Doug K. Le Du

AFLAC's preferred stock, trading under the symbol AFSD, offers double-investment grade ratings, cumulative dividends and provides over double the current yield as the company's common stock.

Dutch insurer AEGON, N.V., operating in the U.S. under the Transamerica brand, just redeemed two preferred stocks for $1.5 billion using cash on hand. AED, one of four AEGON preferreds that remains trading, may be worth consideration by those looking for a double-investment grade income security with little default risk. AED, while redeemable at any time, is offering cumulative dividends with a current yield of 6.44 percent.

Allstate's five income securities are providing about triple the yield as the company's common stock.

The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, has become the first investigating body to name HSBC, the UK's largest bank by both market capitalization and assets, and with 15 other banks in the two-year LIBOR rate manipulation probe. If the March 14, 2014 charges stick, HSBC will join several other international banks which had been issuing new variable-rate preferred stocks while they were manipulating the rate that those half-billion shares paid to shareholders.

Alexandria Realty's common stock has increased by 15 percent in two months. There's no way that pace is sustainable. But for those looking to share in the company's success, the series E preferred stock may be worth consideration as a lower risk alternative.

For different reasons, four specific preferred-stocks stand out among the crowd as January comes to a close.

This four-step method for selecting preferred stocks identifies CenturyLink’s CTW as a security worthy of your consideration as we start 2014.

Between Dec. 11 and Dec. 30, 10 high-quality preferred stocks will pay out dividends with an average current yield of 7.1%.

Preferred-stock investors holding shares of variable-rate preferred stocks using the LIBOR rate to pay dividends between 2005 and October 2008 may have been shorted millions in dividend income.

As preferred stock yields have increased over the last few months, fewer preferreds are being retired by their issuers leaving more choices available for today's preferred stock buyers.

Now that the market prices of high quality preferred stocks have returned to their pre-QE2 levels and dividend yields are back to their 7% long-term average, preferred stock investors have many more choices to pick from.

Income investors are too often told that preferred stocks are complicated or require too much work to understand. But applying three simple criteria makes them look much more safe and simple.