Cindie’s mom used to subscribe to Kiplinger’s but I let the subscription end because it didn’t usually have much to offer for an advanced investor. However, from time-to-time Kiplinger’s does a decent job giving ideas for an investor to consider. This 2016 article is dated, but the concepts don’t change.
The key idea is to have a set of diversified investments that can produce a reasonable income stream when you are retired. At the time of the article, the combined mix of investments Kiplinger suggested had a net yield of 2.5%. I would argue that you can do much better than that, but 2.5% is a good starting point. Our current yield on our investments is 4.6%. This is achieved mostly through stock and ETF investments and a few bond ETF investments like VCLT and SHYG.
My biggest concern with the Kiplinger recommendation is having 45% of the total assets in Vanguard GNMA Fund Investor Shares (VFIIX). The yield on this bond fund is rather puny and having 50% of the total assets in two bond funds is overly conservative and risk-averse for a younger retiree. Inflation will eat away at those returns over time. Bear in mind that even bonds have risk. Any investment has some form of risk, be it stock market volatility, keeping up with inflation or low returns that never grow.
Know Your Flocks & Herds 