Investors should look for volatility during the coming weeks. Read all about it below:
http://funds-newsletter.com/sept12-newsletter/sept12-steve.htm
An update (Wednesday 09/05/2012 6:00 Am EDT) ...
Yesterday was a rush, rush, rush day for me after coming off a long weekend from being at the coast and now back in town with duties at the office. Through most of the summer I was able to take much time off and enjoy the summer as I wished. I spent some time looking for things that I'd like to do in retirement and came across a small tourist business opportunity. Thinking on it hard. I have about another year before my planned exit and there is no rush for me to leave ... and besides, I'll make more if I stay put than if I pursue the small business retirement opportunity at the caost with some of my now retired high school class mates.
And, there is my love for investing. That is what brought me to write this update. As many know, I have booked some recent profit form my spiff positions as I have sold equities down in anticipation of the looming policy warfare as noted in the above article. I am probally not by myself in doing that as I am finding from my research and study that money seems to still be leaving my market proxy while its price line has been in a slight decent for a couple of weeks. By the middle of September the market should be feeling the efects of the political climate ... and, then there is Europe plus all the stuff Congress will have to deal with before year end with the Bush era tax cuts, etc. Looks kinda stormy does it not? I've been at the coast off-an-on through the years to feel a good storm formation brewing ... and, folks I feel one's on its way. The barometer is dropping and now showing "change."
I have taken notice of the barometer drop and put plenty of cash on the side line ... enough to pursue a small business opportunity if I so choose. But, with this I am still faced with the daily grind. Think I'll continue to putter around with investing. Best part time high return opportunity I have found where I can allocate my time by my choice and not by the demands of others (customers) and still have to deal with other business headaches that now calls me in early today.
Time to get to the office ... my desk is calling. Besides, my boss says ... You have enjoyed the summer; and, now I am going to enjoy the fall.
Have a good day ... and, I wish you "Good Investing."
Skeeter

I just spoke with a representative at River Road Asset Management. She stated that the management had reserved $200M in capacity for an unspecified initiative for the SCV strategy managed by Mr. Cinnamond, and recently decided not to pursue this initiative. (A thought that crossed my mind: it is possible that they were anticipating $200M in private accounts like retirement plans and endowments, and this money never materialized.) That freed up capacity for Mr. Cinnamond to manage. She stated that he currently manages about $800M ($622M in ARIVX per M*), which will be allowed to grow to a top capacity of $1B.
I had called RRAM in late 2011, and they reported a top capacity of $800M prior to the soft-close of ARIVX. Smells like asset gathering to me, especially since the fund has lots of cash, currently at 52.77%. Do they really need to be managing more cash at ARIVX, and charging 1.47% to do so ?
Kevin

Reply to @hank: I agree with you, but I think there's a fairly large audience (and probably larger since 2008) that's near-retirement that just is thinking that they - after 2001-2002 and 2008 do not want to go through that again. The downside of that is really what Old Joe said (quite perfectly!), but I don't think those people are going to leave fixed income anytime soon.
Additionally - and this is definitely a risk - I rather like the MLP management companies (Kinder Morgan and Enbridge), where the company is entirely invested in the MLP - owning an MLP and getting dividends (in shares only, not cash, but the benefit is no tax hassle. ) See - http://seekingalpha.com/article/741151-how-to-earn-tax-free-dividends-on-2-quality-mlps
There's a lot out there where one can have investment in things like real assets and still get a very nice yield, although things like REITs have admittedly run up a lot.

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/887210/000093041312004979/c70887_497.htm
ARTIO GLOBAL INVESTMENT FUNDS
Artio US Multicap Fund
Artio US Midcap Fund
Artio US Smallcap Fund
Artio US Microcap Fund
Supplement dated August 30, 2012 to the Prospectus dated March 1, 2012
On August 30, 2012, the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of Artio Global Investment Funds approved this supplement to close the following series to new investors: Artio US Multicap Fund, Artio US Midcap Fund, Artio US Smallcap Fund and Artio US Microcap Fund (together the “Funds”) upon recommendation by Artio Global Management LLC (“Artio”), the Funds’ investment adviser. In the interim, Artio Global will work with the Board of Trustees of Artio Global Investment Funds to ensure the orderly disposition of the assets of the US Equity Funds.
Please note that you may redeem your shares of the Funds at any time. You also may exchange your shares of the Funds at net asset value at any time for shares of another Artio Fund. No sales charges, redemption or termination fees will be imposed by the Funds in connection with such exchanges and redemptions. In general, exchanges and redemptions are taxable events.
If you own shares of any of the Funds in a tax deferred account, such as an individual retirement account, 401(k) or 403(b) account, you should consult your tax adviser to discuss your redemption and determine its tax consequences.
The Funds reserve the right to further restrict sales of each Fund’s shares.
For more information, please contact a customer service representative at 1-800-387-6977.

Here is what Fido has posted for ASFYX:
Minimum Initial Investment $100,000
Minimum Retirement $2,500
Minimum Additional Investment $250
Minimum Automatic Account Builder $100
Simple IRA No
I tried to purchase ASFYX in my non-taxable Fido account, one order was less than $2,500 and the other for more than $2,500. Both orders was cancelled for no reason. Best thing is to run a test trade to see it the order is cancelled. I don't always believe what is posted for minimums.
TDA has WBMIX with no initial minimum plus T/F in non-taxable accounts, so far.
Minimums for Whitebox Tactical Opportunities fund:
Investor Shares:
Minimum Initial
Investment
$5,000 for all accounts
except:$1,000 for tax deferred
accounts.
Advisor Shares
Available to clients of
registered investment
advisors and participants in
certain employee benefit
plans. No minimum initial
investment for qualifying
investors.
Institutional Shares:
$5 million for institutions
and individuals. Also
available to clients of
registered investment
advisors and participants in
certain employee benefit
plans with collective
investments of at least $5
million.
Minimum Additional
Investment
$1,000 for all accounts
except:
$200 for tax deferred
accounts.
No subsequent minimum. No subsequent minimum.

Morn'in Coffee,
From the article: " Paul Ryan is also opposing any form of state or local government bailout. [16 large cities facing bankruptcy]:
"We can't do a bailout. If we bailed out one state, then all of the debt of all of the states is not just implied, but almost explicitly put on the books of the federal government. [Some states] are already telling us [about their dire circumstance]. But should taxpayers in frugal states be bailing out taxpayers in profligate states? … Should taxpayers in Indiana, who have paid their bills on time, who have done their job fiscally, be bailing out Californians, who haven't? No, that's a moral hazard we are not interested in creating."
I recall writing a similar note more than a year ago regarding whether North Dakota would be willing to put up money to bailout NJ or some other states. I suspect North Dakota citizens and their state gov't. would wholly object.
One may point a finger to whom or whatever about the monetary conditions that exist for any state or local government; but past this, and no unlike what we all have to factor into our investment decisions, is the fact that many budgets for especially local/city governments are a serious problem area. Our U.S. states/cities/communities and their monetary problems are not unlike the similar problems with some of the EuroZone states. While the Fed/Treasury reportedly will not back bailouts of states and related, directly; the function is already in place by actions of congress and monies going to states and related for 1,000's of programs and grants. The problems do cross borders for an overall impact, regardless how weak or strong a neighbor state may be. Our states have their own rules, regs. and tax laws to attempt to satisfy what those in charge perceive as a best path to a "better way of life for the citizens of their state".
Government functions, desires and abilities are night and day if one compares California to North Dakota.
All of us are impacted by any and all problems from the federal to the local levels. We here are all aware of the serious impact of the low interest rate policy upon many who are retired or near retirement and choose to remain frugal; but can not earn enough interest with a relatively safe CD to even offset inflation. Many of these people are the grandparents and parents of many here at MFO; let alone some of the participants at MFO.
To place everything into the most simple words: "The monetary turd pile, while perhaps dried and not so smelly on the top and outside layers, reveals a continued nasty smell when one turns over some of the underlayers."
I really wish that "things" were better and perhaps the monetary unwinds will be slow enough for many to not cause serious problems; but many areas that have been accepted as a normal circumstance over the past several decades will have continued re-do's for many years to come; and there will be problems in various areas of the economy, not in the least; state, city and other municipalities.
My inflation adjusted 2 cents worth.
Regards,
Catch

Hello Chip,
Please bear with my sense of humor regarding PST; I think the ticker look-up is great!
Is there a current link function to associate a meaningful name with a URL. I notice in "What would you do with a large inheritance?" there is a link " Fido Personal Retirement Annuity, Main page". Is this functionality supported by MFO, by Vanilla, or only by included html?
Last question: Can I change my "hawleyl" handle to some other name, e.g. "Larry"?

Howdy,
A thank you to all who post the links, start and participate in the many fine commentaries woven into the message threads.
For those who don't know; I ramble away about this and that, at least once each week.
NOTE: For those who visit MFO, this portfolio is designed for retirement, capital preservation and to stay ahead of inflation creep. This is not a buy and hold portfolio, and is subject to change on any given day; based upon perceptions of market directions. All assets in this portfolio are in tax-sheltered accounts; and any fund distributions are reinvested in the funds. Gains or losses are computed from actual account values.
While looking around..... Is this "As Good As It Gets" for bonds going forward? For some bond sectors, perhaps.Flip a coin, eh? Goldman Sachs (GS) noted in early 2010 that the 10 year note was going to a 5.5% yield and later kinda apologized for that notation. Course, "As Good As It Gets" applies to all investment sectors, too. Are some equities overbought? I sure don't know, but a likely guess would be, yes. GS has a year end number on the SP-500 at 1250. Should I trust that number any more that the other 100 market fortune tellers spouting any day of the week?
I suppose the best two words I read recently about the markets were "we are defensively bullish". Okay, how about "optimistically bearish", too. Perhaps this house just needs to select a broad base of the100 best funds or etf's, set the tickers upon a large sheet of paper, stand back 15 feet and let rip with 12 darts. Done and finished.
Per David Rosenberg, July 27, 2012........
*****Markets were thrilled yesterday when European Central Bank president Mario Draghi said he would "do whatever it takes to preserve the euro. And believe me, it will be enough".
But Gluskin Sheff economist David Rosenberg said these were Draghi's famous last words, much like when Hank Paulson had said in August 2008, "If you have a bazooka in your pocket and people know it, you probably won't have to use it."
Or when Ben Bernanke said in June 2008, "the financial crisis appears to be mostly behind us, and the economy seems to have stabilized and is expanding again."
Rosenberg said Draghi's words were pure rhetoric and he called Draghi a "leader of NATO - No Action, Talk Only - instead of a central bank".
Draghi's comments were widely interpreted as a return to the Securities Markets Program (SMP) which involves purchases of Italian and Spanish bonds. But Rosenberg said if this was in fact costless it would have been activated already.
He also poured cold water on talk about granting the European Stability Mechanism a banking license. "Frankly, this is likely to be a political decision in the end, which is beyond the purview of the central bank." And said a third LTRO (long-term refinancing operation) would do nothing more than buy some time.
Rosenberg argued that the underlying problem of Europe's sovereign and banking sector would ultimately hinge on its fiscal and regulatory policy and that there isn't much Draghi can do about it. *****
Personal note to the above: Mr. Draghi only mentioned saving the "euro"; nothing about saving any countries. Perhaps the "euro" will remain only in Belgium, the home of the ECB; into the future.
The data/numbers below have been updated.
As to sector rotations below (Fidelity funds); for the past week: (Note: any given fund in any of these sectors will have varing degrees of performance based upon where the manager(s) choose to be invested and will not directly reflect upon your particular fund holdings from other vendors.)
--- U.S. equity + .3% through + 2.4%, avg. = + 1.5% YTD = +13.8%
--- Int'l equity - 2% through + 1.6%, avg. = + .4% YTD = +9.2%
--- Fido Select. sectors - .8% through + 3.8%, avg. = + 1.3% YTD = +13%
--- U.S./Int'l bonds - 2.9% through + .12%, avg. = -.70% YTD = + 2.2%
--- HY bonds - .52% through + 0%, avg. = - .2% YTD = + 8.8%
An Overview, M* 1 Week through 5 Year, Multiple Indexes
I have added a few blips related to our portfolio and market observations at the below SELLs/BUYs and Portfolio Thoughts.
SELLs/BUYs THIS PAST WEEK:
NONE
Portfolio Thoughts:
Our holdings had a - .59 % move this past week. We'll stay where we are at for today; to find what the new week and perhaps the end of the month with Mr. Bernanke brings to the plate.
Sidenote: The average return of 200 combined Fidelity retail funds across all sectors (week avg = + .63%, YTD + 10.3%). I will retain the below write from previous weeks; as what we are watching still applies.
--- commodity pricing, especially the energy and base materials areas; copper and related.
--- the $US broad basket value, and in particular against the Euro and Aussie dollar (EU zone and China/Asia uncertainties).
--- price directions of U.S. treasury's, German bunds, U.K. gilts, Japanese bonds; and continued monitoring of Spanish/Italian bond pricing/yield.
--- what we are watching to help understand the money flows: SHY, IEF, TLT, TIP, STPZ, LTPZ, LQD, EMB, HYG, IWM, IYT & VWO; all of which offer insights reflected from the big traders as to the quality/risk, or lack of quality/risk; in various bond sectors.
I have retained the following links for those who may choose to do their own holdings comparison against the fund types noted.
The first two links to Bloomberg are for their list of balanced/flexible funds; although I don't always agree with the placement of fund styles in their categories.
Bloomberg Balanced
Bloomberg Flexible
These next two links are for conservative and moderate fund leaders YTD, per MSN.
Conservative Allocation
Moderate Allocation
A reflection upon the links above; we attempt to establish a "benchmark" for our portfolio to help us "see" how our funds are performing. Aside from viewing many funds within the balanced/flexible funds rankings (the above links), a quick and dirty group of 5 funds (below) we watch for psuedo benchmarking are the following:
***Note: these week/YTD's per M*
VWINX .... - .41% week, YTD = + 7.67%
PRPFX .... - .02% week, YTD = + 3.32%
SIRRX ..... - .13 % week, YTD = + 4.67%
TRRFX .... + .25% week, YTD = + 8.05%
VTENX ... + 0% week, YTD = + 7.13%
Such are the numerous battles with investments attempting to capture a decent return and minimize the risk.
We live and invest in interesting times, eh? Hey, I probably forgot something; and hopefully the words make some sense. Comments and questions always welcomed.
Good fortune to you, yours and the investments.
Take care,
Catch
---Below is what M* x-ray has attempted to sort for our portfolio, as of June 1, 2012---
From what I find, M* has a difficult time sorting out the holdings with bond funds.
U.S./Foreign Stocks 1.9%
Bonds 93.9% ***
Other 4.2%
Not Classified 0.00%
Avg yield = 3.72%
Avg expense = .55%
***about 16% of the bond total are high yield category (equity related cousins)
---This % listing is kinda generic, by fund "name"; which doesn't always imply the holdings, eh?
-Investment grade bond funds 28.2%
-Diversified bond funds 22.4%
-HY/HI bond funds 14.5%
-Total bond funds 32.4%
-Foreign EM/debt bond funds .6%
-U.S./Int'l equity/speciality funds 1.9%
This is our current list: (NOTE: I have added a speciality grouping below for a few of fund types)
---High Yield/High Income Bond funds
FAGIX Fid Capital & Income
SPHIX Fid High Income
FHIIX.LW Fed High Income
DIHYX TransAmerica HY
---Total Bond funds
FTBFX Fid Total
PTTRX Pimco Total
---Investment Grade Bonds
ACITX Amer. Cent. TIPS Bond
DGCIX Delaware Corp. Bd
FBNDX Fid Invest Grade
FINPX Fidelity TIPS Bond
OPBYX Oppenheimer Core Bond
---Global/Diversified Bonds
FSICX Fid Strategic Income
FNMIX Fid New Markets
DPFFX Delaware Diversified
LSBDX Loomis Sayles
PONDX Pimco Income fund (steroid version)
PLDDX Pimco Low Duration (domestic/foreign)
---Speciality Funds (sectors or mixed allocation)
FRIFX Fidelity Real Estate Income (bond/equity mix)
---Equity-Domestic/Foreign
NONE outright, with the exception of equities held inside of some of the above funds.

Have used TRBCX & like it - but a bit high octane for these into-retirement years. Yep, PRMTX's been bit of a rocket over the years ... So, Son really thinks market's goin in the gutter before election? Can't buy that. Worry more about afterward. BTW, Price is good at showing in prospectuses yearly performance figures going back 10 years. Can be eye-opener. TRBCX - I'd venture a guess - has probably experienced years of 25+% on both the up and down sides, probably more than once - what I meant by high octane. Take care.
Checked it for ya. TRBCX Four most volatile past decade: 2002 -24%, 2003 +30%, 2008 -42%, 2009 +42%
http://quote.morningstar.com/fund-filing/Prospectus/2012/5/1/t.aspx?t=TRBCX&ft=485BPOS&d=59ede8f1d78accddfabc0a27db08704d

Reply to @hank: Well put. I think you're seeing institutional investors look for other sources of income beyond fixed income, as well - infrastructure continues to seem as if it's getting increasing interest, and at least that's a combination of cash flow and real assets. Take a look at Brookfield Infrastructure (BIP), which was discussed in a thread a couple of weeks ago.
Brookfield thread:
http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discussions-3/#/discussion/comment/13384
Two year chart of BIP:
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=BIP+Interactive#symbol=BIP;range=2y
I do continue to think that there should be some attention paid to inflation protection, even for those who are more conservative and closer to retirement age. I do think money will continue chasing yield in fixed income for longer than anyone could expect, and that that will probably not end well.

Dear friends,
I fielded a call from an editor at U.S. News while I was on vacation. We had a long talk about recent manager resignations and whether that should trigger a "sell". The resulting article is here: http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/mutual-funds/articles/2012/08/06/what-to-do-when-your-fund-manager-quits . Here's the short version of my grouchy outburst: most fund companies are driven by the need to gather and hold assets, primarily in retirement accounts. They don't want flash, they don't want big bets, they don't want to stand out from the herd and they certainly don't want to be in the headlines. They discovered that large, plodding, mediocre funds are about the best vehicle for doing that. For those funds, the managers are largely interchangeable drones. (The article singles out Oppenheimer and Putnam but I harshed on Fidelity for a while.)
There are funds, often small and from boutiques, where performance matters and where the manager matters. In those cases, a manager change is a cause for re-evaluation but in a lumbering behemoth, not so much. The advice "if you've got a plodder and can do so, switch to Vanguard" didn't survive.
For what it's worth,
David

Regarding debt - generally a good priority, for financial reasons (reasonable certain rate of return), psychological reasons, and planning reasons. But if that debt is a mortgage, these days, it's hard to make a financial case for paying that off. A mortgage is effectively a way to leverage investments - you borrow at a low rate (the rate of your mortgage) and invest for a (hopefully) higher rate of return. Both the mortgage and the investments are long term, so they're well-matched. If we were not in such a low interest rate environment, I'd say one should pay off mortgages, but right now, it depends on your comfort level.
Regarding annuities - these are effectively equivalent to nondeductible IRAs. You put in post tax money, and what you pull out is taxed as ordinary income, except for the amount you put in. (Because of a quirk in the tax laws, the first money you pull out of annuities, unlike IRAs, is fully taxable; it's only when you draw down to the initial investment that you get the post tax money out without more taxes. Unless you annuitize, and almost nobody does that.)
I write all of this because nondeductible IRAs (unless you convert them to Roths) and annuities generally don't make sense (run the numbers) unless you have the money invested in them for decades. I think I'm one of the relatively few people here who will speak positively about deferred annuities, but only where there make sense.
Regarding the ones Catch named - Fidelity's VIP Contra fund (3*) is managed by the same team that manages Fidelity All-Sector Equity (FSAEX), which I view as a clone. It is not managed by Danoff. Regarding Growth Co. (a retail fund FDGRX, managed by Steve Wymer since 2007), the annuity offers VIP Growth Opportunities, managed by Wymer since 2009. It is this fund that's the clone (or near clone) of Growth Co;, not VIP Growth, or VIP Growth Stock, two other funds offered in the annuity.
Also to consider in the annuity space (if you're still so inclined) is TIAA-CREF. Their Intelligent Variable Annuity charges 35 baiss points in a $100K annuity (25 basis points over $500K), and this drops to 10 basis points after a decade. They offer a similar number of funds to Fidelity, and the funds in their annuity are usually institution class shares (cheaper). A wider variety of fund companies and managers, and generally better performance.
Regarding muni bonds - despite all the horror stories, they're still some of the safest investments. The general rule of thumb is that individual bonds make sense only if you have a min of $100K to invest (taxable), or $50K (muni). With the slight increase in muni bonds these days, maybe $100K+ in munis might also be advisable. The problem with munis (as with all bonds) these days is that the rates are so ridiculously low, that it's hard to justify the risk. You're looking at 10 years just to get 2%. Remember that you're effectively locked in - individual bonds are expensive to trade, and if rates drop, you won't get 100c on the dollar for your bond (i.e. you'll only break even by swapping bonds, even if you ignore trading costs). I really like munis as a class - unlike taxables, you are more likely to get what you pay for (out to 20 years, yield seems fairly proportional to maturity), relatively low risk (still), and about a decade ago, they got more transparent and easier to buy. Still, I'm not sure what strategy to apply to them in this market. (See last paragraph below for short term muni fund.)
Regarding insurance - Life insurance has two uses I'm aware of. One is for estate planning - a way to transfer assets and avoid estate taxes. Depending on your assets and plans (e.g. not needed for bequests to charities), this might make sense. A second is to replace income that others rely upon if you pass away while you're still bringing in income. If you're close to retirement, this might not make sense for you.
What Consumer Reports says about long term care insurance is that it makes sense primarily for people with assets between $200K and $2M. So this is something that you may or may not want, depending on age and assets. If you are considering this, I suggest you look into policies that participate in Partnership for Long Term Care. This is a way of getting Medicaid to take over (wtihout spending down all assets) if the long term care policy runs out.
I'm sorry that most of the comments above seem to be of the nature "don't do this, don't do that". It's relatively easy to point out the limitations of various products and services. It's much harder, especially with the limited information here (and you don't want to disclose more in a public forum), to say what would fit your particular needs. A good financial planner (possibly working in conjunction with a lawyer and/or accountant) , on a fee basis (not commission), who will look at your whole picture (not just investments), would seem like money well spent. You could drop the cash into something like Vanguard Limited Term Tax-Exempt Bond Fund (VMLUX), while figuring out what to do. Something like this doesn't seem to fluctuate by more than a percent over months, and pays about 2% federally tax-free. So at least you get something for your troubles.

Howdy Dian,
First, I salute your compassion and endurance for your longtime efforts with your family members. Second, you mentioned Will from a few years ago; and I have have wondered how his plan has worked with the monies. Thirdly, your note indicates a very good program in place for teaching the young'ins, that your house has maintained a working and productive budget over the years, which now finds you and yours in a very nice monetary position. Hats off to your house for this effort.
Okay.....you mentioned being able to visit a Fidelity office; and this is my one and only notation regarding an annuity (any annuity), although a tax attorney and one's special circumstances could offer other thoughts regarding other types of annuities, too.
Fidelity has a plain annuity, without any frills, and the primary function is to tax shelter current earnings, but gains will be subject to ordinary tax with withdrawals, as normal. No insurance benefits, etc. with this plan. This annuity could be for a circumstance such as you have encountered; being a spot to grow monies and defer current taxes. I too, as has been mentioned, will agree about possible muni bond funds. Fidelity has a few that have performed well, with multi-state exposure to lessen local impacts from a default; although you would not receive a full tax edge with such funds.
Fido Muni Funds
The goods:
--- Fido Personal Retirement Annuity, Main page
--- 55 Funds, Avg. Annual Returns, Quarterly Numbers
--- Funds, short term performance, 1 year-YTD
Before I forget, there is a limit as to how many times one may transfer (I recall 4) monies among the fund choices with this annuity and this would be a question for the Fido office; although I know the info is plugged somewhere into the web links above.
Briefly, this annuity cost = the expense ratio of the underlying fund and a .25% annual fee on invested monies. My quick and dirty view indicates an average total of about 1% expense.
One has 55 fund choices, including long time well managed funds as Growth Co. and Contra, as well as funds from Blackrock, Franklin-Templeton, Invesco, Lazard, Morgan Stanley and Pimco. There are 12 target date/retirement funds (Freedom and Funds Manager) that I personally would not use, so one has 43 remaining choices. If you chose such an investment, it is possible that some fund style overlap would exist for this measured against your other tax sheltered accts.
The combined YTD return (if one had placed equal monies into all 55) is 10.3%.
If our house came into a large sum of inherited monies, and we needed more time to consider other investment areas (rental house, etc) or a place for some of the money; I would not hesitate to place monies here for parking. Yes, when we developed a plan for some of the money, we would be taxed upon withdrawals; but I/we would rather pay tax on a gain, versus parking the money in CD's at the credit union during this low rate period.
I recall Vanguard, and Jefferson Pilot Ins. Co having a similar annuity type, but I do not have any details.
Lastly, a consideration of 529 accts or state pre-paid tuition programs, if not already in place; or that anyone may add monies to a 529 acct. for the grandchildren. We live in MI, but have our daughters 529 acct. with Utah. 529's may be opened and maintained with very low annual amounts; but the one snag is some lack of control of what funds the monies are invested, as only one transfer/shift of monies per calendar year is allowed from and into any investment style/funds.
I will also agree with other's notations here, based upon most of your monetary bases having been covered; is for you and yours to treat yourself and indulge a bit.
Okay, winding down a vacation and time for the head to hit the pillow.
Take care,
Catch

Yup, Bull, hear you. In '87 after selling a rental property, a phone call comes from a 'financial advisor'. Obviously a public document showed this sale, and that is how he found us. We agreed to meet - very foolish of me - but then again, the positive out of the negative eventually arrived - I learned to be my own advisor. He had placed us in load funds - sorry but my ignorance didn't even allow me to ask what that meant - one was 8% and one was 5% - I'm embarrassed to admit. Yikes - shutter when I think of it. Of course, within a month the crash/correction of '87 came, and, of course, he sells us out at the bottom and just leaves us there. No attempt to get us back in while the slow climb upwards begins. He even had the nerve several years later to call us and ask us to do retirement planning with him - a new area he was entering into. Didn't happen. We all have our stories. I try to protect my adult children from this thru my experiences. Hope I'm making a difference. "Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me," Leaving now for that Friday night fish fry - will return later.

Hello Max, and thank you - Been following your postings for quite some time. The $ amount is just over 1m; small to many - large to many. No debt here, preservation is the key. I do see muni-bonds as part of the package, and receiving dividends would be fine. This 'taxable investments' area is new to me. I do have DODIX, PRSVX, BERIX as part of IRA retirement $'s - very happy with them.

So happy to be of help! :-)
A few minor notes/clarifications:
The adviser's fee is partially performance based and partially a standard fee (it's definitely not "hedge-fund style" 2% and 20%, but it is similar in that there is a standard management fee and a very small % of performance fee)
I forget the exact % of the fee, but it seemed reasonable. Given that the adviser has what I would call an "absolute return" approach (long/short flexibility, use of a fairly wide array of various funds), I thought the fee seemed reasonable. However, I think the performance fee works because the adviser is dealing almost entirely with people at or near retirement. So, while the adviser is very active in terms of moving and monitoring, the risk level is acceptable and the ability for them to go short is a nice added touch - in other words, just because there is a performance fee has not meant taking on oversized risk in order to try to boost fees.
These family members had been previously working with someone who was sort of a broker and sort of a financial adviser, but it became very clear that the funds used were funds that were told to be used "from higher up" in the company and that this broker/adviser wasn't really paying much attention - it was get into some of the funds the company wanted to sell (although some of them weren't the worst funds ever), and then largely autopilot.
Having some fee based on performance as well as a sort of "absolute return" approach with the new adviser almost seems to make the fees more reasonable because of the amount of work and monitoring the new adviser is doing, whereas the fees for the prior adviser/broker didn't seem to be really going towards much of anything. You had a broker whose view of a 2008-style situation was "it's a bad year, it'll come back" and the adviser who actively worked in 2008 to protect against downside significantly, then was able to find opportunities when things started to come back.
I think it's tough to find someone good, but from my viewpoint (and not just the above scenario, but watching other family near retirement age), you definitely want a financial planner and not a broker. I think it's also good to get a sense of the client base - that's not a must, but I think getting someone geared towards people near retirement age and understanding of risk tolerance is not a bad idea.
You may want to devote some money to an adviser and handle some money on your own.
Poster Bob C is an adviser and can probably offer some great advice about how to best research an adviser/what questions to ask/etc.

Thank you, Scott. You were there for me back on FA, and I still hold some of your recommendations in an IRA. My posted was getting long; I should have included no debt, LTC purchased long ago (excellent policy), have a second home - mostly escape for Midwestern winters.
Yes, I have been doing my best to educate our two children and now our two grandchildren. I totally agree that education is lacking in this very important area. And, then, when so much time is spent with one's career and children, finances can take the back burner. I am doing my best educating our grandchildren. Lesson one was many years ago when in a restaurent I gave them the choice of a beverage - or water and money that the beverage would have cost. You know what they chose. LOL Last night my 8 year old asked me how much a stock costs as he's interested in buying stocks. We started talking Disney, Harley Davidson, McDonald's, etc. My g'kids finish the phrase when I begin it - "If you spend it - you can't save it." Doing my best!
And, yes, Rono many years back also told me when I was saving toward retirement to be sure I thought of myself and used retirement funds on myself. Fortunately, even though I have been caring for relatives for more than 25 years, I am in excellent health. My goal now is to take care of myself and learn how to focus on myself.
I have put 'fee based - based on performance' on the top of my priority list. Thank you for your efforts in assisting me - very much appreciated.

Reply to @BobC:
BobC, thanks for the information!
This particular retirement account that holds BJBIX is at Schwab, so I will look to see if the funds you mention are on the Schwab platform. If you (or anyone else) thinks of a replacement fund for BJBIX on the Schwab platform, I would appreciate your mentioning it.
msf, thanks for your detailed insight and I look forward to your further comments.
Mona

BobC,
Thanks for the information.
I have been in BJBIX for many years now and about once a month when I review my asset allocation, ponder if I should sell. I have not, for four primary reasons:
1. I need large cap blend/growth international allocation.
2. I hold the fund in a retirement fund, thus I can't do anything with the loss (as you wrote BJBIX never recovered from 2008 plus its relative performance was horrible in 2011). It appears BJBIX's more recent problems are attributable to that it has triple the foreign large-blend category's emerging markets weighting (per M*).
3. Besides your quote by Gregg Wolper at Morningstar, he also said in 2011 "There's reason to think the fund will regain its form. It had an outstanding run from 1995 through 2007 with the same managers and strategy in place now. And taking a thoughtful long-term approach even at the risk of short-term pain is often a recipe for investment success".
4. I can't find out when Richard Pell and Rudolph Younes started taking "stupid pills" (possibly that was post 2008...or maybe I took them instead!). If any two fund managers had good results and a good reputation in this space, it was Pell and Younes.
As mentioned, I am now following BJBIX (should have been doing so before and while no excuse, I was taking care of my mother full time from 2009-2011 who had AML), but it seems the damage has already been done. Yes, it is under performing in 2012, but at least it is showing positive numbers. I gather I am thinking that every cloud has a silver lining or I am still hiding my head in the sand.
You correctly noted that BJBIX has been "bleeding assets", from around $11 billion in 2007 to $1.1 billion today (as of 6-30-12). However, through this massive decline in assets, the fund has remained closed to new investors. I find this odd and would appreciate your thoughts as to why the fund never re-opened.
Moving forward, what impact do you (and others) feel the notice you received will have on BJBIX specifically? It is conceivable that it can allow Pell and Younes to revert back to doing what they DID best; concentrating on international equities? Or am I hiding my head deeper in the sand?
Mona

Reply to @MJG:
MJG said: "Even in the best of times, many folks are procrastinators; others are lazy; still others just want the good times to roll."
I am an BS/MSEE working as Software Engineer in a major multi-national technology company. I am in my 40s and right now we do not have anyone as far as I can see older than 55 still doing real engineering work and believe me 50+ is rare. Last year, the older ones were offered early retirement packages and many took as if they did not, they were likely to be laid off. I spend a lot of time trying to keep up to date in technology in my field which is very rapidly changing and increasingly outsourced to overseas but I am afraid time will catch up some time.
Hopefully, by that time I have either had enough saved/invested or at least have transformed into some other post that the company still needs but I do not see a lot of 60+ in other business units in this company or similar companies that I have worked. It is probably the curse of being involved in such a dynamic field. I cannot blame the company much on that either. I do not have the energy of 20-30 year olds anymore. I used to sit down one night and finish major projects. Not any more. If you consider that laziness, I guess I am becoming lazier as I get older.
I understand you are retired now. From earlier posts, I understand you have spent some time in government/military related posts where job security is/was higher. The times and corporate culture has changed. There is no loyalty from employers towards employees anymore and we do not have any pensions and the only thing that is pension like, Social Security, may or may not survive my retirement. Tell me about stress and stress related illnesses which can potentially be another reason why I might not be able to work. Aging related disability is real.
In short, just because human life is extended by the use of modern medicine does not mean everything is OK now. I might be living longer but unable to do meaningful gainful work. Perhaps lifespan extension made things worse because the working life might not have extended enough to compensate for the financial implications of longer life span. Then there is the problem of finding jobs for younger generations. If the older generations somehow could stick around, then as a nation we would have to address the problem of unemployment for newer college graduates etc.
In short, I am a bit disturbed with your categorization of many folks as procrastinators and lazy or just wishing for good times to roll. At some point, it is the reality of life and being alive that kicks in even if we are not procrastinators, lazy or day dreaming.