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.
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.
<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>
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.