Mr. Cuggino is most assuredly much sharper than any investment knife at this house. I am also in agreement that this house prefers to find growth of global economies going forward.
Mr. Cuggino notes the following in quotes:
"Thirdly, many investors continue to sit on the sidelines with investable cash, which means that additional liquidity will eventually come into the stock market over time as people become more comfortable with our economic performance and/or if economic growth continues at a more rapid pace going forward. That liquidity would likely result in multiple expansion and higher stock prices."
>>>>> I don't know who these investors on the sidelines may be, and will presume he is noting the retail investors; as in we here at MFO. A few trinkets of thoughts. Many retail investors remain via 401k's and related. I also know from my own personal diggings, that while this group of retail investor remains in place; they have also scaled back their %'s of monies to this area. Other stuff like food, fuel and related is drawing more of the take home income. I am also aware of some in this group who have taken loans against their 401k's; and others who are retired; tapping their IRA's and related for needed monies to help support other family members who are having cash flow problems. This does not take into account others who will begin (5 years away) some amount of required withdraws from many sheltered accounts. As to a large money area of the retail investors group being those already retired; I do not have a high expectation that many in this group will be throwing large sums of their retirement acct's. back into the equity arena; aside from the % they may already have invested. Like it or not; the boomer group does have access to or control a vast amount of investment monies.
"Wallace Forbes: So you think this is going to entice some of the people who have liquidity get back into the stock market?
Cuggino: Correct. Right now the stock market’s gains have been based on lower trading volumes and not a lot of excitement among average investors. Investors still feel burned by prior moves in the stock market and prior sell-offs, whether it was 2008 or earlier in the decade – 2000 or 2002 for example. It’s not a sexy asset class right now, if you will, among mainstream investors. When that excitement comes back into the market, you will likely see multiple expansions. In the 1980s and 1990s, stocks traded at multiples in the high teens. Right now they’re trading at multiples in the low-to-mid teens. There’s room for expansion there."
>>>>> As noted, I suspect the prior "excitement periods" may have been enough for many of the older folks. These folks , who understand, that they are not getting much from a CD and related, and not staying up with inflation; may likely prefer this to getting a big whack again. If and when numbers indicate a massive flow from retail investors back into equities, this house will be on guard to unload the same. As to the 80's and 90's. From August 26, 1982 through October 31, 2007 one could dollar cost average into just about any equity area and have a hugh monetary gain smile upon the face. Now and today, keeping most of one's money; let alone making a positive return, is real work, in my opinion. Its not August 26, 1982 through October 31, 2007 any longer and this is part of the shaping of what will become the "
new normal".
"Forbes: So you think that there is a fair possibility that we’re going to get those higher multiples back?
Cuggino: Yes, as more investors get interested in stocks again.
And then, fourthly – and it’s more of a wild card here – depending on the outcome of the elections and the actions or inactions of Congress and the Presidency, equity prices could go up further."
>>>>> I prefer that he is correct and that a long and winding road back to real growth of economies is in place. I will maintain, barring white or black swan events that this house will find what the "new normal" may be at the year 2019. All bets are off, if the Mayan calendar predictions causes no holiday season this year...:):):)
We'll muddle along with our boring portfolio, knowing that we have our legs spread astride the sharply pointed fence top of investing just below our crotch; with each foot placed precariously on pillars made from the word "if" and, of course, not wanting to fall onto the fence.
Perhaps PRPFX should be this house's current challenge for return measurement.
Just my inflation adjusted 2 cents, which today is not worth much, eh?
Take care,
Catch

"While in bonds you’re getting that yield because of high bond prices with little potential of further capital appreciation, with equities you’re being paid a bond-equivalent yield and then some to wait for more robust economic growth, P/E multiple expansion and future capital appreciation. So from an investor’s standpoint, the risk/reward proposition continues to be very favorably biased towards equities."
Interview:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/wallaceforbes/2012/04/17/expect-wynn-fedex-and-apache-to-grow-as-economy-heats-up/

I am interested in comments from ye MFO denizens on some of the concerns about MLPs expressed in this Seeking Alpha item:
http://seekingalpha.com/article/500871-master-limited-partnerships-dark-clouds-ahead
and in particular, the following:
2. As interest rates start to move up, it will negatively affect the MLP. First, investors may choose other income producing assets. We see this phenomenon in other high yield sectors, such as utilities.
Additionally, MLPs constantly need access to capital to continue to grow. As interest rates rise, their costs rise and their margins shrink. If they issue shares to raise capital, well, there is asset dilution. This problem is unlikely to arise until interest rates move up, but it is worth keeping on your "radar".
3. Launching of ETNs vs. ETFs. This is a very big problem as ETNs, by their very nature, do not buy any securities but just track an index. This is very different from an ETF, where new money is put to use through direct purchases in the securities comprising the fund.
Though it is not disclosed anywhere, the ETN issuer typically trades derivatives (calls, puts, etc) which would allow them to completely hedge their upside exposure with zero risk and next to no capital expenditure. Their tracking fee (85 basis points) pays for the hedging costs. The ETN issuer doesn't worry about downside exposure because the bulk of the money is invested somewhere else. If the index goes down, they can actually show a profit.
By completely hedging the position, the ETN issuer can now use the investor capital in any way it pleases. The result is that much of the money invested by the public does not go into the sector which would otherwise have increased the share value of the MLPs.
This creates a problem for the MLP investor, as it draws money away from the sector. Imagine if all the investor monies went into an MLP ETN. No-one would be buying actual shares and the sector would collapse.
Though this is extreme, as more investors move towards ETNs, instead of individual MLPs, the share price of MLPs will not show a level of price appreciation consistent with the money that is, in theory, allocated to them. Several more ETNs are due to launch soon, so the problem will likely be exacerbated.

The use of closed-end Central Fund of Canada, ticker CEF, that owns gold and silver bullion, is a way around this for taxable accounts. Capital gains get treated as capital gains, not income. Using GLD and other ETFs in retirement accounts avoids this issue, too.

Hi Mark,
Some don't pay much attention to taxation ... but, I do. For me to sell equities down fauther would require me to sell positions in my taxable account as I curently hold no just equity funds in my 401k and only a small amount of just equity funds in my IRA. This leaves the bulk of my equities in my taxable account and with the dividend yield that I am catching from them I am choosing to continue to hold them. I just do not need to book a lot of capital gain income uncessairly and also loose my dividend income stream. So if my dividend paying equities pull back in their valuation I will still be catching their dividends. And as Desota pointed out and most don't turn their long standing equity income holdings. At least I don't. However, I will turn special equity positions that I enter.
I gave you an answer ... Sorry it was not the one you were looking for ... But, it was my sincere answer. Look, I enjoy the dividend income from many of these long standing holdings as most of these companies have grown their dividends as they have grown earnings. Why should I sell off a good equity income producing cash cow? Most of them would have to pull back a long way before I would get upside down in them. For example my average cost in DUK Energy is back of $5.00 per share and I am catching a $1.00 dividend per share. What a deal! ... Don't you think?
Take care,
Skeeter

Hi Skeeter,
You noted: " First for Catch 22’s question … Why do not sell equities farther down? Mark I guess I could sell my equities farther down but in doing this I would be generating more taxable income from the resulting capital gains than I need or want. In addition, I would be selling some assets that have appreciated over the years as I have some equity positions that date back to the mid 70’s.
Skeeter, I have got to get into my head the taxable viewpoint that is more often than not part of most posts here. I'll be better in the future regarding the taxable side of money moves.
All of our portfolio is tax sheltered and aside from exchange restrictions (about 20/year); we don't give a thought to tax considerations.
Thank you,
Catch/Mark II

Howdy,
Again, a thank you to all who post the links and also start and participate in the many fine commentaries woven into the message threads.
For those who don't know; I ramble away about this and that, at least once each week.
NOTE: For those who visit MFO, this portfolio is designed for retirement, capital preservation and to stay ahead of inflation creep. This is not a buy and hold portfolio, and is subject to change on any given day; based upon perceptions of market directions. All assets in this portfolio are in tax-sheltered accounts; and any fund distributions are reinvested in the funds. Gains or losses are computed from actual account values.
While looking around.....Bonds, bonds,bonds. As I have noted before, these are, in my opinion, the backbone of money at all scales; from small local gov'ts. and businesses to the large scale operations of central gov'ts. As to this and we individuals; we also issue a form of bond, in reverse. Very few individuals put up the full amount of monies for two major purchases; being a home(s) and several vehicles throughout our lifetime. One may shop around for the best mortgage or vehicle loan, obtain a loan and in effect have a private issue bond produced in your name. Not unlike traditional bonds, your credit worthiness will affect the yield (interest rate you pay). How does this relate to anything investing. It is nothing more than what our house attempts to view and understand all of what surrounds we investors each and every day. We try to place ourselves into the various positions of the financial machinations in the most simple terms we might understand. As this house will never have an inside track to how or why the big money houses or central banks function; nor will we have the intellectual skills to master all of the subtle changes (sometimes in 275 millisecond time frames---trading computers), we do our best to attempt to determine both fundamental and technical aspects of the markets(sectors), in a simple form and make choices from these aspects to position our monies, .
With a part-time staff of 2, on the best of days; our research staff does its best to find the major cause and effect issues in place.
An example is that "x" number of folks are familiar with a nearly perfect formed, very gently sloping range of small mountains, with either downslope side having 20 small water streams, that feed 10 larger streams, then 5 larger streams and then into one large river on either side of the Bondequity mountain range. A weather forecast notes that there will be a rather strong and slow moving storm; producing more than average rainfall, in the area. Each mountainside has its own set of crop growers (investors), being the bond and equity farmers. Some farmers have diversified/mixed their crops. In either case, not enough or too much rain may cause problems for either farm type; whereas it is possible for both crop types to provide ample returns with just the right amount of rainfall.
Knowing or tracking the storm path may be of great benefit to all growers in order to help protect the crops through the system of drainage gates and bypasses that have been used in this area for many years. Heavy rains may still prove to be overwhelming in the low lying areas in the flat lands below; as the amount of rain diverted above will still find its way to this area. As usual, there will be those who are aware of the weather conditions; and will plan accordingly, there will also be those not checking the weather forecast until after the storm has begun and those who seldom monitor the weather forecast. As time and knowledge allows, one should always make some attempt to monitor some aspects of the weather forecast, in order to protect the planted investment crops.
'Course, an ongoing problem area is too much information about the weather forecast, and who or what appears to be credible; and why. And yes, the forecast always has a mix of fundamental and technical aspects, eh?
Watch the forecast, short, medium and long term; or be prepared to find water over the boot tops.
I have added a few blips related to our portfolio and market observations at the below SELLs/BUYs and Portfolio Thoughts.
SELLs/BUYs THIS PAST WEEK:

--- NONE ---
Portfolio Thoughts:
Our holdings had a + .45 % move this past week. Sidenote: The average return of 200 combined Fidelity retail funds across all sectors (week avg = -.96, YTD +8.1%). Investment grade bonds gave support to the portfolio last week, the HY/HI bond sector was down about .22% and the equity funds were mixed to down. We're watching who and what is "twitchy". The following quote from last week reminds me of the more than two years of some of the "interesting" quotes that have arrived from Europe.... “I don’t see a good reason” for buying government bonds, Knot of the ECB said today at an event in Amsterdam. “I think there has been an overreaction to the unfortunate communication surrounding Spain.” Klaas Knot is a governing member of the ECB. Knot is commenting about the ECB buying more of Spain's bonds to offset the yields that have continued to increase after the LTRO (QE) placements of several months. Spain will have another bond auction this coming week, which will help tell more of this picture. One may conclude that bond yields for Spain and Italy have risen again; because the evil bond traders are playing games, or that folks are a bit on edge about holding the product due to the "unfortunate communications" regarding a vast array of circumstances in Spain in partiuclar that may indicate quality problems. One may suspect that the central bankers sure don't care much for all of the data (of which the public has a right of knowledge) traveling the globe. I will presume that the ECB will have to form a plan to move more Euro's to Spain and others again. My favorite quote person of the past 6 months is Christine LaGarde of the IMF. Perhaps I can find a top ten list.
Lastly, the U.S. is still my top equity pick from the turd pile list.
The old Funds Boat is at anchor, riding in the small waves and watching the weather. To the high praise of MFO and the members, it is very difficult to find a topic to note here that has not been placed into the discussion boards. Excellence, as usual.
I have retained the following links for those who may choose to do their own holdings comparison against the fund types noted.
This 1st link to Bloomberg is for their list of balanced funds; although I don't always agree with the placement of fund styles in their categories.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/data?Sector=888&pid=invest_mutualfunds&ListBy=YTD&Term=1
These next two links are for conservative and moderate fund leaders YTD, per MSN.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/partsub/funds/topfundresults.asp?Symbol=$HF&Category=CA
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/partsub/funds/topfundresults.asp?Category=MA&Type=&symbol=$HF
A reflection upon the links above; we attempt to establish a "benchmark" for our portfolio to help us "see" how our funds are performing. Aside from viewing many funds within the balanced/flexible funds rankings (the above links), a quick and dirty group of 4 funds we watch for psuedo benchmarking are the following:
***Note: these YTD's per M*
VWINX .... - .13 week, YTD = + 3.26%
PRPFX .... - .04 week, YTD = + 4.36%
SIRRX ..... + .26 week, YTD = + 2.34%
HSTRX .... + .57 week, YTD = + .23%
None of these 4 are twins to our holdings, but we do watch these as a type of rough guage.
Such are the numerous battles with investments attempting to capture a decent return and minimize the risk.
We live and invest in interesting times, eh?
Hey, I probably forgot something; and hopefully the words make some sense.
Comments and questions always welcomed.
Good fortune to you, yours and the investments.
Take care,
Catch
---Below is what M* x-ray has attempted to sort for our portfolio, as of March 9, 2012---
U.S.Stocks 10.5%
Foreign Stocks 6.8%
Bonds 78.5% ***
Other 4.2%
Not Classified 0.00%
***about 35% of the bond total are high yield category (equity related cousins)
---This % listing is kinda generic, by fund "name"
-Investment grade bond funds 26.8%
-Diversified bond funds 19.8%
-HY/HI bond funds 23.2%
-Total bond funds 17.8%
-Foreign EM/debt bond funds 4.3%
-U.S./Int'l equity/speciality funds 8.1%
This is our current list: (NOTE: I have added a speciality grouping below for a few of fund types)
---High Yield/High Income Bond funds
FAGIX Fid Capital & Income
SPHIX Fid High Income
FHIIX Fed High Income
DIHYX TransAmerica HY
---Total Bond funds
FTBFX Fid Total
PTTRX Pimco Total
---Investment Grade Bonds
APOIX Amer. Cent. TIPS Bond
DGCIX Delaware Corp. Bd
FBNDX Fid Invest Grade
FINPX Fidelity TIPS Bond
OPBYX Oppenheimer Core Bond
---Global/Diversified Bonds
FSICX Fid Strategic Income
FNMIX Fid New Markets
DPFFX Delaware Diversified
TEGBX Templeton Global (load waived)
LSBDX Loomis Sayles
---Speciality Funds (sectors or mixed allocation)
FRIFX Fidelity Real Estate Income (bond/equity mix)
FDLSX Fidelity Select Leisure
FSAGX Fidelity Select Precious Metals
RNCOX RiverNorth Core Opportunity (bond/equity)
---Equity-Domestic/Foreign
FDVLX Fidelity Value
FSLVX Fidelity Lg. Cap Value
FLPSX Fidelity Low Price Stock
MACSX Matthews Asia Growth-Income

Thank you for your questions. My response is below as they were asked.
First for Catch 22’s question … Why did you not sell equities farther down? Mark, I guess I could sell my equities farther down but in doing this I would be generating more taxable income from the resulting capital gains than I need or want. In addition, I would be selling some assets that have appreciated over the years as I have some equity positions that date back to the mid 70’s.
The “Sell in May” strategy has worked more times than not for my family through the years … but, there have been years that the strategy would have provided losses if positions were sold off on the timing schedule. This is one reason that I now use T/A to assist me with entry and exit of the strategy in addition to the calendar. The pure calendar is not as reliable as it used to be from my thoughts. Special positions usually do not get sold off on the schedule if a loss is at hand as they usually are held until such time they will generate a profit from their sale. This is a reason why I usually invest in good dividend equities when using this strategy. If things should move against you, you receive the dividends from the position and this, form my thoughts, gives it some staying power where you can ride out a down draft as you don’t just have a pure capital appreciation only investment. I sold more off this time around than I usually do as I had let my portfolio get too equity heavy as determined for my tolerance for risk. Indeed a sell down of 14% put a lot of cash on the left side of the portfolio. My normal dollar allocation to this strategy is a sum equal to about five percent of the portfolio.
Moving on, with the question on the CD ladder from Derf … The CD ladder used to be comprised of 20 CD positions, one maturing each quarter. So as interest rates pulled back I stopped rolling the CDs and started putting the money to work in some other areas … one being good dividend paying stocks and mutual funds of same. This is part of the reason I got equity heavy. There are only a few positions left in the ladder and these are all paying in the five percent range. You could not, that I know of, go to the market and buy new issues at this yield today. I plan to keep them until they mature.
I admit, I am more active in my portfolio than I have been in the past. However, with the fed cutting interest rates to near zero has left me to utilize CD money in other areas than it was targeted as I had CDs mature. This has in itself got my portfolio somewhat out of skilter. I am now moving it back more towards its old normal allocation. Before the recession ... I was about 15% cash, 30% income and 55% equity. In cash, I was about 5% demand and 10% time deposits (CDs). So now, I guess it is fair to say, I am now light 5% income because of a rising interest rate concern and light 5% equity because of a market concern. Indeed, I have been active ... and, it looks as though I will continue to have to remain active. Staying heavy in cash will afford me availability to pursue special opportunities as they arise.
I hope this answers your questions. If not, I don’t know what else to say ... other than I wish you all good investing.
Best regards,
Skeeter

This fund was tax-efficient, but now it has 40% potential capital gains tax exposure.

Hi Sven,
Thank you for the question(s), which from my understanding is … What did I do on the way up? I hope the below explains this.
Last summer when equities had pulled back I was a buyer of equities and moved money from form the cash ballast side of my portfolio into some special equity ballast positions. Through purchase and capital appreciation these special equity ballast positions combined with my normal core equity holdings grew to a total equity range of 63% to 64% of the portfolio. With this, I began to sell some of them off and book profit. Thus far, from this year alone, my profit in the sell of equity ballast positions is better than ten percent plus their appreciation from the time of purchase last summer puts my overall gain for them in a range from fifteen to twenty percent and a few even hgiher. Not bad gains, form my thoughts, in making excess cash productive ... and, it is much better than the 5% that I was earning in my CD ladder.
This summer, should equities pull back as I expect, I’ll be a buyer of equity ballast again, S&P 500 Index or something similar, if its P/E Ratio approaches 12. With 2012 forward estimated earnings of the S&P 500 Index to be around the $105.00 range this would put the S&P 500 Index at around 1260, by my math, and about where it started the year. Currently, I have the Index pegged at about a forward P/E Ratio of 13 with its current value around 1370. Heck if the market does not pull back … I have already made good money with the sell down of my special positions.
Also, within my equity holdings I am heavily invested in what I consider the big three defensive sectors, utilities, healthcare and consumer staples plus two other sectors which are technology and telecom. Combine these sectors account for better than 50% of my equities. Since four of these sectors are also good dividend generators they should better meet a pull back than the other equity positions and sectors I own. When you combine cash of 25% with the income area at 25% and half of my equities in what I consider good defensive equity positions then I feel I am well positioned to meet a downdraft of equity headwinds moderately well. I am not a holder of any special arbitrage strategy funds although I do hold some funds that can and do employee some short strategies from time-to-time based upon market conditions. From review of a recent Instant Xray report, of my portfolio, reflects that I am currently overall 105% long and 5% short. Note this will vary form time-to-time as some of the funds I own execute their short and long strategies.
A main theme that I do utilize is to build and to maintain a higher level of cash during the equity off season which usually starts around May and goes through October. Historically, the best six months for equities for me has been November through April which I refer to the equity season. It is during this period that I buy and ramp up my allocation to equities, hold them through the season or until I become substantially become overweight in them and then sell some of this equity ballast off, as I did during the first quarter of this year, thus reducing my equity exposure.
I hope my answer provides you with a better understanding of how I govern my portfolio and position it. As I have said before, what I do might not be right for you.
I wish you … “Good Investing.”
Skeeter

A 13-14 % reduction in equity is significant. Hope you have done so on the way up before the decline over the last two weeks. Next week will tell if selling continues.
Next question, what are your plans for capital preservation? Several days ago there were discussion on alternate funds including long/short, arbitrage strategy and etc. Have you consider them? Just curious since you have a considerable cash position.
Sven

I would not alter my allocation because of tax considerations, e.g. I would not put everything into muni bonds just to avoid taxes. IMHO the question is how to invest in each bucket efficiently.
If you are a buy-and-hold indexer, then buying low turnover, broad based index funds (or tax managed funds, which are really not that much different) is a good way to go. You'll pay taxes on the dividends as you go along, but the funds won't generate capital gains, and you won't realize gains until you sell. And even then, I'm confident that the capital gains tax rate will be lower than the ordinary income rate. So you'll have a rough equivalent of a non-deductible IRA - funded with post tax dollars, tax-deferred (since you don't realize gains until you sell), but taxed at a lower rate than the IRA (cap gains, not ordinary income).
If you like to swap funds, even every few years, then Catch's suggestion of a VA (after maxing out all other tax-advantaged options) is worth consideration. I'll discuss VA options below.
On the bond side, I've read that one can build a diversified muni bond portfolio with $50K or more (I'm guessing that's 10 or more different bonds). If you're looking at bond funds, and you have a low or no state income tax, Vanguard has excellent national muni bond funds of all maturities. I would not go too long now, but then that's a bit of market timing, and I'm just as likely to be wrong as right. If you're in a high tax state, you'll likely want a state-specific fund. I'm not a fan of long term bond funds in any economic climate (too volatile for any extra yield you get), and especially not now. That rules out most muni bond funds, but there's still a pretty good selection of intermediate term state-specific funds.
Another option is to look at Vanguard's Tax-Managed Balanced Fund VTMFX. I don't know of another balanced fund that mixes low turnover equity with muni bonds.
Regarding VAs - to me, these only make sense if you're going to be investing for decades. Otherwise it's difficult to make up the wrapper costs and the fact that they convert capital gains into ordinary taxable interest upon withdrawal. Fidelity has a reasonable VA, but its fund offerings are either Fidelity funds (which are okay, not great, on the growth side, and pretty weak on the value side) or pretty expensive outside funds. A couple of different options are TIAA-CREF, which costs 35 basis points for a $100K annuity (but that drops down to a mere 10 basis points after a decade), and Monument VA from Jefferson National. It is priced at $240/year, independent of the assets in the account. (So for a $100K annuity, it costs 24 basis points.)
Both TIAA-CREF and Monument are no load VAs. TIAA-CREF offers several very cheap in-house funds as well as funds from over a dozen other houses (Calamos, PIMCO, Franklin Templeton, Royce, etc.). Monument offers a ridiculous number of funds (360), and includes very low cost funds like Vanguard (but for these low cost funds, you have to pay a $50 transaction fee, not unlike the TF you'd pay at a brokerage). TIAA-CREF is a highly rated insurance company, Jefferson National (that brings you Monument) is not highly rated. So if one buys Monument, one is likely better off not relying on any of the insurance, and just buying the VA for the underlying portfolios.
There are still a few tax shelters available, like investing in low income housing, but I don't suggest these unless you really know what you are doing.

Howdy Art,
Are you still able to invest in a 401k, trad. IRA or Roth IRA; based against your employment status and/or wage? As you noted; the Roth is the first best step in my opinion.
Beyond that; very tax efficient funds could be used to take advantage of long term capital gains/dividends. Although the status of taxation of these two areas is a coin toss going into 2013. I don't have knowledge or a list of tax efficient funds; although I know there are those here who do; and a list could be found.
One other plain jane option that I noted in a recent thread is a variable annuity that shelters current taxation, but would be taxed at the ordinary tax rate for withdrawals.
Fidelilty offers such an account which consists of 57 funds, with about 8 or 9 being non-Fidelity, including 3 Pimco bond funds. From my recall the average expense ration is about .75% for the funds. The ER is the same as for a normal retail fund, without any markups. The only other fee is a .25% annuity expense fee. There are no surrender time frames and/or fees and this annuity is not the more traditional lifetime payout schedule and does not include any for of insurance protection. It is just an area where one may invest tax deferred after other avenues have been exhausted. Note; I do not recommend the various annuities offered by full service insurance companies.
Another option could be muni bond funds which would keep taxes to a lower rate, depending on what type of fund was being used; being state specific or a more broad based U.S. muni bond fund.
At the below link you will find info about the Fido annuity. Along the right page side you will find a funds list link in the research section. Also, you may have a Fidelity investor center in your area for a face to face discovery.
I have no affiliation with Fidelity; other than having personal accounts.
https://www.fidelity.com/annuities/variable-annuity
My two cents worth.
Regards,
Catch

I have been out of pocket and on holiday since Thursday afternoon, just returned, and have been going through my mail, etc. I wanted to get back to those that had questions with my thoughts.
Q: Request for thoughts on the markets form John Newton. Hi John, I feel stocks will be going soft as corporate earnings reporting works its way through the upcoming earning season and stock valuations will remain soft on into and through the summer. After we get through the November elections I feel the S&P 500 Index will close around a forward P/E Ratio of 14. With forward 2012 earnings estimates being in the $105.00 range this would put the S&P 500 Index some where around 1470 at years end. During the summer I believe it is possible that we could see a retreat back to a P/E Ratio in the 12 range and with this that would put the S&P Index around the 1250 range. That would be a high to low range with a spread of about 17% or so. There are many global happenings and events that could have a big bearing on this out look … but, you now have my current “SWAG.” It is for certain that no body knows what will transpire until after the fact. In addition, I feel bond valuations will go soft as interest rates rise in the coming months so this is something on the radar screen that needs to be given some thought as well … not just equities.
Q: Where do you put your cash form the sale of equities? Hi Cathy G, thank you for the question. Currently, most of my cash is liquid with the exception being what remains of a CD ladder that still has a couple CD positions that are paying in the 5% interest range. They will be maturing in the near term so with this all my cash will be liquid with no time deposits. It does not take much for one to figure out where I am with my cash allocation if equities and other assets are now at 54% and income is at 25% … then this leaves cash at 21%. The way I have been making my cash productive is to use it to fund special short term investment positions and other investment strategies. Some might recall I was a buyer of equities back during the summer going into early fall. When the market turned upwards this resulted in capital appreciation on these special positions and my equity allocation grew to about 63% to 64% of the portfolio. I then began to scale equities back and this resulted in booking capital gains form the sale of the special short term investments. This is one way I used some of my cash to make it productive. I’ll admit with cash having little or no yield it is not much of a productive asset class unless you can do something with it as I have. However, when equity and bond valuations start pulling back in their value, cash will remain a stable force and help stabilize the portfolio in the upcoming anticipated downdraft. A high cash position should help soften the down turn form my thoughts. Plus it will provide me a means to taken advantage of a stock market pull back when and if it takes place allowing me to reload my portfolio with some special short term investment positions. So, carrying this amount of cash does not bother me at this time.
Q: What vehicles do you use to get precise percentages? Hi MikeM, thank you for the question. The percentages I referenced were for the Master portfolio. The Master portfolio consists of the sum of several portfolios … taxable account, 401K and IRA. In adding the valuation of equities from all the portfolios together resulted in a percentage that I expressed out to the tenth … I believe it was 55.3%. I usually reference only whole numbers by rounding. Sorry if this misled you into thinking otherwise.
I hope this response answers your questions as I tried to cover everything that was asked. If I missed something … please let me know.
Have a great week … and, Good Investing,
Skeeter

Reply to @msf: Thanks so much, mfs, for your follow-up. I have always been constantly amazed at how generous the people like you here in this forum are with taking so much of your time to help others.
The end result for me after reading all the links is that I'm just not comfortable transferring any of our accounts to this Company. They, and the advisor, may be good but if I'm this dubious now, it can't be a start of a good relationship. I will most likely wait until the end of this summer to see if there is any good news about actual economic fixes, then transfer the 0.45% Roth cd's to Scottrade and, assuming another bad Spring, maybe get in at the lower end of the prices for the funds I invest in. There just seems to be no point in keeping Roth's at this ridiculous rate when the whole point is to not have to pay taxes on the gains.
P.S. I did wonder why it was law firms like the one I found that made such a strong, negative review of Raymond James. Guess they want clients who have had bad experiences there.

Howdy,
Again, a thank you to all who post the links and also start and participate in the many fine commentaries woven into the message threads.
For those who don't know; I ramble away about this and that, at least once each week.
NOTE: For those who visit MFO, this portfolio is designed for retirement, capital preservation and to stay ahead of inflation creep. This is not a buy and hold portfolio, and is subject to change on any given day; based upon perceptions of market directions. All assets in this portfolio are in tax-sheltered accounts; and any fund distributions are reinvested in the funds. Gains or losses are computed from actual account values.
While looking around..... Mega, as in the recent lottery; and the word fickle indicates: is erratic, undecided, or unpredictable.
A few personal notes for reminders, or for those reading this for the first time. Surely there are those who view this portfolio mix as a possible clunker, not containing enough forward growth and/or value. In the current investment environment as this house views this area; the first and primary aspect is to retain capital. We will surely miss opportunities and turns in this sector or that, which will cause losses in some areas and gains in others. With this we must ride and adjust to the best of our ability. Also to this, with our misses and hits we find our portfolio in company with bright minds over the past few years; hedge funds, J.P. Morgan (in 2010, spring; the 10 year Treasury will move to 5%) and Pimco Total Return (PTTRX) missing the Treasury run and other bright minds on a global scale attempting to do the same thing. Horn blowing; no ! We all get lucky and find our monies in the right place at the right time, eh?
To the Mega: Would this portfolio look different if we were a Mega Million lottery winner? Without a doubt. Would we feel sad about a 20% loss to the downside, if we were farily wealthy? But, if we still had $8 million remaining of a $10 million portfolio; we would surely not be stretched into a poor lifestyle. Some many things are from one's perspective, eh?
The fickle side will be an addendum, as the write ran into the text limiter.............................
As usual, the markets and the sectors within the markets were scattered every which way this past week. I will note a few areas:
--- U.S. equity funds = +.45 through - 1.77 % (week avg= -.79/YTD +13.2%)
--- Int'l equity funds = +.32 through - 3.1 % (week avg= - 1.63/YTD +12.6%)
--- Sector equity funds = + .94 through - 6.6 % (week avg= - 1.09/YTD +12.8%)
--- Investment grade bond funds = +.74 through - .0% (week avg= +.15/YTD +.3%)
--- HY/HI bond funds = + .0 through - .41 % (week avg= -.23/YTD +4.9%)
--- Multi sector bond funds = >>>to be revised
--- Emerging markets bond funds = >>>to be revised
Average of 200 combined funds across all sectors above (week avg= -.73/YTD +9.4%)
The above numbers provide some value as to how one chooses to arrange their portfolio, not only relative to weighting of sectors; but also how confident one feels with using very narrow sector investments or broad based funds, be they active managed funds, indexes or etf's. The above list and the variances of gains or losses, of course; are nothing new. But as this house moves along with our portfolio, we continue to reshape and attempt to understand methods of how to best provide for positive returns going forward.
I have added a few blips related to our portfolio and market observations at the below SELLs/BUYs and Portfolio Thoughts.
SELLs/BUYs THIS PAST WEEK:

--- NONE ---
Portfolio Thoughts:
Our holdings had a + .003 % move this past week. Yes, that is 3/1000's. Well.......we'll sit with our current mix to find what this Monday brings. Our 50% reduction in FSAGX several weeks ago still finds the remaining holding to get whacked (-6.6% last week). Most of our equity holdings were down a bit last week; as well as the high yield bond sectors; while the mixed bag of other bonds were flat to slightly positive. To those holding 50% or more in equity postions, I salute you; as you should be at a most favorable YTD return, far surpassing our performance.
The old Funds Boat is at anchor, riding in the small waves and watching the weather. To the high praise of MFO and the members, it is very difficult to find a topic to note here that has not been placed into the discussion boards. Excellence, as usual.
I have retained the following links for those who may choose to do their own holdings comparison against the fund types noted.
This 1st link to Bloomberg is for their list of balanced funds; although I don't always agree with the placement of fund styles in their categories.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/data?Sector=888&pid=invest_mutualfunds&ListBy=YTD&Term=1
These next two links are for conservative and moderate fund leaders YTD, per MSN.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/partsub/funds/topfundresults.asp?Symbol=$HF&Category=CA
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/partsub/funds/topfundresults.asp?Category=MA&Type=&symbol=$HF
A reflection upon the links above; we attempt to establish a "benchmark" for our portfolio to help us "see" how our funds are performing. Aside from viewing many funds within the balanced/flexible funds rankings (the above links), a quick and dirty group of 4 funds we watch for benchmarking are the following:
***Note: these YTD's per M*
VWINX ....YTD = + 3.39% - .30 week
PRPFX ....YTD = + 4.40% - .82 week
SIRRX .....YTD = + 2.07% + .09 week
HSTRX ....YTD = - .34% - .26 week
None of these 4 are twins to our holdings, but we do watch these as a type of rough guage.
Such are the numerous battles with investments attempting to capture a decent return and minimize the risk.
We live and invest in interesting times, eh?
Hey, I probably forgot something; and hopefully the words make some sense.
Comments and questions always welcomed.
Good fortune to you, yours and the investments.
Take care,
Catch
---Below is what M* x-ray has attempted to sort for our portfolio, as of March 9, 2012---
U.S.Stocks 10.5%
Foreign Stocks 6.8%
Bonds 78.5% ***
Other 4.2%
Not Classified 0.00%
***about 35% of the bond total are high yield category (equity related cousins)
---This % listing is kinda generic, by fund "name"
-Investment grade bond funds 26.8%
-Diversified bond funds 19.8%
-HY/HI bond funds 23.2%
-Total bond funds 17.8%
-Foreign EM/debt bond funds 4.3%
-U.S./Int'l equity/speciality funds 8.1%
This is our current list: (NOTE: I have added a speciality grouping below for a few of fund types)
---High Yield/High Income Bond funds
FAGIX Fid Capital & Income
SPHIX Fid High Income
FHIIX Fed High Income
DIHYX TransAmerica HY
---Total Bond funds
FTBFX Fid Total
PTTRX Pimco Total
---Investment Grade Bonds
APOIX Amer. Cent. TIPS Bond
DGCIX Delaware Corp. Bd
FBNDX Fid Invest Grade
FINPX Fidelity TIPS Bond
OPBYX Oppenheimer Core Bond
---Global/Diversified Bonds
FSICX Fid Strategic Income
FNMIX Fid New Markets
DPFFX Delaware Diversified
TEGBX Templeton Global (load waived)
LSBDX Loomis Sayles
---Speciality Funds (sectors or mixed allocation)
FRIFX Fidelity Real Estate Income (bond/equity mix)
FDLSX Fidelity Select Leisure
FSAGX Fidelity Select Precious Metals
RNCOX RiverNorth Core Opportunity (bond/equity)
---Equity-Domestic/Foreign
FDVLX Fidelity Value
FSLVX Fidelity Lg. Cap Value
FLPSX Fidelity Low Price Stock
MACSX Matthews Asia Growth-Income

Howdy Cathy,
Okay, I will presume I have enough coffee in my body to be sensible this morning.
First, this is a link to the VA you mentioned. If you have not read through parts of this, once the page is open....do the "control and f key" on the pc to bring up the search/find window. Type in the word........fee........... Click find. You will find the base fees for the various functions of this VA.
http://google.brand.edgar-online.com/EFX_dll/EDGARpro.dll?FetchFilingHTML1?ID=7762216&SessionID=g0fHHe9tsQ5lnl7
Second. I did read your link regarding the various machinations of the RJ company. I find any of this troubling, regardless of the company. Would be a good upfront question to one of their brokers, eh? Like: "What are your (RJ adviser) feelings about all of this?"
Third. You mentioned you are appalled by the young adviser's political leanings. His/her political views should find no place in a discussion with a potential client. Only if I knew a person very well, would such a discussion subject be involved.
Fourth. You mentioned consolidation of accts......credit union and Scottrade. If a married couple each has a Roth and Trad IRA, you'll still have a total of 4 different accts.; no matter where the accts. are held and this is the least number a couple would have. Now if the couple has more than one of each type of IRA with different vendors, then consolidation may be the way to go. But, in the end; each person will remain with one of each type, eh?
What caused you to consider a VA? Our house would have a VA on a long list of choices, but not for any death benefits or long term payout functions. All VA's are not the same; although likely 99% have the common thread as used by most insurance companies.
As Mark and msf noted, too; a VA may have a place, after all other avenues are exhausted. Some of this depends on one's current employment or being retired. Being the ability (income limitations) to contribute to an IRA and related.
In the money !!! If our house were to come upon a fairly large sum of money via inheritance or lottery or........ We would have to consider what to do with these monies. A few quick and dirty thoughts come to mind.
1. Trad. IRA's could be converted to Roth's
2. Split the monies into taxable and deferred tax accts.
--- the taxable could go to muni funds and/or the most efficient and viable funds available for dividend/long term captial gains taxation rates.
--- another choice could find a VA here, too. Current tax law would find these monies taxed as ordinary income upon withdrawal. The VA of choice today (without further in depth study) would be from Fidelity. Their plain jane VA is for deferring current taxation. No bells and whistles for future guaranteed payouts, no death benefit and no surrender period charges. One has access to 57 funds, most of which are Fidelity. One pays the normal expense ratio (same paid by other retail holders) of the fund, plus a .25% fee.
In the near future, our house will rollover accts from employment accts. (401k's and 403b's) into existing trad. IRA accts.
In the end, we each will hold a Roth and trad. IRA via Fidelity.
Your house surely has much different considerations via California and the tax rates there.
We currently do not have any investments in ongoing taxable accts.
As to the credit union IRA's you mentioned. This money surely is not earning much, eh? But, it is insured via NCUA, yes?; if this is a part of a consideration.
Past this, you may choose to consolidate the trad. and Roth IRA's to one vendor. As noted, we will remain with Fidelity, as we are most satisfied with their "paperwork", easy of use, very nice online acct. pages and functions and access to more investment areas than one could fit onto a list.
I suppose your choice(s) boil down with which vendor to remain with for your taxable and IRA accts.
But, I would not personally choose a VA of the type mentioned.
Lastly, as to muni bonds (potential problems), bonds in general and let us not forget equities, eh? Nothing much has changed. I will not dismiss that yields are very low and should have no place to go; but up. One may ask the same of equities in the current market. Do they have more room to move upward? I will attempt to note some of this in the Funds Boat, as my time this weekend adjusts. Although anything can happen over the weekend, I do suggest to note what direction Treasury issues take this Monday opening and through the day.
Okay, I must get to some chores.
Take care,
Catch

Reply to @msf: Thanks so much, MSF, for taking the time to send me such a great, comprehensive response! I will check out your links on Raymond James. Would you mind taking a quick look at the link I found below... and let me know if the awful complaints there seem valid to you?
http://www.stockbroker-fraud.com/lawyer-attorney-1222573.html
The advisor is just a young kid (well, to me anyway), but was recommended as "someone who will bend over backwards to comply with client's goals and wishes, even at his detriment." He does seem sharp and knowledgeable, but it's hard to completely disregard his political views (appalling to me).
I would only be transferring about 25% of my total investments if I decide to do this, but it would be so nice to let them manage the 3 out of 4 smaller portfolios so I could concentrate completely on the largest one. I already don't fully understand all the funds I manage that I would like to at least understand all a lot better.
I don't mind paying the percentage fees... IF there is enough expertise and active management of my portfolios and they are able to do slightly better than the 75% portfolio I will continue to manage. I definitely do NOT want USB-type management that kept some investments for a century, and most others for decades, not only making my taxable gains on non-step-up accounts horrendous, but mainly by doing almost NO rebalancing over the last 100 years, letting losing funds drop 80% and having 85%+ equities for almost all retired beneficiaries. Still makes my blood boil, especially since they still have the largest Trust there which doesn't dissolve until 2021.

Reply to @CathyG: The various Arbitrage funds - Merger (MERFX) or Arbitrage (ARBFX) or AQR Diversified Arb (ADANX, I think?) would be a place to park low-key (although there is certainly still *some* risk) non fixed-income money I'd consider personally. Certainly would be more risk, but Sierra Core Retirement (SIRIX) is a conservative fund-of-funds geared towards retirees with an "absolute return" goal (emphasis on *goal* - I believe the goal is an 8% total return - capital gain + dividend on average per year *over a market cycle*, so there may be years less and more. It handled 2008 and 2009 well, but has been quieter since.)
There are likely a number of lower-risk fixed income options that others will likely be able to offer if you didn't want to go to cash. I'm not in cash at all - I own what I want to own for the mid-to-long term (especially long-term for a series of various stocks) and am really trying to make very little in the way of moves for the next year or two.
Or one can always look at going to cash (MM/CD/etc) as at least not putting money at risk (aside from inflationary risk.)

Yes, there is a way, but it sounds like you may not be clear on what creates that tax deduction. It's the fact that you're contributing money to a spousal IRA. It doesn't matter where that money comes from.
If the only way you can come up with the cash to fund that IRA is by taking a distribution from another retirement account, then perhaps that deduction isn't doing too much for you now, and you'd be better leaving the money in a tax-exempt account growing tax-exempt, rather than moving it to a tax-deferred account, where the growth will ultimately get taxed as ordinary income.
If this is a short term cash flow problem, you can move the money to the new employer account and borrow against it. (Something else that's not advisable, but it can beat outright withdrawing the money.) Technically, that's a way of taking 401K money and getting it somewhere else. At least for awhile. Note that you can do this only with a current employer's 401K, and the loan is due upon termination of the job, if not sooner.
As I described in a prior post, if you take a distribution of the Roth401K, roll most of it into a Roth IRA, then the remainder may be tax (and penalty) free. Then you have the cash to do with as you will - contribute to your wife's IRA, go on vacation, whatever. For example, say that you've contributed $6K to the Roth 401K, and it's now worth $9K. If you transfer $4K to a Roth IRA, the IRS says that this $4K includes the $3K of gains and $1K of original contributions. The remaining $5K consists entirely of contributions. They're tax-free. No penalty. That gets you $5K to play with. But also as I noted above (as did BobC), watch out for possible withholding on the distribution.