Preferreds often get a bad rap but they can provide more stability and more safety to a portfolio. With interest rates heading down, preferreds have the opportunity for better performance going forwars (reset preferreds perhaps less so). But, lower rates will help bank common shares too, most likely. Preferreds really show their benefit in times of market stress. The higher ranking of preferred dividends does help reduce volatility, and when investors are 'worried' preferreds do often look better than common shares. But, there is far less opportunity for capital gains, and this is a potential drawback. We think they can play a role in a portfolio for more-conservative investors. The dividend tax credit and higher yields (at times) can be attractive. There is some potential for gains if preferreds get redeemed at higher prices than current market prices (we would not count on this, but it does happen). We would suggest CPD, which now has a five-year annualized return of 8.63% and an indicated yield of 5.09%. But note preferreds have had a rough recent history (inflation scares and higher rates). While the five year number is now solid, this fund lost 23% in 2022, 0.4% in 2020, 1.7% in 2019, 12.9% in 2018 and 19.6% in 2015. Preferreds can certainly see drawdowns in bad market conditions.
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