Good, you understood what I meant Mike. I'm not looking for a 1:1 hedge for my entire portfolio, that really only ensures I can't possibly take advantage of the bull market. I am looking for that "inexpensive,high deductible insurance policy" that offers some downside protection. That, and some dry powder, would allow me to feel comfortable with a higher % in equities most all the time. In the absence of that, I am going to sit in my safe space with 50% cash l ikeI have been, then scurry around collecting up cheap shares, then sell them too soon on the next run trying to make sure I am safe again. I will give your VIX hedge a test drive next time it's low. I also wish I would have purchased some of that TLT when I was talking about it on the forum. I've been tracking it, and it is as advertised most of the time. A yield not that much less than SPY, and inverse when the market gets volatile. There is no guarantee of that, but it looks consistent enough for me. Looks better than gold to me long-term.
And IMO it's good that you shared your age. We are both very near "real retirement", and could get along well enough if we just retired now. Works i reverse as well. I'm glad vbin shared his age. Whether a poster is 35 or 75 years old offers a lot of context. On a side note, I can't help but think some here probably believe we are on some complicated and risky options mission, when the reality is it's generally producing reliable monthly income, and sometimes less risky than holding the common stock. I'm all about putting some of my assets in less peril, especially when I know I easily exceed the yield of the best oil majors, without enduring the pain that my some of my higher yielding DGI stocks do. MO and BP comes to mind. Quarter after quarter I can beat that with a boring insurance, paper or grain processing company, and not deal with all this draw down grief that seems to come at least annually. But hey, I'm way off topic yet again.
And IMO it's good that you shared your age. We are both very near "real retirement", and could get along well enough if we just retired now. Works i reverse as well. I'm glad vbin shared his age. Whether a poster is 35 or 75 years old offers a lot of context. On a side note, I can't help but think some here probably believe we are on some complicated and risky options mission, when the reality is it's generally producing reliable monthly income, and sometimes less risky than holding the common stock. I'm all about putting some of my assets in less peril, especially when I know I easily exceed the yield of the best oil majors, without enduring the pain that my some of my higher yielding DGI stocks do. MO and BP comes to mind. Quarter after quarter I can beat that with a boring insurance, paper or grain processing company, and not deal with all this draw down grief that seems to come at least annually. But hey, I'm way off topic yet again.