Thank you the tools I've added them to the spread sheet.
I now see the correct adjusted value. I'm learning.
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Glad it could help. I've learned a lot from others on this forum, I'm pretty sure those two total return sites were from here too.
... Thought about this exchange some more last night. My interest in adviser vs doing it myself, is compounded by some bad picks early in my investing career (3 went to zero), ...
That's a psychology I've seen a few times. Someone has a bad experience with something, and rather than analyze what went wrong, and see if it makes sense to 'fix it', they just shun it. Sometimes that's the right thing to do, and sometimes an adjustment is all that's needed to get back on a positive track.
... and my relatively good performance with investing in real estate (which offers total control). All of my gains or luck in marketable securities have happened in the past 10 years. The first 10 years were blah. In addition my wife has a TIAA/CREFF 50/50 fund, which hasn't really done much in 20 years.
So I'm exploring continuing forward with the do it yourself approach vs adviser route. My thinking is that an adviser should be re balancing according to macro economic trends to minimize risk and maximize gains just like an individual would do. ... My distaste of bonds is not because I truly dislike them, I just think as a macro economic trend the tide is against them at this point. Move the yield higher in a flat or falling interest rate environment, and I'm all in on bonds..
But it doesn't seem that we can count on finding someone that can follow macro (or micro) trends well enough to bring an advantage. If they could, those studies would show it.
And I don't disagree with the view of bonds - we know they won't do well in a rising rate environment. But it seems the masses have missed the timing of that rate rise. And I don't think of bonds so much in terms of performance, but as that buffer that I can draw on if stocks take a big dive. So I just pretty much stick to my AA.
... One final note with regard to adviser vs do it yourself. In my particular case DW shows no interest in investments and is easily mislead. So that lends itself more to having some independent adviser for at least some of the money in case something happens to me.
Thanks for bringing that up. With the new year, it's a good time for me to focus and stop procrastinating, and update a simple set of instructions for DW. But an FA that understands and can be trusted to just do a simple index based plan could be the right choice for some.
My instruction sheet will show a switch from our current situation to my somewhat modest non-cola survivor benefits, her cola-lite modest pension, and survivor SS for her. And then a broad outline of expenses.
My investments are down to just a couple broad-based index funds (and some BRK in the taxable account to keep div income low for now). And after the pension SS, there shouldn't be much to withdraw, and with RMDs, more than enough.
Even though she has no interest in this financial stuff, she's plenty smart enough to grasp a plan like that if spelled out, and more if she had the interest.
OK, I'm gonna go work on that - NOW, I gotta stop procrastinating (and posting!) - ERD50
I am truly interested in learning the marketable security piece. As a result of your post, two days ago I put the symbols in a spread sheet to investigate further with the reason being to avoid the fidelity management fee. 
