Like @stillers, I jumped on new issue CDs when rates topped 5%, and I’m glad that I did. I’ve got CD ladders extending out 5 years in several IRAs and our taxable savings, with an overall yield about 5.1%. The last issues I bought were 4 and 5 year terms yielding 5.05 to 5.1%, and the best yields in that range have dropped 0.5-0.8% over the past couple weeks. All my CDs are non-callable except for a few shorter term issues that are unlikely to be called.

Old_joe,
You can invest as you wish, I never said that CD or TR are bad or I will never invest in them.
I know 3 investors with millions, one has over 90% in Munis + 10% stocks, the second has over 90% in stocks, the third has 50% in MSFT, all have been doing it for decades and are very pleased.
In the last 1.5 years I posted many times that ST CD didn't make sense because MM has been doing very well and similar. About several weeks ago I posted that 3-5 years CDs make more sense to me because inflation is coming down, rates are likely to come down and these CDs will still pay nicely and much better than MM.
BTW, looks like several CDs had problems in the past.

@hank- well, Baseball_Fan does make a good point regarding the desirability of having a reasonable amount of secure fixed income for a number of years immediately after retirement. That happened to us- immediately after our retirement the great events of 2009 did a real number on our investments generally. However our SS and pension income allowed us to ride that out without disaster.
We were really lucky, but I do have to say that my spreadsheet planning for some twenty years prior to retirement had included such a scenario. You might remember many exchanges between me and MJG regarding my approach and his vaunted Monte Carlo alternatives.

Already explained the WTF portfolio. If you need less than 3%(2.5% is...I need under 2%) annual withdrawal, then you can do whatever.
Someone who doesn't have enough must take a lot more risk than the above.
I always found better ST trade in bond OEFs and the rest is in MM. MM gives me more flexibility and is easier to trade than CD/TR.
As usual, the red zone DEPENDS. There is a difference between retirement at age 55, 65, or 70.
Never in my life, have I owned a CD or US treasury, as you see at https://fixedincome.fidelity.com/ftgw/fi/FILanding.
From retirement in 2018 to 2022(5 years), I was at 10/90 (stocks/bond OEFs) and did well. In 2023, I'm at 100% bond OEFs doing pretty well. I keep changing my style according to the market. When MM pays over 5%, even 4%, all I need is 3 trades at 2+% to have a great return with very low SD/risk. Owning 2-3 funds makes my life easier.

This low-water situation has been developing over the last few years. The number of ship transits through the canal has been substantially reduced. Additionally, the largest freighters are being required to offload a significant number of containers so as to reduce their depth through the canal and thus not use as much water for the transit.
I've not seen any information regarding possible effects on military ship transit, if in fact there has been any such impact.

@Baseball_Fan, there are several recent studies, including by Pfau, that include basic immediate annuities (SPIAs) in the withdrawal mix. So, that is one way to address the SOR risk.
"Rising equity glide path" indeed follows a lower equity exposure around retirement (few years before and after).

Prudential offers this PDF on The Red Zone: https://www.prudential.com/media/system/cda/rrz/downloads/redzone_brochure.pdf
Many refer to The (Investor) Red Zone as the 5 years prior to retirement. Others, like me, refer to it as the 5 years prior to and after retirement.
We had never owned a dedicated bond fund and were always 95%-99% in stocks until entering The Zone pre-retirement. We bought our first allocation and dedicated bond funds when we entered The Zone pre-retirement. If we had it to do all over again, we would have not bought any dedicated bond funds - for us, a waste of time, money and effort. The only bonds we hold now are via three allocation funds with bonds being less than 5% of total portfolio. We do own a 5-yr CP CD ladder in lieu of any individual bonds or dedicated bond funds.
I think there is likely a tendency of many to become TOO conservative in The Zone, but the prevailing theme of it is better to be safe than sorry, though one's choice may be for one and end up resulting in the other.
Pulp Fiction is oft referred to as a cult classic of director Quentin Tarantino.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110912/
Musta seen it at least 15 times by now. Stellar cast offers up stellar performances. One iconic scene after another. Not recommended for the faint of heart.

a comment and a question....
Not sure if it was Pfau who stated this...but there's a concept that the riskiest time for investors are 5 to 7 years prior to retirement and 5 to 7 years after retirement...the ole' sequence of return risk...so thinking is to be extremely "safe" positioned in your portfolio during those times...as you can really get dinged with your funds at the worst possible time with no time for portfolio to recover
Also, curious if any of the class annuitized any of their portfolio going into retirement? and please also indicate if you are comfortable doing so if you have a gov't or other pension (reason being is that I consider a govt pension a better than equivalent of an annuity) I also do believe that Pfau has mentioned annuitizing part of one's portfolio going into retirement.
btw..never saw the movie Pulp F...only have seen snippets and always had no idea what if was about or what was going on, LOL!
Best Regards,
Baseball Fan

”I stumbled across the idea that you start retirement with a low equity allocation and increase it as you age ten or so years ago, although I forgot the source.”
@sma3 - I looked for that same idea online and couldn’t find it either. I’ll hasten to add, however, that from my vantage point it’s not quite as clear-cut or simple as it might sound, So much depends on the price at which one buys in - as much as I profess to loath market timing.
You are correct that those of us with pensions + SS may be able to assume more investment risk. While my 48% equity allocation (per Fido’s Analysis tool) is probably the highest ever during the retirement years (with the exception of late ‘08 / early ‘09), it is being accomplished with the assistance of a 30% allocation to L/S & hedged equity types of funds having relatively high ERs. That’s less than ideal, but does afford a respectful allocation to equities per age. Am always looking for ways to cut down expenses w/o ramping up the risk profile. A 10% allocation to individual stocks is part of the solution, but by no means the entire answer.
Thanks @bee for your earlier submissions to the thread,

@hank
I stumbled across the idea that you start retirement with a low equity allocation and increase it as you age ten or so years ago, although I forgot the source. It avoids loosing 45% of your assets in a massive bear market just as you retire.
Of course this requires you to have enough income from SS a pension etc to survive early years without being forced to withdraw capital to live on.
I felt like a genius when I retired equity light in 2019, as the Covid Bear market hit. The problem now is to decide how soon and how much to increase my equity exposure. I have a much better feeling for our expenses and SS income now than I did in 2019, but domestic equities seem rather overpriced now.
A lot of people unfortunately have to take out a substantial % of their retirement account to survive.

One non interest payment in 15 years. Looks to me to be a very good batting average.

Especially when you consider the number of CDs I've owned over that period (50+), the number of monthly and semi-annual interest payments that represents, and the rare nature of the root cause of my issue, a merger of two banks whose systems were having real trouble communicating at EOY, a period like the BOY that many times can have issues.
Add in that I am anal about this stuff and ALWAYS track EVERY interest payment is received. Meaning, you can take to the bank, so to speak, that this was in FACT the only interest payment issue I had in 15 years! My whole audit manager career thingie is hard to kick.
And hey @Derf, thanks for the kind words here and elsewhere on MFO. Very much appreciated!

On further review of @Roy article, it appears Reckenthaler uses the initial 8 % WD factor to establish all future WDs based on the initial dollar amount ($500k x 8%) or $40k. Instead, I would suggest the retiree applies the 8% WD rate on each year’s ending balance. This one change would keep you from running out of money and would adjust WD amounts based on market conditions...more in up years and less in down years.
This is how RMDs are calculated (age specific actuarial WD rate x each year’s portfolio’s ending balance).
Couldn’t we do the same? This would account for life expectancy (actuarial charts) and allow the retiree to increase their WD rate as they aged (if necessary).
How many retirees take more than their RMDs amounts after factoring in other income sources such as SS, pension, part time work, rental income?
It’s not unusual for retirees to be working in their 60’s, maximizing IRA contributions, delaying SS, and delaying IRA WDs. This may allow that retiree to hold a higher percentage of equities and ultimately consider taking a higher WD rate.

One non interest payment in 15 years. Looks to me to be a very good batting average.

@yogibb said,
Well, tables were turned soon on Ramsey as many on Twitter showed that with Ramsey's advice, anyone who started in 01/2000 would have already run out of money by now, forget about 30-40 years. So, fool was Ramsey. He didn't offer a rebuttal.
Decumulation is very different and less forgiving than accumulation.

I concur. Time is NOT on your side in retirement for recovery. Math is against you t that point.
December article from our MFO contributor, @Lynn Bolin shares his retirement asset allocation, and his reasoning (and metrics).
https://mutualfundobserver.com/2023/12/searching-for-inflection-points/

@Roy,
You will never run out of money (technically) if you withdraw a percentage of your balance each year.
It’s the dollar amount and the purchasing power of those dollars over time that will keep you in or out of the cat food aisle.
I like running PV with a starting date of 2000 (tech bubble) and see how your friend’s portfolio would have fared with his 8% WD over the last 22 years.
Look for yearly increases in dollar amount of these yearly 8% WDs in PV one an indicator as well as a growing dollar amount of the remaining portfolio.

I think I have mentioned in some thread at MFO. Dave Ramsey said recently that withdrawing 8% with COLA was OK with all-stock portfolios and that everyone recommending only 4-5% with COLA from hybrids was a fool.
Well, tables were turned soon on Ramsey as many on Twitter showed that with Ramsey's advice, anyone who started in 01/2000 would have already run out of money by now, forget about 30-40 years. So, fool was Ramsey. He didn't offer a rebuttal.
Decumulation is very different and less forgiving than accumulation.

+1 Thank you @Roy / Excellent link.
On occasion I listened to Ramsey 20+ years ago when he was on late night AM. Sounded much more rational than. From that included clip, it sounds like he’s been attending the ”Rush Limbaugh School of Public Address”. Make what you will of his math.
FWIW - About 15 years ago (possibly more) there was a thread (maybe on F/A?) discussing a published theory that retirees should start out conservatively positioned and become more aggressive as they age. Sounded ridiculous to me at the time. But 25+ years into retirement I can at least understand the logic. Early on you’re most concerned about outliving your assets. If you’re fortunate enough, later on that becomes a less important concern and you might be inclined to put a little more risk “on the table” in pursuit of greater reward.
As always: No 1 size fits all.

@yogibearbull
That's what concerns me for a good friend who is 50 years old (married) and has a retirement portfolio of a million already. He hopes to retire at 52 and is planning to be 100% invested in the SP500 until death. He scoffs at the 4% rule as being far too conservative, though I don't know what his starting withdrawal rate plan is. He has floated the idea of meeting with a financial planner to vet his plan.
Here is a link for an article from M* columnist John Reckenthaler on the viability of an all-stock portfolio and high real withdrawal rate in retirement.
https://www.morningstar.com/retirement/can-you-safely-spend-more-early-retirement

Dec 9th Episode:
-Next week's guest David Giroux

Ed Hyman’s insights peaks as he’s consistently ranked Wall Street’s top economist for 43 years. Last year, he tracked the Federal Reserve’s tightening policies, predicting a slowdown in inflation and warning of a potential recession if credit conditions tightened further.

Anyone else have this experience?
========================
Yes, I did one time, but at Fido not Schwab. It too was with a very large bank. It was in Jan 2023 and I discussed it in a thread on the Fido Investor Community board titled, "FDIC'd Brokerage CD - Late Interest Payment."
In case you don't have access to it (Invitees Only), here are some excerpted comments from that thread. All comments are mine except the one as noted. I bolded some of the most important points from that thread.
Summarily,
I have owned a CD ladder for 15 years with LOTS of CDs and a late interest payment issue has only ever happened ONCE. (Pretty remarkable!)
I spoke to very helpful FI guys at Fido a few times during the resolution of the issue and got great insights to it and help resolving it.
I also contacted the bank directly and spoke to a high level manger there who was extremely helpful and concerned.
The cause of the error was a system error on the bank's side after a recent merger.
I received my accurate interest payment 10 days after the scheduled interest payment date and have not had any issues since with this CD or the numerous others we own.
=========================
(From that thread's OP:)
The bank on one of our CDs did not pay interest on the scheduled payment date. In conversations with Fido reps we've been told a couple of things:
(1) The interest payment is not yet overdue. It becomes overdue (mid-week, this week) at 10 days past the scheduled interest payment date.

(2) The bank has made its timely interest payments on all other CDs issued by it through Fido brokerage.
(3) Generally, if banks are untimely on their interest payments, it usually occurs at the beginning of calendar years, as is the case with this one.
(4) If not received by the overdue date, Fido initiates a "service request" at the request of the account holder and contacts the bank to inquire about the late payment and determine if/when it will be received by Fido.
(5) If there are unresolved issues with either the interest payment or the principal, the contract is between the account holder and the bank and any resolution of interest not received, or default on the principal payment, is between the account holder, the bank, and perhaps ultimately FDIC.
======================================
Per the ever helpful and resourceful yogibearbull:
Hopefully this situation is resolved quickly and satisfactorily.
But Fido is only a broker/middleman here and can/will do courtesy follow ups.
As the matter is between the CD holder and the issuing institution, it may not hurt to file a delayed-interest report to the FDIC.
https://ask.fdic.gov/fdicinformationandsupportcenter/s/?language=en_US
https://www.fdic.gov/contact/
========================================
UPDATE per Fido:
Fido is encountering a number of these situations with several banks at this point in time. A "service request" will be made tomorrow on the overdue date IF the interest payment has not been received by then.
Fido assures that rarely has an account holder had to resort to individually filing a FDIC claim and does not at all expect that will happen here. The likely cause of the delayed payment is a system issue of the bank that merged with another bank in 2022.
Interest payments can be put on hold for a month or even as long as a quarter.

========================================
The Fido FI Rep I did speak to today stated what other reps have told me: A couple banks have not made their January interest payments due to either (1) system issues on the bank's end or (2) the normal, EOY/BOY delays.
I did also speak directly to a person at the bank who confirmed that this was in fact a system issue on their end that caused the interest payment to be made 10 days after the normal interest payment date.