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lynnbolin2021
Hi Sven,
It sounds like we are taking the same path.
In the Fidelity Fixed Income, Bonds & CDs tool, if you select "Bonds" and then "All Offerings", you will arrive at a screener. In the "Show More Criteria" you can select "Yes" for "Call Protection". Under "Product Type", exclude "Corporate High Yield", "TIPs", and "Municipal". The latter two are fine but should be screened separately. For "Ratings", I like Moody's "A2 to Aaa" and for S&P I like "A to AAA". I also like to untick "Show bonds matching either ratings range" so that bonds have to be in both ranges. Set the date range. I set the Yield to worst at about 3.75. You can then run the query. Sort the results from highest yield to lowest.
The results with Yields more than 4.5% are:
Federal National Mortgage Association
Federal Home Loan
John Deere
Federal Farm Credit
Bank America Corp
US Treasuries
State Street
PACCAR Financial
Hope this helps.
Thank you, @Hank, for the kind words. This month, in "Patriotic Millionaires and the Uncertainty of Taxes", I show that the rich borrow and invest the money in stocks much as you described in ”New Report: All Stock Portfolio Beats Stock and Bond Mix…
Thanks a lot for the ideas for my next MFO article. It is better than the one that I had picked. I have written many articles on this topic, but see there is more life to it yet.
That's a great article, @msf. Thanks. I agree with the Schwab article. In addition, there is the Medicare income adjusted premium (IRMAA) which can add another penalty of around 3% for increasing Modified Adjusted Income (MAGI) from $245,000 to $366…
I am relatively new to investing in Municipal bonds, but thanks to MFO have a powerful tool for researching funds. Fidelity has a search tool that allows you to search individual Muni bonds by state and category (Education, Revenue, etc). I retired …
@Sma3
I included a Figure #1 in the August 2022 issue that calculated Federal Taxes Plus Medicare Premiums + the Net Investment Income Tax. The spreadsheet was easy for my particular circumstances. My intent was to estimate the optimum Roth Convers…
The time between retirement and taking Required Minimum Distributions (Age 72) is often called the "Golden Years" because income for retirees is lower than in the future. Deferring Social Security increases this effect. Federal Taxes cuts in 2017 ar…
Thanks for the feedback.
The funds that I write about in the article generally have high quality since the possibility of a recession next year is high.
Most of my money is in tax advantaged accounts which use taxable bond funds and ladders. Munis…
Yes, my article is coming out in September. Munis will mostly benefit those in high tax brackets. They benefit me because they help keep income low while doing a Roth conversion.
@sma3
I started out many years ago using Vanguard's free financial planning tool. I think it might have been Financial Engines. I later created my own spreadsheet financial planning tool.
My employer moved our accounts to Fidelity, and I started us…
@sma3
Vanguard has a two-step process, as I understand it. Behind the scenes:
First, the estimate the returns over the next ten years using the Vanguard Capital Markets Model.
https://static.vgcontent.info/crp/intl/auw/docs/resources/Vanguard_VCMM…
Hi @SMA3
Yes, I use both Fidelity Wealth Services and Vanguard Personal Advisor Services. I have been with both for decades and want to continue with both. I also have DIY accounts at both.
I financed the Vanguard PAS with mixed asset and bond fun…
In response to several comments above:
I have been a DIY investor until about two years ago. I did try the Charles Schwab robo-advisor. I have been using both Fidelity and Vanguard for decades and like them both for different reasons. I now use the…
A client in Vanguard's PAS does have some discretion in specifying preferred funds. There are also different methods such as using a percent of funds that are actively managed. Vanguard has three actively managed funds only available to PAS.
I have…
Hi @SMA3,
Taxes are complex and the tax preparer knows the taxes best. With companies like Fidelity and Vanguard, I suspect that an investor will be dealing mostly with an external tax accountant. My experiences are that the tax accountant will not…
Good morning,
The confusion about the table is related to my second article for the month, "Looking Beyond 2023 - Investing Lies and Statistics" where I describe year over year as a way of measuring inflation as an example. It has to do with two da…
@Rickrmf: I think your own portfolio is great. I am a great fan of COWZ and DIVI. I have never owned DODIX, however. One new SMID ETF, SMOT, has been shooting the lights out since the Oct 22 lows. I think SC will continue to do well; RWJ or BRSVX ar…
Can anyone find balanced or multi-asset funds that have a profile similar to what you recommend? In other words, for equities, value+SC+foreign, and for bonds, intermediate high quality? I would prefer to have my bonds chosen by a manager as part …
@lynnbolin2021 - I noticed that DIVO was mentioned in your article. Do you have an opinion on it's counterpart IDVO? TIA if you care to comment.
Hi Mark,
I like DIVO and have owned it in the past. I limit my funds to those with AUM over $100M while…
Thanks for all of the positive comments. If anyone is having trouble reading the article, you may email me at [email protected] and I will send a copy.
The two most important recommendations in that article are to maintain a diversified p…
Hi @Diane I bought a small amount of PQTAX earlier this year and have been pleased that it has reduced volatility. I have also considered AMFAX. For someone who likes ETFs, they may want to consider the iMGP DBi Managed Futures Strategy ETF (DBMF)…
Hi @Baseball_Fan . There is a lot of risk in the markets, and some of it reminds me of Tulipmania with high valuations. Bitcoin is now down 35% YTD. Rising interest rates, high inflation, supply chain disruptions and the Russian invasion of Ukrai…
Hi @yogibearbull
I am reducing risk in my portfolios by looking at how funds are doing in this volatile, inflationary year. Some funds are up and down and time will tell whether it one should sell.
I have reduced exposure to FMSDX by exchanging so…
COM was down yesterday 1.6% yesterday, but is up 5.6% for the month and 15.3% YTD.
FTGC faired well also, down 2.7%, but up 8% for the month.
EAPCX and VCMDX both down about 2.5%, but up +9% for the month.
FFGCX was down 1.9% for the day, but up 13%…
Thanks for reading @sma3. I don’t make any claim to making a better return. I strive to make a better risk adjusted return and am more focused on making a decent return with capital preservation.
Following trends and studying business and investi…
I appreciate the suggestions on funds and will creat a watchlist to track them. I am currently working on an article (Seeking Alpha) on this topic which I expect to post Sunday. The themes for 2022 are high valuations, market concentration, Inflat…
I researched Columbia Threadneedle because I liked Columbia Thermostat. They have several other funds that have done well including Balanced (CBALX) and Columbia Adaptive Risk Allocation Fund (CRAZX,CRAAX) which I also own.
Hi @StayCalm
Fund managers change and so do philosophies. COTZX did not do well in 2009, because it’s strategy was to be 100% stocks or bonds. Since then they have changed their philosophy to make the changes gradually.
It is a solid long term fu…
Thank you for the kind words,@Level5. I have almost 9% of my overall portfolio in COTZX/CTFAX. I like it’s Benjamin Graham style approach to value investing. Automating removes the emotion of investing.
As far as investing in bonds when rates …
I found the post by Bolin “Building a Multi Strategy Portfolio” very instructive. https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2021/12/building-a-multi-strategy-portfolio-fidelity-traditional-ira/
It was so detailed and included his criteria for including ce…
The best time to convert to a Roth is when income is low, taxes are anticipated to be higher in the future, and when the value of the asset is low such as a market correction.
I covered a Roth Conversion in:
https://seekingalpha.com/article/445472…
Hi @Baseball_Fan,
PVCMX and TANDX are under my radar screen as I require a $100M in assets before they hit my screens, and usually require a Fund Family Rating of 3 or higher. That said, their risk adjusted performance has been good, especially, PC…
@Hank and @Derf,
TMSRX is not particularly tax efficient. It is also conservative. For these reasons, I consider it ideal for some investors in their tax deferred accounts (Traditional IRAs). This is where I have it.
David, thanks for posting your research on REMIX. I compared REMIX to FMSDX, looks good...see https://stockcharts.com/freecharts/perf.php?REMIX,FMSDX&n=455&O=011000
Would love to hear Lynn Bolin's take on this fund as well. I am continuing …
