Everyone needs an emergency fund...invested conservatively...to cover basic expenses for rent, food, and insurances. The question is how many months or years should you prepare for?

“If you lose your job or are recently retired, you do not want to have to sell stocks at a low point during a bear market or take a distribution or loan from your 401(k) account or IRA because you are cash poor.”

My wife and I have a half-dozen investment portfolios due to separate IRAs, Roths, 401Ks and taxable savings. For many years, I have tracked these different accounts on Morningstar, using their portfolio manager section. However, like many others, I have found the M* website to be increasingly troublesome. The main problem is that the website logs me out every time I leave the site, and sometimes while using it, forcing me to log in repeatedly. My internet service has been slow lately, compounding the problem because it often takes a while to log in.
Can anyone recommend other websites where I can track various portfolios, similar in past functionality to the M* site? That is, where I enter in various funds, shares owned, and view current and past performance over various time periods.

...absence of high-quality holdings to provide liquidity should have raised concerns for any investor.

The fund’s chart-topping returns in recent years... should have also raised questions...

What a bunch of crap. Did this author write a similar story before the collapse entitled "everybody get out asap because this fund is going to lose 1/2 it's value"? Shoulda, coulda, woulda...

From a M* article posted today--
The most vulnerable strategies in the current environment have been flashing red well in advance. For example, AlphaCentric Income Opportunities (IOFIX), a multisector bond fund that has invested the majority of its assets in mezzanine subprime MBS, has experienced heavy redemptions in recent weeks. Given that the portfolio was roughly 95% invested in nonagency residential mortgage credit, it’s highly unlikely the managers were able to raise cash to meet those redemptions without locking in losses in the current environment. The fund has erased more than 40% of its value for its shareholders since the beginning of March, with most of those losses coming in the last several trading days.
But that fund’s highly aggressive approach already made it an outlier relative to competitors in the multisector bond category, which is home to funds with a greater appetite for credit-sensitive sectors. Its portfolio chock-full of subordinated mortgage credit avoided by other fund managers, its indeterminate credit quality profile (most of the fund’s holdings were nonrated), and absence of high-quality holdings to provide liquidity should have raised concerns for any investor. The fund’s chart-topping returns in recent years--its trailing three-year annualized return of 10.4% through February 2020 outpaced its next closest competitors’ by a full 300 basis points--should have also raised questions about the risks its managers were taking to achieve those results.

@Tarwheel. You have officially proved I'm an idiot. I did bloody read, BUT I never read properly. maybe because I read it on my phone. The "Risks" and "Rewards" sections are flipped on TRP website but "Rewards" are in left column. I never read the right column else I would never have invested in this fund. Like I mentioned it's for my MIL who's 80 years old.
Straight from TRP website.
The floating-rate feature virtually eliminates interest rate risk.
Bank loans typically rank higher in the capital structure for repayment.
Low historical return correlations with other asset classes, including high-yield bonds, make bank loans a diversifier for equity and fixed-income portfolios.
... AND ...
The loans and debt securities held by the fund are usually considered speculative and involve a greater risk of default and price decline than higher-rated bonds.
This fund could have greater price declines than a fund that invests primarily in high-quality bonds or loans.
The ones highlighted line led me to believe the fund was invested in government securities only. Next time I see "interest rate risk" I'll know better.
I dunno why I assumed "floating rate" with safety. Thinking I will make 0.1% when rates were very low and about 3% when rates were about that. Then again, I somehow don't believe I'm the only one who's stupid. I can't imagine why any sane person would invest in floating rate funds. The risk/reward is simply not there and simply plotting say PBDIX against FFHRX shows that. "Diversification" like this I don't need.

Different people have different expectations and risk can mean different things to them.
There's a difference between expectations and certainties. Stocks had a dismal decade in the 2000s. "Investors would have been better off investing in pretty much anything else, from bonds to gold or even just stuffing money under a mattress."
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704786204574607993448916718
Stuff happens. It doesn't mean that rather than investing in stocks one should stuff a mattress. It means that sometimes one's expectations are not met; that's the nature of risk.
Personally, if a fund like RPHYX underperformed VMMXX over a period of several years, it wouldn't bother me, so long as the margin of underperformance was within my tolerance range. I'm willing to accept the possibility of underperformance for extended periods, given the expectation that over time I'll outperform. Meanwhile, I can live with the small losses. But each person is different.
With that in mind:
1) Yes, RPHYX is supposed to be more risky than VMMXX. Especially now that the government has once again put its thumb on the scale to reduce the risk to VMMXX.
2) As I noted in my post seven years ago, Strong had recommended a time frame of 1-2 years for its Advantage fund. I felt then and continue to feel that this is a reasonable recommendation. Over this period of time one expects to do better than a MMF, but that is different from saying it will always happen.
3) As I tried to show above, taking on any risk means that sometimes things don't work out. That's true whether it's investing in a MMF that could break a buck or in stocks for a decade. One takes on the risk because the anticipated, the hoped for reward is sufficiently high to compensate for the occasions when outcomes are worse than anticipated.
Each individual weighs risks and rewards differently. It's personal and there's no single right decision. YMMV.

Relax, breathe easy for now at least for today. By Alpha General Capital at Seeking Alpha
Summary
° The PIMCO UNII report showed some modest progress on coverage and UNII levels.
° Obviously, the traditional looks at this report are less important given what is happening in the markets and with these funds specifically.
° We expect distributions to be maintained in most of the taxable bond CEFs from PIMCO and that the muni funds are investable for the first time in years.
° Most funds earned their distribution in the month according to NII production with small shortfalls in the others. Nothing concerning.
The Report

@davidrmoran, I'm sorry to hear you lost your college friend. That certainly brings this pandemic into perspective on a personal level. We've lost some money. Your friends family lost much more.
I bought into DSENX shortly after you brought it to the attention of this board, so I had plenty of good years with it too. I understand the CAPE side of it and trusted the secret sauce bond side would help during a bear. Obviously wrong. I feel better now after moving that money going forward with AKREX and YAFFX.

Thank you; most kind.
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/obituaries/alan-finder-obituary-1.43423378
Complete coincidence that we both trained to be academics and teachers, argued about history of ideas (and politics) 50+ years ago, and were teachers for a while, and then each separately wound up in journalism and editorial work forevermore. It is shocking (literally) to have someone in good health die like this. I sure am hoping everyone here is able to stay mostly safe and scrubbed and more or less isolated even in their declining wealth.

Hi @David_Snowball, yes, my comment was about RPHYX, and I was actually thinking of you when I wrote that comment, since I know you've invested heavily in it.
In this crash, it has underperformed both vanilla bond funds like MWTRX and Vanguard's bond index fund, VBMFX, which is positive for the year. It has also underperformed over the medium and long terms.
It was supposed to offer minimal downside. As it turns out, in this stress situation, it has offered more downside than a total bond market index fund, while also underperforming the index by over 100 bps/year over the last 5 years.
I have enormous respect for you, so I am curious if you are rethinking your investment in this fund.

Hi newgirl! Well, I have a couple real disasters in the port, and think about "trading them in" for something of better merit that's also down. Stuff that's down comes in a few forms: funds/stocks that will outlast my lifetime, and some that are so sick I will outlast them. Boeing/GE make a nice dichotomy (I hold both). For now.
Meanwhile, I also hold ARTGX and TBGVX, the Tweedy goes back 20 years or so, and I put it in my kids Roths as well. I wouldn't think of selling either one.
It's a fun game.
Best, hawk

It was only seven years since I made this post about STADX specifically and "enhanced cash" funds generally. How soon they forget :-)
https://mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/comment/21712/#Comment_21712
Until the GFC when most of these funds vanished in the US, "enhanced cash" was used to group three types of funds that fall between MMFs and short term bond funds. While the term has fallen into disuse, it still seems to be an apt moniker.
iMoneyNet continues to use the term. Here's the way they define the fund categories (from a 2016 iMoneyNet presentation). All colors, bolding, etc. in original. The categories are arranged from least risk to greatest.
Enhanced Cash Sector Categories Defined
Cash Plus Funds- Government Portfolios and Prime Portfolios

• Seeks to maintain a stable $1 NAV but uses mark-to-market, not amortized-cost valuations
• WAM usually range up to 180 days (MMFs are up to 60 days)
• Priorities:1) Stability of Principal, 2) Yield, and 3) Liquidity

Enhanced Cash Funds- Government Portfolios, Prime Portfolios,
and Prime+Sub-Investment Grade Portfolios

• Floating NAV, Effective port. duration generally ranges up to one year
• Priorities: 1) Total Return, 2) Stability of Principal, and 3) Liquidity

Ultrashort Bond Funds- Government Portoflios, Prime Portfolios,
and Prime + Sub-Investment Grade Portfolios

• Floating NAV, Effective portfolio duration generally from 1 to 3 years
• Priorities: 1) Total Return, 2) Stability of Principal, and 3) Liquidity

I own Thompson bond fund, a short term fund that has lost 10.8% so far this year. I always thought short term funds wouldn't lose as much in a downturn but that clearly is not the case. Does anyone have any ideas as to why this is losing so much? This has been a great fund for many years but is really disappointing. All my other bond funds were up today but this was down another .97%. Thoughts?

There are a lot of different situations that are getting mixed together here.
@MikeM raises the question of employer plan rollovers in kind. Often employer plans require you to liquidate your holdings and transfer cash. If they make an exception, it is usually limited to rollovers within the same financial institution, e.g. a TRP-managed 401(k) to a TRP IRA. So rollovers have their own obstacles independent of whether funds are closed or not.
Then there are transfers of shares held directly with a fund company (not the situation here). Long ago, TRP was willing to do an in-kind Roth conversion for me of a closed fund to a new Roth account. More recently, it told me that it would not do an in-kind conversion of a closed fund to a new Roth.
At the same time that TRP was telling me this, Fidelity was telling me sure, they could do the Roth conversion of TRP shares in-kind. I never tested this and have my doubts about whether TRP would allow them to open the new account.
IMHO, the key question is how strict the fund company is with respect to opening new accounts, regardless of where that new account will be opened. The TRP examples above show how this can go either way, and also that a fund company's flexibility can change over time.
Regarding @little5bee's transfer request: Let us know what happens. Filling out a transfer request form is different from actually getting the shares transferred.
I own legacy shares of a fund that over the years transformed into institutional class shares at Legg Mason. It now has a $1M (or higher?) min, not technically closed. Legg Mason has informed me that it will reject any transfer request from another institution (such as Schwab) unless I meet the $1M min in the receiving account. Yeah, sure. I'm hoping that the new fund distributor, Franklin Templeton, will be more flexible.

@catch22 Actually I would challenge the notion. It is not secret I am bond challenged. I've also mentioned 007 doesn't know jack s*** - stirred tastes better than shaken.
When I buy bond funds I HAVE to trust the manager. This the reason I seldom buy bond funds outright. Imagine buying IOFIX "knowing what's under the hood". I'm just glad I didn't buy it.
Back to RPHYX and RSIVX. I expected these to be low risk funds. Now "low risk" is in the eye of the beholder. However when I look at FPNIX, at least I have some confidence. With RPHYX...mea. With RSIVX I'm not happy.
I bought RPHYX and FPNIX risking funds I would otherwise have put in money market.
I bought RSIVX because I thought PTTRX is risky. WTF? Please tell me ONE person who thought PTTRX is a better risk/reward bets in the "sky is falling on bonds" world where every Tom, Dick and Harry is saying buy funds with short durations. They've been wrong on this for at least 10 years.
But tell you what. Let me but PTTRX. It will promptly tank 20%.

@johnN It depends on each persons situation. I am 15 years into retirement. Our investment income currently contributes 25% to 30% to our annual household cash flow. But we can get by comfortably -- with a more modest lifestyle -- if that % drops to zero (the amount available to us this year will go down substantially from 30% if the market does not quickly rebound). My approach is different than would be necessary for a person who would be highly dependent on that income in retirement. Maybe other comments will help in that regard.

What do you do if you are near retirements. We do not know if tomorrow is another large down day. Many predict sp500 can even recede to 1700 levels for another 30s% down. Many near retire hardworking folks may have to break their backs working another 5 years until market recovers.

Good question without an exact answer @Bobpa. What might be good to look for is managers with great track records who had a lot of cash coming into this bear market. AKREX would be my 1st choice to put money back to work. I already own it and it has held up well in a relative sense, so an easy choice for me. There was a lot of discussion on the Yacktman funds a month or 2 ago. YAFFX might be a good consideration. I personally started and have been adding to BRK/B for the reason mentioned above. Berkshire Hathaway has a ton of cash on hand and has been known to put it to work when others are fleeing the market. Many say it has under performed the past few years during the bull, but this could be it's time to shine.
There are probably other good suggestions for great managers with cash on hand.

Howdy folks,
Look around you and see what's working. Don't fall for the head feint to the airlines, hotels, casinos, tourism, Trump Resorts, etc. Sounds like they might get their bailout but they can't get 'demand' from the gov't. Demand for these industries will be depressed for years. Unless you're very, very nimble and are FOD, I'd focus on what will work and have demand going forward.
Video conferencing and anything that replaces F2F with Virtual. Online shopping? Who does it? Who delivers? Schooling? All virtual.
I'm adding to Asia and have been scaling in since just before this broke [yeah, bad timing but I didn't have to wait long to become whole]. For funds, I like the House of Matthews and am riding MPACX, MATFX, MCHFX. Needless to say, I'm all over the pm's with SLV, SILJ, GDXJ, CEF, and some junior miners.
Most of my allocation is overseas at this point - say 85-90%. It's in both bonds and equities, mostly the former.
Good luck,
peace, and flatten the curve,
rono

Experience tell me in order to fully recover the loss that would be time, recovery time that is. During 2008 drawdown, S&P500 index took over 4 years to full recovery the loss from peak to trough. Depending on your asset allocation, it may be shorter (hopefully not longer).
At presence the sell-off is severe, i.e. the rate of decline is even steeper than 2008. There are days when the supposedly opposite asset classes such as bond vs. equity move in the same direction, which indicates panic selling to cash. So jumping to one ship on fire to another is not a viable option to recover the loss.
If you follow Charles Bolin article on MFO, he is near retirement and his portfolio is constructed very conservatively with 20% equity. He should be doing quite well now considering S&P 500 index is down over 30% as of 3/20/2020.