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davfor
Thanks. She is well now and back to her daily volunteering.....
I sold most of my bond fund holdings during 2020 and 2021 and invested most of the proceeds into utility stocks -- favoring those having at least a somewhat green look to them. Those stocks recently peaked at about 8% of my investment portfolio. U…
We may have seen this show before. The Fed was very slow to begin raising rates....it wanted to have the data very clearly lead the way. But it then raised rates aggressively once they started to move. It's to early to know. But, the data may no…
@BaluBalu Thanks for the link I reread the comments with my rather general current question in mind. Midstream stocks such as ET and EPD initially continue to make sense too me because of the increased volume through the pipes. But upstream prod…
@Davfor, That topic can be a thread by itself. E.g., accepting a higher inflation target? I am happy to participate in it if you or someone opens the thread.
Thanks for clarifying what you meant by keeping the short end of the yield curve artif…
Short end of the curve likely will be kept low artificially, which will benefit a lot of small businesses / caps and low end consumers.
Thanks for sharing your perspectives. I would appreciate a little elaboration about your use of "artificially" …
My dividend focused portfolio had a good day (up 0.6%) with Utilities and REITS leading the way. The inflation rate and the job market are for now both moderating.....that has been my expectation for this year....but how long will that trend contin…
@davfor
SCOTUS specifically listed the pardon as one of the Presidential powers that would be considered "official". It would appear to me that the President could pardon anyone who he ordered to perform an illegal act, and do it prospectively befo…
The military swears an oath to the Constitution and consequently can refuse "illegal" orders. What is an illegal order? Are all official acts, or acts the President says are "official" legal?
@sma3 I have read in 2 reviews of this ruling th…
This ruling and its implications take me back to the 2016 election cycle. One of my major concerns then was that whoever won that election might well have the ability to substantially reshape the composition of the Supreme Court. Unfortunately -- …
My portfolio is taxable and is primarily buy and hold. High yield stock and utility stock sleeves were added to it in 2020 and were funded during 2020 and the first part of 2021. Most of the dividends earned are released for personal use. Fido sa…
I agree with @Mark . BDCs are in general not currently on sale. BXSL was added to my portfolio in July of 2022 when it looked to me to be on sale. So far, so good with that purchase.
Interest rate uncertainty coupled with the Iranian missile strike on Israel have me opening my eyes to possible investment opportunities for the first time this year. I will be paying attention to market action on Monday and may make a trade or two.
David Snowball wrote in the March 2024 Commentary that:
If you believe that The Great Distortion has ended, that inflation is real, and that interest rates will not return to the zero-to-negative range they occupied since 2008, then you might also w…
I am sometimes reminded of something Bill Gates wrote in March of 2023: "The development of AI is as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone." NVDA's performance today suggests A…
FWIW....No advice from here for short term traders...but here are my three high yield bond fund holdings. They are distinct and have each treated me well: RPHIX (and RPHYX), CBLDX, and BGHIX.
My experience is similar to what others noted here....I am up in low single digits on a total return basis since start of 2022. My portfolio (70% stocks) is seriously underweight in the current market darlings. But, even so it has not fallen very …
@davfor, yes, I can think of all those reasons why people might wish for cuts. How many of them have anything to do with the Fed's legal mandate?
The Federal Reserve System has been given a dual mandate—pursuing the economic goals of maximum empl…
There are numerous reasons the fed may well be receptive to cutting rates when they become convinced that the pandemic induced spike in inflation is on a firm downward path. Here are a few possible reasons off top of my head: facilitate reduction…
The Nov-Dec huge performance is over.
Looking forward into 2024 has me considering what is likely to happen if the federal funds rate begins to decline this spring as I think it probably will. By then, the forward looking bond market may well be p…
if you figure it out, feel free to let me/us know :-).
It seems reasonable to me to expect the total return from floating rate products will trend down if rates begin to go down. The last paragraph of their most recent quarterly newsletter doesn't …
JAAA is new to me. I notice it began to move with fairly a steady upward trend in October 2022 several months after the Fed started to increase the federal funds rate. Also, other bond investment products such as SVARX, PIMIX, and BINC substantial…
Most importantly, as an retired investor in the de-accumulating phase of life, I contemplate how best to manage my portfolio withdrawals as I dollar cost average out of positions in up and down markets.
Here are a couple of things I think about whi…
Fido makes you wait an extra day to complete a fund-to-fund trade. I can live with that. Agree sooner would be better.
Once upon a time Fido let you reinvest a portion, up to 90% of anticipated sale proceeds as of the last closing price as I recall…
I retain an old school perspective that my parents -- who were products of the great depression and dust bowl -- taught me. That perspective taught me to strive to have enough $'s available to pay for foreseeable expenses with cash. That conservat…
$20, 000-$30,000 sitting in cash for the new roof you might need “one of these days” makes little sense to me (unless you are doing so to reap the (substantial) current rate of interest.)
One would expect under normal circumstances to make pe…
Many good points already made. Here's my ten cents worth. Self-directed investing is like running a small business out of the home. It's financial reason for existing is to benefit the household. When I rented out properties I owned, I kept the …
@Swen Thanks for that clarification. The self-developed system I use is based on an investment account spreadsheet and a separate household budget spreadsheet. Maintaining a formal wall between my investing account and household account helps me …
@sma3 & @Sven I agree that having a cash bucket makes sense. Mine is held outside the investment accounts described above. It currently equals about 13% of the total held in those accounts. It is intended to temporarily provide funds to miti…
@Sven Yes. Current Income Sources: defined benefit pensions = 45%, taxable investment account = 30%, social security = 25%. (Also have two smaller Roths that are not being tapped.) Taxable investment account has grown substantially since retir…
@davfor ...in an ideal world, the dividends/distributions generated in your IRA would sufficiently cover your RMDs as well.
I'll take you word for it. But, I don't face any RMD requirements. So, that's an uncharted world to me. About 90% of my inv…
@yogibearbull The suggested annual withdrawal as of 12/31/23 under the system I described above was 4.0%. That is similar to my typical annual withdrawal prior to making the decision to focus on dividends rather than total returns. But, the curr…
Thanks for the comments. For about the first 15 years of retirement, I focused on total returns to help determine the withdrawal amounts from my investment portfolio . This method turned out to be somewhat complicated and stressful due to significa…
It's my sense the article's basic conclusion is accurate in the sense that msf described. But, that doesn't mean most people feel that they are better off. I suspect they continue to focus on their frustration that much of the stuff they buy regul…
