@hank, Also Fidelity tool is very good to analyze your portfolio and % exposure to certain stocks, although not as neatly as those from M* portfolio X-ray analysis. T. Rowe Price used to make the M* too available to their investors, but now they only want those with $250K invested with them.
I also use the Fidelity tool for retirement planning analysis on several scenarios including expecting returns and inflation. We will do fine even at the worst scenario as long as we maintain our health. Glad to hear you are enjoying life.

The market concentrates around Mag 7 is concerning. Are we riding on a bubble or this time is really differs? Except for US, the economy across the globe is slowing including China.The past week UK and Japan are officially in recession. Is US the only bright spot?
This year we are reducing stocks to the low 40% and repositioning to bonds and cash. My past experience on alternatives has not so successful (and they are expensive to own) so I stay with short duration bonds and cash equivalents. As we are approaching retirement, we are staying risk adverse.
Perhaps this tread should move to “other investing” topic since the discussion is moving to that direction.

@Sven - I agree with most everything you said. Even with all the ALTS I have, I’m at 43% equity according to Fidelity’s analysis tool. So we’re pretty close together on that. Yes - it is very expensive to own ALTS. Mostly it’s due to interest paid on borrowings for short positions and sometimes for adding leverage. You definitely have to pay to play.
Retirement? I’ve blown right past that! Now reside in “Never-Never-Land”. :)
Good luck

The market concentrates around Mag 7 is concerning. Are we riding on a bubble or this time is really differs? Except for US, the economy across the globe is slowing including China.The past week UK and Japan are officially in recession. Is US the only bright spot?
This year we are reducing stocks to the low 40% and repositioning to bonds and cash. My past experience on alternatives has not so successful (and they are expensive to own) so I stay with short duration bonds and cash equivalents. As we are approaching retirement, we are staying risk adverse.
Perhaps this tread should move to “other investing” topic since the discussion is moving to that direction.

Good useful summary, although the example of worse case losses being 2% a year seems a bit optimistic. Averaged over 10 years it comes closer.
He doesn't mention the importance of the source of the withdrawals, ie taking money from bonds when stock market down etc.
Delaying the inflation adjustment also saves the suggested portfolio in several other examples ie "The All Weather Retirement Portfolio" by Randy Thurman.
One of the most complex discussions of allocations and withdrawal rates I have read is "Living Off Your Money" by Michael McClung. It has dozens of allocations and methods of withdrawal, almost too many. But they are all back tested with 40 to 50 years of data

The SOR risks are high during the decumulation phase. Much of the portfolio literature is on the accumulation phase or on point-to-point TR. There are also good related threads on ProBoards forums (BB, YBB)
https://www.morningstar.com/retirement/sequence-risk-during-retirement

Rollover is one of those terms that everyone uses differently. Here's an IRS page entitled "Rollovers of Retirement Plan and IRA Distributions".
https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/rollovers-of-retirement-plan-and-ira-distributions
Obviously (from the title) the IRS considers everything a rollover, whether from/to a qualified plan or an IRA. It describes three types of rollovers:
1. Trustee-to-trustee transfer
2. Direct rollover (a check is issued payable to the new trustee)
3. Indirect (60 day) rollover
#3 does generate a 1099. You are not limited in the number of 60 day rolllovers you can do in a year from a qualified plan. But the employer will be required to withhold 20% for taxes.
You are also not limited in the number of 60 day rollover conversions (trad -> Roth). But you are limited to one IRA-to-IRA 60 day rollover (regardless of whether it is trad to trad or Roth to Roth).

Yogi, I think this is saying what I said. I "rolled" a 401k to an IRA. Funds were not transferable. A "transfer" would be moving an account of the same kind to a different brokerage, example, IRA to IRA. In that case funds are transferable.
Am I wrong?
This is from what you linked:\
What is the difference between a transfer and a rollover?
A transfer refers to a movement of funds between two accounts of the same type. These transfers do not get reported to the IRS and, therefore, can occur as often as you would like. Learn about account consolidation.
On the other hand, a rollover is when you move funds from one eligible retirement plan to another account of a different type. An example of a rollover would be a former employer's 401(k) account into an IRA. These transfers may generate a 1099 tax form but are not taxable if both accounts are of the same tax status. For example, if you move a Traditional 401(k) into a Traditional IRA or a Roth 401(k) into a Roth IRA. Learn more about rollovers.

Fido core/settlement choices depend on whether taxable or retirement a/c. EASY to switch.
https://www.fidelity.com/trading/faqs-about-account#faq_about2

When I sell a holding or transfer money into Fido brokerage or retirement account, it goes into a 5% money market fund automatically; perhaps this was something I set up manually

My boring, bond-heavy portfolio is up 3.26% YTD, all ETFs or MFs. I like normalized interest rates.

@Low_Tech, that is really good for a bond heavy portfolio. I'm having a hard time finding bond funds returning anywhere near 3.2% YTD. It must be the "equity-light" side of your portfolio driving that YTD return (?)

Mike: What's driving it (those returning more than 3.26%) are CEFs GOF (10.45%), PDI (9.43%), Janus Balanced JABAX (4.3%) and SPY (5.5%) (all numbers are from M*). Those are four funds out of a total of eight.
My retirement portfolio AA is 38/62. FWIW, I'm more interested in income than market prices or total return. But I do check TR, usually only quarterly, but saw this thread and thought I'd check it.

Understand now?
MMM..maybe, congrats it's working for you, the more you or anyone else make the better.
On the other hand, many of us have different styles, risk tolerance and goals.
My main objectives were always to have an excellent risk/reward portfolio...and I did. What others do is their objectives. I'm OK with just beating the SP500 (although I only needed 6% annually) since retirement (6 years) with an extremely low SD < 3 and using just 2-3 bond funds instead of trading every week and holding over 30 positions (stocks, bonds, CDs). I didn't troll you in any way, but you did = old news. If my trading isn't good, how did I achieve the following(data)?
BTW, why bring up FSELX at all? Are you going to mention it any time someone posts about any fund?
Lastly, after years during 2015-17 that you claimed I would not retire and never make it, the reality is different, what a "surprise". I immigrated with nothing and retired after 23 years, and since retirement doubled my money.

Secure 2.0: Retirement Portability
Secure 2.0 requires retirement plan (401k/403b) portability for small accounts ($1-7K; limit adjusted) into another job's plan or Safe Harbor IRAs (also, Automatic Rollover IRAs). Plan balances under $1K can still be cashed out – those can be rolled over into IRA or spent (paying 10% penalty & taxes). PSN enables auto-portability for fees (5% of balance up to max $30) & its current members include Alight, Vanguard, Fidelity, Empower, TIAA, and Principal.
https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/thread/567/retirement-portability
Edit/Add: The entire legislation isn't new. But Secure 2.0 changed the limits and provisions that make auto-portability possible.

Feb. 10, '24: Another week, another gazillion dollars down the toilet in the federal budget...
Taking @hank's advice, at long last: added a bond ETF in taxable, FALN. The amount in there is still miniscule. My other bond funds are in the retirement side of things.
BHB got clobbered last week, but recovered quite a bit on Friday. BHB and ET are neck-and-neck to claim biggest spot in portfolio. 4.76 vs 4.74% of total.
Performance ytd: I rediscovered an email I sent to myself with end-of-2023 numbers. Today, the portfolio is down by just a fraction in 2024.
Volatility! Range-bound volatility! Disgusting! The next time PRNEX hints at an upward move, it will be liquidated and redeployed. Suck-hole fund, that has been.
*********
Super Bowl weather here: 78, sunny, light winds. But of course, the game starts just after lunch, here.

This ad-hoc feature returns this week with several related stories. LINK1 LINK2 BarronsLINK
FORSYTH is a fan of CEFs at discount. He now likes muni MYD, VFL, LEO; options-writing equity GDV, ECF, AOD, AGD; term-trusts FTHY, BSL.
FUNDS. Cash/cash-equivalents won’t be attractive for long. Consider extending maturities with ultra-, short- and intermediate- term bond funds (ICSH, MINT, JAAA; BSV; BND). Multisector bond funds (OSTIX, TSIAX), and dividend-stock funds (VYM, XLV).
FUNDS. Thematic AI-ETFs are hot now, but those may include all sorts of related techs: BOTZ, AIQ, TECB, IGPT, CHAT, etc. Be aware that tech ETFs QQQ, XLK, etc have related tech exposures; SP500 (IVV, VOO, SPY) is also heavy in techs.
Q&A/Interview. Alesia HAAS, Coinbase/COIN CFO. The US-based Coinbase has been very volatile. It ran up on the excitement related to the SEC approval of several physical/spot-Bitcoin ETFs (iShares IBIT, Fidelity FBTC, Grayscale GBTC, etc), but then sold off when investors became concerned that its new Bitcoin ETF custody business was a low-margin business that may hurt its retail business. COIN has diverse businesses – exchange, broker-dealer, custody; recent rate hikes helped with higher interest income. It has also increased its global presence. The legal fight with the SEC continues. These new Bitcoin ETFs will appeal to institutions, pension funds, RIAs. This will be a long-term positive for the industry, and for COIN, despite some short-term concerns. Congress needs to pass new crypto legislations, but it has been bogged down with other pressing matters.
RETIREMENT. Homeowners may tap home-equity loans (HELOCs). Typical rates are variable, now around 9.27%. Beware of teaser rates and conditions that may trigger credit line reduction or cancellation. Of course, it’s a loan that has to be repaid, so discipline is required.
Supplement GUIDE TO WEALTH
In this expensive market, consider DIVIDEND-paying stocks. Only funds are mentioned below, but several stocks are also included in the article.
US: VYM, SCHD
Consumer-Staples: XLP
Financials: XLF
MLPs: SMAPX
Real Estate: VNQ, XLRE
Utilities: XLU, UTG
Foreign: IEFA, IEMG
Cash-Equivalents: in limited amounts.
Variations of BENGEN’s (1994) 4% initial withdrawal with COLA are discussed. Bengen himself says that 4.7% w/COLA is fine now; some advisors say that 6% w/COLA but annual monitoring may work. Others say to skip COLA in down years. Another variation is to just take 4% of the yearend balances – it removes the SOR risk, but annual withdrawals may vary widely. Immediate-annuities transfer longevity risks to insurance companies for fees. Keep in mind that increasing RMDs are also required from T-IRA and 401k/403b; Roth Conversions will reduce the RMDs.

Alternatively, you could buy it directly on the London Exchange (PSH:GB). But not in a retirement account.
Fidelity charges £9 for the London Exchange transaction. At the current exchange rate of $1.26, that's around $11.35 - a lot cheaper than $50. Though I don't know what sort of stock price you'd get through each mechanism.
https://www.fidelity.com/stock-trading/faqs-international
https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/documents/Brokerage_Commissions_Fee_Schedule.pdf
https://www.reddit.com/r/fidelityinvestments/comments/pjvwvg/why_fidelity_charges_5000_foreign_settlement_fee/

GQG Partners US Quality Dividend Income Investor Class. GQHPX. Hello, Rajiv Jain.
I see good things, upon examination. But the portfolio is super-dooper concentrated. Dividends, quarterly. So, we get cap gains opportunity and the income. This would be a replacement for BRUFX (T-IRA,) which has fallen down on the job. Not serving our purposes anymore.
The folks at Murklestar do have compliments for the firm. The fund is quite young, still. LOTS of portfolio turnover. Probably best in a retirement account?
https://www.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/gqhpx/quote

Feb 3 Episode:

We speak with Christine Benz, Morningstar’s personal finance guru, about the significant impact of higher yields on retirement planning. Benz discusses the potential benefits of adding a basic fixed immediate annuity to retirement plans, the importance of asset location for higher-yielding assets, and the advantages of investing in defined maturity bond funds. She also shares insights on the iShares I bond Term TIPS ETFs and the implications of higher interest rates on portfolio returns.

Explore This Episode - additional information and content related to this episode.
retirement-planning

"Portfolio" as opposed to "fund" in a name is often a signal that the vehicle is designed for annuities. Nevertheless, aside from their names, they are still referred to as "funds", as in "AMT Funds".
From the SAI: "Shares of the Funds are sold to insurance company separate accounts, so that the Funds may serve as investment options under variable life insurance policies and variable annuity contracts issued by insurance companies (each, a “variable contract”). Shares of the Funds are also offered to certain qualified pension and other retirement plans (each, a “qualified plan”)."
https://www.sec.gov/ixviewer/ix.html?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/736913/000120677423000503/nb4183681_485bpos.htm
Here's the International Equity Portfolio fact sheet (Dec 2023), w/$34.8M AUM.
https://www.nb.com/handlers/documents.ashx?item_id=80aa402f-390a-4524-a1bf-e08863ea55ad&usg=AOvVaw2t510MsI7uum0NaGaTeGZq&opi=89978449
And a M* summary page from last June for the PutWrite Strategy Portfolio w/$39.69M AUM
https://www.pacificlife.com/public/portfolios_and_managers/portfolio_updates/msfs_neuberger_berman_absolute_return_multimanager.pdf
I'm sure one could find more recent data, but with both funds under $40M, does it really matter?

VPMAX is arguably Primecap's premier fund; I'd do it, especially in a retirement account (mixed in with the total market fund).

Stable-Value (SV) Rates, 2/1/24
TIAA Traditional Annuity (Accumulation) Rates
No changes
Restricted RC 6.25%, RA 6.00%
Flexible RCP 5.50%, SRA 5.25%, Newer IRAs 5.20%
TSP G Fund hasn't updated yet (previous monthly rate was 4.00%).
Edit/Add. February rate 4.125%
Options outside of workplace retirement plans include m-mkt funds, bank m-mkt accounts (FDIC insured), T-Bills, short-term brokered CDs.
#StableValue #401k #403b #TIAA #TSP
https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/post/1335/thread