If you have a Automatic RMD Withdrawal set up at VG, it may be wish to check that it is still there.
I have had an Automatic RMD Withdrawal set up at VG for many years. Everything has always worked fine.
This year, I received a letter from VG dated 1/3/25. It was the RMD withdrawal confirmation summary for 2025, and everything was correct. I was set up for 2025.
Then today, I received another letter from VG dated 1/8/25, with another RMD confirmation summary for 2025. This one showed "2025 Service Level -- Calculation Only" and "Distribution Option -- None". My Scheduled Automatic RMD Distribution had been removed.
I telephoned VG and spoke with a lady who was very helpful. She restored my scheduled RMD and everything is fine again. I just want to alert others that could have happened to them and to check their confirmation.

”hank, are you willing to provide more personal details about your situation, so your opinions have some context?”
Which opinion? I’ll try to compare my situation to yours but not sure if that affects most of my opinions about investing or finance..
- “When I retired 13 years ago,”
I retired 25 years ago
- ”I attempted to project my future spending needs”
Ditto. I worked this out over the 2 or 3 years before retiring.
- “Over these years I have meet my spending needs with a combination of pension income (with a COLA), an Annuity Income (Savings that I converted to an Annuity), and some part time work.”
Pretty close. I have Social Security and a pension. While working I opted-in to a pension feature that adds 3% yearly of initial amount. Not really COLA - but helpful. The pension provides some supplemental health care coverage in combination with Medicare. I’m not as up-to-speed as I should be on the out-of-pocket expenses - but there are some. Never owned an annuity. No part time work. Active maintaining home infrastructure others might farm out.
- ”Since retirement, I have continue to contribute to my HSA and my IRA with contributions from part time work income. Recently I began managing one of my properties as a seasonal rental for additional income. I will work part time spending some of that work income and saving some into an IRA until age 73. My RMDs will then become a forced taxable event that may turn into an income source if needed or taxable savings if not needed."
Had a 403-B at work invested 100% in a global equities for 28 years. On retirement I converted it to a Traditional IRA and diversified the assets more broadly. In early ‘09 I converted about 40% to a Roth to take advantage of the crash. Made 2 smaller conversions over the next decade. 90% now in a Roth. RMDs alone from the Traditional are adequate to meet all my needs (along with SS & pension). The Roth provides a safety-net that might be needed for major infrastructure repair or other unexpected needs. I’m single and once-divorced. Own some nearby real estate that could be sold for additional cash. The home has a small fixed rate 3.13% mortgage (less than 20% of value) taken out for some renovation more than 5 years ago. Could pay it off, but think I can do better investing across a diversified portfolio consisting largely of OEFs, CEFs & ETFs.

Thanks for your information Hank! Your comparisons are actually to those of "bee", which I quoted in my post to you above, but that is fine since this thread actually should link back to the OPs.

@msf
"Color me skeptical. Money managers like Vanguard and Fidelity tried to do this and failed."
No doubt. But your Barron's article suggests why my portfolio is perhaps different than that of those 2 firms..." One hurdle: Managed payout funds have long had trouble hitting their income targets without dipping into capital—simply giving investors part of their money back."
You see, I'm not smart enough to engineer a dedicated income stream, so I don't try. So for my income sleeve I buy things which already generate a distribution. When bought at opportune pricing and from solid companies or firms which have a history of maintaining/growing their distributions, the income takes care of itself.
And it's no wonder the managed payout funds closed up...in 2020, during the pandemic. But 2020 was a perfect time to buy stocks/funds for an income portfolio. JP Morgan, Prudential, AbbVie all selling at fire sale pricing with big dividends. I even bought Broadcom for <$30 yielding ~5%.
After 2 straight years of 20%+ growth in the S&P, this coiled spring is going to unwind sometime in the next year or two, and things will go on sale once again.

”hank, are you willing to provide more personal details about your situation, so your opinions have some context?”
Which opinion? I’ll try to compare my situation to yours but not sure if that affects most of my opinions about investing or finance..
- “When I retired 13 years ago,”
I retired 25 years ago
- ”I attempted to project my future spending needs”
Ditto. I worked this out over the 2 or 3 years before retiring.
- “Over these years I have meet my spending needs with a combination of pension income (with a COLA), an Annuity Income (Savings that I converted to an Annuity), and some part time work.”
Pretty close. I have Social Security and a pension. While working I opted-in to a pension feature that adds 3% yearly of initial amount. Not really COLA - but helpful. The pension provides some supplemental health care coverage in combination with Medicare. I’m not as up-to-speed as I should be on the out-of-pocket expenses - but there are some. Never owned an annuity. No part time work. Active maintaining home infrastructure others might farm out.
- ”Since retirement, I have continue to contribute to my HSA and my IRA with contributions from part time work income. Recently I began managing one of my properties as a seasonal rental for additional income. I will work part time spending some of that work income and saving some into an IRA until age 73. My RMDs will then become a forced taxable event that may turn into an income source if needed or taxable savings if not needed."
Had a 403-B at work invested 100% in a global equities for 28 years. On retirement I converted it to a Traditional IRA and diversified the assets more broadly. In early ‘09 I converted about 40% to a Roth to take advantage of the crash. Made 2 smaller conversions over the next decade. 90% now in a Roth. RMDs alone from the Traditional are adequate to meet all my needs (along with SS & pension). The Roth provides a safety-net that might be needed for major infrastructure repair or other unexpected needs. I’m single and once-divorced. Own some nearby real estate that could be sold for additional cash. The home has a small fixed rate 3.13% mortgage (less than 20% of value) taken out for some renovation more than 5 years ago. Could pay it off, but think I can do better investing across a diversified portfolio consisting largely of OEFs, CEFs & ETFs.

An annuity-like distribution is certainly possible. I'm using a combination of funds such as SCHD, DIVO, NEAR, JPIE and a handful of dividend paying stocks and CEFs ...
Color me skeptical. Money managers like Vanguard and Fidelity tried to do this and failed.

Payout funds got their start during the 2007-2008 financial crisis when Vanguard and Fidelity both launched the products. The idea was appealing: Convert a retirement savings pool into a reliable income stream and offer investors peace of mind that they’d get a monthly paycheck, regardless of the market’s ups and downs.
...
Vanguard initially had three payout funds but merged them into one fund in January 2014. Fidelity developed a series of Income Replacement funds, paired with an optional monthly payout feature, but Fidelity rebranded the funds in 2017 as “Managed Retirement Income” with more of a high-income focus rather than managed payouts.
One hurdle: Managed payout funds have long had trouble hitting their income targets without dipping into capital—simply giving investors part of their money back. Annuities work similarly, though they have an insurance component that can keep the income flowing if the portfolio runs out of money.

Barron's, Vanguard Throws in the Towel on Its Managed Payout Fund, Feb 28, 2020
The insurance component is what is missing in DIY (or professionally managed) alternatives. In order to guarantee (self insure) that you won't run out of money in your lifetime, you have to overfund. That may be okay if you're planning on leaving a legacy and are willing to dip heavily into that legacy if things don't work out. But it reduces the income stream that you could otherwise have.
A similar point about underspending is made in the originally cited paper:

[U]sing a relatively simple model we estimate consumption could increase by approximately 80% for retirees if assets were converted to lifetime income streams, where the improvement rates are significantly higher for joint households

What annuities do is pool risk. Some people die early, others later. Instead of each individual self insuring (collectively overinsuring), individuals pool their risk through an insurance company. This provides larger income streams safely.
The risk is in outliving your money. A traditional immediate annuity is not the only way to protect against this tail risk. A longevity annuity (a form of immediate annuity where payouts are deferred) will also do the job.
T. Rowe Price recognized this and recently came out with a product for employer-sponsored plans (401(k)s, etc.). Its Managed Lifetime Income product provides a managed payout investment for 15 years followed by a QLAC (qualified lifetime annuity contract).
I don't see any reason why one cannot do this oneself, self-managing a portfolio (as @PRESSmUP described) and adding a longevity annuity (either QLAC or nonqualified).
Alternatively, one can annuitize a variable annuity.

Variable payout annuities provide protection against longevity risk and allow for some participation in the higher (but more volatile) returns of corporate equities and other real assets. They also avoid the annuitization risk because their benefit payments vary with investment performance and are not fully determined by the prevailing conditions at the time of retirement. But VPAs are exposed to investment and inflation risks ...

The Mechanics and Regulation of Variable Payout Annuities (50 pages. TL;DR)

Regarding Reverse Mortgages -
Wouldn’t it be smarter to do a traditional refinance of your existing home for whatever you can pull out? Then invest the money and draw it down as you need it? The bank or other institution would of course hold a lien against the property. I’ll add that at 7% (+-) interest rates this would be a last resort. However, it sounds better than a reverse mortgage. Guess I don’t understand RMs very well.
Oops - I should have read @msf’s above link first:
”A reverse mortgage loan, like a traditional mortgage, allows homeowners to borrow money using their home as security for the loan. Also like a traditional mortgage, when you take out a reverse mortgage loan, the title to your home remains in your name. However, unlike a traditional mortgage, with a reverse mortgage loan, borrowers don’t make monthly mortgage payments. The loan is repaid when the borrower no longer lives in the home.”
Psychologically, I’d find that difficult to adjust to. It defies everything I’ve been taught about sound financial management - an open-ended lien. Alas, the concept does have some logic behind it.
@bee - I think @PRESSmUP’s above response / suggestion is spot-on. If you can cope with an occasional down year or two it should be possible to construct a portfolio that at least keeps pace with inflation and allows relatively small annual drawdowns. Let’s assume that pulling out 5% (maybe a bit more) a year isn’t going to kill the goose even if the portfolio sustains 2 or 3 back-to-back negative years, His suggested investments are excellent. Obviously, the more additional risk you can afford comfortably to take the better you’ll do over longer (3-5 year) periods.

Great chart at the end. It fits with the TR equation:
%TR = %Dividend_yield + %Earnings_growth + %Change_in_P/E.
So, if the starting P/E is high, the 3rd term will likely have a negative contribution.

"Exactly 25 years ago today, I published the first memo that brought a response from readers (after having written for almost ten years without receiving any). The memo was called bubble.com, and the subject was the irrational behavior I thought was taking place with respect to tech, internet, and e-commerce stocks."
Is that ringing any bells?
Link

Michael Cembalest covers many topics which may affect market performance in 2025.
The historical context Michael provides was appreciated.
His presentation was very thought-provoking.
I've read Eye on the Market previously but somehow forgot about it (info overload).
Thanks for the reintroduction!

10 January, '25.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2025-01-10/bloomberg-real-yield-01-10-2025-video
I offered some highlights in a previous attempt to post, but my way-too-sensitive stoopid Apple idiot computer evaporated the whole thing when it thought I was telling it to revert to the previous page. Mountains of skunk dooky.

Since 1928¹ there have only been three other instances of 25%+ returns in back-to-back years:
1935 (+47%) and 1936 (+32%)
1954 (+53%) and 1955 (+33%)
1997 (+33%) and 1998 (+28%)
So what happened next?
Something for everyone:
1937: -35%
1956: +7%
1999: +21%
Terrible, decent and great. Not helpful.
https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2025/01/2024-it-was-another-good-year-in-the-stock-market/
¹ "Standard & Poor's, initially known as the Standard Statistics Company, created its first stock market index in 1923.
It consisted of the stocks of 233 companies and was computed weekly.
Three years later, it developed a 90-stock composite price index computed daily.
That was expanded over the years.
On March 4, 1957, the Standard & Poor's 500 was introduced."
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks-sp-timeline-idUSBRE9450WL20130506/

Such a strong rally leads us to higher-than-normal valuations. Will we pay the piper in 2025?
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/likely-stock-market-crashes-under-095100991.html
"What's particularly worrisome is what's happened in the wake of Shiller P/E readings above 30 throughout history. There have been only six occurrences in 154 years where the Shiller P/E has topped 30, including the present, and the previous five were eventually followed by declines ranging from 20% to 89% in the Dow, S&P 500, and/or Nasdaq Composite. In other words, premium valuations aren't tolerated over long periods.
And the S&P 500's Shiller P/E isn't the only valuation tool sounding alarm bells. The "Buffett Indicator," named after Berkshire Hathaway's investor extraordinaire Warren Buffett, hit an all-time high in December.
The Buffett Indicator, which divides the market cap of all publicly traded companies into U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), was labeled by the Oracle of Omaha as "probably the best single measure of where valuations stand at any given moment" in 2001. Whereas this market-cap-to-GDP ratio has averaged 85% (0.85) since 1970, it touched 209% in December 2024."

Thanks to @bee, here is last fall’ WeathTrack interview on David Giroux. Please scroll down to find it.
https://mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/comment/184746/#Comment_184746
Giruox became bearish on the market due to the historical high valuation. Unlike his previous interviews, he seemed uncomfortable this time. Now he is forecasting a down year and that is rare coming from him. Everyone ignore Mike Wilson of Moran Stanley who is a perennial bear and being off for majority of the time. Maybe Wilson will be spot on this year.
Wonder what moves he is taking to migrate the risk in 2025? In light of rising yield of long Treasury, the asset correlation of bonds and stocks are merging as shown in recent weeks.

I'm playing this game by bundling cap gains into some years and ordinary income into others.
A few techniques to bundle ordinary income
- Do Roth conversions in "ordinary income years".
- Buy short term (1 year or less) CDs/T-bills in "cap gains years" that mature in "ordinary income years"
- Invest in muni (MM, bond) funds in "cap gains years", and taxable (Treasury, corporate) funds in "ordinary income years"
A couple of techniques to bundle cap gains
- Accelerate recognition of gains (sell and repurchase if desired) in "cap gains years"
- Sell "around" annual distributions - avoid distributions of ordinary income (if any) and repurchase after record date (recognizes additional cap gains)
Depending on how much space you have in your 0% cap gains bracket, creating more cap gains may or may not work out for you. In any case, the added cap gains are state-taxable, so that should be kept in mind as well.
On the flip side, Roth conversions may be partially or fully state tax-exempt, depending on the state. That's motivation to convert some money even if it eats into the 0% cap gains bracket.
Note that the numbers presented in the graph are incorrect.
Cap gains: $47,025 (top of 0% bracket) + $14,600 (std ded.) = $61,625, not $63,475
Ordinary inc: $47,150 (top of 12% bracket) + $14,600 (std ded.) = $61,750, not $63,475
Note also that the cap gains bracket does not line up exactly with the ordinary income bracket (as given by the IRS). Close, but different.
It looks like the author may have been adding in the 2023 extra deduction ($1,850) for being over age 65 (or blind). That would make the cap gains figure come out to $63,475.

I thought I knew a lot about investing until opening a brokerage account at Fido 4-5 years ago. Much wider landscape to work with than just having investments at a few different houses. So am still learning. But I do know my 2022 (bear market) return was better by 2 or 3 points then it would have been if stuck in the previous fund houses. From my (broad) family experience of 70+ years the real issue is convincing someone to save during their working years, Without having something to invest, all the coaching in the world can’t help you in retirement.
I’ll vote for better financial education: ”Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”
Great discussion. Thanks @stillers for the lengthy comment.

Michael Cembalest is the Chairman of Market and Investment Strategy at JP Morgan Asset Management.
Since 2005, Michael has been the author of the Eye on the Market, which covers a wide range of topics across markets, investments, economics, politics, energy, municipal finance and more.
For 2025:
Deregulation, deportations, tariffs, tax cuts, cost cutting, crypto, oil & gas, medical freedom and Agency purges: What could possibly go wrong?

Very Interesting Article and Video Presentation.
market-insights/eye-on-the-market/outlook-2025

From The article:

For 2024, individuals with taxable income below $47,025 ($94,050 for married couples) pay 0% tax for long-term capital gains (LTCG). In years when you’re under the threshold you could effectively lock in tax-free long-term gains. The idea would be to realize just enough LTCG to stay within the 0% tax bracket. You also have to tack on the standard deduction which is $15,000 for individuals or $30,000 for a married couple. That means don’t have to pay federal income taxes on your long-term capital gains until your income exceeds a little more than $63,000 (single) or $126,000 (married couple). So you could realize more than $63,000 ($126,000) in capital gains and dividends without paying any federal income tax.

Link to Article:
https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2025/01/how-to-pay-nothing-in-taxes-during-retirement/

I searched for DMX and didn't find any announcements or mentions at MFO or BB. It seems to me that a new active etf from a well-known provider is a notable event.
DMX - website info https://doubleline.com/funds/multi-sector-income-etf/
DMX Prospectus https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/0001886172/000119312524261677/d885097d485bpos.htm
DoubleLine etf Trust Activities https://www.sec.gov/edgar/browse/?CIK=1886172

Just posted all ratings to MFO Premium site, using Refinitiv data drop from Friday, 10 January 2025, reflecting risk and return metrics thru December. Flows remain through Friday, 3 January.

@rforno: I can't locate any info on that UTG 60% ROC. Do you have a source?
If you like the sector and the managers take a look at UTES. However if it's the income you were after don't bother. DNP might be an income source.

Their 19(a) filing from December
https://api-funds.paralel.com/download_resource/?id=6372&ticker=UTG
DNP is also spitting out huge ROC in December - 83% of current distro.
https://www.dpimc.com/assets/files/jd/dnp_19anotice-1-9-25.pdf
Again, not panicking just watching. Some ROC is okay, some destructive ROC is tolerable ... I just want to poke around more before diving back into CEFs.