ICON’s U.S. Income Portfolio:
Helping Your Clients Navigate the Current Crisis and Volatile Market Settings

Dr. Craig Callahan, ICON Advisers – Founder & President

March 11, 2020

Our U.S. Income portfolio seems to be handling this market downturn very well.  The U.S. Income portfolio’s combination of bonds, utilities & dividend oriented equities is very important to us, the secret sauce if you will.  We researched different combinations for months and came up with our stated combination to achieve current income, growth in income and capital preservation.

A few years ago I asked a few financial advisors why retiring investors were not embracing Utilities like previous generations.  They said retiring investors were using other things for retirement income like, Oil & Gas master limited partnerships, REITs and covered call writing.  How those are doing lately?  MLPs and REITs have participated in the sharp downside.  Covered call writing provides a little bit of downside cushion, but not enough to buffer the recent slide in stock prices.  All three of those alternatives are likely hurting investors.

U.S. Income is likely not appropriate for every single investor, but we believe it can be helpful in many cases, especially during periods of market uncertainty.  Now might be a great time to review investor goals and risk tolerance levels and review U.S. Income as a possible fit.

The data quoted represents past performance, which is no guarantee of future results. Investment return and principal value will fluctuate and shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Current performance may be higher or lower than the data quoted. Please call 1-800-828-4881 or visit www.InvestwithICON.com for performance results current to the most recent month-end. Results are net of fees and calculated in U.S. dollars.

Opinions and forecasts regarding industries, companies and/or themes and portfolio composition and holdings are all subject to change at any time, based on market and other conditions, and should not be construed as a recommendation of any specific security, industry or sector.

Investing in securities involves risks. There is no assurance that the investment process will consistently lead to successful results.

¹Not annualized | ²The Blended U.S. Income Composite Benchmark is made up of 63% Bloomberg-Barclays Capital U.S. Universal Index, 35% Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index, and 2% Bloomberg-Barclays Capital U.S. Treasury Bellwether (3 Months) Index. The benchmark is rebalanced monthly. The performance results displayed represent the composite performance for all discretionary client accounts in a Portfolio. The performance results reflect the deduction of actual management fees and trading expenses, the reinvestment of dividends and other distributions made to client accounts.

The following annual management fees apply to portfolio accounts invested directly with ICON: For Assets Under Management (AUM), the first $250,000 carries a maximum fee of 0.8% per year; next $500,000 AUM has 0.7% per year maximum fee; next $250,000 AUM has 0.7% per year maximum fee; for over $1,000,000 the maximum fee is negotiable.  Please refer to Part 2 of ICON’s Form ADV for ICON’s current management fee structure.

ICON Advisers, Inc. (“ICON”) is a registered investment adviser incorporated in 1991.

ICON claims compliance with the Global Investment Performance Standards (GIPS®). The periods prior to January 1, 1995 have not been verified. To receive a complete list and description of ICON’s composites and/or a GIPS® compliant presentation, please call 1-800-828-4881 or visit www.InvestwithICON.com. Additional information regarding ICON’s policies for calculating and reporting returns is available upon request. Returns are calculated in U.S. dollars. The Portfolios do not utilize leverage or derivatives, although ICON may invest in mutual funds that utilize these tactics.

Please visit ICON online at InvestWithICON.com or call 1-800-828-4881 for the most recent copy of ICON’s Form ADV, Part 2.