50% Equity 50% bonds/cash Retired over 14 years and no withdrawals

"In the 10 years ending Dec. 31, 2018, retirement plans lost approximately $2.5 trillion in potential assets at retirement due to $86 billion worth of defaults." - Christopher Robbins, Time Traveler.

err...have the timber prices timbered so much these guys cannot retire? Wierd to consider it as a retirement plan. Why not just put the money in stock market for 30 years? That's supposed to work out right?
Let's not tout capitalism and then complain later. Mortals don't get bailouts. Good think Christmas celebration is not necessarily related to religion (while fox news might tell you otherwise) else some day even planting christmas trees may not be a good strategy.
New federal program offered farmers money....I'm done.

@Old_Skeet, I hold AOFAX in taxable and in my Roth, and since I use only my taxable account for modest withdrawals, I am not concerned too much about the cap gains, will just take it as ordinary income and leaves more cash in account :). Besides, half of my taxable account is in muni bond. AOFAX has taken a big hit over the last 2 months, but holding, I like the manager and everything is getting hit.
Regarding the two funds you mentioned, I always like Gabelli, but I am sure he will retire soon, and although it has a large management team, I get the impression he is the master of his universe. It has been around a while, and have heard about it for years, but never sought to buy it since I liked others I had better. Regarding the Ivy fund, used to own its tech fund, but had to sell it when I moved from ML to Fido, they did not carry their funds at the time, bought PRGTX to replace it. I see they do sell them now, with IGWAX load free and ntf. Morningstar gives it only one star based on its fees, not taking into account it is sold some places without the high fees. That fund looks like it would be a nice complement to aofax, with larger amount of microcap and no mid cap, but it sure can be volatile, but with your diversification, it most likely would not bother you too much :)

FYI U.S. stocks dropped sharply Wednesday as an ongoing surge in Treasury yields pulled the Dow Jones Industrial Average down nearly 500 points and put the S&P 500 on pace for its longest losing streak in nearly two years.
The selloff put both indexes on track for their biggest losses in a single day since April, while the S&P 500 was poised to slide for a fifth straight session. The pullback sent a measure of stock-market volatility, the Cboe Volatility Index, up 19% in recent trading, suggesting investors were bracing for further swings in the market.
Fast-rising bond yields and signs of inflation have spooked investors that profit margins could narrow, sparking one of the biggest downturns of the year among shares of fast-growing companies that have benefited from a decade of near-zero interest rates.
The selling undercut the strong gains companies like Amazon.com , Netflix and Salesforce.com have contributed to the stock market this year and left some investors who hold those shares flat-footed.
Regards,
Ted
Bloomberg Evening Briefing:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-10/your-evening-briefing
Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-09/asia-stocks-point-to-mixed-start-treasuries-rise-markets-wrap?srnd=premium
WSJ:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stocks-pause-amid-doubts-over-growth-1539158283
Reuters:
https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/utilities-defensive-stocks-buck-drop-is-it-time-to-sell-microsoft-stock/
IBD:
https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/stock-market-today-dow-breaks-support-nasdaq-worst/
MarketWatch:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/stock-futures-fall-sp-500-could-notch-longest-losing-streak-since-november-2016-2018-10-10/print
CNBC:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/10/us-markets-bond-yields-and-data-in-focus.html
Europe:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-stocks/tech-selloff-causes-sharpest-fall-in-three-and-a-half-months-for-european-stocks-idUSKCN1MK0ZV
Asia:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/stocks-in-hong-kong-china-try-to-stay-afloat-nikkei-slips-2018-10-09/print
Bonds:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/10/us-bonds-and-fixed-income-key-economic-data-eyed.html
Currencies:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/10/forex-markets-dollar-us-treasury-yields-british-pound-in-focus.html
Oil:
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/10/oil-markets-imf-global-growth-outlook-hurricane-michael-in-focus.html
Gold
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/10/10/gold-markets-us-treasury-yields-dollar-in-focus.html
WSJ: Markets At A Glance:
https://markets.wsj.com/us
Major ETFs % Change:
https://www.barchart.com/etfs-funds/etf-monitor
SPDR's Sector Tracker:
http://www.sectorspdr.com/sectorspdr/tools/sector-tracker
SPDR's Bloomberg Sector Performance Pie Chart:
https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/sectors
Current Futures:
https://finviz.com/futures.ashx

FAIRX has also been dinged by its large bets on Fannie and Freddie that never materialized. The fund bleeds 1% in ER as well. It is holding over 25% in cash.
M* categorizes the fund as Large Value with and investing style of small growth...emphasis on small...often negative growth. If that wasn't enough, Hurricane Micheal is slamming the panhandle where it's largest equity position, St Joe Co (JOE) holds most of its RE assets this week.
Finally, its trailing returns have been very consistent over the 1 month through 10 years time frame (rank 100th)...ouch.

FYI: Over the past hundred years, the George family’s farm has been sharecropped, grazed by cattle and planted with cotton. By the late 1980s, Clayton George was growing soybeans and struggling to make ends meet.
A new federal program offered farmers money to reforest depleted land. Pine trees appealed to Mr. George. He bought loblolly seedlings and pulled his pickup into a parking lot where hands-for-hire congregated.
“We figured we’d plant trees and come back and harvest it in 30 years and in the meantime go into town to make a living doing something else,” he said.
Three decades later the trees are ready to cut, and Mr. George is learning how many other Southerners had the same idea.
A glut of timber has piled up in the Southeast. There are far more ready-to-cut trees than the region’s mills can saw or pulp. The surfeit has crushed timber prices in Mississippi, Alabama and several other states.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.wsj.com/articles/thousands-of-southerners-planted-trees-for-retirement-it-didnt-work-1539095250

FYI: It’s a rare year when total returns on U.S. Treasuries are negative, but when they are, the ripple effect on global markets is potent.
Stocks, credit, high yield and emerging markets, in particular, suffer as investors bail out of the world’s safest and most liquid asset, pushing up the cost of money, squeezing liquidity and tightening financial conditions.
That’s the running assumption, and it’s setting the narrative for financial markets right now as the U.S. bond selloff gathers pace and Treasuries close in on what will be only their fifth year of negative returns since the early 1970s.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.reuters.com/article/global-bonds-vigilantes/column-bad-years-for-us-treasuries-dont-mean-bad-years-for-markets-mcgeever-idUSL8N1WL49E

Are you talking about a WFA account or a WellsTrade account? They're owned by the same corporation, and use the same clearing brokerage (Wells Fargo Clearing Services LLC dba WFA). But the services offered are different. Not that I'd trust either of them.
It's still a good idea to check all your transactions, regardless of who your broker is. And to hold onto purchase confirmations until well after you sell the holdings.
The IN article starts: "The wirehouse has felt blowback ...". It presents data about the exodus of advisors (as opposed to order-taking drones) from WFA.
"The term [wirehouse] typically refers to full-service brokerages that offer research, order execution and investment advice all under the same roof." Financial Times.
This may have changed, but years ago when I had a WellsTrade account, I could not walk a check into my brokerage. I was told that if I'd had a WFA account I could have handed it to a broker at a Wells Fargo bank. But since my account was with WellsTrade account, I would have to either mail in the check, or deposit it in a bank (WF or any other bank) and then transfer the money to my brokerage account.
WellsTrade® Brokerage Account vs. Intuitive Investor® Account vs. Wells Fargo Advisors
https://www.wellsfargo.com/investing/compare-ways-to-invest/

Thanks @Ted... I came across this article (looks like a 2015 publication):

Assets Tied to Inflation
It's probably wise to avoid assets that are closely tied to inflation right now (2015). Contrary to popular belief, the reason the Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world have kept interest rates low is because they have been fighting against deflation. Unfortunately, all this has done is kick the can down the road while adding excessive debts. When growth slows due to the reduced impact of central bank policies, those debts will be very difficult to pay off, which will be the beginning of economic contraction. When corporations can’t pay these debts, they will lay off employees. When employees are cut, consumer spending is reduced. There is nothing inflationary about this scenario. But …
A savvy investor keeps ahead of a trend change. This is how investors maximize their potential. This change might not take place for a while, but it will take place, and it could present one of the best investment opportunities to occur in a long time...Back in 2012, Fidelity back-tested nine assets against inflation on a year-to-year basis between 1973 and 2012. No asset beat inflation 100% of the time, but there was a big difference in regards to which assets performed better at beating inflation.
Here's the list.

Preparing for Inflation:
9 Top Assets for Protection Against Inflation
And this from Lazard on Inflation hedges:

It can be shown that the annual
real returns of stocks trump the returns of bonds in years with rising
inflation, and are almost always positive. Thus, the addition of stocks
to bond portfolios offers both diversification and improved real value
preservation in the event of inflation.
However, the (short-term) inflation protection is limited because the
correlation between real stock returns and inflation in the same year is
negative. As inflation rises, real stock returns decline, but only become
negative in an environment of extremely high inflation. But over long
return horizons (of five or more years), stocks have historically offered
inflation protection. Based on empirical evidence, equities provide
relatively good inflation protection over the long term. This is because
stock returns, with some degree of certainty, exceed the inflation rate
due in part to the high long-term equity risk premium.

Study (Pub 2012):
lazardnet.com/lam/global/pdfs/Literature/Part2-EquityInvestmentsAsAHedgeAgainst_LazardResearch.pdf

FYI: One of Andrew's friends recently cashed in a variable annuity. He bought it years ago, before he realized it was a high-cost rip-off. “I want to invest the proceeds,” he said. “What do you recommend?” He already owned one of Vanguard’s Target Retirement funds. These are complete portfolios of indexes rolled into a single fund. They’re diversified. They charge low fees, and they get rebalanced once a year.
Regards,
Ted
https://assetbuilder.com/knowledge-center/articles/why-value-stocks-are-now-priced-to-dust-growth

I could be wrong, but I believe Uncle Sam requires RMDs in order to collect on the deferred taxes. You don't have to spend your RMDs but you do have to pay the taxes.

IMHO that's a significant reason, but not the only reason. IRAs are intended for use in retirement, not as a permanent tax shelter or shelter from creditors.
That's why someone other than a spouse who inherits an IRA is subject to RMDs even if the IRA is a Roth. Allowing the beneficiary to spread the withdrawals over time via RMDs can be viewed as a form of income averaging which has appeared in the tax code in various forms in the past. (You spread you income over several years, or average it as though it were spread, so that you don't get kicked into a higher bracket simply because you received a pile of money at one time.)
A SC ruling a couple of years ago said that inherited IRAs don't get the bankruptcy protection that "regular" IRAs get. The court said that the protection is for retirement accounts, and inherited IRAs (unless inherited by spouse) are not retirement accounts.
I don't have time now to look closely into VPW but that sounds more like a withdrawal strategy (a la 4%) as opposed to an RMD strategy. I believe, however, that if you annuitize your IRA, the annuity payments (which can be based on balance and life expectancy for a VA, similar to VPW) will satisfy RMD requirements. Haven't checked this either.

March 2009 was a great time to convert a sizable chunk to Roth, pay taxes on rediculously low NAVs and stir the pot. The gift that keeps giving. Lemonade out of lemons. :) That kind of good fortune helps make up for a lot of other investing mistakes over the years. (I'm not recommending that now that markets are so bubbly.)
To the point here, if you have more than 50% of your retirement funds in a tax paid Roth, the tax hit from RMD is a lot easier to swallow. I suppose one might have so much saved up that the RMD (From traditional IRA) still more than meets their expenditures - so no need to withdraw any Roth money. Not the case here. And I'd somewhat question why anyone over 70 wouldn't be pulling more out and enjoying the money while they can.

FYI: An investor holding a simple S&P 500 index fund continues to beat major university endowments.
Yale University and other major endowments have recently reported investment performance for their fiscal years ending in June, and none have topped the S&P 500, which returned 14.4% including dividends.
Yale returned 12.3%; Harvard University, 10.0%; the University of Pennsylvania, 12.9%; and Dartmouth College, 12.2%.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/ivy-league-endowments-1538530379

This is a worthwhile read. Thanks Ted!
I am reminded of a quote I saw years ago that went something like this: The conventional wisdom is that the only way to make money in stocks is to buy and hold - and the only way to make money in gold is through short term trades. But there will come a time when that theory reverses and people will say gold should be bought and held while stocks are in a range that calls for short term trades.
Substitute US stocks for stocks and Foreign stocks for gold and you have today’s environment.

Hi @AndyJ: Thanks for stopping by and for making comment. Many of us on the board are in or near retirement. For myself, being in retirement, I have been reducing my equity allocation over the past five years, or so, from upwards towards 70% now down to the low 50% range. I am also in the process of raising my fixed income allocation (currently around 27%) up towards 30% or better over the next year or so. I plan to do this at a pace of about 1% per quarter until I reach an allocation I feel comfortable with. Even in retirement I thinking I need a good bit of equity exposure so my five year asset allocation target is to be somewhere around 40% fixed, 40% equity and 20% cash and cd's by then.
Since, you feel a good number of the threads are geared more towards equities (over income) why not become more active and start posting what you are seeing on the fixed income side of investing? Interestingly, on my buy list my 1 week and 1 month leaders, that I follow, I'm finding a good number are fixed income funds. Since, the US 10 Yr is now paying 3 percent, or better, I'm beginning to see most of my funds found in my fixed income sleeve starting to make an upward move. I'd think that now that interest rates are rising their nav's would be going the other way. Interesting? Yes.
Any way FWIW ... I'm thinking you'd draw a good following.
Thanks again for stopping by and for making comment.
Old_Skeet

Interesting to read the comments about PRGTX. I'm a long term holder in an IRA (10 years) and probably won't ever sell it even after I retire because technology in the broadest sense is the only future of the human race. Most of my funds are overweight in tech, even small company funds like BCSIX. I did sell the under-performing but competent BPAVX this month (gain of about 55% over 3 years) to raise cash to sit on the sidelines for the inevitable correction. I'm looking at WSMNX in particular. I'm also very overweight in small-mid company funds. 20 years to retirement.

Fidelity spent $250M to acquire eMoney three years ago. It took almost that long to integrate it with its retail platform (FullView), and has been struggling for several weeks to simply bring it up to the level of the software it replaced.
Unlike any "real" bank, you can't set a travel notice on its debit cards online. You can't even do it via automated phone service, you need to talk with a real human being. A human being who can't see the 16 digit number you just punched in, so you have to repeat the whole thing again.
So far, the only thing I know that's come out of Fidelity Labs is FidSafe®. Wow, imagine storing files in the cloud. Sounds real high tech to me, something that you'd expect to come from an "innovation center". Sure.
"in the 1990s decided there should be a group tasked with researching cutting-edge technology."
Most of the technology Fidelity uses is fine, even very good. But cutting edge it's not.

@Old_Skeet: I took a quick look at PCLAX. About 60% cash & bonds , 40% other. Do you have any idea what the "other" is invested in ? I'll take a peek at Chuck's place & see what they have listed on the fund.
Derf
Back at you: Sector weighting; 57% financial & 12% info tech.
Top 25% last 2 years & YTD ! Long & short cash & bonds.

FYI: Markets are by their very nature unruly, but they tend to follow some unwritten rules. For instance, the S&P 500has typically followed a pattern around federal election cycles, rising the least in years when voters head to polls, and rising the most in off years. This year, however, hasn’t followed that pattern. As a result, the good times that normally follow an election might not be as good after November’s midterm elections.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/midterm-election-stocks-1538086186