Reprinted with the permission of the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII)

Yield is a term that is used quite often in the investment universe. But it is frequently a source of investor confusion.

The problem is that “yield” has many different meanings, and thus many different implications for investors.

The basic dilemma is that yield may or may not be synonymous with total return-the bottom line for investors.

What It Is

The term “yield,” on its own, is an imprecise term that can mean any number of things-ranging, for instance, from:

• A security’s annual percentage rate of return, to
• The annual income from an investment as a percentage of the price at a particular point in time (for example, the current price).

The more precise definition of yield becomes apparent when a qualifier is used-for instance, dividend yield, current yield, or yield to maturity.

How It Can Be Used

Investors who seek an income component from their investments often look at various yields to indicate which investments will provide a higher amount of their return in the form of annual income payments. Thus, for example, income-seeking investors may prefer a stock with a higher dividend yield than one with a lower dividend yield.

Yields also can be used to indicate the relative risk of different securities. Typically, securities with higher risk must offer higher yields to compensate for the greater risk. Thus, for example, dividend-paying stocks whose firms are having financial troubles will tend to have higher dividend yields than the stocks of financially secure firms, and the bonds of companies with lower credit ratings will have higher current yields than those with higher credit ratings.

How It Can Be Misused

Yield is also sometimes used to indicate a security’s total return. However, it is important for investors to understand the difference between “total return” and most uses of the term “yield.” The bottom line for any investor, for any investment, is total return.

Total return incorporates capital gains and losses, as well as any annual income thrown off by the investment in the form of dividends or interest payments.

Total return is also specific to the individual investor’s particular experience-the purchase price paid for the investment, the holding period, the sales price, and the actual income payments received. Most uses of the term “yield” refer only to the income component and do not include a gain or loss component.

Investors-particularly those individuals who are interested in bonds-sometimes make the mistake of equating quoted yields with total return. However, most quoted bond yields ignore gains or losses in the market value of the bonds, an important component of total return even in a bond holding. Although there is one bond yield measure, as we shall see, that comes close to the total return concept (yield to maturity), it is only an estimate of total return based on assumptions that may or may not apply to the individual investor who has purchased the bond.

Yields for Stock Investors

Dividend Yield

A dividend yield is calculated by dividing the indicated annual dividend (the expected dividend for the next four quarters) by the closing price of the stock. It simply provides the historical annual dividend relative to the current market price in percentage form.

How is it useful?

When compared to other dividend yields measured over the same time period, it tells you the annual income you can expect from this stock relative to other stocks: If you invested today at the current price, you will receive more annual income as a percentage of your original investment from a stock with a higher dividend yield than one with a lower dividend yield. The higher dividend yield also indicates there is a greater risk that dividends may be reduced or not paid in the future. Dividend yield reflects only income, and does not take into consideration gains or losses.

Yields for Bond Investors

Current Yield

A bond’s current yield is calculated by dividing the annual interest payment by the current market price of the bond. Like a dividend yield, it only captures one aspect of total return-the income generated by the investment. It ignores any changes in value from gains or losses.

How is it useful?

The current yield will tell you how much interest income you will receive each year from the bond relative to the price you are paying for the bond, assuming you were purchasing it today at the bond’s current price.

Coupon Yield

A bond’s coupon yield is the simple interest paid by a bond annually as a percentage of maturity value. The coupon yield, also known as the coupon rate, is the annual interest rate established when the bond is issued.

How is it useful?

The coupon yield tells how much income you will receive each year you own the bond, expressed as a percentage of the maturity value of the bond. For example, a bond that is issued with a $1,000 value at maturity and a 4.5% coupon yield will pay $45 in annual interest payments.

This amount is figured as a percentage of the bond’s maturity value and will not change during the lifespan of the bond, regardless of how the price of the bond fluctuates in the secondary markets. This is unlike the bond’s current yield, which fluctuates based on the bond’s current market price.

Yield to Maturity

A bond’s yield to maturity is one yield figure that comes close to a total rate of return concept. However, it makes a number of assumptions. It assumes that the bond is held to maturity, and that all interest payments are reinvested at a rate that is equivalent to the yield to maturity.

Yield to maturity comes close to the total return concept because it takes into account all possible sources of income from a bond, including coupon income, earnings on reinvested income, and capital gains or losses due to the difference between the price paid when the bond was purchased and the return of principal at maturity.

However, it is not a return you will actually receive on a bond, but a rate of return you could expect to receive if you held the bond to maturity and were able to reinvest all income at the yield-to-maturity rate. Your actual return will be determined by a number of factors, including whether you actually do reinvest income, the actual rate of return you receive on any reinvested income, and the difference between the price you paid originally and your selling price (if you sell before it matures) or the value at maturity.

How is it useful?

Yield-to-maturity quotes are useful because they allow you to compare different kinds of bonds-those with dissimilar coupon yields, bonds selling at a discount or premium, and different maturities. For example, how do you compare a 20-year zero-coupon bond that provides no annual income payments but is purchased at a deep discount to its value at maturity, with a 15-year bond that has a 6% coupon yield and is selling at a premium to its maturity value? Looking at the current yield to maturity of the two bonds allows you to make an apples-to-apples comparison of their relative “expected” rates of return. But remember, you would only receive the “expected” rates of return if all of the assumptions held true-you held the bond to maturity, and were able to reinvest all income at the same rate as the yield to maturity.

Yields for Muni Bond Investors

Taxable-Equivalent Yield

The taxable-equivalent yield is the yield on a taxable bond (or taxable bond mutual fund) that would result in the same after-federal-tax yield to an investor as a given tax-exempt bond (or tax-exempt bond mutual fund). It is calculated by dividing the tax-exempt yield by 1.00 minus your marginal federal income tax rate (in decimal form).

How is it useful?

The bottom line for taxable investors is not just total return, but total return after taxes. This yield is useful for high tax bracket investors who may receive a higher aftertax rate of return by investing in tax-exempt municipal bonds rather than taxable bonds. It is used to compare the yield of a tax-free bond to that of a taxable bond in order to see which bond has a higher aftertax yield.

Yields for Mutual Fund Investors

30-Day SEC Yield

A yield quoted by bond mutual funds, the 30-day SEC yield is calculated according to a formula determined by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). It is primarily a snapshot of the interest distributions from the fund over the prior 30 days, with some adjustments.

How is it useful?

The 30-day SEC yield is a standardized yield calculation for bond funds that allows investors to compare the yield performance of one bond fund to another. However, the figure is a reflection of the past 30 days and is not necessarily an indication of future yield.

In addition, the calculation implies the bonds will be held until maturity, and in practice bonds funds tend to trade actively and do not hold bonds to maturity. For this reason, a mutual fund’s income yield (see below) may be a better measure of a bond fund’s income-generating potential.

Yield

A mutual fund’s yield is the per share annual income distribution (which could include interest, dividends and short-term gains net of expenses) made by a mutual fund, divided by its year-ending net asset value, plus any capital gains distributions made during the year.

How is it useful?

This yield is similar to a dividend yield and would be higher for income-oriented stock funds and lower for growth-oriented stock funds.

The figure only reflects income-it is not total return. The yield also may be distorted if the fund reports short-term capital gains as income.

Reprinted with the permission of:

American Association of Individual Investors (AAII)
625 N. Michigan Ave.
Chicago, IL 60611
(800) 428-2244
(312) 280-0170
(312) 280-9883 fax

http://www.aaii.com/

The opinions and views expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of InvestingMinds. InvestingMinds did not prepare and does not endorse such content. Please note that this document is intended for general circulation only and the recommendations contained herein do not take into account the specific investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs of any particular person. This document is for information purposes only and it should not be regarded as an offer to sell or as a solicitation of an offer to buy securities or other financial instruments. No part of this document may be reproduced in any manner without the written permission of InvestingMinds.

Preferred stocks are oft overlooked securities that have interesting qualities of both stocks and bonds. While common stocks are the preferred investment vehicle of most risk investors, and bonds are the domain of risk-averse income seeking investors, preferred stocks are a mixture (hybrid if you will) of fixed income securities and common stocks. The best way to think of preferred stock is as a financial instrument that has characteristics of both debt (fixed dividends) and equity (potential appreciation) much like the Centaur is half man half horse. Preferred stocks also are known as “preferred shares”.

So what is a preferred stock anyway? It’s capital stock, issued by a corporation, just like its better known counterpart, so-called common stock. But unlike common stock, preferred stock doesn’t participate in shareholder votes, and it doesn’t normally benefit (or suffer) from changes in earnings.

Like a bond, preferred stock pays a fixed cash payment. If companies have enough money to pay the preferred dividend, they must do so. Prices of preferred stocks also trade similarly to the prices of corporate bonds. At the same time, preferred stocks are stocks, in that companies may suspend the preferred dividend if they hit tough times. And, like common stock, preferred stock doesn’t give owners dibs on assets if the company fails and liquidates.[1] (USA Today)

Most preferred issues technically exist forever. That means you take on some interest-rate risk — your stock will drop if interest rates rise. Unlike bonds, which will be paid back at face value eventually, high interest rates could keep preferred stock prices low for a long time.

Thus, there are both pluses and minuses when considering preferred shares for investment. Preferred shareholders have priority over common stockholders on earnings and assets in the event of liquidation and they have a fixed dividend (paid before common stockholders), but investors must weigh these positives against the negatives, including giving up their voting rights and less potential for appreciation than common stock.[2] As well, preferred stocks have greater price stability than common stocks and greater liquidity than corporate bonds of similar quality. Other considerations, the lack of specific maturity date makes recovery of invested principal uncertain and appreciation potential is limited. (Investopedia)

What are some of the common indenture terms for preferred stock? Preferred stock may or may not be “convertible,” giving shareholders the right to take an ownership stake in the company by allowing them to convert preferred shares into common shares. Convertible preferred includes an option for the holder to convert the preferred shares into a fixed number of common shares, usually anytime after a predetermined date. As well, the dividend payment can be either cumulative or noncumulative. In the case of cumulative preferred, a provision in the shareholder prospectus will stipulate that if any dividends have been omitted in the past, they must be paid out to preferred shareholders first, before common shareholders can receive dividends.

Who are the primary issuers and purchasers of preferred stocks? Businesses and corporations, such as utilities and banks, that rely heavily on debt financing are the primary issuers of preferred stocks. The equity of highly leveraged firms tends to carry greater financial risk premium (risk of default). As a consequence, the equity is valued at a discount to where it might trade if the firm was not so highly leveraged. Under this scenario, managers do not like to issue equity at a perceived discount. However, they can run out of room in their capital structure for issuing debt. At some point, it becomes too expensive to issue debt. As an alternative to debt and equity, these businesses issue preferred stock.

The natural buyers of preferred stock are corporations. IRS rules allow U.S. corporations that pay corporate income taxes to exclude 70% of the dividend income they receive from their taxable income. This is known as the dividend received deduction, and it is the primary reason why investors in preferreds are primarily institutions.

So…why would an individual investor care to own them? In her article entitled “Uncovering Preferred Stocks“, personal finance expert Jennifer Openshaw claims there are three reasons:

High, steady yield. Because they are subordinate to bonds, and because their existence may be indefinite (no required date for a company to pay back, for most), their yields are higher. For high-quality issues, effective yields can run 5.5% to 6% and higher.

As investors pull back from chasing higher junk-bond yields, preferreds make more sense as an alternative. Also worth noting is that most preferred dividends are paid quarterly, whereas bond interest is only paid twice a year.

Better tax consequences. According to fixed-income portal QuantumOnline, dividends for more than half (some 536 issues in all) pay qualified dividends — that is, they are subject to the 15% maximum tax rate. Especially since that rate survives AMT, qualified preferred dividends can have tax advantages for high-income recipients.

Exchange traded. As obscure as preferred stocks are, the bond market is hardly any better. At least most preferred stocks trade on major exchanges, usually in smaller $25 increments instead of the $1,000 increments typical of bonds.

Those are the pros — now here (according to Openshaw) are the cons. First, because they are hardly a consumer investment product, preferred stocks are notoriously hard to research. QuantumOnline is the best site and is free (you do have to register). Another portal, ePreferreds Online, offers a nice tool but charges $29.95 a month or, more handily, $10.49 for a single-day use.

Preferred stocks are issued in many varieties and flavors. Although in principle all preferred stocks are a variation on debt and equity, terms specific to an individual issue can vary significantly. Some of the basic features and types of preferred stocks include callable, cumulative, participating, convertible, and adjustable rate. Therefore, when buying preferreds, it is important that investors read the offering prospectus issued when the shares IPO. If you are not comfortable diving into prospectuses or indenture agreements in order to identify promising preferred stock investments, you might want to consider a mutual fund or ETF that specializes specifically in preferred holdings for investment.

If you decide to do it yourself, as mentioned above one place to find out which preferred shares are available is Income Investing Information at quantumonline.com. The site is free, but you need to register. Another way to invest in preferred stock is by buying a basket of them through an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index fund (PFF) owns the preferred stocks in the S&P index.

As a rule of thumb, cumulative preferred stocks trade 50 to 75 basis points over comparably rated corporate bonds and noncumulative preferred stocks trade another 100 to 150 basis points over cumulative preferreds. By going from corporate bonds to quality rated noncumulative preferred stocks, investors may be able to pick up as much as an additional 200 basis points in yield in today’s market.

The opinions and views expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of InvestingMinds. InvestingMinds did not prepare and does not endorse such content. Please note that this document is intended for general circulation only and the recommendations contained herein do not take into account the specific investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs of any particular person. This document is for information purposes only and it should not be regarded as an offer to sell or as a solicitation of an offer to buy securities or other financial instruments. No part of this document may be reproduced in any manner without the written permission of InvestingMinds.

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[1] “Preferred stocks provide income, but they’re not bonds,” Matt Krantz, USA Today, August 16, 2007. http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/krantz/2007-08-16-preferred-stock_N.htm
[2] Preferred stock, Investopedia, http://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/preferredstock.asp

Jennifer Openshaw, CEO of Family Financial Network and author of The Millionaire Zone

The stock market has risen relentlessly, and real estate and commodity markets have peaked. It’s a good chance to park some cash, as a lucky few did in the late 1990’s. Are bonds the answer? That’s for you to decide. But just as the Internet and e-broker platforms revolutionized stock investing ten years ago, now it’s becoming easier for individual investors to invest in individual bonds. Here’s why.

Historically, bond investing has been the domain of institutions and a handful of elite brokers. Try to buy an individual bond and you’ll be amazed at what you will - or won’t find. Wholly designed for institutional players, bond investing tools resemble a visit to the dungeon in Hogwart’s Castle: weird terminology and acronyms flying around like energized bats and a strong sense that many bond features, research or record of previous trading are forever hidden behind closed trap doors.

And if you happen to find a bond you like you won’t necessarily be able to buy it - unless some dealer just happens to have a few lying around.

As a result, bond mutual funds have been the “push” of most investment advisors. But it’s a steep 20 percent admission charge to attend the party - 80 to 150 basis points (0.8%-1.5%) in management fees on an investment designed to earn about 5 percent in the first place.

This is hardly a consumer friendly choice. I’ve always thought it odd that one of the market’s safest havens is so difficult for the individual investor - at least until now.

An Open Bond Market

For years, individuals could buy U.S. Treasury savings bonds online easily through Treasury Direct (see www.savingsbonds.gov) . But that was about it. Discount and so-called “premium discount” brokers have made what’s best described as a slow push into electronic individual bond investing. Of those I checked out, Fidelity and its Open Bond Market platform introduced in late 2004 seem to have come the farthest.

The Open Bond Market brings many of the features sought by stock traders to an individual’s fingertips: research capability, selection tools, price transparency and trading history. Further, the Fidelity platform provides liquidity by adding the inventory of some 80 plus dealers and some 10,000 issues, cutting out the painful search for a dealer with inventory at an acceptable price.

What’s Under the Hood

The Internet stock trading platforms of the late 1990’s were made possible by repackaging tools previously used by professional traders. And so it is with Fidelity and most of the others. A rapidly growing Wall Street firm known as MarketAxess (NASDAQ: MKTX) has built a electronic bond trading platform incorporating information, analytics, and price and trade history for investment grade and high-yield corporate bonds for institutional investing clients. Known as Corporate BondTickerTM, platform elements are now being adapted to retail by Fidelity and others.

The appearance of real time information has had a tremendous impact on price transparency and trading efficiency in the market. According to MarketAxess spokesman Stephen Davidson, quoting a recent study, some $1 billion in trading cost savings has been realized by institutional clients annually. He adds: “The secret is providing transparency, price discovery and superior liquidity investors seek.” MarketAxess currently handles some 90% of electronic investment-grade corporate bond trading today, of which only 8-10% currently is brought in through the retail channel. While MarketAxess itself currently has no plans to enter the retail trade, you’re likely to see a growing presence of efficient and retail-friendly e-platforms built upon new the functionality that supports Corporate BondTickerTM.

Using The Tools

I’ll be the first to point out that, even with better tools, buying individual bonds isn’t for everyone. Credit risk makes bond diversification very important. That combined with the use of laddering to spread maturities and reduce interest rate risk means that individual bond investing probably isn’t for smaller portfolios.

But if you have a larger portfolio, say $100,000 or more, it’s worth checking out these tools. Even if you’re not at that “number,” it’s not a bad idea to learn about these tools and bonds in general.

Fidelity has done a nice job of bundling the tools and making them easy to use. The Bond Selector, found at http://fixedincome.fidelity.com/fi/FISearchIndividualBonds lets you select among a wide assortment of issuers and bond types. Important features include:

• Screener. Narrows the search to certain types of bonds, yield ranges, and risk ratings. Also allows selection of Fidelity “Tier 1″ - a group of issues pre-screened by Fidelity for quality.

• Industry selector. For corporate bonds, you can choose one or more industries

• Risk-reward tools. The handy “scatter graph” lets you visually pick you spot on the yield curve. Mouseovers reveal the individual bond and agency rating for each point on the scatter graph.

• Laddering tool. Visually construct a bond portfolio to meet income needs and risk parameters over a longer term.

• Reduced commissions. Online trades cost $0.50 each for U.S. Treasuries (free for initial auction Treasuries) to $2 for corporates with a minimum of $19.95 per trade.

Anyone intending to buy individual bonds should take the time to learn bond investing techniques and strategies. E-broker educational tools are a good place to start. I also recommend the instructive American Association of Individual Investors frequently-asked-questions page, found at http://www.aaii.com/faqs/bonds.cfm.

Reinventing the Bond Market

Creating a friendlier and more level playing field for do-it-yourself individual investors is the whole idea, and there are signs it’s working. According to Fidelity Senior Vice President for Retail Fixed Income Securities Andy Wrobel, some 80 percent of Fidelity’s retail client bond trades are now done online rather than through brokers. This compares to 30 percent when the Open Bond Market started out. Customer response has been “overwhelming.”

Wrobel adds: “Our goal was to reinvent the bond market for the retail customer. The bond market was like buying a car 10 years ago; with no real time Blue Book or any other tool you never knew if you were getting a good deal. That’s changed now.”

It’s still in the early stages, and I don’t expect people to ever trade bonds like stocks. But so far as expanding possibilities for individual investors, I believe he’s right.

The stock market has risen relentlessly, and real estate and commodity markets have peaked. It’s a good chance to park some cash, as a lucky few did in the late 1990’s. Are bonds the answer? That’s for you to decide. But just as the Internet and e-broker platforms revolutionized stock investing ten years ago, now it’s becoming easier for individual investors to invest in individual bonds. Here’s why.

Historically, bond investing has been the domain of institutions and a handful of elite brokers. Try to buy an individual bond and you’ll be amazed at what you will - or won’t find. Wholly designed for institutional players, bond investing tools resemble a visit to the dungeon in Hogwart’s Castle: weird terminology and acronyms flying around like energized bats and a strong sense that many bond features, research or record of previous trading are forever hidden behind closed trap doors.

And if you happen to find a bond you like you won’t necessarily be able to buy it - unless some dealer just happens to have a few lying around.

As a result, bond mutual funds have been the “push” of most investment advisors. But it’s a steep 20 percent admission charge to attend the party - 80 to 150 basis points (0.8%-1.5%) in management fees on an investment designed to earn about 5 percent in the first place.

This is hardly a consumer friendly choice. I’ve always thought it odd that one of the market’s safest havens is so difficult for the individual investor - at least until now.

An Open Bond Market

For years, individuals could buy U.S. Treasury savings bonds online easily through Treasury Direct (see www.savingsbonds.gov) . But that was about it. Discount and so-called “premium discount” brokers have made what’s best described as a slow push into electronic individual bond investing. Of those I checked out, Fidelity and its Open Bond Market platform introduced in late 2004 seem to have come the farthest.

The Open Bond Market brings many of the features sought by stock traders to an individual’s fingertips: research capability, selection tools, price transparency and trading history. Further, the Fidelity platform provides liquidity by adding the inventory of some 80 plus dealers and some 10,000 issues, cutting out the painful search for a dealer with inventory at an acceptable price.

What’s Under the Hood

The Internet stock trading platforms of the late 1990’s were made possible by repackaging tools previously used by professional traders. And so it is with Fidelity and most of the others. A rapidly growing Wall Street firm known as MarketAxess (NASDAQ: MKTX) has built a electronic bond trading platform incorporating information, analytics, and price and trade history for investment grade and high-yield corporate bonds for institutional investing clients. Known as Corporate BondTickerTM, platform elements are now being adapted to retail by Fidelity and others.

The appearance of real time information has had a tremendous impact on price transparency and trading efficiency in the market. According to MarketAxess spokesman Stephen Davidson, quoting a recent study, some $1 billion in trading cost savings has been realized by institutional clients annually. He adds: “The secret is providing transparency, price discovery and superior liquidity investors seek.” MarketAxess currently handles some 90% of electronic investment-grade corporate bond trading today, of which only 8-10% currently is brought in through the retail channel. While MarketAxess itself currently has no plans to enter the retail trade, you’re likely to see a growing presence of efficient and retail-friendly e-platforms built upon new the functionality that supports Corporate BondTickerTM.

Using The Tools

I’ll be the first to point out that, even with better tools, buying individual bonds isn’t for everyone. Credit risk makes bond diversification very important. That combined with the use of laddering to spread maturities and reduce interest rate risk means that individual bond investing probably isn’t for smaller portfolios.

But if you have a larger portfolio, say $100,000 or more, it’s worth checking out these tools. Even if you’re not at that “number,” it’s not a bad idea to learn about these tools and bonds in general.

Fidelity has done a nice job of bundling the tools and making them easy to use. The Bond Selector, found at http://fixedincome.fidelity.com/fi/FISearchIndividualBonds lets you select among a wide assortment of issuers and bond types. Important features include:

• Screener. Narrows the search to certain types of bonds, yield ranges, and risk ratings. Also allows selection of Fidelity “Tier 1″ - a group of issues pre-screened by Fidelity for quality.

• Industry selector. For corporate bonds, you can choose one or more industries

• Risk-reward tools. The handy “scatter graph” lets you visually pick you spot on the yield curve. Mouseovers reveal the individual bond and agency rating for each point on the scatter graph.

• Laddering tool. Visually construct a bond portfolio to meet income needs and risk parameters over a longer term.

• Reduced commissions. Online trades cost $0.50 each for U.S. Treasuries (free for initial auction Treasuries) to $2 for corporates with a minimum of $19.95 per trade.

Anyone intending to buy individual bonds should take the time to learn bond investing techniques and strategies. E-broker educational tools are a good place to start. I also recommend the instructive American Association of Individual Investors frequently-asked-questions page, found at http://www.aaii.com/faqs/bonds.cfm.

Reinventing the Bond Market

Creating a friendlier and more level playing field for do-it-yourself individual investors is the whole idea, and there are signs it’s working. According to Fidelity Senior Vice President for Retail Fixed Income Securities Andy Wrobel, some 80 percent of Fidelity’s retail client bond trades are now done online rather than through brokers. This compares to 30 percent when the Open Bond Market started out. Customer response has been “overwhelming.”

Wrobel adds: “Our goal was to reinvent the bond market for the retail customer. The bond market was like buying a car 10 years ago; with no real time Blue Book or any other tool you never knew if you were getting a good deal. That’s changed now.”

It’s still in the early stages, and I don’t expect people to ever trade bonds like stocks. But so far as expanding possibilities for individual investors, I believe he’s right.

Reprinted with the permission of:

Jennifer Openshaw

The Millionaire Zone
6 West Putnam Ave, Third floor
Greenwich, CT 06830

http://www.themillionairezone.com/

The opinions and views expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of InvestingMinds. InvestingMinds did not prepare and does not endorse such content. Please note that this document is intended for general circulation only and the recommendations contained herein do not take into account the specific investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs of any particular person. This document is for information purposes only and it should not be regarded as an offer to sell or as a solicitation of an offer to buy securities or other financial instruments. No part of this document may be reproduced in any manner without the written permission of InvestingMinds.