A Comprehensive Source for Closed-End Fund Information

CEF Connect is a well-constructed website dedicated to data on closed-end funds.  It is sponsored by Nuveen and therefore ad-free.  This is a smart move.  Every time you go to their site you see the company name and they did it without adding layers of content from third-party marketing services.

No registration is needed.  There are some enhanced features that require creation of a username and password.  But I have so far found no reason to use them.

The data on CEF Connnect can be found elsewhere.  Morningstar has much, if not all, of it.  The company web site for each money manager will also have information.

CEF Connect offers a very fast load time however.  Mornginstar has such a high volume of content that it almost always runs slowly.  To illustrate I loaded both pages five times.  CEF Connect had a best time of 1.7 seconds, a worst time of 4.2 seconds and an average time of 2.82 seconds.  Morningstar had a best time of 15.25 seconds, a worst time of 34.6 seconds and an average of 22.59 seconds.  That may seem like an insignificant difference.  But if you do a lot of research the savings adds up.

CEF Connect is also centralized.  Morningstar is as well of course.  But foregoing the wait time on Morningstar otherwise means going to company web sites one at a time.  This way you type in a symbol and everything is there for you.  Type in the next symbol and that is all there.  No Google searching is required.

Lastly, CEF Connect is well-designed.  Whoever put it together is a good user interface designer.  In most cases figuring out where to click to get needed information is reasonably intuitive.

Easily accessing in-depth data is a key part of making good decisions.  When it comes to closed-end funds CEF Connect is a valuable resource.

 

© 2016 invessentials.com – Essentials of Investing
 
Articles presented here are general opinions for your own consideration.  They are not specific advice for any one investor.
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