Fixed Income / Dividend Portfolio

[ferco]

Does anyone know of or suggest a good fixed income or stock dividend portfolio with an overall yield of 4-5% that has at least a 20 yr history of stable/consistent dividend payments and of course w/ low expenses.

[JPatrick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ferco Does anyone know of or suggest a good fixed income or stock dividend portfolio with an overall yield of 4-5% that has at least a 20 yr history of stable/consistent dividend payments and of course w/ low expenses.

You don't provide much info about your overall situation and you sound risk adverse.

Therefore, I'II just throw out one idea.
Fidelity Puritan (FPURX)
Been around since the 40's and is about 60/40 stocks and bonds. A decent track record and is one of the biggest funds on earth.
This one won't set the world on fire, but on the other hand, it is one of the last funds that I would expect to give you many malox moments.
But then, it is a screwy world isn't it.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ferco Does anyone know of or suggest a good fixed income or stock dividend portfolio with an overall yield of 4-5% that has at least a 20 yr history of stable/consistent dividend payments and of course w/ low expenses.

In addition to Fidelity Puritan, here are two other very conservative balanced funds you might also want to consider:

--Vanguard Wellseley Income (VWINX), a low-expense fund with a 40/60 stock/bond mix and a history dating back to 1970.

--Dodge & Cox Balanced (DODBX) a 60/25/15 stock/bond/cash mix with a history all the way back to 1931. Unfortunately DODBX is closed to new investors, but if you had it in your 401(k) they will allow you to roll it over into an IRA.

REW

[wildcat]

Tough to beat the low exp and performance of Wellesley...a favorite among the forum

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Yep...wellesley has consistently paid 3.5-4%+ yield (close to the historic swr), and also increased principal value by an amount that exceeds normalized annual inflation. Never had a huge drop in total returns, never had two bad years in a row. Of course, a lot of that has to do with the fact that large cap value has performed reasonably well, and the types of bonds they hold have also done very well. Neither of those may do well at some point in the future.

If I was going to bet my buttinsky on one thing though, I'd pick the one that went through the vagaries of the last 35 years and returned that track record.

Still my largest holding, although I may shift some of the money in there into the Equity Income Fund, which is essentially just the equity component of wellesley, managed by the same people.

Its also tough to find a managed fund with a big yield and a great track record that charges you less than .20%. DODBX is good too and I've owned it, but from memory it charged .54%