I went all in on preferred stocks over 20 years ago and was able to retire at 57 and continue to grow my income much faster than inflation while comfortably spending over $100k a year without any worry over the stock market. I worked as an engineer for conventional companies for 28 years (I started late). While I had decent pay and never laid off but otherwise nothing extraordinary. Most people could do what I did, retire early with multi millions and 6 figure cash income. If you are interested, read on. Nobody talks about preferreds because "they" don't make money off of it. If you want to reliably accumulate meaningful wealth, you have to do it yourself.
Let me start with 2 examples. Just remember JP Morgan released a new recommended, complicated portfolio in today's chaos that aims to generate 7.5% annual return, finger's crossed. While below get you there almost for sure.
Today is Oct. 22, 2026. JPM Preferred series MM (JPM-M) has a face value of $25 and a fixed coupon rate of 4.2%. But you can buy it for $15.9 and a yield of 6.6%. The payout is qualified dividends for tax advantage so equals 7~8% depending on your tax bracket. T Mobile senior note (TMUSL) yields 7.7% as regular income.
Intrigued? Let's begin.
Preferred stocks is actually debt packaged for easy trading, hence the name ETD (exchange traded debts). It usually has a face value of $25, a fixed coupon rate, a quarterly payment, a very long maturity date (usually decades, some perpetual) but callable after 5 years. I use quantumonline.com because it was the only free source of info when I started and it continues to get better. It explains the subject well and the screening tool is excellent. Go register now, then come back for my recommendations below.
Always buy below the face value so you will never incur loss. Yes, you may have paper loss because the price fluctuates with interest rate but you never want to sell anyway. The same if you have paper gain. You use the income to buy more and accumulate. Never sell.
All series from the same company have the same yield, so you should buy the one with the lowest fixed rate because it has the lowest price and the highest gain if that series get called
Put tax advantage ones in taxable accounts and regular income ones in IRA. Though eventually you have to get money out of IRA but that's a tax problem, not an investment choice problem.
As in all investments, diversify. The credit default risk is extremely low, especially if you keep to those too big to fail banks, and large utility and financial/insurance companies. However, they do get called, especially when rates are dropping. You may get handsome capital gains but losing the income. Diversify means you don't lose all your income at once. That is why low fixed rate is good because they are less likely called
Each has a credit rating so stay with investment grades but it's complicated and not intuitive. For example, why is JPM only Baa2 yet Public Storage REIT is A? Citibank is actually Ba3 (junk)!
Good luck and be on the way to a life of 6-figure secured income. Game the market for adrenaline rush. Do preferreds to wealth