gauss]

As usual, SORR is best addressed through better performance, and for most investors, especially retirees, that really means better risk-adjusted performance. There never will be another reliable way around it.
Any other strategy that worked successfully was usually supported by having excess money to begin with.

+1

In working years - LBYM
In retirement years - LBYM


-gauss

 

[Lawrencewendall]

Are you sure you want to do that?

View attachment 63434

I've only held since 2016 so I missed all the previous drama. CLM has been pulling me around 16% annually for 10 years.

 

[dayhkr]

My income producing equities, less ETF and Mutual Funds:

Quote data as of 05/05/2026.
Symbol	Description		Ex-Date	yield
ADAMH	Adamas 9 875 Senior Notes Due 2030	3/13/2026​	4/1/2026​	9.64%​
ADX	Adams Diversified Equity Fund,	4/27/2026​	5/29/2026​	7.83%​
ARCC	Ares Capital		6/30/2026​	10.01%​	​
ASGI	Abrdn Global Infrastructure Income Fund	4/22/2026​	4/30/2026​	10.68%​
ATLCZ	Atlanticus Holding 9 25 Senior Notes Due 2029	4/1/2026​	4/15/2026​	9.12%​
BGH	Barings Global Short Duration High Yield Fund	5/19/2026​	6/1/2026​	11.95%​
CHY	Calamos Convertible and High Income Closed Fund	5/14/2026​	5/21/2026​	9.60%​
EMO	Clearbridge Energy Midstream Opportunity Closed End Fund	5/21/2026​	5/29/2026​	8.40%​
ETV	Eaton Vance Tax Managed Buy Write Opportunities Closed Fund	5/15/2026​	5/29/2026​	8.17%​
FDUS	Fidus Investment		3/30/2026​	11.01%​	​
FSCO	Fs Credit Opportunities	4/23/2026​	4/30/2026​	14.00%​
GOF	Guggenheim Strategic Opportunities Mutual Fund	5/15/2026​	5/29/2026​	19.15%​
NEA	Nuveen Amt-Free Quality Municipal Income Fund	5/15/2026​	6/1/2026​	7.48%​
NLY/PJ	Annaly Cap Mgmt Cum Red Fixed Pref Shs Ser J	3/2/2026​	3/31/2026​	8.51%​
NMCO	Nuveen Municipal Credit Opportunities Fund	5/15/2026​	6/1/2026​	7.70%​
NML	Neuberger Energy Infra and Income Fund	5/15/2026​	5/29/2026​	6.84%​
NZF	Nuveen Municipal Credit Income Fund	5/15/2026​	6/1/2026​	7.69%​
PCN	Pimco Corporate & Income Strategy Fund	5/11/2026​	6/1/2026​	11.23%​
PDI	Pimco Dynamic Income Fund	5/11/2026​	6/1/2026​	15.11%​
PHK	Pimco High Income Fund	5/11/2026​	6/1/2026​	12.33%​
PTY	Pimco Corporate & Income Opportunity Fund	5/11/2026​	6/1/2026​	11.63%​
RITM	Rithm Capital		4/30/2026​	10.37%​	​
RLTY	Cohen & Steers Real Estate Opps and Income Fund	5/12/2026​	5/29/2026​	8.39%​
STK	Columbia Seligman Premium Technology Growth Fund	2/17/2026​	2/24/2026​	5.50%​
THQ	Abrdn Healthcare Opportunities Fund	4/22/2026​	4/30/2026​	11.86%​
UTF	Cohen & Steers Infrastructure Fund	5/12/2026​	5/29/2026​	6.93%​
UTG	Reaves Utility Income Closed Fund	5/18/2026​	5/29/2026​	5.52%​
WRB/PE	Wr Berkley 5.70 Subordinated Debentures Due 2058	3/13/2026​	3/30/2026​	6.58%​
				x=9.76%

I see that I have quite a few of the same tickers for the same purposes. Curious about your thoughts on ARCC and RITM. Both are long term holdings for me but price action has deteriorated to be about flat. I'm considering cashing out and repurchasing later if prices continue down but fundamentals are ok