An investment trust is a company, so its shares trade at whatever buyers will pay, and that can differ a lot from what its holdings are worth. Trading below is a discount to NAV. The gap can widen for years, and it's what you face when you sell. Trusts can also borrow to invest — gearing — which magnifies the portfolio's gains and losses, something an ordinary open-ended fund can only do in a very limited way.
The third feature matters to income investors: a revenue reserve. A trust can hold back up to 15% of its income in a good year and draw on the reserve in a bad one, which is how some UK trusts have raised their dividends for decades. The reserve smooths the payout; it doesn't change what the underlying companies earn, and a long run of lean years can empty it. In the app a trust's price is its share price; its NAV and discount are on its factsheet or the AIC's website.
You're buying 100p of assets for 90p — and you'll sell at whatever discount applies on the day.
Educational content only. It is not personal financial advice.