Considering that the article was written well before the big stock market crash of 2008, I did not do so bad. I do not know how you came to the conclusion that the income stream has declined, it did not. I am now earing more income from my investment in ADVDX then ever before. This is due to the constant reinvestment of dividends and at the much lower share price each reinvested dividend payment buys me more shares then it would have at the higher share price, thereby increasing the rate of growth of the monthly income stream. I am also not sure why you would assume that the dividend is unsustainable and would have to dissagree with you on that assumption.

Now it is true that the value of the investment has declined substantially since the stock market crash, but I have offset it quite a bit by purchasing large amounts of shares at lower prices (during times of panic) to balance out my average cost of each share. Plus the huge dividend has also helped in maintaining the value of the total investment. If a security you own goes down in price 50% but during that time earns you an additional return of 25% of your initial investment which is re-invested in the same security did you lose 50%? I think not.

Furthermore I am not really concerned with the total value of the shares as I do not need this money to live on. I am more concerned with the income it generates and the rate of growth of that income stream. As I stated in the article, if one owns this fund for the right reasons (The Income Stream), short term price movements are relatively meaningless. This is a long term investment for me and I am sure that 20 years from now the share price will be much higher. I do not judge my long term investment strategy by what happens in a given year, I have a much longer outlook on things and confidence that the right strategy will be successful over time.

Speaking of share price, I would actually prefer it if the share price stayed low as this increases the number of shares the same dividend payment buys and over a long period of time has a huge effect on both your monthly income stream and the total value of your investment.

In conclusion I will say that I still own and like this fund and that I am still adding to my position on a regular basis. ADVDX is diversified, uses dividend capture and management seems very comfortable with their strategy. I think that the long term future for this fund is positive. Is this investment right for me? Yes. Is it right for everyone? Most definitely not. We all need to do our own due diligence and insure that our investments are appropriate for our risk tolerance level and investment strategy. Also keep in mind that you should never put all your eggs in one basket and this is just one out of many stocks and funds that I own in my passive income stock portfolio.

AOD (Alpine Total Dynamic Fund) is not bad. I used to own it myself but have switched over to the Alpine Dynamic Dividend Fund (ADVDX) which is a mutual fund not a CEF.