Cornerstone Strategic Value Fund (CLM)

[bar1080]

Learn from the masters (actually, singular, THE Master... Buffett). Think of him as a baseball hitter with a lifetime .500 average... a mile ahead of even Ty Cobb. Then read about Buffett's guru, Ben Graham. Forget Pennyland and trading.

Here's the best study I've ever seen on "How Buffett Did It." http://www.econ.yale.edu/~af227/pdf/Buffett's%20Alpha%20-%20Frazzini,%20Kabiller%20and%20Pedersen.pdf

You can skip the math in that material. Main thing one learns is that others could have been as successful as Buffett using his fairly simple techniques.

Yep, JNJ and PG and quality stuff like that. Buffett rarely bought risky stock although he did use low cost leverage which increased his risks so that a couple of his worst years were pretty bad.

I don't hate all CEFs. Some are decent for retirees if bought cheaply (preferably at a >15% discount) when they're out of fashion. The ones I dislike are the gimmicky ones like CFP, with the flashy double digit payouts and some questionable holdings.

As for SPY and such, they are very hard to beat over a long period even for pros. It took me a number of years in the 1980s to discover that. I had several respected mutual funds plus some individual stocks. And my Vanguard Total Index Stock Fund was always the best performer ... year after year.