Nearly a dozen ETFs boasted yields of at least 100% this week.
Most of these funds trade option contracts on a single stock to generate high income.
Much of this "yield" is often return of capital.
“'The higher the yield you’re generating, the higher the risk you’re taking with the principal,'
says Will Rhind, chief executive of GraniteShares, which offers several option-income funds.
'Can you get a 150% annualized yield with no downside?
There’s no free lunch in this world.'”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/these-funds-are-yield-magicians-how-do-they-do-it/ar-AA1Hy1HC

Hi @yogibearbull My experience with 403b vendors is that they cause a lot of extra work for transactions. Pretty much everything is done through filling forms to be mailed to the company. Me thinks they don't want to lose customer monies to another organizations.
When I rolled my 401k from Vanguard to Fidelity; a 3 way phone call providing all necessary verifications for my identity took 20 minutes. I don't know if this is available in 2025.

Top Executives
Name			Title					Since	Until
David R. Giroux		Vice President				2006	Now
Jeffrey W. Arricale	Deputy Director				2006	2007
Stephen W. Boesel	Managing Director and portfolio manager	2001	2006
Richard P. Howard	Senior Vice President			1989	2001
Richard H. Fontaine	Vice President, Portfolio Manager	1986	1989

https://www.investing.com/funds/t.-rowe-price-capital-appreciation-company-profile

A superstar at the helm of T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation fund in the late 1980's, Mr. Fontaine anticipated the 1987 market crash and bought aggressively afterward, delivering average annual returns of nearly 40 percent.

https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/19/business/mutual-funds-a-bear-on-stocks-who-s-outrunning-the-bulls.html
Side note: T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation commenced operations on June 30, 1986. It was legally created as T. Rowe Price Capital Advantage Fund on May 9, 1986 and changed to its current name on June 29, 1986.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/793347/0000793347-94-000004.txt

It's interesting to google the names on the list. Boesel seems like the stereotype of a T. Rowe Price guy. Howard is quite a character. Haven't made it to Fontaine yet.
Giroux seems like more of the Boesel type.

”We like to pay cash for new Honda and Toyota every 20 years.”
No quarrel with paying cash. But no desire to drive a car for 20 years either. I love new cars. For years I was piling 20,000 + miles a year on everything with long commutes to work + frequent 5-hour weekend drives to the cabin and back. Vehicles weren’t worth much on a trade after 4 or 5 years. So drove them into the ground. Now, retired, I put less than half the miles on them. Still pretty good trade value after 4 or 5 years.
The bells and whistles on newer vehicles are wonderful - like the blind spot warning (my first ever). And it even signals if a pedestrian walks behind when backing up. The lane tracing was good on the 2018 Honda, but much more accurate and reliable on the new Toyota. And the self dimming rear view mirror really works. Even the brightest high beams from tailgaters don’t bother me. Power seats. Heated seats & steering wheel. AWD. Put that in your pipe and smoke it when it’s 15 degrees out and pitch dark at 5 PM in January.
Yes, it’s an extravagance. Not the best use of money. But I can do without other niceties. And if I want to “enjoy” 20 year old technology, I still have the rusting old pickup to drive. But driving it feels like torture compared to the new car. I always check insurance rates with my local agent before buying a new vehicle. Huge difference among different brands and models. The one I have now is quite reasonable.

I attempted to link an external bank account to one of my Fidelity accounts today.
After entering the required information online, a message was displayed stating more information was needed.
An option for using Finicity (affiliated with Mastercard) to link bank accounts was then provided.
I prefer not to use third parties when linking financial accounts.
I called Fidelity, explained the current situation, and mentioned that I didn't experience
previous issues when linking bank accounts.
The Fidelity rep alluded to increased security measures implemented by the firm.
The following sequence of events transpired¹.
1) Fidelity sent me an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) Authorization Form via their secure email.
2) Printed 4/6 pages of the form.
3) Using pen, completed form.
4) Using phone, took picture for each page and for bank statement.
5) Copied pictures from phone to PC (phone not used for financial transactions).
6) Navigated to Fidelity's secure email to upload completed form and bank statement.
7) Attempted to attach five .jpg files but was only able to attach two—exceeded total upload size of 13 MB.
8) Sent two additional secure emails in order to upload all five .jpg files.
9) Wait a few days for request to be processed.
I appreciate that Fidelity has stringent security measures in place for linking bank accounts.
However, their corresponding online process is cumbersome and somewhat time-consuming.
The process would be much more efficient if the EFT Authorization Form (PDF) was modified
to allow electronic editing (e.g. Docusign) and automatic online submission.
¹ Alternatively, Fidelity could have sent an EFT Authorization Form via postal mail.
I'd complete the form and mail it back to Fidelity along with my bank statement.

Stable-Value (SV) Rates, 7/1/25
TIAA Traditional Annuity (Accumulation) Rates
Across the board decreases of -25 bps.
Restricted RC 5.25%, RA 5.00%
Flexible RCP 4.50%, SRA 4.25%, IRA-101110+ 4.50%
TSP G Fund 4.25% (previous 4.500%). (Edited 7/4/25)
Options outside of workplace retirement plans include m-mkt funds, bank m-mkt accounts (FDIC insured), T-Bills, short-term brokered CDs.
#StableValue #401k #403b #TIAA #TSP
https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/post/2062/thread

Fund Allocations (Cumulative), 5/31/25
Noticeable shifts into stock funds. The changes for OEFs + ETFs were based on a total AUM of about $38.40 trillion in the previous month, so +/- 1% change was about +/- $384.0 billion. Also note that these changes were from both fund inflows/outflows & price changes. #ICI #Funds #OEFs #ETFs
OEFs & ETFs: Stocks 60.61%, Hybrids 4.16%, Bonds 17.70%, M-Mkt 17.54%
https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/post/2061/thread

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/27/deep-inside-economy-more-sticker-prices-start-to-go-up-due-to-tariffs.html
This seems most appropriate posted right here.
-The latest inflation data came in hotter than expected, and Nike warned in its earnings on Thursday that prices will be going higher due to tariffs.
-Across the U.S. retail and manufacturing distribution chains, inventory has started to be re-ticketed with higher prices, by between 8%-15%, according to ITS Logistics, including for apparel and consumer product goods.
-The footwear industry says it expects prices to rise by between 6% and 10%.
Does not appear to be the time to fan the flames of inflation with lower rates. Imagine what happens when Donald gets his wish for full control of the FED.

It IS hard to do nothing. Or, at least, be patient enough to find the correct moment to act. I plan to increase my equity allocation by 4% and think I will choose INTL equities to meet that goal. I also want to reallocate some cash (another 4%) to Pimco OEF/CEF.
I want to move from 56% equity to 60% equity. And 16% FI to 20% FI. My cash equivalents will then be approximately 20% of my total portfolio.
I guess it is time to start DCAing. I placed a buy order for an INTL index fund (large cap core) and another for PIMIX, both in my 401K. This should increase both allocations by 1%.

Very little details were released no both sides, and that is concerning…

Matthew Axelrod, former head of export enforcement at the U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security, now a partner at Gibson Dunn, said: "Today's announcement has both upside and downside. It's positive that the Chinese have agreed to relax their restrictions on rare-earth minerals, but the fact that the U.S. government used export controls—which are key to U.S. national security interests—to strike this deal sets a concerning precedent."

https://msn.com/en-us/money/markets/china-issues-update-after-trump-reveals-trade-deal/ar-AA1HwDlF?ocid=hpmsn&cvid=7803e7e537584d69bba2b98a231b6b7b&ei=15

Re: tariffs and trade:: China.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/27/china-us-agree-details-of-london-trade-framework-trade-agreement-beijing.html

And yet, the 12 month return on SPY is 33rd on my watch list of ~95 US equity funds.
At the moment, the top five are VVOIX, BSCRX, CGDV, WTV, and AICFX. I have to go back ten years to get it up to 14th.

For one thing, significant limitations on advanced microchips to the Middle East have been eased. The ME has AI and bitcoin aspirations.
My take on the oil situation was that OPEC had increased production to head off our domestic industry from increasing production, by holding down prices. Basically beating Trump to the punch, after he broadcast his desire for a U.S. production increase.
On the topic of inflation, we just got a new PCE number:
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/27/pce-inflation-report-may-2025-.html
"Core inflation rate rose to 2.7% in May, more than expected, Fed’s preferred gauge shows"
"Along with the inflation numbers, consumer spending and income showed further signs of weakening. Spending fell 0.1% for the month, compared with the estimate for an increase of 0.1%. Personal income declined 0.4%, against the forecast for a gain of 0.3%."

But, I am open to learning. So, let's hear exactly which policies caused this inflation relief and the mechanism behind it? Explain the causation. Was it taxing all imports at historic levels? That would suggest demand destruction. In that case, look out below. 1Q GDP was -0.5%. Maybe we are on to something here.

The only thing he did was talk his buddies the Saudi's into producing more oil (twice) which he thought would bring down price as oil is an outsized price factor of almost all goods when you figure in transportation etc... I still think he's supplying them with something they really want. LIV support or arms technology? It did come down about $10 since the beginning of the year but yet gas prices are about $0.20 higher than the beginning of the year. Go figure....

@Old_Joe: "How the hell did we get to garbage cans?"
Perhaps because (IMHO) Vanguard is going to the dumps? [ I am not enthralled with their continuing policy changes. ]
But back to the current thread: A 96 gallon totter is rather large. Are these collections weekly/bi-weekly/monthly?
A couple of times a year I can generate a considerable quantity of yard waste, e.g. 300 gal., but on a recurring monthly basis, I doubt I'd hit 10. And it goes into double 4x4x4 bins in the back yard. As for recyclables, my 96 gallon totter is good for ~6 weeks. Trash: a 5 gallon bag once a week.
Are we (spouse & myself) just extremely 'efficient' ???

Closed only 3 points below its February ‘25 all-time high on Thursday. Futures looking good.

At first blush it looks like it's better not to contribute to a deductible IRA, but rather to keep retirement savings in a taxable account. It seems better to pay the lower cap gains tax on the taxable account than the higher ordinary income tax on T-IRA withdrawals. But because initial contributions are deductible, the arithmetic doesn't work out that way.
Disregarding T-IRAs, one could use Roths. Contributing to Roths instead of keeping one's retirement savings in taxable accounts seems like an obvious win. Income in Roths is taxed at 0%; income in taxable accounts is taxed at 15% or more.
That is, unless one qualifies for 0% tax on cap gains. One way to do that is to have relatively low taxable income to take advantage of the 0% cap gains tax bracket. Another is to never sell but to bequeath appreciated assets to heirs.

My two international equity funds have been my best performers, by far, in 2025.
The YTD returns for my small blend and large blend funds are 16.44% and 15.04% respectively.
I don't know if international equity funds will continue to outperform U.S. equity funds.
It's important to note that the U.S. outperformed international for a very long time (until recently)
and performance between these two asset classes tends to revert to the mean.

This also covers my thinking. I have steadfastly avoided INTL funds for a decade or more, and profited from that. But, reversion to mean (by force/tariff/boycott) may be the ticket the days. I console myself by remembering how eschewing INTL this long has worked out, while kicking myself for not jumping on this trend months ago.

TBLD is trading at a 6.23% discount to NAV compared to its 52-week average discount of near 10%. It’s less than 5 years old. Close to 70% in equities. The 30% in bonds is mostly junk (BB / lower / unrated). To its credit it managed to lose only around 17% in 2022. Not bad considering the damage incurred by both equities and bonds that year.
Agree the ER is high for a fund not leveraged (and incurring interest expenses on borrowings). I’ll forgive a high ER on a CEF if it has a very long term record of success and is attractively discounted / priced. But this one doesn’t have those attributes. In defense of the ER, the fund does have more than 50% of its assets invested outside the United States which adds additional expense.

You can see almost anything you want to see in the day-to-day numbers.
How about S&P Closes 3 Points Shy of All Time High?

No complaints, since I'm already invested. :)