21 hours Ago
Investors have few places to hide in Thursday's big sell-off, but if they're careful they may be able to spot some safe opportunities for portfolio income. The rollout of President Donald Trump's tariffs , which includes 20% rates on the European Union and a 46% duty on Vietnam, sent stocks into a tailspin . The Dow Jones Industrial Average tanked more than 1,600 points, while the S & P 500 dropped 4.
8%. Both indexes posted their worst day since 2020. Advisors are unanimous, however, that now isn't the time for investors to dump stocks and head for the hills .
"We try to teach investors about being diversified, that this is a long-term investment," said Jania Stout, president of Prime Capital Retirement & Wellness in Overland Park, Kansas. "When the market starts going crazy, all sanity leaves some people's minds. Emotions get us in trouble.
" Rather, investors should take a breath, review their long-term plans and think about places within their portfolio that may lend themselves to safety and help offset some of the volatility prevailing in equities. Here are a few safe, solid sources of portfolio income. Boost yield on emergency cash Whether you're sitting on some money to snap up stocks on the cheap or holding three to six months of living expenses for your emergency fund, you can still get paid to wait.
Since the Federal Reserve has taken a restrained approach on interest rate policy, you can still find attractive yields on cash investments, including money market funds and high-yield savings accounts. The Crane 100 Money Fund Index , a list of the 100 largest taxable money funds, has an annualized 7-day current yield of 4.15%.
Savers who are in higher tax brackets can squirrel away cash and do it free of income taxes by using municipal money market funds. Be aware that these yields are going to be lower than what you'd get on their taxable counterparts, but are competitive on an after-tax basis and still a pretty safe way to hold cash. The Vanguard Municipal Money Market Fund (VMSXX) has a 7-day SEC yield of 2.
87% and an expense ratio of 0.11%. On the savings account front, you can still move your emergency funds to a bank offering a sweeter yield.
LendingClub and Bread Financial are offering annual percentage yields of 4.4% on their high-yield savings accounts. Bear in mind that banks can change these yields at any time – so these rates aren't too good to be true, but they may be too good to last.
Saving for intermediate-term goals Other assets with safe, attractive yields include Treasury bills. This might be a place for investors to turn if they want to squeeze out a little bit of interest for money they may need in the next 12 months. The yield on the 1-year Treasury bill once topped 5% last year.
On Thursday, it was at 3.92%. But investors get the safety of knowing these issues are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.
S. government. US1Y 1Y mountain U.
S. 1-year Treasury bill yield in the past year There's a kicker, too: Interest income from Treasurys is subject to federal income taxes, but is exempt from state and local taxes. Investors can buy an individual T-bill that meets their needs.
They can also "ladder" a few of them by purchasing T-bills of different maturities and reinvesting the proceeds as they mature. Ladders may also work with certificates of deposit – as this approach keeps investors from "breaking" a CD and facing a penalty if they need access to the money in the short term. A long-term mindset If you have assets that are already earmarked for a long-term horizon , but still need something to offset the volatility of stocks, consider whether municipal bonds might be a good fit.
High income investors using municipal bonds benefit from the fact that the income is free of federal taxes – and exempt from state taxes if the investors lives in the issuing state. Vanguard's Tax-Exempt Bond ETF (VTEB) has a 30-day SEC yield of 3.62%, while the iShares National Muni Bond ETF (MUB) has a 30-day SEC yield of 3.
54%. VTEB has an expense ratio of 0.03%, while MUB's expense ratio is 0.
05%. Core bond funds can also be a solid addition to a long-term investor's portfolio. They offer intermediate duration exposure, which means their prices are less sensitive to swings in rates as a fund with longer duration – but they do benefit from price appreciation when yields decline.
These funds aim for diversification across an array of fixed income assets, including investment-grade corporate and high quality mortgage-backed securities. Those characteristics also allowed some of these funds to hold their own in the 2008 and 2020 downturns. Top performers in the space, according to Morningstar , include the Baird Aggregate Bond Fund (BAGIX) and the JPMorgan Core Bond Fund (JCBUX) .
BAGIX has an expense ratio of 0.3% and a 30-day SEC yield of 4.31%.
JCBUX has a 30-day SEC yield of 4.54% and an expense ratio of 0.34%.
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