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Strategies & Market Trends : Dividend investing for retirement -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: maverick61 who wrote (27881)	9/3/2017 11:02:55 AM
From: Mannie	Respond to of 34328

Right now because bonds have not been my area of expertise, I have been looking more at fund options rather than individual issues That approach has worked well for me, I have been in PCI & PDI for a few years now, and recently I have started building a position in FCO. And for preferred shares, I use JPC. All are monthly payers with very healthy dividends. PCI, JPC & FCO are all trading at a small discount to NAV at this time, PDI trades at a 4-5% premium.

To: maverick61 who wrote (27881)	9/3/2017 12:26:06 PM
From: research1234	1 Recommendation Recommended By Hoatzin Respond to of 34328

Before you put any money int fixed income investments, here are a few points you might consider: 1. If you have any sort of fixed annuity, either from a company plan or something you purchased, that is essentially a bond investment. Multiply the annual annuity by 14 or so to get an approximate bond equivalent present value. 2. Same with social security, but use a 15 or 16 multiplier to include the future cost of living increases. 3. Interest rates run in long cycles. Rates were low in the 1950's, then gradually increased until the mid 1980's, then gradually decreased to where te have been over the past five years or so. I think there's a very good probability that rates will gradually increase over the next 30 years. This will result in principal losses in any sort of bond portfolio. 4. At some point, the only way for the US to pay down its debt will be through inflation, which will go hand in hand with the secular trend I noted above. In my opinion, individual bonds or bond funds are not a particularly attractive investment for current retirees due to the above factors. I'm in my 60's, have been retired for almost ten years, and I have virtually no bond investments other than some preferred stock I bought during the financial crisis carnage, and tactical positions in a few high yield funds.

To: maverick61 who wrote (27881)	9/3/2017 7:10:36 PM
From: JimisJim	2 Recommendations Recommended By berniel rnsmth Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 34328

FWIW, Buffett reiterated just this week that he still thinks stocks are better than bonds right now despite "everyone" saying stocks are "frothy"... in fact, a lot of TA suggests the market just broke out to the upside (looking at graphs from 1980 to present) and that we could be in a secular super bull -- sure, even if true there will be 15% corrections along the way, but the bull would remain intact for the long haul... For myself, I transitioned to DGI investing for the most part when I finally realized I haven't got a clue what stock or bond or housing or car prices are going to be at any point in the future, but I do know what a company is willing to pay me in dividends and whether said company is likely to continue paying AND increasing them -- reliably -- through bulls, bears, corrections... whatever... as long as I do my homework and find such companies with strong balance sheets (DD on whether it will continue to exist in 20-30 years during my retirement), I can confidently predict that I'll have more dividend income next year than I do this year... on and on into the future... If anything, IMO, bonds look to be a bubble about to burst when I look at TA of that market -- makes sense as even with recent interest hikes, yields are incredibly low for most tsy and other "safe" bonds, which means of course that their prices are way high and have been since the days of effectively zero interest rates began 9-10 years ago... I used to include some bond CEFs in my holdings, but they were dismal performers and I had no clue what they would distribute to me from year to year, and it could get ugly fast... I have decided that my wife's pension (very good) along with my SS (as good as I could hope for all things considered) are my "bond" like investments... regulated utilities I view as almost bond-like in their safety and yields (both quite stable for the best utilities)... I sleep very well at night... we have yet to even touch a penny of my wife's retirement savings, rather allowing it to continue growing via drips -- her savings are roughly equal to mine, so that is a substantial chunk of deferred income for now (RMDs begin for her in 5-6 years)... Good luck!

To: maverick61 who wrote (27881)	9/3/2017 8:00:06 PM
From: Steve Felix	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 34328

Although from your post, you are both a few years from Social Security, I have to agree with looking at it as fixed income in an overall portfolio. If I felt the need to add bonds, individual is the only way I would go. As long as you don't have to cash early, you know what you have. I was pretty cautious when I retired at 54. When it came to money I felt sure we would need, I bit the bullet and went with CDs, while keeping a high balance in a credit union savings account where the wife continued to have money automatically payroll deposited until she retired. I knew when she retired that for the first time ever, money would be flowing out for a few years, instead of accounts constantly rising. A bond fund or bond CEF wouldn't have been the same to me. I bring that up because you haven't mentioned if your income when you retire will cover expenses without tapping accounts right away. I "retired" the first time at 49, only to find that I worried about money. I can tell you, that isn't retirement. Luckily, the two people who tried to replace me couldn't stand the pressure, and I got a mulligan at the same pay. I made sure where we stood before the second time, with plenty of cushion. Can't say I didn't think about money, but that's a big difference from worrying about it. I'm guessing you have already answered two of the biggest questions of the average retiree, how much do we need and where is it coming from, and healthcare costs.