Are preferred securities paying 6% a safe and secure investment?

these securities are traded on the stock market and are callable,but some are down 20%. seems to me i'm giving up 20%of my principle for 6% interest.i'm getting my own money back. the numbers dont add up for me. the dates on the recalls are so far out i'll never see them. need advice. do they ever call any of these securities back? thanks in advance for your help.

This is why I hate preferred stocks.
Since they are callable AND they are paying out 6% interest, I would be very keen to getting rid of them, because once this liquidity crisis is over and with the Fed Rate being definitely lower than 6%, you are definitely going to see that Call Feature exercised.
Since you mentioned the Call dates are a ways out, that means you have time. You only lose that 20% if you convert and sell you Preferred Shares. So, hold onto them until they rebound. I don't know what Sector these stocks are in, or more importantly, what company they are with. But the call feature being a ways out, it gives you some time.
Now, the burn here is that your are getting dividends which means you have a tax obligation. Yikes! I hate dividends for that reason. Moreover, your dividends ARE NOT guranteed! The company can elect to stop making dividend payments to you, which is why they prefer to issue Preferred Stocks over Bonds, as they are legally obligated to pay the interest on the Bonds. Moreover still, you need to make sure there is a feature on your preferred shares that SPECIFICALLY addresses you geting you back-dividend payments...as, they do not owe you back dividends if it is NOT on your contract. BUT, the company MUST pay you your dividend before they issue dividends out to common stocks. Which is guess is nice. Are you starting to feel like these are worthless...well you are partially correct. Preferred stocks aren't generally for Individual investors. They are more for other companies, since the Corporate Tax Codes only require Corporations to pay 20% of the income they receive from Dividends or Interests...while you pay taxes on 100% of that income.
So, without knowing the specifics on the issurer or the contract, you mentioned you still have time before the call feature can be exercised. I say, watch closely that company's stock price and sell before than.
They are paying you 6% a year on those stocks. When that call is available, and the rates are at 4%, they will call your stocks and reissue new stocks for the 4% interest rate rather than 6%...saving them 2% a year...which is a huge amount in the grand scheme of things.
I hope this helped.

Do they keep paying?? If so then for the moment ok. I prefer to invest in recession proof businesses. Ones that have brand loyalty etc. always ones that pay a dividend as then they are paying me. Don't care if market goes up or down so long as they pay. Means I get money if stock is worth $10 or $100, matters not. If price drops buy more to get more money from them.

The fundamental rule of investing is to NOT lose money. You need to consider return OF asset before return ON asset.

Since you didn't provide enough information on these securities, you need to examine if this company will be around to repaid the securities, if the company has the means to keep the 6% interest, etc.

Good luck.