DOL Retirement Security Rule, 2024
New DOL Retirement Security Rule will require advisors to act as fiduciaries for retirement advice. Rule will affect 401k/403b to IRA transfers, high-fee products, purchases of annuities, etc. Starting from 9/23/24, advisors must disclose that they are acting as fiduciaries, and all aspects of the Rule must be implemented by September 2025. This may limit advisors who can provide retirement advice; e.g. RIAs must act as fiduciaries, but other licensed advisors/brokers can use diluted Reg BI or weak suitability standards.
News https://www.cnbc.com/2024/04/23/labor-department-issues-rule-to-crack-down-on-bad-retirement-savings-advice.html
News https://www.napa-net.org/news-info/daily-news/breaking-department-labor-releases-final-investment-advice-fiduciary-rule
News https://401kspecialistmag.com/dol-final-fiduciary-rule-released-set-to-become-effective-in-september/
News https://www.thinkadvisor.com/2024/04/23/dol-releases-final-fiduciary-rule/
DOL Retirement Security Rule (476 pages) https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/EBSA/laws-and-regulations/laws/erisa/retirement-security/final-rule.pdf

@Crash, just an fyi, the Schwab money market pays 5.14%. SWVXX

Schwab gov't Money Fund still at 4.95% yield, TTM. SNVXX. I just took cash in the account and bought some. Pretty damn good rate. Easy to grow. No gas, no time taken. A few keystrokes. Convenient. I'll take it, sure. Everyone watch for falling rates--- if it happens in our lifetime!

@Investor, long time no see. There was a long tread on Grandeur funds and many investors are disappointed. You may want to see the comments. I invested with GGSOX in the early days but found them to be very volatile and have consider risk.
https://mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/comment/165329/#Comment_165329

Hi Sven. I will check that discussion. I stayed with them in the earlier drawdowns, and they came back, and international small caps have been going through a tough period, but the management change is making me think twice this time around. I am also getting older and my tolerance to risk is getting a bit less, but I still have a decade in front of me (hopefully) before retirement.

@Investor, long time no see. There was a long tread on Grandeur funds and many investors are disappointed. You may want to see the comments. I invested with GGSOX in the early days but found them to be very volatile and have consider risk.
https://mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/comment/165329/#Comment_165329
Granted that they write very detailed reports but their risk management came up short in my opinion. Their drawdowns are simply brutal in 2020 and 2022. I moved on to other more conservative small cap domestic fund.

I got an umbrella policy many moons ago when my teens started driving and kept it after they flew the coup since I then had a boat. I needed to have a certain amount of base coverage (which I had) before I could get an umbrella policy. I was told at the time usually if you are sued they look at your coverage and sue for that amount. If you have 1M you'll probably get sued for 1M If you have 2M you'll get sued for 2M. I agree the larger the policy the more defense you'll get from your insurance company to save themselves that money.
I stayed with one insurance company (my first) for a long time thinking loyalty and being a good customer mattered until I found out I was just a number. I then went to a local broker that searched and saved me about 1K/yr on all policies. I liked the companies they recommended so I went with them. It's been about 5+ years now and I'm debating having them do another search to get a new picture of current rates. Maybe do that every 5 years or so. It's a little bit of a hassle switching but as they say, it's not personal, it's just business. Heck I switched internet/cable service back and forth several times between the same companies over the years because they wouldn't meet what was offered by their competitors. Maybe I can do the same with insurance although insurance is a bit different as you need to be comfortable with your companies reputation.

From above: "Not worth the hassle for me, particularly with Treasuries yielding 5% or more, and they can be easily bought and sold."
Yes, that's pretty much the way that I see it also.

Keep in mind there are likely 100 to 150 million more people living in the USA then when many reading this were in high school..let alone likely a couple billion more on the planet. Of course this will have impact to some degree on the environment. From an insurance point of view, homes are being built where they weren't before and arguably shouldn't be . Take into account kooky policies which arguably have made things more difficult such as no controlled burns etc.
At what point does the business model break? Would you pay 2%, how about 3%, what about 5% of the value of your house or car every year? I guess some already are, no? I keep telling my wife, the local ice cream shops are on that edge, their business model is going kaput...take the wife and two kids for ice cream and drop $30?

I sold all of our I-Bonds last fall when rates for CDs and Treasuries equaled or exceeded them. For me, the cumbersome buying and selling process for I-Bonds was a big factor in selling them. Also, I got in trouble at tax time because they do not mail out 1099 Interest forms and I forgot to report the income when I I initially filed. I then had to file an amended return and pay back our refund and then some. Not worth the hassle for me, particularly with Treasuries yielding 5% or more, and they can be easily bought and sold.

A great source of info on I-Bonds and TIPS is @TipsWatch (David Enna) at X/Twitter. LINK
From 4/10/24, https://tipswatch.com/tracking-inflation-and-i-bonds/

Yes, I was grandfathered into free M* thru TRP when the new threshold was raised from $100k to $250k. It still works, though my acct with TRP was closed and moved. But I'm still connected because my email address was used to connect a buddy's account with TRP to M*. That's what I'm thinking, anyhow. (I babysit that acct. for him.)

In dollar terms for my $1M umbrella policy, I'm paying ~$270/yr with NYCM. Erie quoted me ~$185 for a 1-year policy, so the cost per insurance company can vary greatly.

@JD_co,
Am I correct in assuming that the Innovator defined outcome and buffer products just get rolled, rather than get liquidated, when the current outcome period ends so investor's do not have a taxable event? Of course, when the current outcome period ends, the fund would have to assess and announce new outcomes for the subsequent outcome period which outcomes we may or may not like to continue to hold the ETF. I would not hold these in taxable accounts anyway because I may have to sell these at some point.
Imagine all the derivatives being used for these protection / buffer strategies and if the counter party risks are to be considered.
In any case, looking at AAPR, I think the 100% loss protection is by the end of the 2 year outcome period. Similarly, the 18% upside cap is by the end of the 2 yr period, which comes to less than 9% per year total return. Both anticipated outcomes before fees and expenses. As of 4/22, it lost 1.54% vs SPY 4.59%. At some point some investors may think they had more loss than they anticipated and exit. So, I think having right expectations is important for investors.
https://www.innovatoretfs.com/etf/default.aspx?ticker=aapr
The quest for the magic (no loss and returns in excess of fixed income) investment product, like the quest for eternal youth, continues!

Yes. M* is accessible through most US local libraries.
I checked and they had no one asking for it but when I inquired, the Adult Ref Library Manager responded and turned it right away and they've been renewing it for the last 5+ years.
All M* current Investment Newsletters are accessible from a laptop @Home to download/review.
I do not know if the newer M* Platform is accessible.
My old or new portfolios can now be created and tracked on the latest M*,
as I have not visited their forums.
Thanks.
Majick

VUSXX has virtually the same yield as VMFXX (this has been true for several months), and is mostly state tax exempt.
In a moderate (5%) to high (10%) income tax state, the fund can save 20-40 basis points in taxes (assuming the fund is 80% invested in Treasuries and yields stay above 5%). It may not be worth shopping different institutions to gain a few basis points, but moving from VMFXX to VUSXX can be done overnight and doesn't involve multiple institutions.
https://investor.vanguard.com/investment-products/money-markets#mm-rates
Of course this only makes sense in a taxable account.

Can VUSXX be used as settlement fund at Vanguard?

Not certain what you are trying to achieve but you can have VUSXX as a fund in your brokerage account and when money comes into your settlement account (VMFXX) you can transfer them to VUSXX. Also, you can name any fund in your brokerage account, including VUSXX, as an "alternative redemption fund". This means that if you are writing checks and do not have sufficient funds in your settlement account, your checks will clear through your alternative redemption fund.

Modelling TIAA Traditional (SV) as a combination of fixed-rate annuity & T-Bills is also possible with MFO Premium. This example shows the CLASSICAL portfolio of 50% CREF Stock & 50% Traditional SRA as “QCSTIX [50] RATE0400 [37.5] TBILL [12.5]”, for the years ending on 03/2024,
1-yr APR 14.0%, SD 7.0%, yield 1.5%; reference VFINX/SP500 SD 13.6
3-yr APR 5.6%, SD 8.5%, yield 1.5%; reference VFINX/SP500 SD 17.6
5-yr APR 7.8%, SD 9.2%, yield 1.5%; reference VFINX/SP500 SD 18.4
10-yr APR 6.6%, SD 7.6%, yield 1.5%; reference VFINX/SP500 SD 15.2
https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/thread/606/tiaa-traditional-modelling-portfolios

Hi Ron,
Thanks.
Have you compared this with the Innovator ETFs?
https://www.innovatoretfs.com/define/etfs/
I have not looked at them in nearly two years but my recollection is they carry similar flavor to this. I am hoping this being a newest one, it is better and improved for the consumer over all the earlier ones. With so many ETF launches these days, I can not keep up with the ETF universe. May be we should start an ETF thread! Look forward to what you learn when you finish reading the literature.
"aims to match the price return of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (ticker SPY) up to a cap of 9.65%"
Before or after fees and expenses?
I like the 0-9.65% collar.

I used to hold FRESX and FRIFX in my portfolio with excellent returns during my period of ownership. Several years ago (before the COVID real estate crash), I sold both funds. Instead, I have much larger holdings in FSDIX, which typically has about 15% of its assets in REITs.

A regulatory filing notes there’s no guarantee the fund will be successful in providing the much sought-after downside protection."

A guaranteed return of 0% - 9.65%? There's simply no free lunch out there, so I remain skeptical.
Let's see how it eventually performs.
Kind of annoying that, at least in theory, you have to purchase on May 1st (and then hold for 1 year) to get the full benefit.

Via BBG:
"Calamos Investments filed Monday for so-called “structured-protection” exchange-traded funds that will track a portion of the returns of the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100 and Russell 2000 while hedging 100% of the downside via the options market, according to a Monday filing.
The first fund launching within the suite is the Calamos S&P 500 Structured Alt Protection ETF, which aims to match the price return of the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (ticker SPY) up to a cap of 9.65%.
The catch: Investors looking to reap the full protection will need to buy it on launch day — May 1, 2024 — and hold it, come rain or shine, through April 30, 2025. After that, a new defined period of cover kicks in.
CPSM, like others in the upcoming ETF lineup, will primarily invest its assets in derivatives by buying and selling a combination of call and put options to cushion against market volatility, according to the fund’s prospectus. A regulatory filing notes there’s no guarantee the fund will be successful in providing the much sought-after downside protection."
I'll need to read the prospectus to fully understand the mechanics, but this sounds kind of like those 'Principal Protection Notes' that Wall Street was foisting on retail investors in the years just before the GFC. Back then, with those products, if the index closed even ONE day outside of the collar, you forfeited everything but your principal -- so it became more like an unsecured loan to the issuer. But that said, if someone could guarantee (key word!) that vaunted zero downside and a 9.65% cap on the upside, I'd probably take it.
... of course if/when treasuries get back to 8% or more, that'd be a different story and I'd probably pounce on that. :)