I believe the poster is looking for some addition income to supplement his income from other sources. In that case, Target Date Maturity bonds ( inside an IRA) wouldn't be appropriate for that particular need.TDM bonds for long term investments are a nice safe bet but shouldn't be used as an income stream. In fact, I believe the interest needs to be invested to achieve the expected YTM.
Dick I sense you're comfortable right now with your income from your portfolio. If so, I wouldn't mess with locking up my money in an annuity at your age. I've posted I like Target Date Maturity bonds which have a 5.5% YTM, no interest rate risk ( if held to maturity), and, of course, you or your heirs get all the money back. The annuity is really not earning more than this but the payout is higher because it is slowly paying out all the invested principal.
Rick, I don't believe it will be 100% tax free. You will still pay taxes on the interest earned. Granted, your cost basis will be high and you won't pay much....but you will pay some.
Dick, did your average increase per year ( 3.17%) just include the increase in the millage rate or was it the total average increase based on assessed value increases PLUS millage rate changes? If your total property tax bill only went up 3.17% per year, I would agree that is reasonable. I would agree on your general comments but it has to rankle you just a bit when your property tax is supporting a public employee pension that has a 80-90% replacement ratio.
All good comments below but, like Dick, I like a good size segment of my portfolio to throw off reliable income to augment our lifestyle spending. I've tracked my dividend stream for decades and it has a pretty reliable "COLA" going up a little over 6% per year....plus only a 15% tax. I just like the feel of regular, reliable income without selling something and trying to figure out what to sell.
Thank you very much, Bogdan. I got the notice on August 22nd but it was buried in the "junk" mail so I missed it. Sure enough, it was there and it was worth $228 after going through the sign up steps. My St Farm agent said it was handled very "clumsily" by t go through to get it. Still, $228 out of the blue was worth a bit of hassle.
All good and mostly accurate comments...as usual. Here's how I try to explain to folks how Social Security affects the deficit/debt.I hope I'm accurate. During the first 90 nyears or so more money was coming into the trust fund than going out. Congress said that excess money had to be invested in a special treasury security. Had FICA taxes or other rule changes kept up with the outflow ( money needed to pay benefits), the social security trust would have just kept on buying these treasuries with the excess.The mere purchasing of any treasury security adds to the debt year by year. Then demographics changed about 5 years ago and and the trust fund started cashing in those treasuries to pay benefits. I've gotten a couple different figures but I think the U.S. treasury is having to sell about $100 billion in NEW treasuries to pay off the treasuries Soc Sec is cashing in as of late. So, technically, one type of treasury is coming off the books and is being replaced by another to pay it. Net affect is zero on the debt. If our budget was balanced prior to this event, our debt remains the same. The problem is that the $100 billion was being used to pay for other things because our budget is not balanced. Therefore, debt is really going up $100 billion due to the Social Security situation. Can some of you sharpies out there tell me if I mistated it? Thanks
Comments
I believe the poster is looking for some addition income to supplement his income from other sources. In that case, Target Date Maturity bonds ( inside an IRA) wouldn't be appropriate for that particular need.TDM bonds for long term investments are a nice safe bet but shouldn't be used as an income stream. In fact, I believe the interest needs to be invested to achieve the expected YTM.
Post: Strategic Retirement Income
Link to comment from October 10, 2026
Dick I sense you're comfortable right now with your income from your portfolio. If so, I wouldn't mess with locking up my money in an annuity at your age. I've posted I like Target Date Maturity bonds which have a 5.5% YTM, no interest rate risk ( if held to maturity), and, of course, you or your heirs get all the money back. The annuity is really not earning more than this but the payout is higher because it is slowly paying out all the invested principal.
Post: Is now the time for an annuity?
Link to comment from October 3, 2026
Rick, I don't believe it will be 100% tax free. You will still pay taxes on the interest earned. Granted, your cost basis will be high and you won't pay much....but you will pay some.
Post: Is now the time for an annuity?
Link to comment from October 3, 2026
Dick, did your average increase per year ( 3.17%) just include the increase in the millage rate or was it the total average increase based on assessed value increases PLUS millage rate changes? If your total property tax bill only went up 3.17% per year, I would agree that is reasonable. I would agree on your general comments but it has to rankle you just a bit when your property tax is supporting a public employee pension that has a 80-90% replacement ratio.
Post: Shouldn’t property taxes be a realistic part of retirement planning? Sorry, I think this is a major financial and social issue.
Link to comment from September 26, 2026
All good comments below but, like Dick, I like a good size segment of my portfolio to throw off reliable income to augment our lifestyle spending. I've tracked my dividend stream for decades and it has a pretty reliable "COLA" going up a little over 6% per year....plus only a 15% tax. I just like the feel of regular, reliable income without selling something and trying to figure out what to sell.
Post: I will still take the dividends
Link to comment from September 19, 2026
Vanguard's VYMI is yielding 3.5% and is up 13.5% YTD.
Post: I will still take the dividends
Link to comment from September 19, 2026
I think it's legit, Sonja.
Post: State Farm Dividend
Link to comment from September 6, 2026
My feedback from them said October 4th.
Post: State Farm Dividend
Link to comment from September 6, 2026
Thank you very much, Bogdan. I got the notice on August 22nd but it was buried in the "junk" mail so I missed it. Sure enough, it was there and it was worth $228 after going through the sign up steps. My St Farm agent said it was handled very "clumsily" by t go through to get it. Still, $228 out of the blue was worth a bit of hassle.
Post: State Farm Dividend
Link to comment from September 5, 2026
All good and mostly accurate comments...as usual. Here's how I try to explain to folks how Social Security affects the deficit/debt.I hope I'm accurate. During the first 90 nyears or so more money was coming into the trust fund than going out. Congress said that excess money had to be invested in a special treasury security. Had FICA taxes or other rule changes kept up with the outflow ( money needed to pay benefits), the social security trust would have just kept on buying these treasuries with the excess.The mere purchasing of any treasury security adds to the debt year by year. Then demographics changed about 5 years ago and and the trust fund started cashing in those treasuries to pay benefits. I've gotten a couple different figures but I think the U.S. treasury is having to sell about $100 billion in NEW treasuries to pay off the treasuries Soc Sec is cashing in as of late. So, technically, one type of treasury is coming off the books and is being replaced by another to pay it. Net affect is zero on the debt. If our budget was balanced prior to this event, our debt remains the same. The problem is that the $100 billion was being used to pay for other things because our budget is not balanced. Therefore, debt is really going up $100 billion due to the Social Security situation. Can some of you sharpies out there tell me if I mistated it? Thanks
Post: The Federal Debt and Social Security Payments
Link to comment from August 22, 2026