@DanHardy I'm keeping inflation on the stove (on a "side burner") if only to keep myself honest. Is it starting, or is this only a meandering, to and fro? I don't think it's wise to bet too much on trend-following here. If the bond vigilantes become convinced that inflationary pressures are building up and here to stay, there won't be much the Fed will be able to do about it (and if they were to decide to try, I suspect it would have to be in a way that would be a "naked tell" they have been playing favorites all along). Get caught leaning, and there could be some hell to pay.
May you live in interesting times. :)

Well the work that comes to mind is stagflation - but not the '70s flavor - History may not repeat but it rhymes.
There are key differences from the '70s.
Now with have weak growth & that will continue

Now we have pass through of energy, food and service industries but not in other areas. "Free Trade" will help to keep imported goods prices down and keep US workers worried.

Now the worker does not have pricing power. They will have to suck up any price increases.

http://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2008/03/frbsf-the-econo.html
Bottom line - while we have inflation you have to look where it is coming from - e.g. health care and health insurance is much larger part of the US economy then it was in the '70s.
So while we have inflation returning from the dead it is weak, we do not have the other aspects to make it a concern to bond prices. There is a lot of liquidity sloshing around the world looking for a return.

i did, in practice, purchased several CEFs during 2008/2009, which made for a significant return in the following years. they consequently moved to premia and i had to exchange them for what i thought was a better relative value. each year, different class of CEFs is underpriced (while 2008/9 it was the entire universe). 2011 saw a huge downdrift in munis. 2012 affected not-agency RMBS. 2013 was unkind to all income producing stuff, most of which just recently recovered. preferreds stayed down for two years before rallying in 2016. right now, there is little value in CEFs as discounts approach those in 2012, i.e. non-existing... i have sold a few, but am still long a bunch...the question is always, if you sell what are you reinvesting in? when everything is expensive (except for some 'real asset' stuff) I just stay the course with the existing positions and some dry powder.

At Fidelity, its CMA account and most tax-sheltered accounts also use bank accounts.
However, the bank accounts used by brokerages for sweeps are low paying checking accounts (they can't be savings accounts which are allowed only 6 withdrawals per period). So if you want to get something for your cash at a bank, it's still DIY - find a good yielding bank account and manage the cash yourself.
Sample brokerage FDIC sweep rates:
Fidelity: 0.07%
Schwab: 0.10%
E*Trade: 0.10%
TDAmeritrade: 0.10%
Scottrade: 0.10%
I think a footnote on Scottrade's page says it all:
"The fee paid to Scottrade by the Program Banks may exceed the interest rate amounts paid to clients."

Better to own particular stocks? Yields are thin, yes: PNM 2.44%, Duke Energy 3.86, PG&E 2.9% AEP 3.19% Southern Company 4.09%. ...PNM has been waiting forever for a rate hike from the regulatory agency. August, sometime, is the next hoped-for approval day. This is all about a 2nd try, too. The rate board panned the first request, said it was just incomplete and not tight and precise enough.

@DanHardy I'm keeping inflation on the stove (on a "side burner") if only to keep myself honest. Is it starting, or is this only a meandering, to and fro? I don't think it's wise to bet too much on trend-following here. If the bond vigilantes become convinced that inflationary pressures are building up and here to stay, there won't be much the Fed will be able to do about it (and if they were to decide to try, I suspect it would have to be in a way that would be a "naked tell" they have been playing favorites all along). Get caught leaning, and there could be some hell to pay.
May you live in interesting times. :)

I chose DLFNX, didn't want to pile on top of what seemed already to be a fund getting bloated, and that was in 2012.

In one of his webcast in 2011, he told audience he had sold all his stock holding around 1150. I don't think his forecast for equity is good. He also has to close a doubline equity fund after poor performance.

@davidmoran
You noted: "How come we never hear from anyone who purchased lots of longterm T-bills 1988-1990?"
I don't know anyone who ever purchased individual long term U.S. bonds. There are probably a few folks in my small world of investors who have, but have not stated so.
Do you know of anyone?
Regards,
Catch

How come we never hear from anyone who purchased lots of longterm T-bills 1988-1990? They are coming up pretty soon. Is this a case of 'investor returns'?
G-fund since April Fool's '87 to last xmas was ~5.3% annually on average; SP500 was ~7.1% and with very different taxation, right? Who woulda thunk.

"...(at a 20% cost basis yield) you would double your money ever 5 years..." At a 20% return per year, you would more than double your money every 4 years (1.2 raised to the 4th power equals 2.07+).

For recent historical reference.Government " G " Fund as part of the Thrift Savings Plan offered to Government employees and U S Military personnel
The G Fund buys a nonmarketable U.S. Treasury security that is guaranteed by the U.S. Government. This means that the G Fund will not lose money.
Last 12 mo. through 6/30/2016 2.02%
First offered on 04/01/87

Thanks Openice for that info. In addition here's a link to a Wall Street article on ICMIX stating a lot of the things that Openice mentioned.
http://www.intrepidcapitalfunds.com/media/pdfs/TWST061016.pdf

I believe Snowball has written extensively about their virtues.

He's featured ICMAX (April, 2016) and ICMUX (Mar. 2014), also adding a piece this month about ICMAX.
The firm is doing a conference call Aug. 4. You can submit questions in advance.
The fund purchases companies with at least a 20% discount to FV, holds 15-50 securities (currently 30), and, like the other funds at Intrepid, emphasizes absolute return and will hold cash when it cannot find suitable investments.
I spoke with Ben Franklin, PM of ICMIX, earlier this month about how the fund is presently constituted and about some of the portfolio holdings. While the product is an all-cap one, the market cap is currently <400m with 95% in small and micro cap international companies because those areas offer the best value, he says. Currently, 46% of the holding are in Europe. He's reduced cash from around 23% at the end of Q1 to 13% at the end of 2Q and apparently found some enduring values somewhere! (my opinion) especially when the domestic "EV/EBITDA multiple on the Russell 2000 Index is 20X, while it was closer to 12x at the prior two market peaks (March 2000 and July 2007," according to Jayme Wiggins at Intrepid.
Despite its all cap mandate, he expects that the fund will continue to emphasize international small cap value --the area he says that he came to prefer as a PM since joining Intrepid.
The fund complements other micro/small cap but dissimilar, distinctive funds that I own, e.g., GPMCX.

Okay, that last remark got me curious, so I checked. In its category (the one I'm guessing Ted used - M* 30%-50% allocation), there were two funds that had worse 5 year records.
One has continued its bottom 2% performance except in the past few months - PRADX (NTF at various brokers). M* rates it a bronze, ostensibly because it is a real return fund. (Sometimes M* tacitly acknowledges the limitations of its classification system.)
The other is a familiar fund - PRPFX. For a fund that is supposed to offer stability (by investing in a broad mix of asset classes: gold/silver, Swiss francs, natural resources, growth, and US bonds), it has certainly gotten led around by gold. 98th percentile over 5 years, but top 1% over the past year.

msf, agreed. Another thought...even if a bear market emerged and your NAV dropped to $55 from $100, (at a 20% cost basis yield) you would double your money ever 5 years perhaps negating the risk of holding through the $45/share loss. IOW's would this be approached differently if an investor never believed his $40 cost basis would ever be breached? I am looking at my old research notes from the depth of 2008. HYV was yielding 22.9% DHF 21.3% SBW 16% HYT 22.1%. Incredible. I am not recommending the funds. No need to comment on the funds...simply examples of yields during that brief period of time. The one caveat is cuts in dividend thru economic cycles.

Ignoring tax issues, IMHO always mark to market (i.e. look at current prices).
Say you bought a share for $40 that was yielding 20%, and it is now selling for $100, yielding 8% (same $8 interest, just divided by a higher current price).
You've got a $60 gain, whether you choose to realize it or not. You've also got something worth $100. The question you're faced with (again, ignoring taxes) is: where is the best place for that $100?
If you were to buy another bond fund with similar risk (duration, credit quality), it would have a similar yield. If you're happy with your current investment's risk/reward characteristics, keep it - swapping for something else won't accomplish much.
But if you think that you want to get out of the bond market, or get something with shorter duration (expecting rates to increase), they you should consider taking that $100 and buying something shorter term, or cash. (Or if you want to get into equities, go there.)
The point is what I said at the start - you've got the profit now, whether you choose to realize it or not. The choice is not so much whether to sell or not, as it is where you want to put the current value of your investment - where it is now, or somewhere else.

During 08-09 some of these funds sold off substantially to all time lows/discounts with 20% yields. If an investor were lucky enough to buy them then, should the funds be sold at large profits or held forever? (thinking the NAV may never go that low again and yields may never go that high again). The consensus is sell because once the funds recover you are getting 8-10 years worth of dividends in the profit. However, if you do sell, you are now faced with establishing a new cost basis to provide income during those 8 years that is near impossible to replicate. Thoughts?

@DanHardy
Yes, relative to new and future retirees. If the 10 year moves sideways from this point in a narrow channel for yield; total return (which includes price movement) would be muted.
Any search for yield must be carefully weighed against from where the yield arrives and why; as well as what circumstances going forward will alter the yield.
Not unlike today and U.S. investment grade bond yields; I'm not concentrated upon the fact that the yield continues to move lower, as the underlying price performance is far out pacing the yield.
At this time our house is not chasing any yield for income, but yield (downward) for price performance.
Total return on any given investment, while attempting to prevent loss of capital continues as our primary focus.
Sideways movement of pricing for any investment is a possibility for extended periods of time. So, those expecting and wanting performance from equity investments can also get stuck in sideways price movements. Obviously, total return becomes diminished, regardless of the investment area.
Retirees who have chosen to not be involved with investments in the stock/bond markets find themselves stuck with the choice of a CD or similar. We know what these returns will be at this time. Annuities currently are unable to offer returns of consequence (although some folks might find other aspects appealing).
Pension funds and some large institutions are looking everywhere to provide for their future needs. Many of these organizations have finally begun to pull away from the fancy hedge fund promises and fees. The "alt" investments folks are also clawing to prove they know what their doing with "other peoples money". The enormous California retirement fund reported a "year to year" (June 30) total return of .62%. Batman would surely do a "holy crap" for this folly.
Central banks globally continue to "play". Bank of Japan recently did not further reduce bond yields with market intervention, but expanded their ability to purchase Japanese market etf's (equity) specifically designed for the Bank of Japan to purchase. The ECB, among other ongoing purchases is also purchasing eurozone corporate bonds. I have no idea with what our Federal Reserve is involved within the market place.
Gotta go help at high school band camp.
Most interesting times continue.....
Catch

As an investor in Oakmark funds for the past 20 years or so, specifically the international funds, I am not happy to hear this. Both OAKIX and OAKEX performance has suffered recently and I am fairly certain that asset bloat with OAKIX at 23.5 billion AUM and OAKEX at 2.4 billion AUM has been a factor on this poor performance. OAKEX in particular hasn't beaten it arrivals for last 1 yr, 3 yr, 5yr , or 10 yr periods. But I believed in the management and stuck with them all the years albeit cutting back on my exposure to OAKEX to about 25% of my original investment. But I think this may finally bring me to sell the remaining holdings in the fund. I originally invested in OAKEX to get small cap international value/blend exposure which was not offered in my 401K selections which only had foreign LC and Emerging Market as investment options. But now I believe their are several better options in the SC International arena. Funds such as ICMIX, ISMRX, and SBSHX all appear to be more compelling options in the international SC area with ICMIX probably being the standout option IMHO. So while I am glad that Oakmark believes that have some many good investment options, I am saying good bye to at least to OAKEX. So be warned since I am planning on selling OAKEX next year they probably return to stellar performance against their peers - just my luck. Disclosure I currently own 4 Oakmark funds - OAKLX, OAKWX, OAKIX, and OAKEX.

I'm not that familiar with Intrepid... What is it that you like so much about them, other than performance?

With U.S.A some 17 trillion in debt I would agree with DanHardy.
Derf