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Have you ever considered Minibonds, which are also sometimes referred to as Microbonds, for an income portfolio or your retirement plan? These are bonds that are traded just like stocks on the New York Stock Exchange, American Stock Exchange, or Nasdaq for around $25 per share.

They are almost like preferred stocks, except that they pay interest instead of dividends and they usually have a specific maturity date. Sometimes they are referred to as PINES (Public Income Notes), QUIBS (Quarterly Interest Bonds), QUICS (Quarterly Income Capital Securities), or QUIDS (Quarterly Income Debt Securities). There are even a few that are issued as Perpetual Debt, which means that there is no maturity date.

The advantages of Minibonds to the issuers are that the interest is deductible to the corporation (unlike dividends which are not deductible).

The advantages to the investor are first, that the bonds are ‘safer’ than preferred stocks (in other words, if the corporation goes out of business, the bonds are generally paid off first before the preferred or common stock).

Second, the Minibonds (with the exception of the perpetual debt bonds) have some limited protection against inflation versus preferred stocks in that if interest rates go up after purchasing them, their value will drop. However, the par value (usually $25) will be paid back at maturity. Whereas, preferreds have no maturity.

The third benefit is the small denomination, especially when looking at a $2,000 IRA investment. A fourth benefit is that since they are traded like stocks, there is more liquidity than buying or selling a $5,000 bond.

However, these are still somewhat illiquid investments, as most have very low daily volume and wide bid and asked spreads.

Some of the companies that issue these are lesser known, but some are major companies such as AT&T and Prudential. Here are a few examples that are making distributions in January:

• Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. 8.125% Senior Notes due 2026 (BWSN)
• Gladstone Investment Corporation 8.00% Notes due 2028 (GAINL)
• Hercules Capital, Inc. 6.25% Notes due 2033 (HCXY)
• Southern Company Series 2020C 4.20% Junior Subordinated Notes due October 15, 2060 (SOJE)
• Tellurian Inc. 8.25% Senior Notes due 2028 (TELZ)
• AT&T Inc. 5.350% Global Notes due 2066 (TBB)
• AT&T Inc. 5.625% Global Notes due 2067 (TBC)
• Southern Company Series 2020A 4.95% Junior Subordinated Notes due January 30, 2080 (SOJD)
• The Carlyle Group Inc. 4.625% Subordinated Notes due 2061 (CGABL)
• Prudential Financial, Inc. 5.625% Junior Subordinated Notes due 2058 (PRS)

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