Comparisons of Buy and Hold portfolios

[Chahta]

I am mostly a B&H investor. I do minor trades for fun and the thrill of making a few extra bucks. I admit I got caught on the latest trade but will not sell a loser since I will only trade what I would B&H. Previously I made this trade successfully several times in 2020-2021. I do not sell my core equity holdings. I will say bond OEFs are more of a challenge and have sold them to move into other bonds. I am holding about 15% cash from recent bond sales, which makes me uneasy. My goal is to have a TIRA that produces income to offset RMDs that start in a couple of years to avoid selling shares I don't want to sell. 

After a while my heads spins with all the talk of buy this, sell that, what is the Fed doing. I need a sanity check even though I enjoy hearing what everyone else is doing and learning about new ideas. My way got me into retirement for 3 years now.

I decided to compare a couple of portfolios I follow. One is Christine Benz's aggressive buckets (aggressive for average Joe investor) and the other is Bob Brinker's retirement portfolio (conservative for average Joe investor). I have read his newsletter for 25 years. Both are B&H portfolios. My own portfolio is only similar to both with different holdings and types of holdings. I added their portfolios for comparison so I can follow them on M* Portfolio Manager and see how I am doing in their world.

I don't intend to start another "TR vs. income" debate or a "bucket portfolio" debate. I do neither. I am posting this as a conversation piece and for you other closet B&Hers out there. The results are Mine = -5.49% YTD, +7.9% YOY;  Benz = -5.43% YTD, +7.4% YOY and Brinker = -5.52 YTD, +6.8% YOY. YOY is defined as Jan. 4, 2021 to Mar. 22, 2022. I know some of you all will not like Benz or Brinker but they are the ones I chose to compare. They are all approx. 50/50 portfolios and it's interesting that with way different equities and bonds the results are so close.

[kathiel]

Chahta, I consider myself a B&H investor. I do now make occasional trades, but for years, I didn't. My portfolio has done very well this year given what a strange year it has been. I'm up 2% since Jan 1, 2022. (at about 11 am)

My portfolio is 100% equities, mostly dividend paying stocks.

[ignatz]

Not sure any YTD is representative of anything because the SP has lost less this year than many "moderate allocation" funds....which you don't often see. Bonds didn't cushion much if at all and little or no help from small and foreign.

[steadyeddy]

I use a diverse set of investing principles:

1. Investing is like tending to a garden of plants/flowers. Use a variety of them. I use Balanced MFs, sector CEFs, and broad index ETFs. No individual stocks.
2. Maintain a healthy cash portion in the portfolio depending on market sentiment.
3. Place leveraged widgets (i.e. CEFs) in taxable accounts so I could harvest tax losses should they arise.
4. Treat IRAs with kid-gloves --- never lose money in them since there is no recourse if you do lose.
5. Opportunistic trading when market dislocation occurs

As of this writing my YTD is -2.4% as my bond ETF bets paid off nicely.

[Mustang]

I am a buy and hold investor. The only trades I am making is to eliminate my wife's last 100% stock fund in her TIRA. It is already gone from mine. This has nothing to do with market performance and everything to do with simplifying the portfolio. The plan is to have her TIRA down to one fund before she has to take RMDs. Mine already is. The fund is American Fund Balanced Fund. According to Morningstar it is -4.08% YTD and + 7.6 last 12 months.

I am on my second year of RMDs from my TIRA so my data is somewhat limited. I reinvest all dividend and capital gains. After one full year of RMDs in 2021 I owned more shares than I started with. Dividends and capital gains purchased more shares than RMDs sold. That is just a statistic to me because I don't care if I sell shares. They don't come with voting rights.

But I am continuing to buy. I match and reinvest the RMDs in Wellington and Wellesley.

[Deleted]

I am buy and hold. My goal has been to produce dividend income annually to supplement pensions and social security one day. I am down 2.7% YTD. My return was around 22% last year. I say around as I had a large sum to invest and it is hard to calculate exactly. I am mainly dividend stocks, with a good dose of growth. APPL is what I consider growth - started out as a dividend stock for me. Also AMZN and GOOG. This has been an interesting time. I don't usually sell. The last time I sold so much was when dividends in the oil patch were getting cut. This time, I sold to take gains - mainly from growth stocks, but large paring of dividend stocks too.  It had been years. I have mostly individual stocks, so do have a bit more maintenance. I have been adding funds/etf around the edges for small and mid cap, healthcare, real estate and international. I would like to have bonds. Thought I would put a large amount of my large sum in them early last year. Just doesn't make sense for me. I have up to 7 years before I retire, so I reinvest dividends and capital gains, and max out my 401k.


I am 83% equities.  17% cash and cash-like bonds.  20% of entire portfolio is international - mainly developed.

[kathiel]

Chahta, I should mention that this is the first year I have RMDs, so I am withdrawing money from my portfolio. The RMD is greater than what I was withdrawing in previous years. I hold only individual stocks, no funds. The stocks pay dividends, which I use for my RMDs. When I sell something, I'll buy something new to keep my dividends at the amount I need. Only in the last couple of years have I started buying some stocks to generate. cap gains. I own a bundle of Apple (5% of my portfolio), and I recently bought small amounts of Amazon and Google and Tesla (which is up 30% in a week!)

[alvinthechipmunk]

I had been "Buy and Hold" for many years. And by no means do I have the Zurich Axioms memorized, but their general thrust makes sense to me. In between the lines, there seems to me to be a recognition that investing is at once both a science and an art. But it's easy to get too fancy. Having stuck with TRP for so long with my IRA (where 90% of the money is "stuck,") I've not wanted to mess with my selections and allocations.

... Until 2022. Inflation. WAR. Supply chain issues. Bottlenecks. Commodities crunch. I have actually USED my taxable brokerage account, and will do so again, soon. I figure banks and insurance companies will find a way to make money. The Big Banks and insurance companies are the ones I love to hate, along with Micropuke and Amasuck. But I dare not hate them too much. Current circumstances REQUIRE me to rejigger. It would be foolish and inept not to do so. I just gotta try to be INTELLIGENT about the process.

www.skmurphy.com/blog/2017/07/01/a-summary-of-max-gunthers-the-zurich-axioms-for-entrepreneurs/

[FD1000]

OP: "They are all approx. 50/50 portfolios and it's interesting that with way different equities and bonds the results are so close"

So far I didn't see any answers that relates to your portfolio.
A quick search doesn't find Brinker 50/50 portfolio. 
Christine Benz retirement portfolio bucket(link) has 8 funds + cash?
You will be close to the above because you mainly use similar funds and AA.

What would I do?
1) I would only use 2 funds: VWIAX + PRWCX.  When I tested Benz portfolio before, maybe 3-4 years ago, most times VWIAX beat her conservative 40/60 + had better SD. The combo of PRWCX+VWIAX(my best LT choices) usually beat her 50/50. 
Cash? not much, just 3-6 months.  Keep the portfolio at 50/50 by selling from the fund that does better.
2) The main question and the only comparison in the past and the future is always risk-adjusted performance regardless of I did and/or that.
3) The statement "I'm mostly B&H" always makes me smile because isn't equal to B&H.  It's just a way to make excuses,   Buy and Hold means you held the same funds for 10 years. 10-20% change can be pretty big.
4) My B&H is the ability to change one fund out of 2-3 funds every 3 years.

[FD1000]

Chahta, I looked at Benz 50/50 portfolio(link) and entered the funds at PV against my preferred 50/50 PRWCX/VWIAX. As I said before, and as expected, my choices made more money with lower SD. If you asked me 10 years ago, I would use these funds because VWIAX has been my favorite conservative allocation B&H for over 20 years, and PRWCX easily over 10 years and posted about it too. In fact, I owned PRWCX and I set up my relative with VWIAX about 20 years ago(link).

Just for fun I also used VWIAX/VWENX at 50/50

See PV (link). The tool had only 9+ years performance
Performance...Benz 7.2% annually...mine=9.9%...W+W=8.6%
SD...Benz=7.4...Mine=7.2...W+W=7.1

My portfolio had the best Sharp ratio(similar to risk-adjusted performance) + Best Sortino(downside SD)

I can do simplicity and B&H too.

[fishingrod]

I am a B&H investor.
I don't try to shoot the lights out. I prefer just to keep the boat upright, very conservative.
That being said I tend to judge or compare how my portfolio is doing by looking at VTMFX, although my port is only 23% stocks. Advantageous and courageous buys of VWALX and VWIUX have helped my performance.
My stock portion is eclectic with VDIGX, VDADX, VUG, VYM, VDC, VDE, VWILX, and VTMFX in descending order. I have owned all of them over ten years except for VWILX and VDE which I have owned for roughly 5 years. These are now B&H.
The ballast for all of this, has been some fixed rate tax deferred annuities that are/were compounding daily at 5.7%(15year term) and 6.75%(10 year term),now 3%) since 2009.
With all of this and some cash, CDs, my total port last year in 2021 returned 7.97% with 23.54% stocks.

VTMFX returned 13.10% in 2021 with roughly 50/50 allocation.

YTD I have lost on paper 1.10%  YTD.

VTMFX has lost 5.79% YTD

I feel pretty good about that.

[Deleted]

Mar 24, 2022 4:09:13 GMT FD1000 said:

Chahta, I looked at Benz 50/50 portfolio(link) and entered the funds at PV against my preferred 50/50 PRWCX/VWIAX. As I said before, and as expected, my choices made more money with lower SD. If you asked me 10 years ago, I would use these funds because VWIAX has been my favorite conservative allocation B&H for over 20 years, and PRWCX easily over 10 years and posted about it too. In fact, I owned PRWCX and I set up my relative with VWIAX about 20 years ago(link).

Just for fun I also used VWIAX/VWENX at 50/50

See PV (link). The tool had only 9+ years performance
Performance...Benz 7.2% annually...mine=9.9%...W+W=8.6%
SD...Benz=7.4...Mine=7.2...W+W=7.1

My portfolio had the best Sharp ratio(similar to risk-adjusted performance) + Best Sortino(downside SD)

I can do simplicity and B&H too.

While i agree with you, 50/50 PRWCX/VWIAX does not help newer investors like me who do not have prwcx. 

[Mustang]

Mar 24, 2022 16:04:46 GMT @waffle said:

Mar 24, 2022 4:09:13 GMT FD1000 said:

Chahta, I looked at Benz 50/50 portfolio(link) and entered the funds at PV against my preferred 50/50 PRWCX/VWIAX. As I said before, and as expected, my choices made more money with lower SD. If you asked me 10 years ago, I would use these funds because VWIAX has been my favorite conservative allocation B&H for over 20 years, and PRWCX easily over 10 years and posted about it too. In fact, I owned PRWCX and I set up my relative with VWIAX about 20 years ago(link).

Just for fun I also used VWIAX/VWENX at 50/50

See PV (link). The tool had only 9+ years performance
Performance...Benz 7.2% annually...mine=9.9%...W+W=8.6%
SD...Benz=7.4...Mine=7.2...W+W=7.1

My portfolio had the best Sharp ratio(similar to risk-adjusted performance) + Best Sortino(downside SD)

I can do simplicity and B&H too.

While i agree with you, 50/50 PRWCX/VWIAX does not help newer investors like me who do not have prwcx. 

Or older investors who do not have an account at T.Rowe Price.  Apparently it has been closed a long time.  Here is an article published in 2015 talking about alternative funds.  This is a very old article.  I have no idea if the funds are any good.  bottomlineinc.com/money/mutual-funds-etfs/alternatives-to-closed-funds

[Chahta]

FD1000, I might track yours as well.

[FD1000]

I have said many times that for a LT hold for decades I only like indexes and Vanguard funds managed by Wellington and why when I'm gone these are the funds my wife will use.
But, as long as I manage our portfolio, it's unlikely that I will use Wellington(VWENX). There is a good chance I will use Wellesley.
Easy example: when the Fed tells you they will raise rates quickly and the only debate is 4,5 or 7, you don't want to own a lot of high-rated bonds
The next several years would not be good for high-rated bonds and what W+W both hold.

So, if not Wellington(VWENX), what other funds?
DODBX: This is a team style management, as does Wellington. ER=0.53% is good. Their strength is VALUE investing, which will help. Value investing got much better since 2021.  Their bond portion is more flexible, see DODIX.
DODBX has done much YTD and since 2021 (see charts). Better performance + better risk/volatility.  It beat VWENX for 10 years anyway.

Another option, and my preference, is holding PRBLX, stock fund and adding a bond fund such as DODIX. This way I can select what % I like between stocks/bonds + I can sell what I want for expenses as a retiree and keep my AA.  When stocks rise I use PRBLX, when bonds do better, use bonds.

Another easy choice is to stay with VG stocks by using VDIGX,VWNDX(managed by Wellington) + DODIX.

There are always options, you just have to find them.

Attachments:

[Mustang]

VWNDX. Windsor? In a withdrawal portfolio? I've looked at it and I wouldn't do it. Yes, as a pure stock fund its returns are better than both Wellington and Wellesley. But when withdrawing that is not the complete story. As Bengen proved in his 1994 paper using averages doesn't mean a portfolio will last. Even during one of the strongest bull markets in history Windsor had numerous double-digit losses. 2002 -22.3%, 2008 -41.1% following a -3.3% in 2007, 2014 -12.5%. The worst thing is that almost all the losses exceeded the category losses. For example, the category lost 37.1% in 2008. finance.yahoo.com/quote/VWNDX/performance/

Volatility is not a retiree's friend. If the retiree is using a variable or dynamic withdrawal method those losses are real losses in income. There are not many retirees who can stand to have their income cut 41%. I have not done the testing but on the surface a retiree using a fixed withdrawal method like the 4% Rule could possibly have a large sequence-of-return failure. The 41% loss in 2008 was followed by a 35% gain the next year but that gain was on almost half the dollars of the loss.

Say an investor retired in 2007 with $1 million in Windsor.  The retiree takes $40,000.  The market drops 41% leaving the portfolio with a balance of $566,000.  Assuming 3% inflation the next withdrawal is $41,200.  A 35% gain would bring the balance up to $708,000.  The next withdrawal would be around $42,400.  The next couple of years were profits but then another loss.  This is not a fund I want in my retirement portfolio.

In my opinion the only way to use it in a withdrawal portfolio is to pair it with a much more conservative fund and hope that fund lasts long enough for Windsor to recover.

[FD1000]

Mar 25, 2022 16:55:24 GMT Mustang said:

VWNDX. Windsor? In a withdrawal portfolio? I've looked at it and I wouldn't do it. Yes, as a pure stock fund its returns are better than both Wellington and Wellesley. But when withdrawing that is not the complete story. As Bengen proved in his 1994 paper using averages doesn't mean a portfolio will last. Even during one of the strongest bull markets in history Windsor had numerous double-digit losses. 2002 -22.3%, 2008 -41.1% following a -3.3% in 2007, 2014 -12.5%. The worst thing is that almost all the losses exceeded the category losses. For example, the category lost 37.1% in 2008. finance.yahoo.com/quote/VWNDX/performance/

Volatility is not a retiree's friend. If the retiree is using a variable or dynamic withdrawal method those losses are real losses in income. There are not many retirees who can stand to have their income cut 41%. I have not done the testing but on the surface a retiree using a fixed withdrawal method like the 4% Rule could possibly have a large sequence-of-return failure. The 41% loss in 2008 was followed by a 35% gain the next year but that gain was on almost half the dollars of the loss.

Say an investor retired in 2007 with $1 million in Windsor.  The retiree takes $40,000.  The market drops 41% leaving the portfolio with a balance of $566,000.  Assuming 3% inflation the next withdrawal is $41,200.  A 35% gain would bring the balance up to $708,000.  The next withdrawal would be around $42,400.  The next couple of years were profits but then another loss.  This is not a fund I want in my retirement portfolio.

In my opinion the only way to use it in a withdrawal portfolio is to pair it with a much more conservative fund and hope that fund lasts long enough for Windsor to recover.

Please reread my post.
1) Indexes + VG funds managed by Wellington would be my choices for someone who must hold for LT, at least 10-15 years.
2) For someone with more flexibility + thinking that VALUE investing would be better in the next several years
- PRWCX instead of VWENX. If you can't get PRWCX then 
- Use stock+bond funds separately, especially in the next several years.  Bonds use DODIX.  Stocks: use PRBLX. Another easy choice is to stay with VG stocks by using VDIGX,VWNDX(managed by Wellington) + DODIX.
3) I'm allowed to make switches every 2-3 years.

Nowhere in my post, I promoted only stocks. Remember, my investment philosophy is based on risk-adjusted performance since the start.

[Mustang]

According to what I have read PRWCX is closed. So for anyone not already owning it that is off the table. I cannot look at unknown indexes and VG funds and I really don't think it is wise to write into a succession plan that my wife should use some funds short term and other funds long term because 1) I cannot see the future and 2) She has absolutely no interest in trading. She would never do it.

I personally like balanced funds but separate funds are an option preferred by many. You mentioned using Parnassus Core Equity (PRBLX) with Dodge & Cox Income Fund (DODIX). That sounded interesting so I thought I'd take a look at that. Parnassus Core Equity is definitely a better choice than Windsor for a withdrawal portfolio. It's loss in 2008 was 23% (about the same as Wellington) instead of Windsor's 41% and it didn't have the other double digit losses. Dodge and Cox Income Fund is what I would expect from a bond fund right now--low returns. I have previously mentioned that I chose Wellesley to stabilize my portfolio instead of bonds because its returns were higher. But paring DODIX with PRBLX definitely levels out performance.

Assuming a 50/50 split I looked at average returns.

                   YTD         12-MO       3-YR          5-YR          10-YR         15-YR
DODIX       -6.1           -4.7             5.6             2.8                3.1              4.3
PRBLX      -5.6           14.7            19.7           16.0             15.0            11.7
50/50          -5.9            5.0             11.1             9.7               8.9             8.0

VWIAX    -3.9            3.5               7.5             6.8               6.9              6.8
VWENX   -6.9            8.6              12.0           10.3             10.0             8.2
50/50         -5.4            6.0               9.7             8.6               8.5              7.5

Looking at averages (from Morningstar) DODIX+PRBLX has a little better performance than VWIAX+VWENX. PRBLX's returns definitely make up for the lower bond returns. It might be an anomaly but YTD number show very little difference between DODIX and PRBLX. I expected some of that with two balanced funds but not separate stock and bond funds. The purpose of diversification is to have a negative correlation.

I couldn't do a comparison between a stagflation retirement and a boom market retirement because Yahoo didn't report the returns. DODIX returns start in 1990 and PRBLX start in 1993. Considering our future predictions that is a big uncertainty. Still, for someone who wants separate stock and bond funds it could be an good option. In 10-15 years we will know which was the better pick.

[chang]

I like Windsor. Last year I dumped Wellesley (because of the bonds) and was thinking to exchange into VWNEX (Windsor). Stupidly I decided to split my bet and go 50/50 Windsor/Windsor II. (Windsor has beat Windsor II handily since I bought them both. My plan is to rebalance every year.)

VEIRX is actually the closest thing to the equity sleeve of VWINX, so if you really want Wellesley but without the bonds, just buy $0.40 VEIRX and $0.60 cash for every $1 of Wellesley.

[Mustang]

Mar 26, 2022 19:27:33 GMT chang said:

I like Windsor. Last year I dumped Wellesley (because of the bonds) and was thinking to exchange into VWNEX (Windsor). Stupidly I decided to split my bet and go 50/50 Windsor/Windsor II. (Windsor has beat Windsor II handily since I bought them both. My plan is to rebalance every year.)

VEIRX is actually the closest thing to the equity sleeve of VWINX, so if you really want Wellesley but without the bonds, just buy $0.40 VEIRX and $0.60 cash for every $1 of Wellesley.

I don't understand.  I've owned both Windsor and Equity Income and I've gotten rid of them.  Looking back over the last five years Equity Income has had impressive returns.  For example 25.4% in 2019 while Wellesley's was 16.5%.  But cash has no return to speak of.  60% cash would water Equity Income's return down to 10.6%.  Even if cash could get 2% it would only bring it up to 11.8%. For that one year what at first glance appears to be great falls short of Wellesley's. return.  Equity Income also had a 30.9% loss in 2008.  Combined with 60% cash making 2% the loss would be 11.2%.  Wellesley lost 9.8%.

(Side note: Wellington made 22.6% in 2019.)

VEIRX also has no stagflation performance history.  It was launched in 2001 so its historical performance is all boom year performance.  Paired with 60% cash their only advantage was recent.  3-, 5-, 10- and 15-YR returns all fell short of  Wellesley's.

Average returns:

                         YTD          12-MO          3-YR          5-YR          10-YR          15-YR

VEIRX             2.4               18.0             14.9             12.3             12.7              9.2

Cash                 2.0                 2.0               2.0               2.0               2.0              2.0

40/60                2.2                 8.4               7.2               6.1               6.3              4.9

VWIAX         -3.9                  3.5              7.5                7.0               6.9              6.8

I would assume that  VEIRX+Cash would be only a part of a portfolio and other funds would be involved.  This is where things start getting complicated.  The more the funds, the more complicated it gets.  With two funds my instructions say to take the withdrawal in January from the fund with the highest end of year balance.  If there are more funds then I would have to create an if-then decision tree in my wife's checklist.  There is only one in her current one page checklist.  If cash equals two years of withdrawals then do not take a withdrawal that year.   Spending and withdrawals are not the same thing.  If the previous withdrawals are not completely used up cash can accumulate.

P.S.  I enjoy these discussions.  They allow me to consider other options I may not have thought of.

[chang]

Mustang, I mentioned VEIRX/cash 40/60 only because Wellesley is 40/60 equity/bonds. It is simply a bond-free replacement for Wellesley, nothing more.

[saratoga]

PRWCX can be newly purchased in at least two ways.

1. Roll over some fund in your employment retirement account (401k, 403b, 457b) to prwcx at TRP.

2. Invest at least 250K directly with TRP and you can purchase any closed funds at TRP.

[chang]

Mar 26, 2022 19:27:33 GMT chang said:

I like Windsor. Last year I dumped Wellesley (because of the bonds) and was thinking to exchange into VWNEX (Windsor). Stupidly I decided to split my bet and go 50/50 Windsor/Windsor II. (Windsor has beat Windsor II handily since I bought them both. My plan is to rebalance every year.)

I wish I had followed my plan. Windsor took a huge lead over Windsor II, for quite a while, and then this year Windsor II made a dash and almost caught up. Now Windsor’s lead is about 1-2%. 

If I had rebalanced last year, I would have made a nice bit of extra money.

Still, they’re good holdings for an IRA.

[win1177]

Mar 22, 2022 16:34:23 GMT Chahta said:

I am mostly a B&H investor. I do minor trades for fun and the thrill of making a few extra bucks. I admit I got caught on the latest trade but will not sell a loser since I will only trade what I would B&H. Previously I made this trade successfully several times in 2020-2021. I do not sell my core equity holdings. I will say bond OEFs are more of a challenge and have sold them to move into other bonds. I am holding about 15% cash from recent bond sales, which makes me uneasy. My goal is to have a TIRA that produces income to offset RMDs that start in a couple of years to avoid selling shares I don't want to sell. 

After a while my heads spins with all the talk of buy this, sell that, what is the Fed doing. I need a sanity check even though I enjoy hearing what everyone else is doing and learning about new ideas. My way got me into retirement for 3 years now.

I decided to compare a couple of portfolios I follow. One is Christine Benz's aggressive buckets (aggressive for average Joe investor) and the other is Bob Brinker's retirement portfolio (conservative for average Joe investor). I have read his newsletter for 25 years. Both are B&H portfolios. My own portfolio is only similar to both with different holdings and types of holdings. I added their portfolios for comparison so I can follow them on M* Portfolio Manager and see how I am doing in their world.

I don't intend to start another "TR vs. income" debate or a "bucket portfolio" debate. I do neither. I am posting this as a conversation piece and for you other closet B&Hers out there. The results are Mine = -5.49% YTD, +7.9% YOY;  Benz = -5.43% YTD, +7.4% YOY and Brinker = -5.52 YTD, +6.8% YOY. YOY is defined as Jan. 4, 2021 to Mar. 22, 2022. I know some of you all will not like Benz or Brinker but they are the ones I chose to compare. They are all approx. 50/50 portfolios and it's interesting that with way different equities and bonds the results are so close.

I am also a predominantly buy and hold investor, and until recently was always pretty much 100% equity. I would allow cash to rise when the markets seemed overvalued (or I didn’t see any good buys).

But, I’ve recently “started” building out the bond side. I retired last year (2022), so my income as an MD ended. I do have a pension, which is a joint survivor option which continues to pay to my wife if/when I kick the bucket. It pays about 1/3 our needs, so I’ve always felt it allowed us to be more aggressive with our investments. Bonds/ fixed income now make up just ~5% of our portfolio, cash (MM) make up nearly 9%. Rest is equity, a mix of individual stocks and broadly diversified mutual funds. Our portfolio is MUCH larger than my wife and I will need, so part of what I am investing is for heirs/ charities, etc. Interestingly, our total portfolio continues to grow, thanks to a very generous dividend stream that has effectively “replaced” my income. Good “problem” to have!!!

I am now continuing to invest in a buy and hold manner, mainly in broad dividend growth funds that have low expenses (VDADX, VIIAX, etc.). Also slowly adding to bond funds, mainly intermediate muni funds from Vanguard. Will build out fixed income to about 10% for now. Trying to avoid adding to any additional individual stocks, as when I am gone my wife will NOT want to follow/ track the investments closely.

Total portfolio up about 4-5% over past YTD, after paying some VERY heavy tax bills. But again, a “nice” problem to “complain” about!

Win