Tom's Life Bits

We've had an assortment of 9 MLP's for about 3 yrs now. Have added during several secondaries & have no plans on selling any of them due to tax implications. The only exception would be government interference re. taxes. We're heavily weighted in the midstreams (on purpose). For all intents & purposes, the “weights” are approx. the same. I've also been briefed by our C.P.A. about the “step up” basis when either my wife or I moves on to the “happy hunting grounds” & that's a good deal (hopefully, the go'vt won't change that either)

In alphabetical order, we have CPNO, EPB, EPD, ETP, KMP, LINE, MMP, MWE & RGNC in the taxable acct. We did own STON & VNR, but sold ea. after owning just a few weeks either because of some accounting issues with STON & a quick meltdown of VNR a few wks ago. My preference would be to add another midstream & we usually like to start with a holding yielding in the 7% range (I know!, a daunting task). Based on our adjusted cost basis', these 9 are averaging more than +100% since purchase with KMP in the lead with about +197%. In all our tax deferred accounts, we also own positions of KMI & it's finally been doing well of late.

We tend to buy & hold, don't trade & just looking for one more to replace what we had with STON & VNR. I've even considered the Steelpath fund MLPDX which is yielding about 7%; however, I'm confident a good “pick” would work out better.

Feel free to post any suggestion or you can PM me. I'm on line more than usual due to a fusion on my back during early Feb '11 which is keeping me home for now. TIA, Ron

Re: looking for just 1 good idea

CLMT…secondary is already done and over. Yield is very high. Specialty refining is not an easy thing to get into and their crack spreads have only been helped lately by world events.

Just an idea, not a recommendation.

Re: looking for just 1 good idea

I have four of the MLPs of the nine you have (EPD, LINE, EPB, and CPNO,) and in addition, I have ETE, where you have ETP. The only others I own are BPL, and NRGY. And I, like you, am also a long term investor.

I would recommend you investigate NRGY (propane & midstream, Yield 7.1%.) I got into it by way of the NRGP/NRGY merger. NRGP had a CAGR of its distribution of 30% since inception, and I was very sorry to see it go. (Total Return ~= Yield + CAGR of Dist.)

The propane space is spread out and is a good candidate for consolidation IMHO, and NRGY should do very well by it. They appear to be well managed.

I have been very lucky with my investment portfolio since inception 2 yrs ago. It has returned 184% including distributions (80%+ reinvested.) I did my DD and NRGP was probably the best pick.

Hi Ron,

I note you have no coal exposure. I'd grab something if there is a little pullback. Hard to recommend here as they have had a nice run for a couple weeks.

The names we are long are ARLP, NRP, OXF, and a tiny bit of PVR (bought long before Passandshoot recommended it).

I like coal for the future….. Seems to also fit nicely in your allocation.

Also, consider PNG or NKA on weakness.