Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

In this Discussion

Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.

    Support MFO

  • Donate through PayPal

Suggestions for "Near-Cash"

I know this topic has been tossed around numerous times on this board, but I'm always looking for suggestions on what to do with my cash. I'm 50 years old with more than $100,000 sitting in banks and credit unions earning about 0.50 % in interest. I know it will erode in value over time due to inflation, so I would like to beat that at the very least without taking a big risk with principal. I already have nearly $1M in a conservative portfolio (35% Bonds) (40% equities) (25% cash) so I'm looking to do something with a portion of the cash. Part of it should stay in an emergency fund, but I have about $100,000 that doesn't need to be used for at least 3-5 years. I call it "near cash." I've been looking at a few suggestions on the board, such LALDX, OSTIX and RSIVX. It appears that interest rates will be higher over the next few years so I do have to take that into consideration with any bond funds. Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance.
«1

Comments

  • edited May 2015
    You could also try GADVX, ZEOIX, BPAPX, MERFX, NTAUX, GSTGX, or FPNIX

    What is the goal of you "near cash".
  • There are some risks, but I do like the CHS preferred shares. There are no common shares, only a number of different preferred share classes.

  • 00BY said:

    You could also try GADVX, ZEOIX, BPAPX, MERFX, NTAUX, GSTGX, or FPNIX

    What is the goal of you "near cash".

    My goal is to beat inflation as I'm too chicken to put it into equities or anything else for that matter given the current stock market highs. Just being truthful.
  • TedTed
    edited May 2015
    @willmatt72: I like LDLAX, and if your tax bracket warrants, CXHYX.
    Regards,
    Ted
  • My interpretation of not taking "a big risk with principal", and of "near cash", and of "3-5 years" is that one is willing to live with short term fluctuations and minor dips in principal, but expects to come out positive at the end of 3-5 years.

    That puts pretty tight limits on what one can do with the money. Otherwise, I wouldn't consider it part of a "cash" allocation. In other words, I tend to be a bit more cautious with cash. YMMV.

    So I like the NTAUX suggestion (I wasn't familiar with this fund). Unfortunately, while it beats your current 0.50% taxable yield (since it's a muni fund), its 0.50% tax-free yield still doesn't beat FDIC-insured internet banks (yielding around 1% taxable now).

    I also like FPNIX (and have suggested it before myself). I'm comfortable with its junk bond (BB) rating, but only because I've followed this fund for years (never invested). Otherwise, I'd be leery of delving into junk now, especially with my cash allocation.

    Another thought is to use defined maturity bond funds. Here's an AAII paper explaining them, discussing the pros and cons, and listing (most of) the current options. (It omits the older American Century Zero Coupon series, which will be more volatile because with zeros, duration = maturity).

    If you're fairly sure you won't need the cash for 4-5 years, you might use an "immunization strategy". You can buy a fund like FMCFX (maturity 2019, muni bond fund, SEC yield 1.13%; it beats iShare's 2019 IBMH's 1.07% SEC yield w/o bid/ask spread); or Guggenheim's BSCJ (2019, corporate inv. grade, SEC yield 1.83%).

  • I must say that ZEOIX is a very intriguing fund; I just don't like the ER that goes with it.
  • If one were going to choose FPNIX, Why not consider BSBIX? The institutional shares are almost half the cost of FPNIX .30% vs. .56%? What would be the advantage over BSBIX? The performance seems very similar as well.
  • Gosh, Solarcity 5y bonds, if you can go 5y, and perhaps others similar.

    This is assuming BERIX and VWINX are too risky for your taste.
  • edited May 2015

    Gosh, Solarcity 5y bonds, if you can go 5y, and perhaps others similar.

    This is assuming BERIX and VWINX are too risky for your taste.

    I own BERIX and VWENX in the moderate portion of my portfolio (10-15 years away).
  • FPNIX is IMHO a unique fund, one managed for preservation (using a wide variety of strategies and derivatives defensively), as contrasted with a fairly vanilla (albeit well managed) short term bond fund.

    Different paths to the same end. As you note, performance is very similar after expenses. Which suggests that the modest incremental cost of the more wide ranging fund has been paying for itself, even in a pretty constant low interest environment. When the markets shift sooner or later, I expect its defensive strategies to show their mettle.

    If one just looks at average figures (which, especially in the case of FPNIX I feel do not tell the whole story), one is getting double the SEC yield and duration that's only 3/4 as long (1/2 year shorter) in exchange for diving into some junk. (Though nearly 70% of the fund's bonds are AAA rated - more than BSBIX's AAA, AA, and A combined.)

    I'm a fan of Baird funds, so I'm not knocking BSBIX. Rather, I'm addressing what is different about FPNIX.
  • msf said:

    FPNIX is IMHO a unique fund, one managed for preservation (using a wide variety of strategies and derivatives defensively), as contrasted with a fairly vanilla (albeit well managed) short term bond fund.

    Different paths to the same end. As you note, performance is very similar after expenses. Which suggests that the modest incremental cost of the more wide ranging fund has been paying for itself, even in a pretty constant low interest environment. When the markets shift sooner or later, I expect its defensive strategies to show their mettle.

    If one just looks at average figures (which, especially in the case of FPNIX I feel do not tell the whole story), one is getting double the SEC yield and duration that's only 3/4 as long (1/2 year shorter) in exchange for diving into some junk. (Though nearly 70% of the fund's bonds are AAA rated - more than BSBIX's AAA, AA, and A combined.)

    I'm a fan of Baird funds, so I'm not knocking BSBIX. Rather, I'm addressing what is different about FPNIX.

    I'm another fan of the Baird Funds, but I'd say the main difference between BSBIX and FPNIX is that the disastrous year of 2008 saw BSBIX lose 1.79% while FPNIX managed a gain of 4.31%. That would probably be something of a worst case scenario for BSBIX in a comparison with FPNIX. Otherwise, BSBIX seems to pretty consistently outperform FPNIX by a small margin.

    I should think if the original poster is willing to wait 3-5 years that pretty much any solid short term bond fund will provide a small gain (maybe 2% or so). I wouldn't argue against either BSBIX or FPNIX, or even ZEOIX or RSIVX (which are quite different but still pretty safe over 3-5 years, I think).

  • Thanks MSF and Vert for your summations of FPNIX. Is it also a short term bond fund in effect?
  • edited May 2015
    I think it's hopeless. ... You're willing to assume some extra credit or duration risk to pick-up what? An extra 1 or 2%? Face the truth.

    DODIX has done surprisingly well the past few years. Surprised me - and I own it, but am cutting back. They've kept maturities on the shorter end in recent years, but are still out there a bit. Will take a modest hit if rates rise sharply. Their most recent fund report alluded to concerns over heavy inflows and hinted they might have to close the fund at some point.

    There's one problem with heavy inflows. That $$ can reverse and flow back out even faster than it flowed in - and they know it.

    Everybody's chasing yield.
  • Thanks MSF and Vert for your summations of FPNIX. Is it also a short term bond fund in effect?

    In effect it pretty much has been. Doesn't have to be, though. Two good things about Baird funds: They have low expenses, which I guess is uncontroversial, and they don't speculate on directions of interest rates, which I'd call a strength though others might differ. FPNIX will make interest rate calls. They've always erred on the side of conservatism (of capital) and I don't expect that to change given the FPA family, so if interest rates haven't risen considerably in the interim I'd imagine that FPNIX will continue acting like a short term bond fund.

  • I would think the odds of loss in any of these worthy funds over the next 5y to be nontrivial, no matter what they do, even, you know, BERIX and FPA. So I would stick a hundred thou, or even more, into SC 4% bonds, and make a few thou against inflation. I mean, I like very much PONDX, FSICX, DODIX, FTBFX, BOND, PDI, and a few others, but have had trouble breaking even with all of them over selected short recent periods, when I was overmonitoring.

  • MSF, What is YMMV?
  • Your Mileage May Vary
  • What does "SC 4% bonds" mean? South Carolina Municipal Bonds of some kind?
  • "Solar City", I believe.
  • I'm definitely falling behind in the internet acronym dept.
  • SolarCity; had mentioned it earlier (sorry)

    https://solarbonds.solarcity.com/available-bonds/

    I am sure there are others, but this is a v good outfit, I know from experience.
  • SolarCity; had mentioned it earlier (sorry)

    https://solarbonds.solarcity.com/available-bonds/

    I am sure there are others, but this is a v good outfit, I know from experience.

    Thank you, David.
  • I'm 50 years old with more than $100,000 sitting in banks and credit unions earning about 0.50 % in interest.

    While you are considering the many options in the various posts to this thread, you can easily double your interest from the 0.50% you are getting in "banks and credit unions".....by going with an internet only FDIC insured bank that pays about 1% interest on a savings account.

    Just for example, Ally bank pays 0.99%, FDIC insured, savings acct, without locking your money up at all, and several others pay 1% or even very slightly higher. These are name banks (well known), also FDIC insured

    You can also get 2.25% in FDIC insured 5-year CD's at several internet banks (e.g., Synchrony Bank).
    One strategy several Bogleheads are using is to do this at a bank with a low early withdrawal fee. I believe there is an FDIC insured internet bank with only a 90 day interest early withdrawal penalty, so many Bogleheads are going that route, figuring that paying a 90 day interest rate penalty in the event that rates rise significantly and they want out of their 5-year 2.25% interest CD is not too bad.
  • I would think the odds of loss in any of these worthy funds over the next 5y to be nontrivial, no matter what they do, even, you know, BERIX and FPA. So I would stick a hundred thou, or even more, into SC 4% bonds, and make a few thou against inflation. I mean, I like very much PONDX, FSICX, DODIX, FTBFX, BOND, PDI, and a few others, but have had trouble breaking even with all of them over selected short recent periods, when I was overmonitoring.

    Are you seriously suggesting that this poor fellow put $100,000 into a single bond offering issued by this company? I took a quick look at the prospectus for this bond. It's unrated, unsecured, and the protective covenants for the investor are practically nonexistent. I did a bit more research and found that S&P had rated a secured bond issue from SolarCity that matures in 2022 at BBB+, and an unsecured bond from them maturing in 2022 at BB. BB is not investment grade. Other than some posters here dropping dead from the shock, what happens if somebody like Ted Cruz or Rand Paul gets elected president in 2016 and the investment tax credit and other subsidies for solar power gets dropped? It's questionable whether there will be a secondary market for these securities (that's from the prospectus), and SolarCity isn't obligated to redeem them early under any circumstances.

    I strongly suggest that the original poster take a good look at these risk factors if he's considering this SolarCity offering.

  • @Vert- You make some excellent observations. I realize that Solar City is on a roll right now, and feel that the industry itself will more likely than not prove to be long-term resilient, but to place critical reserve money in a single industry actor at this point strikes me as very risky.
  • Vert said:

    I would think the odds of loss in any of these worthy funds over the next 5y to be nontrivial, no matter what they do, even, you know, BERIX and FPA. So I would stick a hundred thou, or even more, into SC 4% bonds, and make a few thou against inflation. I mean, I like very much PONDX, FSICX, DODIX, FTBFX, BOND, PDI, and a few others, but have had trouble breaking even with all of them over selected short recent periods, when I was overmonitoring.

    Are you seriously suggesting that this poor fellow put $100,000 into a single bond offering issued by this company? I took a quick look at the prospectus for this bond. It's unrated, unsecured, and the protective covenants for the investor are practically nonexistent. I did a bit more research and found that S&P had rated a secured bond issue from SolarCity that matures in 2022 at BBB+, and an unsecured bond from them maturing in 2022 at BB. BB is not investment grade. Other than some posters here dropping dead from the shock, what happens if somebody like Ted Cruz or Rand Paul gets elected president in 2016 and the investment tax credit and other subsidies for solar power gets dropped? It's questionable whether there will be a secondary market for these securities (that's from the prospectus), and SolarCity isn't obligated to redeem them early under any circumstances.

    I strongly suggest that the original poster take a good look at these risk factors if he's considering this SolarCity offering.

    Thank you for doing some research on this matter. Personally, I would never drop $100,000 in any single offering, whether it be a bond or fund/stock. I'm a very cautious, conservative investor.
  • Personally, I would never drop $100,000 in any single offering, whether it be a bond or fund/stock. I'm a very cautious, conservative investor.

    This raises an interesting question. You wrote that your portfolio is around $1M, so (quickly doing the long division:-)) that means that you would not put more than 10% in a single fund.

    That rules out "couch potato" portfolios. What do people feel is a maximum percentage to allocate to a holding, or should it be a dollar amount (so a $5M portfolio might hold 50+ funds)?
  • If that holding happens to be a fund of funds, I could see having a higher percentage in that.
  • I can say that VWENX is my largest holding at just under $100,000, but that's because I've reinvested dividends for several years. As a result, the fund has grown to that amount coupled with capital gains of course. But I would never just drop $100,000 on one fund at this time. As I said, I'm a bit apprehensive given the current market valuations.
  • edited May 2015
    Re msf's question:

    JohnC is correct that "funds-of-funds" should be viewed differently and might warrant a higher allocation. One of these, RPSIX, currently comprises my largest holding at just over 14%.

    1. I prefer to view money management decisions in terms of percentages (not in dollar sums).

    2. I don't have set limits. However, I become uncomfortable when any one fund exceeds about 20% of total assets. With equity funds, 10% in any single fund is enough.

    3. I believe it's wise to diversify (fairly evenly) among at least 3 different fund houses or other custodians.
    -

    Added: The above reflects the thinking of a 70+ year-old, 15-20 years into retirement, already in the distribution stage. Were I younger, I'd have a higher risk tolerance and would be much more concentrated in a few good growth funds.


Sign In or Register to comment.