better than a CD

A learning experience... I had some money to "park" that I don't plan to spend anytime soon. I wanted it to be safe and earn whatever money it could, but still be readily accessible if a need arose.

I put it into a CD in my ING account that is electronically linked to my checking account elsewhere. The rate is not wonderful, but it is FDIC insured. Yield: 1.75%

Other options with higher returns.

• iShares Barclays 20+ Year Treas Bond (TLT) - Yield: 3.91% 
• Wasatch-Hoisington US Treasury (WHOSX) - Yield: 3.44% 

The difference isn't worth the 3 month interest early redemption fee. I really hope that I don't need the FDIC insurance premium.
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other recommended blogs

From Tom Blake...

• Traders Crossover
  
• Time and Cycles
  requires sign-up
• Tides, Trends, and Trading
  
• Terry Laundry
  
• Talisman Gate
  
• Steve Keen’s Debtwatch
  
• Richard Lehman
  
• Kirk Lindstrom
  
• John Hussman
  
• Christopher Carolan
  
• Carl Futia
  
• Bill Mc Laren
  
• Bill Luby's Vix and More
  
• Athbo

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Roth IRA conversion

From Tom Blakes' blog on the subject of Roth IRA conversions...

the clearest discussion of taxation and non-taxation of Roth IRAs that I have seen is at the IRS website. http://www.irs.gov/publications/p590/ch02.html#en_US_publink10006523

Tom does a great job of explaining the IRA to Roth IRA conversion process.
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times & cycles

In a comment on Tom Blake's blog post...

times & cycles and the crystal ball forum (specifically Wollie's world). Can you tell us a bit about that they are about and if one can pick up some good trading ideas?
I am doing well with mid-term trading. I'm very happy with the combination of EW, the tidal CITs and Chris Carolan's spiral calendar. ... find some new models - but only if I'm sure to beat Mebane Faber's simple tactical asset allocation model.
It can't be too time consuming either

Follow-up: mid-term trading strategy, tidal, spiral calendar, blogs, tactical asset allocation model
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yapp

Yet Another Paper Portfolio (YAPP)

This should be easy - all ETFs but pretty diverse. Assumes that gold, gold miners, silver and agriculture will be fine, especially if there is inflation in the next few years. Canadian currency is based on a commodity economy and the government is generally honest. The Chinese are likely to be the long-term winners when most or all of the current economic mess in the West gets settled. The US TIPs should be ok but the US might try to wiggle out of these somehow. As an after thought, having no US stocks or industries was going too far, so the oil and gas equipment and services ETF is now included. Still heavy on gold and silver so expect another adjustment.

ETFs - gold, gold miners, silver, agriculture, Canadian currency, Chinese stocks, US TIPs, oil & gas equipment and services

• DBA 24.44 POWERSHARES DB AGRIC
• FXC 83.00 CRRNCYSHRS CAN DL TR
• FXI 32.92 ISHARES TR FTSE INDX
• GDX 33.72 MKT VECT GOLD MNRS
• GLD 87.74 SPDR GOLD SHARES
• SLV 12.57 ISHARES SILVER TRUST
• TIP 101.94 ISHARES BARCLAYS TIP
• XES 20.98 ST SPDR O&G E&S ETF
  

2009.4.15 suggestions from Fred Hickey's High Tech Strategist newsletter. With interest rates near 0% and inflation likely, this is not the time to be doing shorts. Also, there has not been capitulation to the traditional valuations usually associated with a bear market bottom. For comparison, using current position in income trusts as the benchmark.

S&P Price Earnings Ratio 55.45
10-year US Government T-bond 2.82
Gold $876.20

Jim Grant speaks about everything financial, including gold and inflation - a really smart guy.
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from Financial Reality

• I’m a very conservative person and I don’t want a second job managing my money. I’d like to put my money someplace safe, like bonds and just leave it there. Is there any problem with that?
  Yes, there is a problem with hoping money will grow on trees. Where ever your money is now, it is likely earning more money for someone else than it is for you! To make your money work for you, you need to take an active role in managing your retirement investments. We provide the information and analysis for you to make informed decisions about portfolio activity. We even tell you what we are doing with our own money as a real life example of how to apply the information.
  
  
• I don’t know much about money management, but I don’t want to pay someone else to manage it for me. What is a low cost, easy to manage strategy for me to manage about $800,000?
  The amount of time that you put into managing your retirement investments does not have to be the equivalent of a full time job, but it should be regular. Think of it as paying yourself. How else can you earn money in the comfort of your own home? If you track the hours you spend and compare the returns from actively managing your retirement investments against some fixed standard that represents your current “buy and hold” strategy, you can calcualte your “pay” for this work.
  
  
• There are a lot of financial terms and concepts that I don’t understand. Do I have to learn all that before I get started?
  Fortunately, there are lots of great tutorials and reference sites on the web. We have selected some that complement the discussions throughout the web site. We advocate “just-in-time” learning. As a new subject comes up, you can also find information on the web using the topic as keywords for Google or Yahoo! searches.

  We suggest that you read the information and follow along for a while. Make notes. Practice keeping records of portfolio changes and how you would use the information for your own retirement investments. When you are familiar with the process and the terminology, you can decide when and how to utilize the information.

• Any suggestions for getting started?
  We like the idea of “core and explore” - commit a small percentage of your total investments (2-10% of your resources) to exploration. This will allow you to determine how a new strategy, asset class or investment will fit into your portfolio with your needs and risk tolerance.

http://alamedalearning.com/reality/about/faqs/

what am I investing for?

In the post What Am I Investing For?, Kim Kiyosaki talks about capital gains and cashflow. There are a couple of points raised.

Having a plan before investing is critical. Is this investment made to generate cashflow (income)? Is this investment going to provide satisfactory returns?

Another idea - once a dollar has been committed to investing, it isn't to be used for anything else. Specifically, cashing in investments to pay for emergencies or worse, discretionary purchases defeats the whole purpose of investing. Once that money is take out of the investment pool, you are back to square one. It is really hard to put back money once removed. It may be impossible to make up for the lost investment opportunity.
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