In my mind market risks appear very high now and in recent years due to US and international macro economic risks.
 
Some of these include trade wars, Chinese debt and banking instability, Turkey currency and economic uncertainty, questionable long term European market growth prospects, Russian and Chinese cyber aggression, US DOJ dysfunction and bias, US political push into socialist policies, questionable US fiscal policies (tax cuts without spending cuts), the new US military Space Corps branch and additional unconstrained spending activities - I worry about these kinds of things.  Many of these macro level risks appear to hold potential catastrophic consequences.  And for a melancholy kind of a guy like me, well, the "don't worry be happy" mantra doesn't really fly.
 
Two risk mitigation strategies I use include (1) diversification (defined by a minimum of 123 stock in a portfolio), and (2) covariant markets (investing in markets which generally go up over time but behave differently from other asset classes (e.g. SP500 index, US REIT index, and European index).  And I prefer to buy ETFs to participate in these markets.  So I have some knowledge of how to mitigate financial market risks.  But how does one guard against world wide systemic risks?  Much of which enter US financial markets by way of loony tune governments and economies and threats outside of our control.
 
(And thanks in advance to charter captain's ever solid advice to sit  on my boat and drink a beer - that DOES help!)

Does anyone out there invest this way: 25% equities, 25% long-term UST bonds, 25% gold, 25% cash? If so what have been your results and findings, both very short term (YTD) and long-term.? There is empirical evidence to support it and I would like to hear from real-life practitioners.

I noticed that several Bond ETFs had a reverse 2:1 split effective today. HYD, EMLC, ITM
(Any fractional shares are paid in cash with capital gains/losses possible).

 

Before the reverse split, two of the three were no lower in price than when issued a number of year ago.  They were all priced in about the $15-$30 range before the reverse split, so now are in about the $30 to $60 range.

 

Anybody have an idea why they would want to do this?

 

Seems like a waste of time unless it increases the market for the bonds somehow (Institutions?).

 
Just curious.

I have a CD maturing later this month and was looking at replacing it at Vanguard or Fidelity( Read: Best Vanguard Funds To Invest In)
 
I found that in the maturity range of 5 to 11 months, Vanguard currently has only ONE new-issue CD available (versus about 30 different ones listed at Fidelity). Considering all maturities, Vanguard had only 28 new-issue CDs while Fidelity has 135.
 
I had not noticed such a big difference before, so maybe something is going on? Any ideas?
 
Vanguard do have more secondary CDs available, and I looked at that possibility, but the commission was $100, which eats up any incentive versus a new issue at Fidelity.
 
In any event, I will now probably replace the CD maturing later this month at Fidelity and I will need to carefully consider whether to hold CDs - especially under 1 year - at Vanguard, as they may be difficult to replace as they mature.

I briefly tried out USMV and a couple other supposedly low-volatility ETFs when I started anticipating a downturn this Spring. However I was disappointed with how they performed, it seemed they dropped just as much as growth funds like IVW, but didn't recover nearly as quickly, as you can see in the YTD comparison of IVW and USMV below.  YTD after a couple of corrections, IVW has yielded 9.5% whereas USMV is about half that at 4.85%. Has anyone had longer experience with funds like these? Are there scenarios where they make more sense?

According to the Black Rock Retirement Institute, retirees with over 500k in their portfolio,had drawdown  their savings only 17% in the first 20 years retirement.  why not create a "mad money" account to splurge on,  and insurance products to protect oneself from huge medical bills?

I'm not clear in understanding how and when the 3.8% Obamacare tax works, based on married couple filing jointly.

In retirement if I have ordinary income, comprised of IRA distributions, Social Security etc that exceed $250,000 and qualified dividends and capital gains in the range of $150,000 will I be subject to the Obamacare tax? I assume that at these levels my capital gains tax rate is only 15%. If I am subject to the 3.8% tax what would I have to do to avoid paying this tax?

Heading in to retirement in about 5 years.  Have a significant retirement savings in Fidelity with only a few investments.  Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon.  Have owned Ford, Lilly, IBM, Exxon, and others but always moved away from those outliers to the basic four stocks that represent 88% of my investments.  Yes, crazy I know theoretically.  About 12% of account in two Fidelity mutual funds.  Performance over the last 10 years has been 23% rate of return, with the last year at 40% and very solid three and five year rates.  This "planned" aggressive approach has worked very well, but watching a pullback of about 6% in the last week.  When is it time for a change and should I absorb a possible 10% hit before pulling the plug?

Figured I am done buying for the year(may sell some loosers before the end of the year) and with cash still in my account, do any of you kind people have any opinions on where I should "stash my cash" for a few months(or longer)?  I'm thinking of TFLO or SHV.  Anyone have any preference and why?  Or is there a better place?

I have cash now, but need the money 5 years from now. Where do you suggest investing? I need some ideas.