Maxing out 401K contributions the (mid-)year I retire in 2026 Great thoughts. I considered switching this year, but I am already bumping against the next tax bracket due to liquidating an inherited IRA in 2025, for which we decided to take the hit now. Our lower income years will start in 2026, when I only work 1/2 a year. And onward, as we only have SS, my wife's small pension and investment income. I will accept the lump sum for my own pension, frozen since 2010.
We do already max out Roths for both of us each year. And we want to start more aggressive Roth conversions in 2027 and onward. That will be 5 years of Roth conversions before RMDs. We are both 66 this year. RMDs are certain to push us into the 24% bracket, so I am looking at future Roth conversions to mitigate that.
I know that going all-in on conversions is the best move, but it is still a bit overwhelming. The choice seems to be limiting the amount of income at the 24% level, as opposed to avoiding it altogether. If we are not careful, we could end up with income in the 32% bracket, eventually.
I was prepared to retire at 62, then came covid and work-from-home. It became so easy that I just stayed on the job. This has led to 5 additional years of Roths, waiting on SS until FRA, 5 more years of pay and 5 more years of maximum 401K contributions.
So, my "compromise" is to double up in the first half of 2026, all into Roth, and start Roth conversions the following year, when I no longer have a salary. I know that I should have started this earlier.
I do appreciate all feedback.
Low Risk Bond OEFs for Maturing CDs of course. fund managers have interest rate strategies, no one would claim they set interest rates.
but i am searching for bond fund managers who have considered a minor fed rate cut will have trivial impact , and trump's most likely (only?) move to kick the can and avoid pain is suppressing long rates via ycc. so very specific to that.
several good recent posts exist :
https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe-could-escape-bond-doom-loop-us-not-so-much-2025-09-09/am also open to the fact that trump may not care re:long rates, given its non-factor on his family grifting, but this goes against his initial trade taco move, as well as the truss experience in the UK.
Low Risk Bond OEFs for Maturing CDs What if there was securitization at the grocery store? A bag of unknown food items at the mini mart at the Shell Station ? Pass! A bag of stuff at Whole Foods ? Maybe. But it seems hard to know how you can accurately rate a bond funds quality if 50% of the holdings are securitized. Back in the day the funds held government, corporate and cash. My only fund without securitization is PRPFX.
Low Risk Bond OEFs for Maturing CDs Investopedia:
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/creditdefaultswap.aspThink about Michael Burry, Charlie Geller, Jamie Shipley.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1596363/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_in_0_q_big%20shortIf you're convinced everything's going to hell, that's what you want to own. But the monthly fees almost buried Scion Capital before it paid off. Burry was way too smart, and rather early in figuring out the fact that the Housing Market would crash.
And then there's the human cost, in a severe situation like the GFC. In the film, Brad Pitt's character (Ben Rickert) was something of a mentor for Geller and Shipley. "We just made the best deal of our lives," they said to him, gesticulating and dancing. "Just don't DANCE," he pushed back at them.
Maxing out 401K contributions the (mid-)year I retire in 2026 A lot would depend on your tax bracket, age & estimated income in retirement.
If you go for maxing regular 401k, you may gradually convert to Roth IRA in lower income years.
Mixing up may be a good compromise.
And why not start in 2025 - there are few months still to boost 401k contributions.
Maxing out 401K contributions the (mid-)year I retire in 2026 If Roth 401(k) is available in your company, it would be to your advantage to do so. Pay with after tax dollars now and future appreciation on the Roth account will be tax-free. The company matching $, however, still go your traditional 401(k). Maxing out would work before retirement.
You may also add to your personal Roth IRA if your income is not one that is above 36%+ bracket. 2025 limit is $7,000 plus $1,000 catch-up. You have until April 15th for 2025 contribution. You can do that again next year before retirement.
S&P Hits Record as PPI Surprise Sinks Yields Originally from BloombergCertainly doesn’t look like a big rally today. As of noon S&P up only slightly. DJI down. It is interesting to see that the 10-year has rapidly descended to near 4%.
Morningstar Category Revisions, 2025
Feds invade Georgia Hyundai facility More reporting from the
WAPO.
Building plants to manufacture the batteries and related computing chips for electric cars requires very specific technical knowledge, according to Ellen Hughes-Cromwick, former chief global economist at Ford.
“You have certain positions that are very, very technical,” said Hughes-Cromwick, now a senior visiting fellow at the center-left think tank Third Way. “These are people who have installed the equipment before. … It’s really ludicrous to think that we’re not going to have foreign-born workers as part of our workforce as we get manufacturing back on our soil.”
snip
“We are more than capable of building and staffing those plants, but not instantaneously,” said Chris Nichols, CEO of the Interstate Renewable Energy Council, a group that is eager to see the United States resurgent in manufacturing these advanced technologies. “Just saying we are going to build the plant doesn’t create 500 to 1,000 highly specialized engineers and other workers who happen to be in Georgia.”
Low Risk Bond OEFs for Maturing CDs The Fund’s investments in derivative instruments, specifically options, swap agreements and forward currency contracts (collectively, “Derivatives”) are generally used to reduce exposure to, or “hedge” against, market volatilities and other risks.
CrossingBridge Low Duration High Income Fund prospectus More generally, derivatives can be used to increase exposure to something or reduce exposure. So they can be used to leverage a fund in lieu traditional leveraging - borrowing to buy more of an asset. And they can be used in a variety of other ways including hedging against currency fluctuations.
There's a whole category of funds that does this: "global bonds (hedged)". 41% of VTABX is in derivatives. Vanguard is not a company that comes to mind when thinking "high risk".
Low Risk Bond OEFs for Maturing CDs Some of the funds recently mentioned have significant portfolio positions in derivatives, including SCFZX 33%, NRDCX 42%, CBLDX 10%. Other mentioned funds have 0% in derivatives including HOSIX, DHEAX , DBLSX.
I am curious if any other posters are concerned about the % of derivatives held by a given fund?
I certainly pay attention to them the way I pay attention to securitized debts and CLO's.
In the case of CBLDX, which I own, I can look up EUR/USD FWD 202
5071
5 and discover that there is an active currency market. Ten per cent doesn't seem too large for me to worry about. It finished 2022 in the black; I have no idea how it will perform in a recession. I also see it is 1
5% cash, which suits my confirmation bias. I'm not holding it in the expectation that is anything like a CD or money-market fund.
DBLSX is
52% securitised. I can look up
BATTALION CLO XI LTD too. I still don't know what it is, or how liquid it is.
DHEAX is 87% securitised. How liquid is FIRSTKEY HOMES TRUST or RESEARCH-DRIVEN PAGAYA MOTOR ASSET TRUST ?
HOSIX is 89% securitised. How liquid is BXHPP LTD or Sound Point Clo Xvi Limited?
Morningstar Category Revisions, 2025 M* Fund Category Definitions published 04/202
5, available only in 09/202
5 (don't know why M* does this every year!).
Changes, April 30, 202
5× Added Global Aggressive Allocation, Global Moderately Aggressive Allocation, Global Moderate Allocation, Global Moderately Conservative Allocation, Global Conservative Allocation, and Miscellaneous Allocation
× Retired Global Allocation and Leverage Net Long
× Revised text definitions of Aggressive Allocation, Moderately Aggressive Allocation, Moderate Allocation, Moderately Conservative Allocation, Conservative Allocation, Global Large-Stock Growth, Global Large-Stock Blend, Global Large-Stock Value, Global Small/Mid Stock
(
Domestic allocation/hybrid funds have 75%+ in US securities, global allocation/hybrid funds have (only) 25%+ in foreign securities. This would make most TDFs global, but TDFs are classified separately & there is no mention of US vs foreign securities in TDF descriptions.
Global stock funds have 25-80% in foreign stocks.)
https://pdfhost.io/v/ZA2TxpMej3_MStar_Fund_Categories_042025Note about PDF Host.
M* Methodology/Research documents are now for download only (some years ago, they could be linked). M* Library isn't also easily searchable. But if you know the publication date, you can scroll through reverse-chrono order and locate the document. What I do is upload these documents to FREE
PDF Host site and link them. Yesterday, some could open these documents, others could not. I also had problems uploading documents yesterday. So, hopefully, PDF Host works better for posters now.
https://www.morningstar.com/business/insights/research/methodology-documents
Buy Sell Why: ad infinitum. The Labor department's revision lower of its nonfarm payrolls data for the year through March 2025 by 911,000 jobs from initial estimates was the biggest revision in more than two decades.
Adding more PRPFX.
