It seems that converting my (non-IRA and non-Roth IRA) Vanguard mutual funds to the corresponding  or equivalent ETFs is a smart tax move to make.
However, then I read this in Vanguard’s information about making the conversion.
By making the conversion, I will be giving up the average cost basis of the shares I had purchased years ago, and applying the FIFO (First In First Out) cost basis.
This is what Vanguard says:
“If you are already locked into the average cost method by a sale,

IT’S BEEN QUITE A YEAR for gold investors. While the stock market has struggled, gold hit a new all-time high, topping $3,500 per ounce just a few weeks ago.  Year-to-date, gold has gained nearly 30%, while the S&P 500 is in negative territory. This has certainly grabbed people’s attention—but does gold make sense for your portfolio?
To answer this question, let’s start by looking at the arguments favoring gold. Supporters typically point to two key attributes,

What would you do?
A recent 60-yr.-old retiree with a pension over $100K/yr. and rental income of ~$30K/yr. My expenses are ~$70K/yr. As you can see I have no need to withdraw any $ from my retirement accounts (~$1.09M in trad. IRA and $2.2K in Roth) or two brokerage accounts ($1.5M-a bunch of mutual funds (18) & $500K- Schwab Intelligent Portfolio-robo advisor; overall asset allocation of 85% stocks & 15% bonds.) Seriously considering doing Roth conversions before reaching RMD at 75.

https://www.wsj.com/finance/stocks/dividend-stocks-midcap-recession-protection-e6f33c2d?mod=series_investmonav
The Wall Street Journal today ran this timely article for investors who wish to further explore this strategy.

https://www.advisorperspectives.com/articles/2025/04/23/us-bonds-never-risk-free-never-will
The above article, I believe provides interesting food for thought. It speaks to our latent recency bias, that people often make decisions based on how current things will get projected into the future.
I wonder if things get labeled “risk-free” as a selling point, so that we’ll pay more, own more, beyond it’s real value.
Well it’s got me thinking.

ABOUT 10 YEARS AGO, Steve Edmundson, manager of the Nevada state pension, became a folk hero in the investment world when The Wall Street Journal profiled him in an article titled, “What Does Nevada’s $35 Billion Fund Manager Do All Day? Nothing.”
It was an exaggeration to say he did “nothing,” but Edmundson definitely did things differently. Since the 1980s, the trend among pension and endowment managers had been to follow in the footsteps of Yale University’s David Swensen.

As I have mentioned, stock in my former employer (PEG)  is one of our largest holdings. I have owned it for 50 years or so. It’s recent financial reports were good, but it missed one estimate by one penny.
That range over the last 52 weeks was $68.29 to $96.52. Other than interest rate concerns I have no idea why. Today the price is $78.79.
Then I read this:
News

Evercore ISI Adjusts Price Target on Public Service Enterprise Group to $92 From $99
MT NEWSWIRES
May-01-2025 11:36 a.m.

After several years of RMDs from my rollover IRA, I’ve run out of cash to cover the withdrawal. In 2025 there is enough cash to cover about half the required RMD.
So, where does the rest come from? Which fund(s) do I sell? Here are the funds and their percentage of the account balance. 
NOTE about these funds. There is no rhyme or reason. A logical strategy does not exist. Some resulted from the transfer of the account.

This week marks the 50th Anniversary of Vanguard, and through that time, John Bogle’s company has saved investors on the order of One Trillion dollars – yes the total savings approach a huge T, not just B’s!!!
Vanguard serves over 50 million investors, has over $9 Trillion assets under management, and has fund expenses that average a meager $0.07%. We have about half our assets invested through Vanguard, and particularly appreciate that Mr. Bogle’s fee savings have been adapted across large segments of the brokerage industry.

When I sought a good plan for investing during the 1960s,  women were discouraged from having too much interest in the male-dominated Investment world.  Then I discovered dividend investing,  and found that income is not only a path to steady returns, but also a source of comfort when the market hits maximum turbulence, as it has recently.
I discovered this strategy has also become popular with people who are planning to retire early and need income—but also growth.

YOU MAY BE FAMILIAR with Peter Lynch. In the 1970s and ‘80s, he was one of the most visible figures in the investment world. As manager of Fidelity Magellan Fund, he achieved the best track record, by far, among his peers. He shared his wisdom in a series of popular books for individual investors.
Among the ideas for which Lynch is best known is the notion of “diworsification.” As its name suggests, Lynch argued that diversification simply for the sake of diversification isn’t always a good thing.

I’ve recently lived by the principle of keeping about 20% of my assets in cash as a safety net—not as “dry powder” ready to be fired off in some speculative move. But lately, I’ve caught myself eyeing that safety net differently, wondering if it could be more than just a cushion. Am I starting to see it as dry powder after all?
I keep hearing the word “play” tossed around in financial circles. “What’s your play?” they ask.

You can learn a lot about history by studying it but to truly understand it, you had to have lived through it.   This holds true for the popularity of financial instruments as well.  This is a companion piece to Jonathan Clements’s recent post, “Seeking Uncertainty,” in reference to Savings Bonds.
Savings Bond mania was in full swing during World War II.  They were introduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1935, before I was born. 

WE WANT OUR STOCKS to behave like bonds, and our bonds to behave like cash investments. That leads to all kinds of portfolio contortions—some of them damaging to our investment results.
Remember, risk is the price we pay to earn higher returns. Many folks want those higher returns, but they’re anxious to avoid risk. Chalk it up to loss aversion: We get far more pain from losses than pleasure from gains.
Result? Think about stock-market strategies like purchasing equity-indexed annuities and writing covered call options.

For years I’ve used Vanguard’s “Portfolio Watch” feature, which provides portfolio analysis of assets held at Vanguard as well as those held at outside investment firms.
I’ve liked the Vanguard analyzer since, by agreeing to its aggregator feature via Yodlee (now owned by Investnet), it will update on a daily basis all your holdings’ values and analyze them as far as stock/bonds/cash; foreign/domestic; large cap/midcap/smallcap; growth/blend/value; etc. And it likewise analyzes your bond holdings as to credit quality,