I think that the regulators are worried about the health of the COMMERCIAL PAPER market that companies rely on heavily. Dependence on commercial paper to fund operations is not a good thing but it is what it is. This market has lost a huge buyer as the money-market funds have mostly shifted to government paper. Only prime m-mkts funds now buy commercial paper and those are now tiny relative to government m-mkt funds.
What is interesting is that the fund industry hated 2014/2016 m-mkt reforms, but now likes those better than the new proposed reforms (swing-pricing instead of redemptions/gates). I suppose that the Fed wants to do SOMETHING because it had to step in to provide some liquidity backstops for m-mkts in 2020, but will it be effective? Or, is it just spinning the wheel? Leave it alone, says the fund industry and its trade association ICI.

Continuing on …
It was a good article in Barron’s (By @LewisBraham) :) as Yogi mentions. The details are rather complex and I don’t understand it as well as @msf (above).
Anyone invested in short duration corporates must have noticed something “spooky” going on starting in mid March 2020. TRUBX, which I owned than, had been conservatively administered by TRP for years. Pegged at $10.00 it rarely budged - just a penny or two on rare occasions. But after the Covid-19 lockdowns & stock market fall began, it lost at least a dime very quickly - probably a bit more than that. And, it stayed down for a number of weeks afterward. A reflection of stress at the short end of the corporate bond ladder.
My take from a cursory reading of the Barron’s piece was that these “reforms” are mainly to reassure (institutional / corporate) investors that delaying or postponing redemptions will not “shut the gate” on them and make it harder to access their money down the road. It was this fear that led many to “rush” the funds and try to get out ahead of everyone else.

: Jan 18 is 2021 Q4 ES payment deadline, just in case anybody needed a reminder.

Thank you BaluBalu. I *did* need a reminder!

+1 Lou's 4 points look like they could apply now !

Absolutely.

@Derf, Thanks for the suggestions. I would not want MFO members to go to either of those sites and dilute their energies / attention here. MFO gets an occasional drive by but those sites are sometimes war zones. No offense intended rforno.
I have limited amount of time and I want to spend it in limited number of places and in a productive way. Of course, I am happy to share / help as well (like so many others here).
Edit: Jan 18 is 2021 Q4 ES payment deadline, just in case anybody needed a reminder.

+1 Lou's 4 points look like they could apply now !

Re Marty Zweig
Clip from October 16, 1987 “Wall Street Week”. Zweig is the first panelist interviewed (6 minutes in). He’s warning about something bad about to happen in the markets. Three days later, Black Monday October 19, stocks around the world crashed, the DJI falling about 23%.
Lou’s opening monologue is interesting. Stocks had already had a couple rough weeks. The causes attributed by Lou: (1) Rising interest rates, (2) Jitters over potential military conflict, (3) Computer driven trading, (4) Political disfunction in Washington

Marty Zweig. YES, I remember him on that show. My distinct impression of him was just how very sad and depressed he always sounded, whether or not what he had to offer was accurate.

+1 crash IGE appears to be an etf similar to FNARX .

Re Marty Zweig
(See @Crash’s post below) Video clip is from October 16, 1987 “Wall Street Week”.
Zweig is the first panelist interviewed (6 minutes in). He’s warning about something bad about to happen in the markets. Three days later, Black Monday October 19, stocks around the world crashed, the DJI falling about 23%.
Lou’s opening monologue is interesting. Stocks had already had a couple rough weeks. The causes attributed by Lou: (1) Rising interest rates, (2) Jitters over potential military conflict, (3) Computer driven trading, (4) Political disfunction in Washington
(I’ve removed the video link, as Crash duplicated it below)

@bee ; "Do you find you spend your entire RMD or does some end up puddling in a taxable account?
At this time all of the RMD goes into taxable.
When I retired I left enough in cash to carry RMDs for a number of years. Thus no need to sell any equities in a down market to cover RMD's. That turned out NOT to be the right move as for the last 12 years Mr. Market has done very good !
We'll see what the next 12 years brings.
@yogibearbull : thanks for the new RMD table

That RMD table is OLD. Use NEW RMD tables from 1/1/22.
https://www.kitces.com/current-vs-new-uniform-lifetime-table-rmd-as-a-percentage-of-account-balance/

@Derf,
I have three puddles of retirement income: Roth IRA, T-IRA and HSA. I have pension, but no Social security.
Until 65 I will be contributing to my HSA and managing my income to maximize my ACA (Affordable Care Act) premiums.
From 65 to 72 I plan on managing withdrawals / conversions from my T-IRA to the extent that I can maximize my (15%) tax bracket. At 72 RMDs will start.
RMDs percentages increase each year. Depending on your T-IRA balance, these RMDs could be more than one needs to spend.
Do you find you spend your entire RMD or does some end up puddling in a taxable account?
Here's @yogibearbull's RMD chart:

The Intelligent Investor by Jason Zweig: The Best Investment for This Coming Crazy Year
As the money manager Martin Zweig (no relation), who died in 2013, liked to say: “The markets will always do whatever they have to do to screw over as many people as possible.”

I “feel” like the entire Morgan Stanley portfolio is just tanking this past year. I’m sure there must be some good MS funds, I’m just not in them.
I exited MSEGX. I own 4 others. MACGX has been an absolute disaster the last 12 months. MSSMX has been close to the same. MFAIX … I’m keeping as it’s better than an index I have in a deferred account. But I’m ready to move on from MGGPX as well. I may sell on TUE and put some more in PRGSX.
This thread is offering good advice.

I can’t speak whether they will be Number 1, but I think Dodge and Cox International will have a very good year.

+1.

I can’t speak whether they will be Number 1, but I think Dodge and Cox International will have a very good year.

The question was asked light-heartedly. Just to make a decision now and come back in 12 months and see how you would have done if you actually had made the investment.

#1 Precious metals and miners. Silver followed by gold.
#2 I think Cathie Wood’s ARKK will rebound later this year. But probably has farther to fall first. Finishing positive for the year would be a feat, as it’s 15% down after the first 2 weeks.
Note that the question says “which you think will appreciate most in value.” I would never sink a significant sum of money into what I “think” will happen. Stay well diversified.

IBonds.
to roll the dice if that is what your are asking...and NOT that I am doing that...but I think the risk/reward with Hussy, HSGFX might be a time when the broken clock is correct this year. Risk/reward skew might be in the fund's favor this year.
Not a fund but kind of like one...BRK.B (full disclosure, I'm in)...$150B in cash in case it all goes to sheisse...large holder of the "religious like company, meaning Apple", railroads, banks, well run businesses'.
Maybe 50/50 HSGFX/BRK.B? Dunno?!
Good Luck!
Baseball Fan

Christine Benz's withdrawal suggestion (3%, rather than 4%)...3.3% to be precise... has a lot to do with future expectation of portfolio returns during the next 30 years. To me it really has more to do with future expectation over the next five years and next year, it will be about the next five years. In my 60's I am looking at a rolling five year withdrawal strategy when it come to retirement income from my retirement investments.
Retirement Income is more about providing an income floor rather than an income ceiling. If you spend some time prior to retirement determining your income floor (basic expenses) and than determine where you will derive this income from, you find yourself forming a pecking order of income sources.
Full time income will end and will need to be replaced with other sources of income such as - SS, pension, part time work, passive income from rental investments, investment income, etc.
Fine tune your basic expenses. You have the time (in retirement) to shop what things cost...this might help lower your income floor. Shop your monthly expenses (cable, phone, internet, insurances, etc.) for the best service at the best price. Shop those larger one-time purchases (a car, setting up your workshop, taking a vacation, etc.)
it was prudent to keep 3-6 months of emergency cash on hand in case work income got interrupted. In retirement, keep this same cash on hand for market interruptions or emergencies (such as unexpected health care costs).
If part of your income in retirement come from your investments, match the time horizon of your income need with the time horizon of the investment so you have a better chance of achieving your investment objective.
Equities need 5 - 15 years to smooth out the volatility inherit to its asset risk. If, in retirement you need some of your investments for income, you should have "a rolling 5 year income strategy" for some of your retirement money that is less risky... less volatile.
Using Christine's safe withdrawal rate (3.3% of your total investment portfolio) you can approximate what your can afford to spend and how much you should keep safely invested for withdrawal purposes to fund the next 3-5 years of withdrawals.
Would love to hear how others view this topic.