The amount of federal debt held by the public totals more than $21 trillion, magnitudes above the $5.3 trillion debt carried by the country in the fourth quarter of 2008. Almost $4 trillion was added to the debt following the Trump administration’s efforts on the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
But the former Fed chair commented that because of near-zero short-term interest rates, the total interest burden as a share of GDP is lower now than it was before the financial crisis in 2008.
It looks t me , a fine line to walk .
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/treasury-nominee-janet-yellen-outlines-priorities-under-biden-administration-185327249.html
Stay Safe, Derf

Think of it this way: Inflation can be good for the seller and bad for the buyer. Investors, most of whom are high net worth, are the buyers of financial assets. But who is the seller in this case--the issuers of stocks and bonds. In the case of securitized assets for say credit cards, homes or auto loans, the sellers backing the issuers are people taking out loans and the more expensive the financial asset is for the buyer, the cheaper it is for the seller or issuer or in this case the debtor to finance their car or house or purchases or even their new businesses. Although sellers of equity are only corporations, there are advantages to having asset inflation there too, but to a lesser degree. High priced equity can be used to finance R&D or various other forms of growth in the right executive hands. Unfortunately, most CEOs haven't proven to be good long-term capital allocators and too often use their expensive equity to make equally expensive acquisitions, or to pay themselves rich bonuses.

Except it is not the inflation most people care about or should care about: https://financialpost.com/investing/how-americas-1-came-to-dominate-stock-ownership

The richest 1 per cent of Americans now account for more than half the value of equities owned by U.S. households, according to Goldman Sachs....As of September 2019, the bottom 90 per cent owned US$4.6 trillion of equities, or 12 per cent of the total, the analysts noted.

Moreover, asset price inflation in bonds one could argue is good for the bottom 90% who more often have outstanding debt than own financial securities in any significant amount. Debt with low interest rates saves them money. The people low yielding high priced debt hurts the most are bankers, i.e., creditors.

Same posters, same distractions for years, nothing new. Expect it to continue.
BT2020 or BigTom have been following my posts for years over 3 different sites where he tries to find anything(even one word) wrong and/or one number out of order and claim...haha, this time I got you...just, laughable.
stillers claimed years ago that I will never retire, I will never have enough, and I will never make it...the fun continues.
All I did is presented a fund and its performance and SD. I don't owe you anything more. I'm not anybody's financial advisor or get paid by anyone. It's common sense to do your own due diligence regardless if I mentioned it or not. This is a message board where we post ideas. It doesn't matter if I made the warning in the first post or third post. Of course, I knew about the leverage, it's the first thing you see when you look at M* holdings(link) but as usual, you look at any word I post for anything for a gotcha...again, old news...mmm...maybe jealousy, after all, your predictions were far from the truth.

Recently read a Forbes article about this ETF. Curious if others are familiar. I’m going to start doing a little research. Stated goal is to provide a ‘steady’ 7% return utilizing a mixture of financial instruments. I realize the ETF doesn’t not have a long track record.

For anyone with an interest, here are a couple more links:
1. Spectrum Investment Advisors - archive of links to quarterly Newsletters:
https://client.spectruminvestor.com/189/quarterly-newsletters/2020-newsletters
2. Spectrum Financial Inc. - Archive of links to the quarter Full Spectrum newsletter. Scroll down the page to get to the archived links:
https://investspectrum.com/newsletter.cshtml

I re-balance twice yearly. Also I prefer to reapportion monthly dividends/gains to positions of my own choice based on the economy, my current financial and tax situation or cash needs. Typically I would do about 40 buys/sells a year. At Wellstrade that would have been $1,600/yr. At Fidelity about $800-1000/yr. Same at Vanguard. A free cash management account with checks/ATM card is available with 25K or more in the account, which I have. With the greater availability of cheaper institutional/advisor class funds and all no load funds (over 12,000) being NTF this was a no brainer for me. As always ,each to his/her own. I realized great cost savings and I wanted to share this ,with those who might be interested.

I like Firstrade for the access it provides to some institutional/advisor class shares, especially without charging a transaction fee. I used it for this purpose several years ago; I'll wager I'm the only one here to have walked into its office, both before and after it moved.
But it is a barebones operation. Ultimately I found that even as a buy-and-hold investor the access to a small incremental number of funds unavailable elsewhere wasn't worth the hassle of having one more account to deal with.
Firstrade labels only some of its funds NTF. I'm guessing that means that like other brokerages (e.g. Schwab) it receives fees from these funds for servicing accounts. You'll find links to its separate lists of Load Funds, No Load Funds, and NTF funds next to the fund search box near the top of this page.
True, it currently charges no commission (transaction fee) for any of them. But I can't find a statement that it waives loads on any fund in its load list. Take PIMCO for example.
All the PIMCO A shares such as PIMAX are on the load fund list (Type = LOAD). It at least appears that one would pay a load for these shares, just as one would at Fidelity. Unfortunately, Firstrade does not sell PIMCO Institutional class shares such as PIMIX.
Speaking of WellsTrade, it looks like PIMIX is available there with no transaction fee and no minimum. I walked away from WT years ago for a variety of reasons and have never looked back. So this is not a recommendation to consider them.

The input thus far is very much appreciated. Additional thoughts are welcomed. FTEC is an excellent choice, too; as we also invest in this etf. @Old_Joe , yes; Ted would state that QQQ is the one. @davidrmoran , yes, perhaps Ted would also suggest these. If there were a larger dollar amount available, I would also be tempted to suggest some of the money be split into FSMEX or IHI (an eft twin) for direct exposure to medical tech.
SPY and most related indexes that track the SP-500 are a blended U.S. equity position. I do not consider this a poor choice for many portfolios; but consider an investment in QQQ or similar to be a better fit for a young investor. SPY type funds do represent a much larger sample of U.S. equity; but one also finds sectors of this area that can be a drag on performance, too. Over the past several years, financials and energy have been brakes on performance. But, the recent inclusion of TESLA and other ongoing changes will continue to affect this mix.
SPY

Sectors	Fund %	Cat %
Basic Materials	2.42	2.61
Consumer Cyclical	12.66	11.17
Financial Services	13.90	13.42
Real Estate	2.29	2.47
Communication Services	10.26	10.21
Energy	2.60	1.90
Industrials	8.83	10.11
Technology	23.82	22.81
Consumer Defensive	6.78	7.99
Healthcare	13.77	14.76
Utilities	2.67	2.54

QQQ
With this is a much smaller sampling of U.S. equity (100 companies), but oriented to growth; but using market capitalization size to establish the holdings and percent. The prospectus indicates that the holdings percentage may be and are adjusted throughout any given time period.

Information Technology	47.90%
Consumer Discretionary	19.29%
Communication Services	18.22%
Health Care	6.39%
Consumer Staples	5.15%
Industrials	1.88%
Utilities	0.96%

Industry exposure:

Software	15.27%
Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment	13.96%
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals	12.37%
Internet & Direct Marketing Retail	11.95%
Interactive Media & Services	10.35%
IT Services	4.59%
Automobiles	4.43%
Biotechnology	3.98%
Media	3.39%
Entertainment	3.11%

Okay, lots of investment choices these days.
Overview: two late 30's siblings have been provided with starter money ($2,000) for a Roth IRA. This was done to get their arse's out of the barn about investments. Neither have had thought patterns about why it may be of future benefit to invest even $100 a month into an available 401k plan. We all know these stories.
They both have solid employment, so they may use this free money for an investment.
I was contacted today that these two finally opened a Roth account at Fidelity, after seven months of sitting on the free money in a bank account.
An initial discussion 7 months ago offered my suggestion of the initial monies going into QQQ, as a starting point.
QQQ:

The Index is a modified capitalization-weighted index of securities issued by100 of the largest non-financial companies listed on the NASDAQ Global Select orNASDAQ Global Market tier of NASDAQ (see “The Index”).

QQQ is also as inexpensive as one may have for this sector, at .20 ER.
Have you another parking place to suggest for this money?
Thank you and take care,
Catch

"Finance is a minefield that few navigate without getting maimed. It’s replete with mirages—what you see is often not what you get. Our instincts hurt us more often than they protect us. Actions that are sensible in every other realm of life lead us astray in finance." Link

Yeah, I know. Been kicking myself for taking a quick 5K profit and running. That's why I never post financial advice here. Anyone following my advice would likely come looking to kill me.

Fed Chair Powell: 'Be careful not to exit too early' on easy monetary policy
"But Powell’s commentary may be an attempt to quell any jitteriness over the Fed pulling back on its accommodative policy. Fed Vice Chairman Richard Clarida said Wednesday that he expects the Fed to keep up its pace of asset purchases through 2021."
Got to keep those bubbles inflated! 2021 will likely be a decent year for equities. Amazing financial system we have here in the US. Simply amazing.

There's no question that he was way wrong about mortgage insurance companies. However, despite this moderate sized bet, the fund performed respectably before and during the housing crisis.
Let's put some dates and numbers to paper. MBI would seem to be a good proxy for his investments in the mortgage insurance business (what in the annual statements is counted in "Financial Insurance/Credit Enhancement").
Oct 31, 2008: 3.57% of portfolio in financial ins., all MBI.
Oct 31,2007: 3.95% in financial ins., 64% of that in MBI.
Oct 31, 2006: 3.55% in financial ins., 65% of that in MBI.
I'm not going back further. MBI's stock price peaked just before the end of 2006 (Dec 28 close of 73.31 per Yahoo). "In 2007, home prices started to tumble." NPR.
From Dec 28, 2006 to March 5, 2008 (the low point for MBI), TAVFX outperformed the average large cap value fund by over 2% (not annualized) while underperforming VEIRX by about 1%.
M* chart.
In January 2008 the fund owned about 10% of MBI. That mistake by Whitman of doubling down brought its percentage of the fund's portfolio to around 5% (end of January N-Q). With the stock declining from his purchase price of $12.15 to a low of $2.29 on March 5, 2008 the position contributed around -4% to the fund's performance. Since then, MBI has gently risen in price.
Though his bets on mortgage insurers had a measurable impact on fund performance, bringing down a once superior fund to an average performing one, they did not seem to be the cause of the subsequent "implosion". That came later.
The fund started to underperform in the 2nd half of 2008, well after MBI had stabilized. Even at that, it had its moments and performed in line with large cap value funds until just a few months before Whitman resigned as manager, March 3, 2012.
M* chart 2008-March 3, 2012.

We always verify current or possible holdings to discover what is inside. 'Course, the contents are subject to change somewhat over time frames.
And to the proposition of an investment into SPY where many may presume an equal weight of holdings among 11 sectors. NOPE. Tis not a balanced U.S. equity holding. We hold 3 of these equity sectors: tech., healthcare and comm. services for our current choices.

Sectors	Fund %	Cat %
Basic Materials	2.42	2.61
Consumer Cyclical	12.66	11.17
Financial Services	13.90	13.42
Real Estate	2.29	2.47
Communication Services	10.26	10.21
Energy	2.60	1.90
Industrials	8.83	10.11
Technology	23.82	22.81
Consumer Defensive	6.78	7.99
Healthcare	13.77	14.76
Utilities	2.67	2.54

SP-500 sector weighing
Regards,
Catch

@Crash, This is my approach, too. Depending on when they were purchased in the fund, I particularly look for holdings that are not 'herd' companies in the top-10, which suggests groupthink and/or closet indexing.

I make sure to check out the biggest holdings, which are not difficult to uncover, and the weight the fund holds in the market sectors: tech, financial, etc. But what I am mostly looking for is to see that the fund does not hold stocks in companies I hate. I call it my ethical filter. But of course, it's of limited value. Once I decide to invest in a fund, the Fund Manager is in charge, and I'm sort of a "back-bencher."

I make sure to check out the biggest holdings, which are not difficult to uncover, and the weight the fund holds in the market sectors: tech, financial, etc. But what I am mostly looking for is to see that the fund does not hold stocks in companies I hate. I call it my ethical filter. But of course, it's of limited value. Once I decide to invest in a fund, the Fund Manager is in charge, and I'm sort of a "back-bencher."

Here are a couple of more stock market bubble articles, the first one short and second one with a fair amount of detailed background info:

First Article: Warren Buffett's favorite market indicator hits 13-year high, signaling global stocks are most overvalued since the financial crisis
The gauge climbed past 121% last weekend, Bloomberg data shows, marking its highest reading since October 2007. Welt market analyst Holger Zschaepitz flagged the worrying milestone in a tweet.
"Buffett indicator sounds the alarm," he said. "Global stock mkt cap has now topped 120% of global GDP, and thus the same level as before the crash in 2008."

Second Article: Yes, Virginia. There Is A Stock Market Bubble. Lance Roberts
We see that the claims on the economy should, quite intuitively, track the economy itself. Excesses occur whenever the economy’s claims, the so-called financial assets (stocks, bonds, and derivatives), get too far ahead of the economy itself.
The increase in speculative risks, combined with excess leverage, leave the markets vulnerable to a sizable future correction. The only missing ingredient for such a reversion is the catalyst to bring “fear” into an overly complacent marketplace.
It is all reminiscent of the market peak of 1929 when Dr. Irving Fisher uttered his now-famous words: “Stocks have now reached a permanently high plateau.”

@Crash I feel your pain on this but allow me to offer a slightly different viewpoint. I use a password manager that is solid. One master password is all I have to remember. It keeps 100's of other passwords for me (I have more than 500) and they are all generated by the manager. I only have to remember one. HOWEVER... all of my banking and brokerages - I use 2 Factor authentication. So, if I log in to a bank or brokerage... I WANT a text verifying that it's me. This gives me the best of both worlds. I have the password manager to login to most of the sites that I use that require a login but my financial ones... I'm protected by the 2 factor authentication. Edit: And I use BRAVE as a browser. It's an ad blocker built in etc. So I know what you are trying to accomplish there.

Many financial advisors will help you to draw up a balanced and diversified investment portfolio. Ideally, funds chosen will have negative asset correlation to each other. High quality bonds and equities are the classic examples. While in drawdown situations, the bonds will advanced when the equities fall. The net result is to have a reduced level of loss and the portfolio will recover in a shorter timeframe. More importantly, this helps the investors psychologically and they are more likely to stay the course rather than sell at the bottom.
If you read January's article from Lynn Bolin, a plot showing Vanguard Wellington fund (65/35 stocks/bonds allocation) versus S&P 500 index achieved the same level of gain over a prolong period. This is achieved with less ups and down. Wellesley Income fund (35/65) was also included on the plot.
Asset correlation can be found in MFO Premium.