FYI: The world of retirement savings recently reached a significant milestone that has important implications for workers and retirees: For the first time, assets in defined-contribution savings plans represent more than 50% of all retirement plan assets globally, according to Willis Towers Watson.
While some defined-benefit pension plans still exist, many more workers today have to rely on defined-contribution plans (think: 401(k) and IRA accounts) to fund their retirements. With today’s defined-contribution plans, workers have to assume the responsibility for making all the complex savings and investment decisions that will significantly affect the amount of money they will have available once they stop working and retire.
While recent innovations in defined-contribution retirement plans, such as the use of auto-enrollment, are making it easier to save, the focus now must shift toward a more-comprehensive approach to help individuals make those savings last.
Increasingly, workers expect their retirement plans to not only help them save, but also help them to generate and manage income through retirement. A recent report by the Georgetown University Center for Retirement Initiatives, “Generating and Protecting Retirement Income in Defined Contribution Plans”, looks at how different approaches can meet individual goals for doing just that.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-retirement-plan-of-the-future-turning-that-pot-of-money-into-monthly-income-2019-06-28/print

The Linkster's CD's:
Buy 12/3/18
BANKOFBARODA NEW YORK NY CD
CPN: 2.750% Due : 12/12/2019
Buy 12/3/18
FRANKLN SYN BK CD FRANKLIN TN CD
CPN: 2.500% Due : 8/7/2019
Buy 6/5/19
STATE BANK IND NEW YORK CITY NY CD
CPN: 2.400% Due : 9/16/2019
Buy 6/17/19
TRISTATE CAP BK PITTSBURGH PA CD
CPN: 2.350% Due : 10/21/2019
Regards,
Ted

Let’s say I could earn an extra quarter of a percent by moving my money to another online bank offering better rates. For every $10,000 that would net me a whopping $25 a year in additional interest.
Is it worth it to go through the account opening process, move my money and change my automated savings goals for a measly $25 extra bucks on every ten grand?

But what if you could earn, well not quite an extra quarter of a percent but an extra fifth of a percent without moving your money to another bank? Would it be worth it to open a higher yielding account at the same Marcus bank?
No penalty CDs at one's current bank are worth a look. They're easy to open, you don't have the hassle of dealing with a new institution, you can leave the old account open (with a minimal balance) so that you can maintain your automated deposits. The only downside is that your money is locked up for the first week of the CD.
https://www.depositaccounts.com/banks/marcus-goldman-sachs/offers/
Goldman Sachs Bank USA Cuts Rates Except the 13-Month No-Penalty CD

the 13-month No-Penalty CD ... continues to earn 2.35% APY. The new lower APYs are shown below in bold and are effective as of 6/28/2019. The previous APYs are noted inside parentheses.
Online Savings Account - 2.15% (2.25%)
7 mo NPCD - 2.15% (2.25%)
11 mo NPCD - 2.20% (2.30%)
12 mo - 2.50% (2.60%)
18 mo - 2.50% (2.60%)
24 mo - 2.55% (2.65%)
36 mo - 2.60% (2.70%)
48 mo - 2.65% (2.75%)
60 mo - 2.80% (2.90%)
72 mo - 2.85% (2.95%)

FYI: Yesterday Ben got an email from Marcus, his online savings account.
They lowered the interest rate on my savings (and everyone else’s) from 2.25% to 2.15%.
I heard stories from people who use other savings accounts that also saw a drop. These online savings accounts are obviously getting ahead of the possible Fed rate cut because these short-term interest rates typically track the Fed Funds Rate.
I put out the following on Twitter and got some interesting feedback:
Regards,
Ted
http://awealthofcommonsense.com/2019/06/interest-rate-chasing-in-your-savings-account/

FYI: Almost all American retirees claim Social Security at the wrong time, a new report estimates, which means they will miss out on a collective $3.4 trillion in benefits before they die.
While they can tap their benefits as early as age 62, retirees could boost the size of their checks for every year they wait until age 70, when the maximum benefit accrues. The advantage in waiting is substantial: A person eligible for a $725 monthly check at 62 could get a $1,280 check if they wait to start at age 70.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.fa-mag.com/news/americans-lose-trillions-claiming-social-security-at-the-wrong-time-45690.html?print

So his idea of “creativity” is to side-step the (apparently overvalued) S&P 500 and move your cash instead into (1) REITS, (2) Utilities, (3) Junk Bonds, (4) Dividend Paying Stocks and (5) Unconstrained Bond Funds?
I’m not familiar with the last one. But those first 4 are likely bid up just as much over the last year (perhaps more so) as the S&P 500 is. And you’d likely be paying much higher fees to go into one of those type of specialty funds than what an S&P index fund will cost you. So I’m not seeing the “creativity” angle here. Just jumping from one hot frying pan into another it would appear. As far as gold goes, two months ago would have been a good time to pick some up (or the miners). But now it has pretty much caught up with those other areas. The one I own, OPGSX, is up 20% in the past month, which accounts for most of its 24% gain YTD.
It’s been hard for me for many years now to think of cash as an “investment”. Sure, it’s good to hold some as dry powder or for stability or to meet near term needs. But 1-3% annual return on your long term investment pot just doesn’t cut it IMHO.

To carry on with the comment by Lewis it is also far, far less expensive to provide healthcare for everyone on a regular and consistent basis than it is to treat them in emergency rooms which taxpayers subsidize anyway or already. A healthy, properly nourished child or adult is much, much less of a strain on social services. For the life of me I can't understand why this is so hard to comprehend.
These undocumented people you're so down on John work far, far harder than you think or give them them credit for but they (many) are at the mercy of employers who only want to pay them far less than minimum wages for the privilege of not being reported. Even 45 has been outed for this abuse and he hasn't worked a day in his life.
I think you need to get out more and for gosh sakes turn off Fox news.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/us-stocks-wall-street-june-28-2019
US stocks end June with robust gains
By Ken MartinPublished June 28, 2019StocksFOXBusiness
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U.S. stocks Opens a New Window. on Friday closed out one of their strongest June performances in decades as Wall Street Opens a New Window. responded to signals that the Federal Reserve Opens a New Window. is moving towards a more accommodating interest rate policy.

Got tax the rich folks 70s%(not 30s%) and raise middle class tax from 25% to 40s-50s% to pay... Everyone who is working gotta pay more for more free stuff for one's not working
Have to give immigrants free Healthcare and free housing ssi since their lives and votes are much more valuable than our vets or our USA citizens. We also should open the borders since we are a living giving and kind supportive nation
Also everyone who wants their private part modified and birth controls are also free (for both men whom wanted be women and women who desire to be men)
Think I need register and vote for bary or uncle Joe 4 or 5 times in 2020. I am hoping to turn Texas blue
Think whoever give /promise most free stuff will get that heelspurs outta WH 2020!!...
Uncle Joe and bary was 5-10s pt ahead of spurs few days ago
Wonder whatever happened to whom ever worked the hardest would get the best grade / accepted to good colleges /gradschools and really have to pay for tuition and schools loan once finished... At least this us what i did and my family did and ended up in middle class 2nd Gen Americans

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/3521/000119312519186064/d749776d497.htm
497 1 d749776d497.htm TAF ALGER SMALL CAP FOCUS FUND
THE ALGER FUNDS
Alger Small Cap Focus Fund
July 1, 2019 Supplement to the Statutory and Summary
Prospectuses dated March 1, 2019, as supplemented to date
The Board of Trustees of The Alger Funds has authorized a partial closing of Alger Small Cap Focus Fund (the “Fund”), effective July 31, 2019.
The Fund’s Class A and C Shares will be available for purchase by existing shareholders of the Fund who maintain open accounts.
The Fund’s Class I and Z Shares will be available for purchase by existing shareholders of the Fund who maintain open accounts and investors who transact with certain broker-dealers identified by Fred Alger & Company, Incorporated, the Fund’s distributor. Please check with your financial advisor regarding the availability of Class I and Z shares of the Fund for purchase at their firm.
In addition, the Funds Class A, C, I and Z shares will be available to new investors that utilize certain retirement record keeping platforms identified by the Fund’s distributor.
The Fund’s Class Y Shares will remain open to all qualifying investors.
The Fund may resume sales to all investors (or further suspend sales) at some future date if the Board of Trustees determines that doing so would be in the best interest of shareholders.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-06-27/wall-street-muni-analysts-say-best-of-2019-is-already-behind-us
Wall Street Muni Analysts Say Best of 2019 Is Already Behind Us
Market largely seen steadying after best start since 2014
No dramatic shifts seen, with yields seen holding low
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BARC
BARCLAYS PLC
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An unbroken flow of cash into the municipal-bond market since early January has driven the securities to a 5.1 percent return, the best start to a year since 2014, according to Bloomberg Barclays indexes.

Some interesting things I found tonight:
- boilerplate from DoubleLine which somehow I missed before:
'The Fund may use leverage which may cause the effect of an increase or decrease in the value of the portfolio securities to be magnified and the Fund to be more volatile than if leverage was not used.'
- smartguy FD1001 on M* forums has done extensive crunching on managing volatility.
https://community.morningstar.com/t5/Exchange-Traded-Funds/Low-Volatility-ETFs/m-p/9630
shoutout to DSEEX
similar more recently here:
https://community.morningstar.com/t5/Allocation-Balanced-Funds/DoubleLine-Shiller-Enhanced-CAPE-I-DSEEX/td-p/7228
Q&A not by him (which a look at CAPE could've partly answered):
Q - One thing that's confusing: is it DSEEX's bond sleeve that's been responsible for its 3% annual outperformance over SPY? Or is it the Shiller sector selection methodology that favors the cheapest sectors? Does anyone know? Have the fund managers commented on this point?
A - Last webcast covered this. Over last 5-1/2 years of fund existence, the fixed income portfolio annualized return was 296 bps. Over the same timeframe, DSEEX outperformed the S&P500 Index by 340 bps per year, NET of expenses (trading costs and expense ratios). Note: The fixed income portfolio is designed to be low volatility with the objective of outperforming cash. It is used as collateral to fund the total return swap on the Schiller Barclay CAPE Index.
FD1001 MFO-type profile:
https://community.morningstar.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/3408 ;
more:
http://socialize.morningstar.com/NewSocialize/blogs/fd1000/archive/2014/05/14/investing-and-my-basic-system.aspx
Historical shoutouts:
DSnowball (https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2013/11/november-1-2013/) alerted us all to Lee's kickoff analysis almost 7y ago:
https://www.morningstar.com/articles/583010/cape-crusader.html

>> Barclays calculated the index values at least as far back as 2012
You mean 2002, correct?
That is odd he would make such a bald volatility claim, as I study this graph, yes.
https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/VZJ_aAz5A0gSKHXbVIpZZg--~A/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9NDgwO2g9MzY3O2lsPXBsYW5l/http://globalfinance.zenfs.com/en_us/Finance/US_AHTTP_SeekingAlpha_ETF_H_LIVE/saupload_cape-hypo_thumb1.jpg
To my eye it does not show 'that volatility has changed significantly between the 2002-2013 period'. Yours?
MFOP's 5y UI for DSEEX is slightly higher than for CAPE (which is slightly higher than for VFINX, yes), indicating the Gundlach bond sauce does not modulate anything, by my grokking anyway.

\\\ ... pointing to the fact that using CAPE as an investment strategy has shown lower volatility and a higher rate of return over time
>> I don't know what he was looking at.
Well, he's speaking after CAPE has been in operation only 54 weeks, right?

Sure, but he wasn't talking about literally buying the CAPE ETN as an investment strategy. (CAPE doesn't appear in the DoubleLine fund, to state the obvious). The index on which both DSENX and CAPE are based was launched by Barclays in 2012. However, Barclays calculated the index values at least as far back as 2012. (See CAPE prospectus, p. PS-33, pdf p. 36).
Take your pick: Gundlach was not aware of the available data as he promoted his fund, representing volatility figures of those 54 weeks as being "over time"; he was aware of the available data going back a decade but chose to disregard it in representing the investment strategy as having low volatility; or he did consider that data, it confirmed his claim of lower relative volatility, and that volatility has changed significantly between the 2002-2013 period and the 2012-2019 (present) period.
Any better alternatives that might make one more comfortable?
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/barclays-shiller-cape-sector-rotation-123731560.html

\\\ ... pointing to the fact that using CAPE as an investment strategy has shown lower volatility and a higher rate of return over time
>> I don't know what he was looking at.
Well, he's speaking after CAPE has been in operation only 54 weeks, right?
Outperforming VFINX 2.4% in that year-plus, with both up >30%.
It does look like the peaks and dips are very slightly greater than SP500 in that timeframe, hard to tell from the graphs, but I think so.

Seeing as DSENX invests in those sectors that are the cheapest, I would it expect it to be less volatile than the market and that it would resist downdrafts better. Why don't the numbers play out this way? The downside capture ratios are all slightly greater than 100%.

Apparently Gundlach also thinks so:

“We think [DSENX/DSEEX is] a better mousetrap,” he said, pointing to the fact that using CAPE as an investment strategy has shown lower volatility and a higher rate of return over time. Hopefully, the fixed-income expert says, it will result in “a tastes great, less filling type of investment experience.”

https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2013/11/22/gundlach-on-shiller-cape-fund-a-better-mousetrap/
I don't know what he was looking at. According to Porfolio Visualizer, over the lifetime of CAPE, VVIAX and VFINX have been similarly volatile (std. dev about 11) based on monthly returns, while CAPE's std dev was nearly 12.
There's greater separation in maximum drawdowns: about 11% for the value index, 13½% for the 500 index, and 15¼% for CAPE.

Schwab. At 134.57, at 3:40PM, 134.48 bid and 134.75 ask, so a 27 cent spread. What I have found, if I'm buying, is to put in a pretty low offer, maybe a cent or two above the low of the day and hope to get that price at the end of the day. Volume is really low, so it can be frustrating.