Income Investing Today: Safety and High Income Through Diversification Hardcover – May 4, 2007

For those of us who need income to live on--this book is the process manual . The author is skilled in evaluating and executing trades in areas most of are not familiar with, with minimal risk. If you are in or close to retirement----moving deeper everyday into "Geiserdom", this book is your toolbox for the future.

In this low interest rate environment investors need to work harder to maintain a high level of income from their investments. Add to this that author Lehmann sees low interest rates for the "forseeable future". This means that an income portfolio needs to diversify across an expanding variety of financial instruments, maturities, and even credit (risk) quality to achieve its goal. The key here is to recognize that some income investments respond to "drivers" (viz. circumstances) other than interest rate moves which in turn insulates them from this traditional risk.It follows that the diversified income investor will consider some non-traditional or out of favor (relatively cheap) assets such as REITS (driven by real estate cycles), Canadian Energy Income Trusts (the demand for energy), dividend paying common stocks (affected by broad economic cycles), near investment grade junk bonds (discounted by fear but subject to credit upgrades), and beleaguered automotive bonds. Closed end funds also get the nod because they generate high income and can often be bought at a discount to their underlying values. Given that the retail investor is the focus of this book and that new CEFs are rolling-out monthly, I would have liked more discussion of their trading strategies and risks.Among the investments to avoid are unit investment trusts, collateralized mortgage obligations (CMOs), packaged equity hedges marketed under cutesy acronyms as Sequins, Elks, etc. and hedge funds ("rarely has so much money been entrusted to so few people with such limited talent"). Lehmann is decidedly ambivalent about mutual funds due to their internal costs, tax inefficiencies, and focus on short term performance. No surprise his preference is for individual securities which are also less sensitive to interest rate changes as they move their principal to date certain maturities.The serious do-it-yourself income investor will find some good ideas in these pages, but I question Equipment Trust Certificates as a retail investment. Good luck if you need to sell them. A section on Direct Access Notes is in intriguing, but again, I wonder about their liquidity. Lehmann is a strong proponent of preferred and convertible stocks, but there is a confusing amount of information on their structures. A discussion of the bankruptcy process, advice on when to sell your positions, and useful information that can be gleaned from prospectuses and financial statements might have gone to an Appendix with more direct focus on securities in the main text.

Very good book if you follow the system that it details.

This book informs the reader/investor about a solid and reasonable approach to safe income investing. The examples and explanations are good (I will save your time by referring you to the other reviews for more detail). The author disappoints by advertising his investment letter. Nothing wrong with that if either the book or the investment letter were free of charge, but they are not.

great but complicated

I have followed Richard Lehman for years. He has competed competently using income instruments with stocks. He opens up a new perspective for non-professional income investors both with his publication and this book which helps understand his Forbes monthly newsletter.Worth the money.

If you're looking to become active in your own retirement saving, but are frightened by the volatility of the stock market, and put off by the low returns of the bond market, Richard Lehmann offers a sure fire alternative in Income Investing Today. Income Investing Today chronicles in great detail an alternative investment universe that provides the high returns of the stock market with the minimal risk of the bond market. New hybrid securities like preferred stock, convertible bonds and ETFs are his weapon of choice and you need only look at the track record to be convinced. Lehmann outlines a step-by-step plan of how to build wealth on your own without paying outrageous management fees or gambling away your nest egg on Wall Street. Simply put, Lemann shows you how to make big returns without the big risk, on your own. This book is certain to become the investment bible of baby boomers tired of paying pointless management fees and eager to become involved with their own investment portfolio or retirement savings. Lehmann, a Forbes columnist, puts his three decades as an authority on fixed income investment to good use and knocks one out the park. Income Investing Today is an invaluable tool to the independent investor with an eye on retirement savings.

I consider it a good investment!