Hello CincyStache!
Thank you for your response; I really appreciate it. I think that your advice is very prudent and probably the safest bet.
However, the purpose of this fund that we're setting aside is to PRODUCE some income to cover the full cost of the home repairs and then reinvest the income dividends going forward once we're done with the repairs. This $100,000.00 will be "parked" in this fund for 15 to 25 years until we need to self-annuitize it at some point to spend it down in our golden years. While setting aside the $25,000 for the repairs means that I won't risk any of that money, that basically resigns myself to spending it so that it is then gone. That $25,000 also won't be working for me as part of producing the income for the repairs.
You're absolutely right that there's nothing safe out there. But I think that I'll have to accept the risk on my high yield bond fund, taking the dividends for the repairs until those are complete, and then reinvesting them permanently thereafter. Any suggestion on the best high-yield products out there, with my full understanding that this is a extremely risky market?
We're in it for the long run, and in the short run, I'm willing to risk a 20% reduction in the principal until the market eventually craws back up. If there is a 20% reduction in the high-yield products on the horizon, I bet that a lot of other products like stocks and target funds will see reductions as well, so there's probably nothing for sure out there. I want to pay my expenses off of the dividends for this home repair fund and try not to worry about the declining NAV under current conditions. Thank you again and thank you to everyone reading this.
Sincerely,
Financially Free