HOME

For those who wish to have a fixed income component in their portfolio, preferred shares are a tax efficient alternative to bonds. For those looking for an introductory treatment, Shakespeare does an excellent job. He provides an Excel spreadsheet that performs the yield-to-call calculation. For those looking for a more detailed examination, this Guide to Preferred Shares from Scotia McLeod provides a very thorough treatment of preferred shares. James Hymas, who manages the Malachite Aggressive Preferred Fund runs two sites for investors interested in preferred shares. At PrefBlog.com, you'll find commentary about daily trading action and new issues, plus links to articles Mr. Hymas has written on preferreds. Over at PrefInfo.com, you'll find a listing of dozens of different preferred share issues. Preferreds can be sorted by rating at DBRS.

Introduction
3
  • Market Overview
3
  • New Issuance
5
  • Redemptions and Reorganizations
7
  • Recommendations
9
Investing in Preferred Shares
13
  • Advantages
13
  • Risks
13
  • Getting Started: A Preferred Share Checklist
14
  • Investment Feature: Scotia McLeod Preferred Share Guided Portfolio
16
  • How to Read the Preferred Share Tables
19
Hard Retractables
20
Soft Retractables
22
  • Soft Retractable Yield Commentary
23
  • U.S. Pay Soft Retractable Yield Commentary
23
Perpetual Preferreds
25
Perpetual Yield Commentary
26
Floating Rate Preferred Share
27
Fixed Floaters
30
Fixed Floater Yield Curve Commentary
31
Split Share Preferreds
33
Split Share Yield Curve Commentary
34
Deferred Preferreds
41
Preferred Securities
42
ADR Preferred Shares and U.S. Corporate Preferred Shares
43
Appendices
46
  • Appendix I - Preferred Share Glossary
46
  • Appendix II - Credit Ratings
48
  • Appendix III - Tax Rate Tables
49
  • Appendix IV - Index
50