Collect Monthly Income From Economic Essentials; Yields Up To 12.5%

The economy runs on essential assets.

At High Dividend Opportunities, we believe retirement portfolios should be built around recurring cash flows. Businesses need real estate to produce their goods and deliver services to customers. Banks provide the credit that keeps businesses operating and consumers spending. These activities generate recurring cash flows, and income investors can tap into them through the right investments.

Today, we're looking at two very different CEFs (Closed-End Funds) that fit this approach. abrdn Global Premier Properties Fund (AWP) provides diversified exposure to global real estate and currently yields ~12.5%, while ArrowMark Financial Corporation (BANX) invests in a specialized segment of the banking and credit markets and yields ~8.5%.

Both pay monthly distributions, but their income comes from very different, but critical parts of the economy.

AWP - 12.5% Yield, Paid Monthly From Global Real Estate

Real estate remains one of the most important income-producing assets in the economy. Despite higher borrowing costs, the REIT sector has continued to demonstrate strong operating fundamentals, with record NOI and FFO and improving occupancy.

This creates an strong backdrop for abrdn Global Premier Properties Fund (AWP).

AWP is a closed-end fund with ~$400 million in assets invested across 55 real estate holdings. About 74% of the portfolio is invested in U.S. REITs, with the remainder providing exposure to real estate companies around the world.

The fund takes a relatively high-conviction approach, with 19 REITs representing roughly 75% of its assets. Its portfolio includes established leaders like Welltower, Equinix, Prologis, Simon Property Group, Ventas, Realty Income and Public Storage.

What makes AWP particularly interesting for income investors is how the fund makes cash distributions to shareholders. Realty Income is the largest net-lease REITs in the world and currently yields ~5.3%. This is the highest yielder among AWP’s top ten positions. Yet, the CEF pays $0.12 per share every month, translating into an annualized yield of ~12.5%.

Managed funds generally make distributions from a wide range of sources, and the source doesn’t equate to tax character.

• Dividends/distributions received from its holdings

• Interest and other investment income

• Selling securities and realizing capital gains

• Existing cash balances

• Selling securities even when the sale isn't necessarily a loss/destructive liquidation.

  
  

AWP has maintained its NAV over the past three years, while the majority of the fund’s distributions in recent years have been classified as Return of Capital, which is generally treated as a non-dividend distribution for tax purposes. This can provide valuable tax deferral for long-term investors, making AWP's monthly distributions particularly attractive to income investors. For investors looking for high monthly income backed by essential real estate assets, AWP is an opportunity worth exploring.

BANX: 8.6% Monthly Income From America's Largest Banks

Banks sit at the center of the credit system by lending to businesses and consumers. This capital is essential for businesses to be able to grow and expand, and for consumers to be able to afford goods and services. U.S. banks are currently supporting over $14 trillion in loans to businesses and consumers, and this number is only going to grow in the years ahead.

Banks don’t have unlimited capital, and are required to maintain sufficient regulatory capital to support their lending activities. Following the Global Financial Crisis, regulators increased capital requirements for banks. While this strengthened the financial system, it also made regulatory capital a valuable resource. This created an opportunity through Synthetic Risk Transfers (SRTs).

SRTs allow banks to transfer a portion of the credit risk associated with their loan portfolios to outside investors. In return, investors receive a premium, while the bank can free up regulatory capital to support additional lending activity.

ArrowMark Financial Corporation (BANX) specializes in this relatively unique corner of the credit market. ~86% of BANX's portfolio consists of Regulatory Capital Relief Securities, with much of its exposure tied to some of the world's largest banking institutions.

This gives BANX an interesting role in the financial system. Rather than simply owning bank stocks and collecting their dividends, BANX gets paid to assume a defined portion of credit risk from major banks.

The portfolio is also predominantly floating rate, with approximately 89% of its assets carrying floating-rate terms as of the end of 2025. BANX recently moved to a $0.15-per-share monthly distribution, translating into an annualized yield of approximately 8.6%.

For income investors, BANX offers something quite unusual: a way to participate in the credit engine of the banking system while collecting substantial monthly income.

Building A Portfolio That Pays You Back

Retirement shouldn't look like a yard sale with your portfolio, where random strangers bargain over the value of your prized possessions. We believe it should be about investing in assets that generate cash flows to fund your lifestyle, without selling a single share.

Real estate and banking are just two examples of the essential economic activities that can generate income for investors. By combining different sources of cash flow, investors can build portfolios designed to keep paying them regardless of what the stock market happens to be doing.

At High Dividend Opportunities, this is the foundation of our Income Method. We help retirees build diversified portfolios comprising REITs, BDCs, MLPs, and equities across utilities, energy, royalties and financials, as well as preferred stocks and baby bonds.

This way, in retirement, you won't be asking “What should I sell?”

Instead, you will be asking:

“How much am I collecting this month?”

That's the essence of the HDO Income Method.

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