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Age 60, Saved $400,00 want to generate a decent income for retirement Ideas?

#11
Rainy day in Ohio, thought I'd weigh in.  With 400k there is little margin for errors.  I would invest in small steps (perhaps six stages over nine months), as in dollar cost averaging.  There is no clear cut course for the market.  I would only invest on down days as well.  The easiest course of action are total market funds.  I do this in my HSA holdings.  I have VTI, VT, BGH and I use GNMA as my holding tank and cash reserves.  This will give you total USA and total world stock market exposure; the BGH will provide global bond exposure (nice yield too) and the GNMA are low, but  paying government linked, short term  Start with 20k in each on appropriate down days.  Keep your balance in the GNMA (no trading fees ETF if held for 30 days).  Also, always keep a cash reserve, perhaps 40-60k (GNMA) for big opportunities/market set backs.  There is never a good time to be totally into bonds and this is a potentially bad time to be all fixed income.
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#12
Go to the Research tab and click on Fixed Income Bonds & CDs, then type in the CUSIP number and hit enter.  The bond will come up with its description.
 
However the bonds I gave you were to show what you might get out of a reasonably conservative bond investment and not specific advice.  You should be much more diverse in bonds than the four I gave as an example (no more than $5,000 in my opinion) in any one bond.  The main point was to provide some idea of what you might be able to do with your savings without taking on a whole lot of risk.  At 60 you need to start turning down the risk dial!
 
You should talk to a Fidelity Rep and attend one of their Fixed income webinars or classes at the nearest Fidelity center near you to get more help.
 
I am 71 and have been through the ups and downs of the market and like to sleep peacefully at night. The stock market is too volatile for me to risk more than 10% of my portfolio.
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#13
So here is something to really think about:  My dad is 93 1/2 and has been invested in the NYSE a full 95% of his portfolio....he says bonds are for the ultra wealthy who are hedging their money for many generations to come.  That stodgy high paying dividend stocks are the best bet to allow our money to grow, as long as we have 2 years (min) cash savings to dip into when the market corrects itself on a down turn.  (2 years of your budget in cash less your pension/ Security income).
 
He has grown $400k , to over $6Million in the past 30 years. And believe me we had heavy winds in the 1980s, 2000 tech bubble, and the near disaster of 2007/08/09 during that period of time.  He is not a day trader by any stretch of the imagine.  Just buys excellent companies that have proven stock dividend records, and are excellent companies.  He buys and holds, and then buys again when the market corrects itself, buying more of the same stocks.
 
The more I read about our money lasting 30 years, I am reading more from financial gurus that are saying we need to put at least 50% of our money in stocks, if not up to 70%.  With inflation to think about, we can't risk not.  If you don't want to pick individual funds, think of the Vanguard fund VDIGX.
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#14
<p>hello thanks for the advise on the bonds.....how do I buy them? I do have a Fidelity NetBenefits account.... I would like to be able to generate $20K from the 400K.....I will retire in about 4-6 years...this will give me some time...any other ideas?<br></p>
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#15
You are in a good spot time wise with 4 to 6 years to build an investment portfolio that will give you an annual income of $20,000+ after you retire. Don't rush into it. Learn about the differences between corporate bonds and municipal bonds and how they are rated my Moody's and Standard and Poors. The price of bonds should go down a little in the next few years meaning you can buy more of them with you money and increase you interest income.

Talk to a Fixed Income Specialist at Fidelity and see what he/she advises. You have a long time horizon so you can buy bonds in the secondary market with maturity dates from 10 to 30 years that have reasonable coupon rates (5% to 6%).

However, don't forget that if you investments are in an IRA you will have to withdraw a specified amount every year after you turn 70 1/2. That means you need to make sure your bond maturity dates will allow you to have the cash needed to satisfy the Minimum Required Deduction (MRD) each year. This makes investing for the future a bit more complicated than if you were younger. This won't be much of a problem for the first 4 or 5 years after 70 1/2 since your $20,000 income is likely to be more than the MRD (which is probably going to be around $14,285 assuming a longevity factor of 28 years). However the MRD does increase significantly after that and you will need more cash to meet the MRD requirement. Just keep this in mind as you proceed.

If the money isn't in an IRA you don't have to worry about the MRD requirement.

It's great you have a Fidelity account! They have lots of videos that will help you learn how to invest in bonds along with the tools to build a substantial portfolio.
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#16
I have thirty year bond ladder in 403b, Roth IRA's, and 401k. in addition to pensions and social security and LTC policy I sleep well at night and my portfolio of primarily bonds over the past six years has outperformed S&P, Dow Jones, and Russel 2000. I do not constantly worry about the stock market gyrations. That being said my portfolio total value has taken a hit the last six weeks but I am okay as long as my investment grade bonds don't go bust as I don't sell them and just collect the interest.

My portfolio generates an average 4.5% income and some is sheltered as they are in tax protected accounts, and the taxable accounts are protected with federally tax exempt bonds and in some cases state shielded municipals.
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