17 May, 2024:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2024-05-17/bloomberg-real-yield-05-17-2024

I have been paying property taxes with a credit card for years.
In my case, county charges 2.5% fee.

Understood @Low_Tech. To each their own, but again, I have no problem playing Schwab's game. My mind set is those who keep a higher dollar amount in the sweep are playing THEIR game. And if "the game" eeks out an extra $500 or so for me, the game becomes fun and worth doing, to me anyway.
I'll add, where the low interest rate is painful is in their robo accounts. Those portfolios typically put 10 to 12% in the cash sweep. That's how they make their money on the Intelligent Portfolios. Seemed ok when all cash vehicles made close to nothing. But times have changed. I dumped the robo last year, mostly because of that.

I'm retired and keep enough in my SEP cash for monthly RMDs with probably an extra month to spare. Bond interest and divvies come out of the bond and stock funds that I want them to automatically.
I started RMDs in 2022 and I have to hand it to Schwab, they make it very easy and it was something I was fretting over. They tell you in January the amount you will owe for the year down to the penny, and you can have it transferred out in any time frame you want -- I like monthly and you can select any day of the month you want. I have it transferred into my brokerage account automatically, although I could have it moved to my local bank checking account automatically if I wanted.
I could keep the cash in my brokerage account cleaned out and into the MM, and do when it gets high enough, but I never leave it empty.
Now with 5%+ MMs, that has changed a lot of things. I have a lot in the MM where previously I would have had it in some kind of short bond fund.
Ha, the robo accounts? I never got sucked into that for numerous reasons, the main one being that I want total control over my portfolio. When they came out with them I was still in the accumulation stage and I sure didn't want 10%+ of my portfolio sitting in cash.
Oh well, so far so good. :)

Understood @Low_Tech. To each their own, but again, I have no problem playing Schwab's game. My mind set is those who keep a higher dollar amount in the sweep are playing THEIR game. And if "the game" eeks out an extra $500 or so for me, the game becomes fun and worth doing, to me anyway.
I'll add, where the low interest rate is painful is in their robo accounts. Those portfolios typically put 10 to 12% in the cash sweep. That's how they make their money on the Intelligent Portfolios. Seemed ok when all cash vehicles made close to nothing. But times have changed. I dumped the robo last year, mostly because of that.

Thanks, @msf. It is 2 5/8%. You are correct, it is the merchant's characterization that controls. So, as you say I will make some money even without the free interest.
I asked Gemini and it says Santa Clara county treats the CC payment as a purchase and not as a cash withdrawal! If I do not post back, assume it was all good. Thanks.

I pay property taxes and state and federal income taxes routinely by credit card. All of these go through as regular charges. Though ultimately it depends on what the vendor (county) puts through to the bank.
With BofA one can get 2 5/8% back on some of their credit cards - any credit card paying 1.5%, boosted by 75% with BofA platinum honors ($100K+ in BofA and Merrill accounts combined).
It's hard not to make money paying taxes that way. Even without a year's free interest.

I keep roughly 1% of assets in cash from two accounts at Schwab. Even if they paid me 5% it wouldn't change my life any.

Won't change my life either but 1% in say, a million dollar account(s), would be about $500 bucks more in my pocket each year. I play the Schwab game of moving between MM and the sweep account as they made the rules, typically limiting the sweep to a couple of bucks. If a trade kicks in you have a day or two to make the switch back.

I would get a couple free lunches per month. If I was worried that much about it I would eat lunch at home instead of going out every day. :)

It appears that if you are a Flagship customer (1M+) you will be exempt from the $25 Broker-assisted commision.

I keep roughly 1% of assets in cash from two accounts at Schwab. Even if they paid me 5% it wouldn't change my life any.

Won't change my life either but 1% in say, a million dollar account(s), would be about $500 bucks more in my pocket each year. I play the Schwab game of moving between MM and the sweep account as they made the rules, typically limiting the sweep to a couple of bucks. If a trade kicks in you have a day or two to make the switch back.

Coverage is $500K per 'separate capacity' - defined, loosely, by account ownership and type: https://www.sipc.org/for-investors/investors-with-multiple-accounts
Since it sounds like everything is currently in a "joint" account, you could open an 'individual' account at the same firm and move some of the assets there.
Alternatively, you can move assets to another firm "in-kind", which would not be a taxable event.

Thank you yugo, opening 'individual' accounts is exactly what we are doing and then moving some of the 'joint' account shares 'in-kind' to the individual A/Cs. Thanks for your comment.

I keep roughly 1% of assets in cash from two accounts at Schwab. Even if they paid me 5% it wouldn't change my life any. When it gets much more than 1% I will add to positions or put it in the MM fund.
But, TBH, this is something I've never fretted over.

@Crash - Can you submit that $1 sell order now? (Use the “sell all” option.) Then it should automatically execute in 2462.
In 1976, you could have mailed a letter first-class for 13-cents

I have the Fido 2% cash back for many years. The first time I did a dispute was last week, what a pain in the A$$. You must talk to a rep and it took 30 minutes for a simple dispute.
I joined Penfed 15-20 years ago, (anyone can) and have 2 cards
1) 5% cash back on all gas stations, you must fill at the pump. I use it only for gas. It also pays 3% for supermarkets, food and more. But Walmart and Aldi where I shop are not included.
2) 2% cash back worldwide on everything.
Both cards have a real zero fee worldwide and good customer service. You can dispute online in minutes.
Last year they helped me with a tough case against a car rental in the Netherlands, I got all the money, they canceled the card and got me a new one so the merchant could not charge me again.
Wow, I just talked myself out of using the Fidelity CC.
See it at https://www.penfed.org/credit-cards
Other than that I'm not interested in points and/or limited cards and/or gradually increasing cards. Give it to me simple.

This thread is getting flushed down the sewer pretty fast but Old_Joe's home maintenance tip with "thin stuff" is useful. My neighbor spent $5K on sewer line repair because evidently tree roots went into his sewer line just before the sewer line connects to the city's and he had to get it fixed. I did not want to ask the neighbor but I am presuming home insurance covers, subject to deductible, episodes like this. No?

I do not think so. Our neighbor's sewer line broke and fortunately they had insurance through a company called American Water Resources. They were quite difficult to deal with, but in the end they sent someone out to dig up the street and make the necessary repairs.

This thread is getting flushed down the sewer pretty fast but Old_Joe's home maintenance tip with "thin stuff" is useful. My neighbor spent $5K on sewer line repair because evidently tree roots went into his sewer line just before the sewer line connects to the city's and he had to get it fixed. I did not want to ask the neighbor but I am presuming home insurance covers, subject to deductible, episodes like this. No?

I have some EPD an don't mind dealing with the K-1ut I am retired and have plenty of time to figure it out. As stated you can get it online usually a couple of weeks before 4/15
The tax consequences of selling it are complicated but you can figure them out.

Oh, I wasn't talking about Fidelity/Elan. I was thinking, perhaps of one of the AAA cards, though they are provided by Bread Financial/Comenity Bank. That is not well regarded either. So a AAA card may not be a better alternative.
I'm looking for a backup card for foreign travel. Backup means it won't be used frequently but reliability is important. It seems that QuickSilver (Capital One) changed from Visa to MC a couple of years ago. It checks all my boxes.
It pays only 1.5% cash back, but for an infrequently used card a half percent difference isn't important. What does matter is that it has no annual fee or foreign transaction fee. And MC means it complements the Visa card I use for foreign travel. A modest signup bonus ($200) is a small plus. Not to mention half off coffee drinks in their cafes.
Obviously, each person's criteria are different. The Fidelity card works nicely for many.

BIVRX gained 61.2% in 2021, and then followed that up by rising 49.5% in 2022. This "long-short" fund has 6 positive calendar years of gains, 0 negative.
However, in 2024 it is down YTD..... close to (-9%) thus far. It's worth a small allocation to me. Long-short funds are so funky.

Yes, but there is a downside to staying within the 25% MLP limit.

40 Act Funds – RIC Compliant – Less than 25% MLPs
Funds that own less than 25% MLPs do not pay taxes at the fund level, enabling them to pass through the entire return to their investors. The return of capital benefit from owning MLPs is muted due to the limit imposed on MLP ownership. Investors interested in RIC-compliant energy infrastructure funds should research what the fund owns for the other 75%. Common positions include midstream C-Corporations, utility companies, exploration and production companies, refiners, and MLP affiliates structured as C-Corporations.
Advantages:

• Ownership of the underlying securities
  
• Little to no tracking error

Disadvantages:

• Generally lower yield

https://etfdb.com/index-education/mlp-investing/