”Not for the timid.”

Hell no. Nearest thing to gambling available under the guise of “investing” I know of. Getting burnt badly a few times is probably part of the game. To demonstrate what can happen, following are the M* returns over a bad 3 year stretch for a “5-star” rated gold (miners) mutual fund. Since I presently own the fund, I won’t name it.
2013 -48.83 - 47.83%
2014 -15.39%
2015 -23.14%
All three were down years. A $100 initial investment would have been worth less than $33.50 at the end of that run, Though I haven’t identified the fund, one will find those numbers quite similar to the M* “category” averages for the years mentioned.

And the PM miner funds mentioned are around a 40 SD. Not for the timid.

Using M* standard deviation (SD) data,
Gold-bullion GLD SD = 15.12
Silver-bullion SLV SD = 36.39
So, SLV is 2.4x more volatile than GLD.

The other new twist is you can convert up to $200,000 ( used to be $160,000 I think) or 25% of your IRA into a QLAC tax free, so you can lower your RMD. I have not dug into it yet, but I think you can pick an annuity date at anytime in the future, and one that would still return money to your heirs.
I have searched long and hard for a simple spreadsheet that would allow different iterations of this conversion question, and take into account current and future tax rates, state tax rates, estimated inflation etc and returns.
Can't find one. Anybody else have any luck?
https://maxifiplanner.com/ comes the closest but it is an all around program designed to maximize your retirement income
My daughter finally wrote a simple spread sheet that works pretty well.
I concluded IRA conversions can save a substantial amount of taxes in the long run, but you have to be willing to pay the taxes now out of your taxable accounts.
That is the hard part. Who wants to substantially increase your tax bill this year? So we chose numbers that would not push us into the next bracket. Probably should have done more
Guess I could break down and hire a financial planner but if have never been impressed.

Interesting. The numbers on gold & silver appear incorrect. Gold finished at $1865.19 and silver at $22.36 Friday according to Bloomberg. But the linked chart is showing their current values a bit higher than Friday’s close while at the same time being “down” sharply. Doesn't add up at first glance. The % change for Dow & NASDAQ shown are significant, but not unusually large in the context of the recent heightened market volatility.
Related: Some excellent analysis of the extreme options trading going on in the markets by Forsyth in the current Barron’s. He and some quoted sources believe this “gambling” (his word) by large and small investors alike is causing wild gyrations / very high volatility in the markets. I’m not trying to make the case here. A facet of investing I know little about. But am suggesting the article might be a useful read.

@hank, Weekend Barron's articles start trickling in at Barron's Online about midweek. Most of them are available Friday when I start my Summaries. I guess based on categories and authors. The current Editor tends to rotate authors and also has multiple articles that may fit a category - in the old days, column authors sort of owned their columns, but not now (just imagine Alan Abelson - Editor himself - rotated in/out from Up and Down Wall Street).
It used to be that Barron's market impact was felt on Mondays, but now, it can be in the late week (Thursday-Friday). The articles on gold in this issue were available on Friday, but gold still tanked on Friday.
To your question, the ENTIRE weekend issue is available at Barron's Digital early-AM on SATURDAY - 4am Central is the earliest I have checked, but just months ago, it was after 6am CT only. I also rely on my home delivery that is between 5am-7am CT on Saturday; Barron's can expect a call from me about missed delivery and redelivery request around 7am+ CT Saturday.
My Summaries are out on Saturdays - Part 1 by early-AM, Part 2 by late-AM. About 2 years worth of Summaries can be found at this link (searchable) but I have decades worth of Summaries (also searchable) in my PC.
https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/board/12/market-insights

Top 5 holdings of BRK are AAPL, BAC, AXP, KHC, OXY. So, the stock portfolio should be up YTD based on StockCharts. But BRK is also a huge operational company and that part is cyclical, and as @Devo mentioned, there may be other market actors. This bounce is in speculative and junky stuff.
https://www.cnbc.com/berkshire-hathaway-portfolio/
https://stockcharts.com/h-perf/ui?s=AAPL&compare=AXP,BAC,KHC,OXY&id=p84130660542

Just noticed something strange. AAPL, which accounts for 40% of Berkshire’s stock holdings, is up +23.5% YTD. Yet Berkshire’s stock is down slightly YTD. Go figure.

Using M* standard deviation (SD) data,
Gold-bullion GLD SD = 15.12
Silver-bullion SLV SD = 36.39
So, SLV is 2.4x more volatile than GLD.
As silver is used both as industrial and precious metal, it has more cyclicality tied to economy. This is also indicated in projected range for silver in Barron's article, $10s (recession) - $30s (soft landing).
Gold:silver ratio is about 83, high. At one time, 60 was considered ideal ratio. So, historically, gold is overvalued relative to silver, or silver is undervalued relative to gold.
https://goldsilver.com/price-charts/gold-silver-ratio/

I've been burned so many times with miner funds in the past, I stay away as if they were the plague. Good luck to those smarter (or luckier) than me who know how to play them.
Gold (IAU) on the other hand, I've been holding since the covid bear at about a 4-5% holding as portfolio diversification. I also hold a smaller amount of SLV mixed in, but boy is it more volatile than the gold holding. In any case, I've been adding to IAU throughout January, mostly in anticipation or defense of dramatic political wrangling or a global recession - or both.
Thanks @yogibearbull for the links and ideas.

Down to 21.5% left in Traditional IRA (compared to 100% when I retired over 20 years ago). Most now in Roths. Some in TOD. When you pull necessary funds from a Roth w/o the immediate tax-hit it’s kind of reminiscent of a Yogi Berra expression: ”And they give ya real money.”
The plan has been to pull mainly from the Traditional IRA annually for normal needs, saving the Roth $$ for the occasional larger needs. Whether conversions, having the up front tax hit, make sense … that’s a different matter and @msf for one has effectively, I think, cast that into doubt. Still, conversions at lower market valuations seem a good idea to me.
Lots of websites will calculate your RMD - including, I believe, some from the govt. Doesn’t hurt to do some cross-checking among sites if the amount / time periods are critical for you.
Under recent market conditions have been tilting the Roth more in the direction of growth, while fixed-income holdings and a few small equity hedges are concentrated in the traditional account. Were the equity markets to bounce hard, would probably gradually increase income-oriented component of the Roths as a defensive measure.

@sma3
Doesn't take very long to burn through the $'s for a Master's, eh?
I believe I found the correct data that indicates at Michigan State, in state resident; the tuition ranges for $1,850 - $1,000 per credit hour. Fully outrageous.
30-60 credit hours for a Master's. Serious math.

Make sure she doesn't ever want to go to graduate school or if she does Grandparents will step up again.
My son burned up last of 529 on a year of Graduate school

One clarification pending is what happens if the beneficiary is changed?
IMO, this may mess up possible transfers or 15 yr clock.
Otherwise, transfer $35K to beneficiary1, change beneficiary and transfer $35K to beneficiary2, rinse & repeat. I don't think that was the intent of Congress.

https://commondreams.org/news/tech-layoffs-wall-street
https://twitter.com/petergyang/status/1617334412148109312
https://barrons.com/amp/articles/fedex-stock-layoffs-ratings-upgrades-51675344138

Some Google employees didn't realize they were laid off until they arrived at the office and found that their access badges were deactivated.

All 3 guests expect 10 yr Treasury to hit 4% before 3%. Currently right in the middle at 3.5%.

@Graust To add to YBB's comment; this is from Lord Abbett Investment Company site:

529 plan to Roth IRA rollover – Effective in 2024, SECURE 2.0 authorizes 529 plan funds to be directly transferred to a Roth IRA tax and penalty free. Importantly, several conditions must be satisfied to be eligible: The Roth IRA receiving the funds needs to be in the name of the 529 plan beneficiary, the 529 plan must have been maintained for a minimum of 15 years, any contributions (plus earnings) to a 529 plan in the last five years are ineligible to be transferred, the annual transfer limit is the Roth IRA contribution for that year (i.e. $6,500 in 2023), and the lifetime rollover is limited to $35,000.

Perhaps to let the 'dust' settle on this legislation for the full language markup, if needed. No actions may be taken until 2024, so you have enough planning time. Further clarification will be able to be discovered at the IRS site.

Why rush to empty 529? Wait until the daughter graduates and has job. Lifetime limit on these 529 to R-IRA transfers is $35K and regular annual limits for IRAs apply.

'Herding Cats'. In my mind, I envision perhaps 12 pieces of data that is the most important for the FED; but is also difficult to pin down for a given time frame and the FED 'watch'; to guide the economy. So, at times; the task is likely to resemble attempting to 'herd cats'.
My overall quick take on the FOMC discussion period this week was a 'new' soft touch version. The first 15 minutes were 'normal' talk, the second 15 minutes were 'relaxed', a kind of 'we're going to be nice and do no harm. Disinflation was uttered by Mr. Powell.
--- Wednesday, A bond love-fest, by those so inclined, after 2:30pm FOMC Q&A. Pricing rose nicely in many bond sectors.
--- Friday. HOT! HOT! HOT! Employment: January payrolls increase 517,000 versus estimate of 188,000. This isn't a data entry error, is it? January unemployment rate falls to 3.4%, a rate last seen in 1969. January average hourly wages, +.3%. AND of course, the bond folks gave back a lot of the Wednesday love.
--- disinflation v. deflation
Deflation means prices are falling and the inflation rate is in the negative, while disinflation means a slowdown in the rate of inflation while still remaining in the positive. Disinflation occurs more commonly than deflation.
Note: On the disinflation front.....reported that chicken wings and avocado prices are down about 22% YTD; and before the Super Bowl parties, too. Big move !!! I have not verified this locally.
--- U.S.$ UP 1.22% on Friday, for a +1.02% for the week.
The Money Market thing. FZDXX and two other Fido core MM's will be receiving yield bumps, although FZDXX usually leads first. 'Course, this comes from the Fed. Funds rate hike. I'm anticipating a 4.6% yield within the next week or so; and likely that MM yields will be at 5% or more in the summer. Other investment houses will provide similar yields.
*** See FOMC thread from Wednesday and current 'Real Yield' for other bond related information.
My non-qualified quick overview: Mr. Powell would have had a different tone, during the FOMC Q&A, if the employment/labor info was released Wednesday morning. Most bond sectors, although positive for the week, gave back a lot of gains on Friday, some at -1% for the day. 'Course, profit taking should be expected, regardless of financial health reports. TIPS funds did not find love by the end of this week. Common core MM's at fund companies may find a yield of 4.5% this summer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE; An excellent request was presented to add more important bond sectors to the list. The new adds are included below.
---Several selected bond funds returns since October 25, 2022. I'll retain this date, as it is a recent inflection point when bonds began to have positive price moves. We'll need to watch if this was just a 'blip'.
NOTE: I've kept the prior dated reports in the beginning of this thread; and have added YTD to this data.
For the WEEK/YTD, NAV price changes, January 30 - Febuary 3, 2023
***** This week (Friday), FZDXX, MMKT yield moved a bit to 4.33% . The core Fidelity MMKT's have continued a slow creep upward to 4.04%. The holdings of these different funds account for the variances at this time.
--- AGG = -.02% / +3.17% (I-Shares Core bond), a benchmark, (AAA-BBB holdings)
--- MINT = +.16% / +.94% (PIMCO Enhanced short maturity, AAA-BBB rated)
--- SHY = -.1% / +.59% (UST 1-3 yr bills)
--- IEI = -.12% / +1.84% (UST 3-7 yr notes/bonds)
--- IEF = -.21% / +3.16% (UST 7-10 yr bonds)
--- TIP = -.85% / +1.66% (UST Tips, 3-10 yrs duration, some 20+ yr duration)
--- VTIP = -.3% / +.56% (Vanguard Short-Term Infl-Prot Secs ETF)
--- STPZ = -.32% / +.6% (UST, short duration TIPs bonds, PIMCO)
--- LTPZ = -2.6% / +4.7% (UST, long duration TIPs bonds, PIMCO)
--- TLT = +.25% / +7.4% (I Shares 20+ Yr UST Bond
--- EDV = +.48% / +10.4% (UST Vanguard extended duration bonds)
--- ZROZ = +.74 / +10.9% (UST., AAA, long duration zero coupon bonds, PIMCO
--- TBT = -.4% / -13.5% (ProShares UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury (about 23 holdings)
--- TMF = +.22% / +21.3% (Direxion Daily 20+ Yr Trsy Bull 3X ETF (about a 3x version of EDV etf)
*** Additional important bond sectors, for reference:
--- BAGIX = +.2% / +3.23% (active managed, plain vanilla, high quality bond fund)
--- LQD = -.05% / +4.81% (I Shares IG, corp. bonds)
--- BKLN = +.47% / +3.67% (Invesco Senior Loan, Corp. rated BB & lower)
--- HYG = -.01% / +3.44% (high yield bonds, proxy ETF)
--- HYD = +.4 /+4.27% (VanEck HY Muni
--- MUB = +.12 /+2.45 (I Shares, National Muni Bond)
--- EMB = +.02 /+4.77% (I Shares, USD, Emerging Markets Bond)
--- CWB = +1.2 / +7.5% (SPDR Bloomberg Convertible Securities)
--- PFF = +.76 / +10.2% (I Shares, Preferred & Income Securities)
--- FZDXX = 4.33% yield (7 day), Fidelity Premium MMKT fund
*** FZDXX yield was .11%, April,2022. The rate of rise began an upward path again on Friday (Feb. 3).

Comments and corrections, please.
Remain curious,
Catch

@yogibearbull
I got mixed signals reading the part about the 529-to-Roth IRA portion of SECURE. It appears the beneficiary has to have earned income for that year (earned income of at least $1), but the “rollover” can be done to the maximum of the beneficiaries Roth IRA contribution limit (even if earned income is only $1, as an extreme example).
A) does my question make sense?
B) is my understanding correct?
I have a 19 year old daughter who was blessed enough to have grandparents willing to pay for her college, but we were able to fully pay for her first year out of her 529. Debating on emptying it next year (likely paying for at least first semester next year) or holding on to it to rollover to her Roth. Sorry for the personal details that no one but me cares about haha

Some gold ideas.
FUNDS. There are many ways to play this GOLD rally: gold-bullion (GLD, IAU, GLDM, SGOL), gold-miners (majors GDX, combo majors + minors GDXJ), commodities ETF BCI (futures-based; K-1 free; 19.5% precious metals), OEFs (FKRCX, FSAGX, OPGSX, SGGDX (combo bullion + miners)), stocks (ABX, NEM, WPM) (some pay variable dividends). Gold is benefitting from weakening DOLLAR and INFLATION (global central banks are also buying gold to reduce their exposure to Western currencies). Bullion-miners mix depends on whether there is soft landing (better for miners) or recession (better for bullion). (Gold sold off later in the week, post-FOMC) (By @lewisbraham at MFO)
Silver better?
COMMODITIES. Industrial-precious metal SILVER is outperforming gold, although the two have high correlation. This is an indication that global economic activity is picking up, including China reopening. Silver is also important for energy transition and EVs, besides its traditional uses in industrial products/processes and jewelry. Weak DOLLAR is also tailwind for precious metals. Silver targets are in $30s with soft landing and $10s with recession.
LINK1 LINK2
https://www.barrons.com/articles/gold-prices-how-to-invest-51675211440?mod=past_editions
https://www.barrons.com/articles/silver-gold-prices-economy-51675291146?mod=past_editions