There has been an ongoing debate as to when to start taking Social Security, as early as age 62, as late as age 70 or sometime in between.
Here's an article from The Retirement Manifesto that details the debate:
https://theretirementmanifesto.com/should-you-take-social-security-at-age-62-or-70/
I use the author's SS numbers to create a strategy that take SS at 62, but not for income. The SS benefit is instead invested over the next 8 years (until age 70). I create (4) investment options (investment allocations) that attempts to achieve a 3%, 6%, or 10% or an all cash return.
My strategy takes Social Security at age 62 and letting those payments accumulate for eight years...the time frame between age 62 and 70. This allows eight years of accumulated Social Security payments creating a "SS nest egg" . At age 70, this accumulated "SS nest egg" then can provide a withdrawal strategy that would equal the differential of the higher SS payout. If one were to die early this SS nest egg acts like a life an insurance policy for a spouse or other beneficiary.
The main reason this strategy seems optimal to me is that Social Security has no cash value upon death. By collecting SS at age 62.... as early as possible.... one secures at least those payments while waiting to start SS at age 70. I would rather start accumulating payments while waiting to reach age 70 and invest rather than purely waiting until age 70.
Achieving a average return above 5% would be optimal for this strategy. Here a look at the numbers:

I'm with Fidelity and Schwab for years. I never waited at Schwab more than 1-2 minutes and many times the reps work from home.
In the last 2-3 years, I waited several times at least 20-30 minutes at Fidelity and then they transferred me again to the "right" rep and waited long again.
I don't use sophisticated trading software, I mostly buy funds/indexes and when I buy a stock, it's pretty easy to use the normal tools they have.
These sophisticated trading software are for Trading-Obsessed. I tried a couple of these years ago and after several months of practicing and even trading (and fast daily trading including E-mini SP500/Russell/QQQ futures) they didn't enhance my results.

@JohnN - You need to distill all that disjointed data for us. Otherwise, as noted / implied above, it’s just drivel.

distill - dis·till verb
/dəˈstil/
1. purify (a liquid) by vaporizing it, then condensing it by cooling the vapor, and collecting the resulting liquid.
2. extract the essential meaning or most important aspects of.
Source
Does it surprise anyone that short-term bonds would end up at the bottom of the return ladder after 15 years of falling interest rates?

”Schwab and TDA had insane phone hold times in recent months. On Friday I called both and got thru each time in under 2 minutes. Amazing!”

- With 15% of all current investors new to the game, I’d imagine there’s increased need for telephone-based “hand-holding” than for the older crowd who’ve been at it awhile.
- On the subject of websites - TRP has done a great job with recent upgrades. I don’t know of anything else that comes close in terms of amount of data (account and otherwise) that can be accessed - or for ease of navigation. Invesco, on the other hand, has one of the most awkward / confusing setups I’ve ever experienced.

Another tidbit from Barron’s:
“The average institutional equity fund, which includes mutual funds and capital ETFs, Is now holding a relatively low 4% of its portfolio in cash, according to Bank of America, which says a figure any lower would be a signal to sell, while an increase to 5% would indicate a buy.”
(Barron’s April 26, 2021)
“Buy? Sell?” / Commentary from BOA is obviously a subjective opinion.

“In Schwab‘s recent earnings release, capital CEO Walt Bettinger noted that client activity exceeded anything the company had ever experienced. And some days, the brokerage firm handled as many as 10 million trades and 15,000,000 logins across its website and mobile platforms. The market volatility even attracted more investors - rather than scaring them away. A Schwab survey found that 15% of all current U.S. stock investors first began treating in 2020.”
(Schwab’s stock price has risen 27% YTD.)
From: The Striking Price: Sharp Swings Favor Schwab
Steven M. Sears, writing in Barron’s, April 26, 2021

https://www.financial-planning.com/list/bond-funds-with-the-worst-15-year-returns
Bond funds with the worst 15-year returns
By Andrew Shilling
All of the fixed-income industry’s worst long-term performers recorded gains over all time horizons, with only one in the red so far in 2021.
The 20 worst-performing bond funds of the past 15 years, with at least $100 million in assets under management, notched an average gain of nearly 1.5%, Morningstar Direct data show. Over the past 12 months, the same funds — all actively managed like those in last week’s top-performers ranking — had an average return of 2.28%.
With Treasury yields hovering around 1% over the better part of the decade, Amy Magnotta, co-head of discretionary portfolios at Brinker Capital Investments, says it’s no surprise that the industry's shortest-duration bond funds had a large presence.
“All of the funds on the list with the worst 15-year returns are short-term bond funds, both taxable and municipal,” Magnotta says, adding, “The yield on the one-year Treasury bill has averaged just 1.16% over the last 15 years, and it spent most of the time period below 1%, which is not an attractive starting point for returns of shorter maturity securities.”
For comparison, the iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF (AGG), which has a 0.04% net expense ratio, recorded a 15-year gain of 4.29%, data show. Over the past year, the fund had a gain of 0.60%. The iShares 2-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF (SHY), which tracks the ICE BofA 1-3 Year Treasury Index, had 1- and 15-year gains of 0.17% and 2.2%, respectively.
In stocks, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) have had 15-year returns of 10.30% and 10.32%, respectively. In the past 12 months, SPY and DIA had gains of 48.69% and 44.79%. The funds have net expense ratios of 0.09% and 0.16%.
Fees among bond funds in this ranking were higher than the industry average. With an overall net expense ratio of 0.58%, funds here were only slightly pricier than the 0.45% investors paid for fund investing in 2019, according to Morningstar’s most recent annual fee survey.
When discussing bond fund performance over any time horizon with clients, Magnotta says it’s key to also have a conversation about their role in a diversified portfolio.***
Anyone owe these lemons?

https://www.fool.com/amp/investing/2021/04/24/1-vanguard-etf-to-buy-and-hold-forever/
Vanguard ETF to Buy and Hold Forever
This ETF can help you become a millionaire.
Katie Brockman
To be successful in the stock market, you'll need a long-term strategy. Investing isn't a "get rich quick" scheme, so the best approach involves buying good stocks and holding them for as long as you can.***
What is your longest holding etf(s) or fund(s) that you may keep adding or buying w limited selling?
For us
VGSTX/ SP500 ETF /VANGUARD2040 / VPCCX and BRK.B

@Old Joe, did you look at the graph in the article? I think you're right, in the sense that energy is a lot more volatile than food and is most responsible for CPI swings. Just googling around a bit for that info, it does look like food at least since 1968 has been pretty much one-way.
However, just an anecdote, I remember well several years back when dairy prices fell a lot in a short time and stayed there for a couple of years before rising, slowly, again. The happy shock was seeing the 1/2 gal organic milk we used to buy going from $3.50 to $3.00 from one shopping trip to the next - a 14% drop. Maybe something to do with price supports caused that, dunno.
Best, AJ

Updated filing as of 4/22/21:
https://www.sec.gov/ix?doc=/Archives/edgar/data/1795351/000174177321000800/c485bpos.htm

“Only 25% of U.S. equities are owned by U.S. taxable investors, with the remaining 75% held by people and entities not subject to capital gains levies, such as pension plans and other retirement accounts, endowments, and foreign investors ... (according to UBS).”
From Randall W. Forsyth - Barron’s April 26, 2021

Thanks, @bee, for that link to Finny, a site I did not know. One quirk I found re: RPGAX is that the fund’s holdings are characterized as 959 stocks and 0 bonds, whereas 6 of the top 10 holdings are clearly identified as bond funds. Apparently Finny can’t see a fund-of-funds for what it is. I’m so demoralized by M*’s computer-generated analyses that I’m willing to wander off the beaten path in search of substantive MF research. Nonetheless, Finny does not seem to be a competitor quite yet. I would not hold a fairly low asset base against a fund, either; in fact I seek out newbies or small funds, to wit: TMSRX, RPGAX, and DSTL. I have a hard time understanding M*’s new “Crowd Sense” metric. If the madding crowd is running towards a fund (i.e., ARKK), it may behoove me to run the other way.

Howdy folks,
First for brother Hank. Check around about masks. I see baseball players wearing them in the field, so there must be a way or type.
Inflation. It's been interesting to watch the supply disruptions due to Covid but also the changes in demand. Lumber is impacted by both as are many other products and services. I anticipate that official inflation will be measurably higher going forward but the street inflation is going to hurt. Any of you good people been buying groceries over the past couple of weeks? For somethings, you can almost see the price changes. I buy chicken breasts at GFS and the bag went from 15.99 to 21.99 in the past 6 months.
Shadow stats has real inflation running either 4 or 8 over the official CPI. You can like him or not, but we're all experiencing a much higher rate of inflation than the gov't suggests.
http://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts
Peeps getting their shots . . . or not. feh. 1. As more and more people are vaccinated without problems, many of the hesitant will get their shots. 2. More and more companies are starting to insist and some are offering incentives. 3. Final approval for the mRNA vaccines will give legal basis to a LOT of mandates. The military has about 33% that are hesitating. Er, only because it's an EUA. When it is approved, it's roll up your sleeves boys and girls. All of this should get us to 75-80%. Of the 20% antivax true believers, it's too bad but cripes, Darwin will take care of them. I believe the word is
schadenfreude, suggests rono's 'bad wolf' side, as he giggles at Palin and Nugent.
Employment and job vacancies and help wanted signs everywhere. Of course there are those that blame it on unemployment $, make working unattractive. Bad wolf suggests that if they were paid a living wage . . . That said, I'm curious about how many women (and men) between the ages of 18 and 40 are making more money with their onlyfans account than they would ever make at a restaurant or bar or any other job that pays under $20 an hour. Asking for a friend.
All y'all stay safe and take care,
and so it goes,
peace and keep wearing the damn mask,
rono

April 23rd Episode:

In addition to fine chemical manufacturing for pharmaceuticals and other products, India is also a contract manufacturer for AstroZeneca COVID vaccine. They are also developing their own vaccines, presumably using similar technology as J&J and AstroZeneca. Exporting COVID vaccines has been banned for local consumption, and they need many dosages. In addition, call centers for computer customer support is often located in India. In my opinion, India's contribution to the developed world and economy is sizable. The current infection rate and resulting death toll is unprecedented and it will likely to have lasting impact on their workforce and economy.
As an example, portfolio of Matthews India fund, MINDX is enclosed below.
https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/composition/577130859

Indicators: S&P 500, 10y T, 30y T, high yield effective yield (on FRED), vix.
Funds: only 5? hmm, examples: credit/strategic income: ETSIX, DBLNX; allocation: CMAAX, LCORX; muni cef's: NVG and other Nuveen cef's across the risk spectrum.

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/04/23/mit-researchers-say-youre-no-safer-from-covid-indoors-at-6-feet-or-60-feet-in-new-study.html?__source=iosappshare|ph.telegra.Telegraph.Share
HEALTH AND SCIENCE
MIT researchers say you’re no safer from Covid indoors at 6 feet or 60 feet in new study challenging social distancing policies
PUBLISHED FRI, APR 23 202112:15 PM EDTUPDATED 4 HOURS AGO
Rich Mendez
KEY POINTS
An MIT study showed that people who maintain 60 feet of distance from others indoors are no more protected than if they socially distanced by just 6 feet.
According to the researchers, other calculations of the risk of indoor transmission have omitted too many factors to accurately quantify that risk.
“We need scientific information conveyed to the public in a way that is not just fear mongering but is actually based in analysis,” the author of the study said.***

From my recall relative to investing in biopharma and related, I searched again for current data and impacts from an economy and business sectors impaired by a large Covid outbreak. The pharma production area is my initial concern.
India is the largest provider of generic drugs globally. Indian pharmaceutical sector supplies over 50% of global demand for various vaccines, 40% of generic demand in the US and 25% of all medicine in the UK. India enjoys an important position in the global pharmaceuticals sector.Mar 22, 2021
India industry(s) overview
Sidenote: Modi was elected in 2014, and is a Trump like policy(s) leader. India broad equities investing peaked in Jan. 2018 and have not yet recovered those highs.

Sp500 Dji vwo Dogecoin gtbc

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