Current rates:
Government M-mkt funds (7-day yield) VMFXX 5.26%, SPAXX 4.97%, SNVXX 5.04%
3-mo T-Bills 5.56%, 8/17/23
FRN yield = T-Bill yield + spread (2023 range 12-20 bps).
So, one has to decide if extra 40-75 bps over m-mkt funds with FRNs makes sense. It depends on the amounts involved too. Real advantage over T-Bills is that FRNs are rolled over every 2 years, instead of every 3 months.
With FRN ETFs, decide if giving up 15 bps is worth it when the fund isn't really doing much work. I could go along with 5bps ER for such trivial work.

@catch22
My father and his sisters kicked themselves because starting in 1965, there was at least one cousin at UT for 20 plus years, and then my sister was teaching school. Then in the 2000's the grandkids started at UT. So far there have been four of them.
If they had bought a house large enough for all the cousins ( there were never more than 3 or 4 at a time) in the 60's they would have made out like bandits.
My sister's husband paid $15000 for five acres of land outside of Wimberly ( 45 mins south) in the 1980s. He built his house over time but had a small mortgage for AC and a rain water collecting system. It is assessed at $800,000 now

Yikes. The 10-Year Treasury sits at over 4.27% late day. Been screaming higher for couple weeks. 30 year fixed mortgages now average over 7%. I think the economy is cooling. A check of a few car dealers online over the weekend showed a respectable / high inventory of new vehicles on some lots, and an occasional discounted price - both rare in recent years.

@Anna
My wife and I just signed up at Kroll the monitoring service pbi uses. The letter had a Membership number that you need to sign up, which was in the letter.
I don't know if you could get a response from either pbi or Kroll without it, but Kroll has all the information you would expect already, DOB name address etc so if they are willing to help they have an account in your name already.
To verify identity they then ask you about your cars, mortgages etc
BTW We have been victims of many many hacks and possible data breaches over the years ( one year I counted five) and nothing ever came of it. Taht is not to say it couldn't, but these Monitoring services don't really do much.
Your best bet, I think, is the freeze your credit report access at all there credit reporting bureaus.
Unless you have to increase your credit line on a card, or take out a loan, it is seamless and does not interfere with anything.
It is kinda a pain to set up though

Interesting. Afraid I use icloud storage for a lot of stuff. But for really critical passwords, they’re not recorded anywhere except in my head. I’ll jot down written “clues” to help me remember. If the PWs / clues reference a theatrical performance or favorite landscape photo in some manner, they are easy for me to decipher.
As I’ve noted before, my ipad’s DejaOffice files appeared to have been broken into couple years ago. A subsequent purchase of Norton Anti-virus helped stop that type of occurrence. I don’t store those in the Deja provided DropBox cloud. But they are uploaded to Apple’s icloud along with everything else.
Good stuff. Thanks for all the suggestions. Some very thorough thoughtful folks here.

I know ZEOIX well, invested in it briefly, for a short period, several years ago, and continued it on a M* Watchlist. I maintained it in a "category" of funds I entitled "cash alternative" options, that had a history of low SD. As the OP noted, it had periods of "lows" that did not meet my criteria, for use on a longer term basis, to preserve principal. I also had other funds on my "watchlist" such as BTMIX, RPHIX, FPFIX, etc. and ended up using those other 3 funds, more extensively over the years, but sold them all in early 2022 when they started deteriorating in a manner that threatened the principal in my Taxable Brokerage portfolio. None of these bond oefs qualified for buy and hold purposes, nor as a "cash substitute", but when I owned them you could not get CDs, MMs, etc. that provided a safer return, so you had to take more risks, to get more rewards, but I did it as a very active manager of these funds, andtraded them as needed, to preserve principal, and was fully aware of the risks of these funds.

Interestingly, there was a lot of discussion on ZEOIX back in 2020 as a "cash alternative". It was being compared to RPHYX in a positive manner. Coincidently, RPHYX was re-opening at that time after being closed for quite a while.
Type ZEOIX into the search bar and review all the chatter just a few years ago.

Jeff Gunlach was fired from TCW under weird circumstances over 10 years ago.
https://reuters.com/article/us-tcw-lawsuit/ex-star-manager-gundlach-sued-over-stealing-drugs-porn-idUSTRE6064YI20100108
Gunlach later formed DoubleLine management that went on successfully.

@hank : I was surprised when you said TMSRX was on your list ! Would you buy back into this fund if what happened ?

Hi @Derf. No, I don’t see myself ever owning TMSRX again. But - Never say “never”. If I were going to go back into a multi-strategy fund it would be BAMBX. Hasn’t shot the lights out either. Moving in would be a defensive move if I felt some other asset I own had gotten overvalued. Not the case today.
It’s not a buy-list. Just a bunch of funds I look at to see how the day is going during hours and how it went at day’s end. It’s true, however, that many are former holdings. That’s because I know a little more about them. It’s also true that I watch some things with an eye to possibly buying at some attractive point. And some are things I sold way too early and so I just whimsically watch them “fly away” …
Thanks for asking!

uh, how's Hussy doing? I think I am joking … (Hope) I can lock up my monies for a couple years and stop playing around in this casino....

Good question. I stopped tracking him. But HSGFX gained over 17% in 2022. YTD it is down about 8,5%. Unfortunately, had you held it 15 years, you’d have lost 4.5% annually over that time. (Running in reverse ain’t going to make you wealthy.)
I’m not qualified to say, but my impression is that parts of the U.S. market are grossly overvalued. Not sure the entire market is, however. I lean more toward international equities, so don’t fret much about where the S&P is. Sebastian Page, a very smart dude from TRP, was on Bloomberg today trumpeting the unrecognized value that resides in many U.S. equity sectors. Small cap is one area he mentioned.

Thanks @yogibearbull
One media heavy stock I’ve played with in / out the past couple years is GHC (the former Washington Post Co.) I’m currently out - or probably wouldn’t mention it. Barron’s ran a very positive story on it a year+ ago which brought it to my attention. They have local TV stations in about a half dozen major cities, including Washington DC, Jacksonville, Fla. and Detroit. It can’t seem to get out of its own way. Has gone nowhere over the time I’ve watched or owned it. But - Gosh … I’d expect it to benefit from political advertising as the Prez campaigns heat up. It’s always on my radar.

Thanks @Mark. Enjoyed all the guffaws. But yours is good basic investment info. I’m not talking about who the audience is or whether the distinguished members here plan to view. I see a 3-ring circus shaping up and plenty of green to be made from the Ads. Let’s face it. Making money’s been tough the last couple years - at least if you’re not heavy into tech.
I should have added that both political parties will be spending generously on advertisement across media. Hell, Trump is swimming in dough as all the indictments just help pull in more contributions. I’d expect similarity heavy inflows from the left to their candidate as the campaign heats up.
Thank you for avoiding political comment here. Old Joe & Derf both have threads running on the judicial / political issues and both are well qualified to manage those threads.

@sma3
I started out many years ago using Vanguard's free financial planning tool. I think it might have been Financial Engines. I later created my own spreadsheet financial planning tool.
My employer moved our accounts to Fidelity, and I started using their financial planning tool many years ago and really liked it. Several years ago, I began using Fidelity's services from my employer which was essentially a financial planner for providing advice, but not managing my accounts. To my surprise, he used the same Fidelity Planning tool that I had already set up. Now that I use Fidelity Wealth Management, we have still reviewed the financial planning tool.
Yes, there are a few unknowns about it. It provides estimated end of plan assets but does not display tax planning options such as Roth Conversions. I still use my planning spreadsheet which takes into Roth Conversions and accelerated withdrawals, but it supplements Fidelity's tool.

@sma3
Vanguard has a two-step process, as I understand it. Behind the scenes:
First, the estimate the returns over the next ten years using the Vanguard Capital Markets Model.
https://static.vgcontent.info/crp/intl/auw/docs/resources/Vanguard_VCMM_brief.pdf?20150814|091500
Second, the run the Vanguard Asset Allocation Model to create a model portfolio.
https://advisors.vanguard.com/insights/article/whats-behind-our-portfolio-construction-process
As part of the process of talking to the Advisor, I was asked what percent active and passive allocations that I favored. It was a fuzzy question, and I responded 50% active and 50% passive. I also derived with the Advisor that I wanted 50% stock and 50% bond portfolio.
The Advisor came back to me a couple of weeks later and presented a proposed portfolio. I went with that portfolio, although the literature says that clients have the option to propose different funds.
One more point, Vanguard provides you with an Advisor, and you do not have the option to select your own like at Fidelity. I did look up the credentials of the Advisor and was pleased with his knowledge and professionalism. It is an improvement over my experience from several years ago. I believe that it is part of Vanguard's effort to improve PAS.

uh, how's Hussy doing? I think I am joking.
But I sure hope the 2-yr is treasury is at 5% in a couple weeks at auction....so I can lock up my monies for a couple years and stop playing around in this casino....

In response to several comments above:
I have been a DIY investor until about two years ago. I did try the Charles Schwab robo-advisor. I have been using both Fidelity and Vanguard for decades and like them both for different reasons. I now use the Fidelity Wealth Services and Vanguard Personal Advisor Service Select.
For clarification, Vanguard Advisor Services are:
1) Robo Advisor Services with a minimum of $3,000:
https://investor.vanguard.com/advice/robo-advisor
2) Personal Advisor Services which is a hybrid robo advisor with a minimum of $50,000 and team of advisors. Cost is 0.35%:
https://investor.vanguard.com/advice/personal-hybrid-robo-advisor
3) Personal Advisor Services with a minimum of $500,000 and a personal certified financial planner/fiduciary in addition to the team. Cost is 0.3%:
https://investor.vanguard.com/advice/personal-financial-advisor
Fidelity Wealth Management fees are listed as 0.50%–1.50% with a minimum of $250,000. The more you have them manage the more your fees fall.
I invested the minimums to get a personal advisor and to lower my fees.
With regards to objectively evaluating the funds and services:
Whether you work with Fidelity or Vanguard, they will evaluate your goals and needs and propose an allocation (or range) and the funds. Both base their recommendations on the long term, but Fidelity also adjusts based on the business cycle. You can make changes within their criteria and policies. I entered the funds and allocation into the MFO Portfolio Tool to evaluate them. With Vanguard Advisor funds being only 1.7 years old there is not much history to go on. Vanguard has the option to select the percent of active and passive funds.
With a dual income household, we have multiple accounts with different tax characteristics. Our advisory service ranges from 50% stocks to 70% based on my input.
With regards to performance:
It does take a leap of faith to use an advisory service. There is evidence that individual investors tend to underperform the markets because they tend to panic, trade too much, or be too conservative. I did take the leap of faith based on my experiences with both Fidelity and Vanguard.
My primary objective is to set my wife up with a financial advisor in case I pass away before her. Mission accomplished. The surprising thing is that I feel a burden is lifted and more relaxed. I still have accounts that I manage myself.

Nasty across the board. ”Babies with the bathwater” comes to mind.
Foreign stocks down. Domestic down. Foreign currencies down. Bonds down. Metals & miners down. Energy down. Consumer staples down. Berkshire down 1% at last look. A favorite pundit I read keeps saying gold’s gonna “rock” one of these days. Gets a bit stale after 5 years. Still in a slumber, holding just above $1900. Only hold it indirectly through a nat resources CEF.
PS - Bargains galore! Just picked up a non U.S. food conglomerate at a lower price than I sold it for a month or two ago. What’s not to like? Had been a portfolio staple for a couple years. Glad to have had a chance to retrieve it. Generally, I dumped the 2% hedge position today and moved it into equities.

Don't let names of services confuse you. PAS at Vanguard and PAS at Fidelity are two different animals. PAS at Vanguard is a hybrid robo advisor, similar to Fidelity's GO (assuming AUM of at least $25K). Fidelity defines the service this way:

A hybrid robo advisor typically refers to a robo advisor that includes access to investment adviser representatives, whether via telephone or in person. In the case of Fidelity Go®, we combine our digital offering with access to 1-on-1 financial planning and coaching via telephone for clients that invest at least $25,000 in a Fidelity Go account.

https://www.fidelity.com/managed-accounts/fidelity-go/overview
The cost of Fidelity GO is 35 basis points/year. But the account uses Fidelity Flex funds, which have ERs of 0.00%. Vanguard's PAS uses Vanguard funds. So the all-in costs of these two services should be similar.
Fidelity's older PAS service uses proprietary and third party funds. It is model based but not robo-based. The last time I looked at it many years ago, it tended to throw a gazillion funds into a portfolio, perhaps because it could, perhaps because that gave the impression that it was doing something. In any case, this is not the same type of service as Fidelity GO or Vanguard PAS.
https://www.fidelity.com/managed-accounts/overview
https://www.fidelity.com/wealth-management/investment-management-services
FIdelity has so many fee schedules that it's hard to find the one you're looking at. Their fees are different for Fidelity-preferred portfolios, "blended" (no preference) portfolios, and index fund portfolios. Regardless, PAS services do cost much more than hybrid robo services, whether at Fidelity or elsewhere.

Thanks, David. That not only clears up what I didn't understand today but also why I was unsure who owned and managed the Neuberger Berman Fasciano Fund 20+ years ago.

Hi @SMA3,
Taxes are complex and the tax preparer knows the taxes best. With companies like Fidelity and Vanguard, I suspect that an investor will be dealing mostly with an external tax accountant. My experiences are that the tax accountant will not be familiar with the implications of Medicare on taxes. This is an area where I find an investor will benefit from financial literacy and double check on advice given. I have not dealt with independent financial planners that may be a one stop shop?
Regarding financial convictions and disclosures, an employee was convicted in 2019 of theft:
"The total amount of the funds that the defendant stole exceeded $2.1 million. To Vanguard’s credit, all individual accounts were made whole after the defendant’s crimes were detected."
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edpa/pr/former-vanguard-employee-sentenced-four-years-fraud-scheme
The disclosures from the SEC are mostly minor:
https://files.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/content/viewform/adv/Sections/iapd_AdvDrpSection.aspx?ORG_PK=105958&FLNG_PK=005984D6000801D203A190C104921F01056C8CC0#Regulatory
Lynn

David I hope Chip is getting better, but please don't over exert yourselves just to publish MFO! there are many capable other people who wrote great articles this month and while there is probably no data that pushing yourself during Covid recovery delays the recovery, why chance it?
I really enjoyed the reference to Mathers Fund.
Maybe a few other grey beards here will remember the Mathers fund and good old Henry Van der Erb. His commentaries were pretty good, ala Hussman. While I didn't put much money into the fund, his commentaries kept me from being 100% equities for a few years in my 30s, when I really should have dumped everything into the market.
I never knew Bruce ran the Mathers fund before Henry, nor did I know Van der Erb was such a jerk