PFFD vs PFFR

PFFDAGlobal X U.S. Preferred ETF

PFFRCInfraCap REIT Preferred ETF

In short

PFFD Preferred stock is a corner where fund fees usually run rich. PFFD turned up in 2017 charging 0.23% for a broad basket of U.S. preferreds, and it has paid monthly ever since. Cheap, plain-vanilla exposure to an income niche.

PFFR Most real estate ETFs buy the landlords' common stock. PFFR buys their preferred shares instead: an index of roughly 110 US-listed REIT preferreds, income-driven by design, paid out monthly.

Stated mandate

PFFD PFFD seeks to track the performance of the ICE BofA Diversified Core U.S. Preferred Securities Index before fees and expenses. It provides broad exposure to U.S. preferred stocks.

PFFR The Fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the price and yield performance of the Indxx REIT Preferred Stock Index.

Why people hold it

• PFFD Charges 0.23% a year, which Global X notes is less than half the average fee among competing preferred funds.globalxetfs.com
• Holds roughly 220 U.S. preferreds tracking the ICE BofA Diversified Core index. Benchmark-like exposure, not a manager's shortlist.globalxetfs.com
• Pays distributions monthly, and has done so every year since its 2017 launch.globalxetfs.com
• A multi-billion-dollar fund that trades actively, so entering and exiting is rarely the hard part.

• PFFR A pure play on one narrow layer of the capital stack: normally at least 90% of assets in preferred securities issued by REITs and listed on US exchanges. Broad REIT funds skip this layer.
• Rules-based, not a manager's hunch. It tracks the Indxx REIT Preferred Stock Index, so what's inside follows a published methodology.
• Distributions arrive monthly, and the fund has been trading since 2017, so there's a real-world record behind it rather than a backtest.

Worth knowing

• PFFD Preferreds come mostly from banks and insurers, and the index has been concentrated in banking, so the ride tracks financial-sector health.globalxetfs.com
• These securities behave more like long bonds than stocks: interest rate moves push prices around, as the fund's risk disclosures describe.globalxetfs.com
• Monthly does not mean fixed. The payout size floats with what the portfolio collects.globalxetfs.com

• PFFR 0.45% a year sits above the real estate cohort median of 0.37%, and plain REIT trackers like SCHH (0.07%) and VNQ (0.13%) cost a fraction of it.
• Thinly traded compared with mainstream real estate ETFs, so spreads and order type matter more here than with the household names.
• Preferreds act more like bonds than landlord equity: they rank above common stock but behind a REIT's lenders, and interest rates drive them as much as property values do.

Full PFFD profile⁠

Full PFFR profile⁠