IBTG

roflfalafel

I am a big fan of these. Low fee (7%), and trades like bonds to the liquidation date. I've got a ladder with a tuned average duration that I shoot for in the "bond" category of my 401K with these. IBTG-IBTM currently. I would rather back into these than purchase treasuries on their auction schedule.

highmindedlowlife

Laddering actual bonds is great (as long as they're paying a decent coupon) but I wouldn't touch non-expiring bond ETFs with a ten foot pole. People conflate the two but they are absolutely not the same. The only exception is a short term T-bill ETF like BIL. I'll occasionally park some excess cash in that while I'm waiting to deploy it. Also note there are some bond ETFs that do have an expiration date and those are roughly equivalent to buying actual bonds. iShares has a bunch of those like IBTE, IBTF, IBTG, etc.

Me-Myself-I787

IBTG is a good option. It invests in bonds which mature in December 2026 and pays out the interest until then and then gives you the money back.

BJPark

I would look into the following two ETFs: 1. SCHD 2. DGRO These ETFs screen for things like low-payout ratios and cashflow/debt ratios. It helps avoid yield traps. What you want is between 2% - 4% yield. Definitely not more than 5%. This ensures that the companies don't stretch themselves paying dividends, and have plenty of room to grow. Don't invest in individual stocks. That way lies the path to madness. In addition, I would keep 15% ($150,000) in cash or cash equivalents - short-term treasury bonds. Nothing more than 5-year durations. **No rolling bond ETFs like BND**. These rolling bond ETFs will lose money at the worst possible time, even though under normal circumstances, they're supposed to have low correlation to stocks. As 2022 shows, when shit hits the fan, bonds don't protect you. Don't try and buy treasuries directly, though. Instead, use a target-date bond ETF like iBonds by Blackrock to choose the maturity date: [https://www.ishares.com/us/resources/tools/ibonds](https://www.ishares.com/us/resources/tools/ibonds) . I personally keep money in IBTG, whose treasuries expire in 2026. Some people here will tell you not to keep so much cash because interest rates will go down and your cash will pay next to nothing. But don't discount the psychological impact of having a cash buffer. While it might not pay much interest on the surface, the security of having a huge chunk of cash keeps you from making terrible decisions when times are bad. As a result, the *implicit* returns of cash can be higher than anything stocks can give you, by preventing you from losing large chunks of money. Another risk you face is FOMO. If you invest in SCHD, for example, and tech takes off, you'll feel like an idiot watching the NASDAQ climb and climb while your portfolio remains stuck. While it's easy to say that you should wait this out, it can be incredibly mentally stressful to watch other investments zoom past you. You risk pulling your money out and joining the crowd of QQQ at the worst possible time, because you'll be buying high. To guard against this, I suggest allocating around 15% to either the S&P via VOO, or the NASDAQ via QQQ, just so that you can feel a bit happy when they surge, and you're not tempted to sell your stocks to join the mania. It's not a perfect solution - you'll always feel like an idiot when other parts of your portfolio don't match up to the growth heavy NASDAQ. The solution to this is to read financial history. In the long-run, it's the *only* thing that maintains discipline. Read "The Four Pillars of Investing" by William Bernstein - now in its second edition. You desperately need the perspective that comes from knowing financial history. It's the single most important thing IMHO for someone with a large amount of money to learn. Finally, it will take you at least 5 months to get used to having a large amount of money. Be prepared - those 5 months will not be pleasant. At all. It's a horrible thing, despite what some here might think, to suddenly come into possession of a large sum of cash. Your only hope is to read, read, and read. Get started with "The Four Pillars", and take it from there. Source: I have been through all this, as you can well imagine from reading my comment. These lessons are very hard-earned, and I hope it helps you going forward!