The two are quite different options with EIT.UN being a closed end fund and SLF being an individual equity. We do not have much of a problem with EIT.UN and think it fits the safety-yield criteria well when looking at historical performance and the current yield of 10%. EIT.UN is also one of the larger closed end funds at $2.7B in assets, so it is liquid enough. The downside is that with EIT.UN, an investor will have to pay the management fee, which is 1.1%. SLF is the riskier play here just because of single-company risk, but we do like it. SLF pays a high yield at 4.65% and is cheap right now at 10.5x forward earnings. SLF offers more growth upside despite the lower yield compared to EIT.UN. SLF also has a strong history of growing its dividends. We are comfortable with either option here, with SLF having more upside, but also more risk. The downside to EIT.UN is paying the annual fee. We would go with SLF, however the decision depends on an investors risk tolerance with EIT being the safer play. SLF we think makes sense on the assumption that an investor's portfolio is otherwise well-diversified. For a single or more-concentrated position, EIF may prove better with its inherent diversification.
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