Like eating a cinnamon bun, you can't explain it to someone, it needs to be tasted.

I love cinnamon buns, especially the homemade ones, fresh from the oven.

If you can tell me a better way to have done it without incurring any avoidable risk, I'd be so grateful. And sorry that this was a preferred stock was not a bond and being on the wrong board...

If you need to own the stock to understand its behavior, then so be it. No one else has anything material to say about it other than you. One thing you might try, though, is to "paper trade" the stock. Make a spreadsheet that lists your purchase price, the periodic dividend payments as shown on, say Yahoo! Finance (Yahoo Finance: Yahoo Finance - Stock Market Live, Quotes, Business & Finance News ), the market prices (I usually track these weekly, but daily might suit your needs better), and keep the spreadsheet current for as long as you need in order to gain the understanding you're looking for. As time goes on, and you learn stuff, you can always adjust the spreadsheet, or make another one, to add in those new characteristics you want to track and learn about.

And feel free to ask questions. Most of us here are willing to answer straightforwardly, and the only truly foolish question is the one not asked.

And no worries about talking about Preferreds on a bond board. Preferreds are enough like bonds that it doesn't matter here.

Eric Hines