"My father retired in 2000 and lost 50% of his NAV.  Then hardly recovered only to experience the 2008/9 crash. It was awful for him. " For me, this was one of the more difficult comments to read from the video that we posted last week on whether your nest egg could survive a 50% S&P drop in retirement. And judging from the replies, it seems that this comment also hit a nerve with a few of you in our community. So with that in mind, let's look at the last 70+ years of stock market history and see:

1. How often do bear markets occur, and how long do they last? Plus, who might want to just stay invested in equity markets right now?

2. What are the three fundamental ways to protect your investments if you’re closer to retirement or already in retirement?

3. How attractive might your guaranteed lifetime income options be if you were to lock-in at current levels? 

Drop us a note - what do you want to hear about next?

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👉 Email [email protected] to get connected with our trusted annuity, life insurance and long-term care specialists

📢 Learn all about bond investing while yields are attractive! Get both our bond courses together & save $100 here!

💡 Learn more about our foundational-level Bond Beginners and intermediate-level Bond Masters courses

⭐ Check out Caitlin and Eva's YouTube channel, Your Financial Journey, for even more personal finance content and tutorials and Sophie's YouTube channel, Sophie The Scientist, if you like cool and fun science facts as well! 

DGRO iShares Core Dividend Growth ETF has annualized dividend growth of 8.35% since 2015.  Is it the most balanced and defensive portfolio, especially in the current market environment?

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💎 Join our 200,000+ Diamond NestEgg viewers on YouTube for more daily doses from Jen and Markus! 

💰 Supercharge your income 👉 JOIN our VIP Investment Club and be the first to know about top rates, higher-yielding investment opportunities and members-only conversations and content!

👉 Email [email protected] to get connected with our trusted annuity, life insurance and long-term care specialists

📢 Learn all about bond investing while yields are attractive! Get both our bond courses together & save $100 here!

💡 Learn more about our foundational-level Bond Beginners and intermediate-level Bond Masters courses

⭐ Check out Caitlin and Eva's YouTube channel, Your Financial Journey, for even more personal finance content and tutorials and Sophie's YouTube channel, Sophie The Scientist, if you like cool and fun science facts as well! 

Could you survive a 13-year bear market? What would happen to your money if the S&P 500 crashed by 50% like back in 2000 and 2007? Let's talk about how you could have protected yourself back then, and how you can protect your money now against a potential market crash and long-lasting bear market, build out the Base Part of your portfolio, and lock in a lifelong guaranteed fixed income stream while you’re at it. 

Drop us a note - what do you want to hear about next?

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💎 Join our 200,000+ Diamond NestEgg viewers on YouTube for more daily doses from Jen and Markus! 

💰 Supercharge your income 👉 JOIN our VIP Investment Club and be the first to know about top rates, higher-yielding investment opportunities and members-only conversations and content!

👉 Email [email protected] to get connected with our trusted annuity, life insurance and long-term care specialists

📢 Learn all about bond investing while yields are attractive! Get both our bond courses together & save $100 here!

💡 Learn more about our foundational-level Bond Beginners and intermediate-level Bond Masters courses

⭐ Check out Caitlin and Eva's YouTube channel, Your Financial Journey, for even more personal finance content and tutorials and Sophie's YouTube channel, Sophie The Scientist, if you like cool and fun science facts as well! 

FXNAX, BND and/or HIPS? With a 12.20% 30-Day SEC Yield* and monthly distributions of 10.75 cents per share since 2015, could the GraniteShares HIPS US High Income ETF (HIPS) offer a way to potentially enhance income compared with funds such as Fidelity’s US Bond Index Fund (FXNAX) and Vanguard’s Total Bond Market ETF (BND)? 

Let's dive deeper into:

1. What is the track record of GraniteShares HIPS US High Income ETF (ticker HIPS)? And how does it compare to a core bond fund?

2. Where does the 12.20% 30-Day SEC yield on HIPS at the time of this taping, as per June 30th, 2026, come from? And how has the fund managed to pay out a stable 10.75 cents per share every month since December 2015?

3. Who might want to buy HIPS, and who might not want to buy HIPS?

*30-Day SEC Yield on HIPS as per 06/30/2026 ⭐ More information on HIPS and full statutory disclosures can be found here: https://graniteshares.com/etfs/hips/ and https://graniteshares.com/media/3luabomz/graniteshares-etf-trust-prospectus.pdf

Drop us a note - what do you want to hear about next?

Support the show

💎 Join our 200,000+ Diamond NestEgg viewers on YouTube for more daily doses from Jen and Markus! 

💰 Supercharge your income 👉 JOIN our VIP Investment Club and be the first to know about top rates, higher-yielding investment opportunities and members-only conversations and content!

👉 Email [email protected] to get connected with our trusted annuity, life insurance and long-term care specialists

📢 Learn all about bond investing while yields are attractive! Get both our bond courses together & save $100 here!

💡 Learn more about our foundational-level Bond Beginners and intermediate-level Bond Masters courses

⭐ Check out Caitlin and Eva's YouTube channel, Your Financial Journey, for even more personal finance content and tutorials and Sophie's YouTube channel, Sophie The Scientist, if you like cool and fun science facts as well! 

23.69% annualized trailing total return from a dividend fund, plus higher cash distribution yields than VOO - is this newcomer dividend fund a “secret weapon” for income-seeking investors? Capital Group’s Dividend Value ETF, ticker CGDV is what we'll be talking about Part 5 of our Dividend Fund Miniseries:
1 - How does CGDV select its stocks? And what names does it currently own in its portfolio?
2 - What is the track record of CGDV? 
And 3 - Who might want to consider buying CGDV?

Drop us a note - what do you want to hear about next?

Support the show

💎 Join our 200,000+ Diamond NestEgg viewers on YouTube for more daily doses from Jen and Markus! 

💰 Supercharge your income 👉 JOIN our VIP Investment Club and be the first to know about top rates, higher-yielding investment opportunities and members-only conversations and content!

👉 Email [email protected] to get connected with our trusted annuity, life insurance and long-term care specialists

📢 Learn all about bond investing while yields are attractive! Get both our bond courses together & save $100 here!

💡 Learn more about our foundational-level Bond Beginners and intermediate-level Bond Masters courses

⭐ Check out Caitlin and Eva's YouTube channel, Your Financial Journey, for even more personal finance content and tutorials and Sophie's YouTube channel, Sophie The Scientist, if you like cool and fun science facts as well! 

Up to 8.29% annual cash payouts and some equity upside? Let’s compare JAAA, SCHD and JEPI today and talk about the differences between CLOs (collateralized loan obligations), dividend shares and covered call strategies.

Drop us a note - what do you want to hear about next?

Support the show

💎 Join our 200,000+ Diamond NestEgg viewers on YouTube for more daily doses from Jen and Markus! 

💰 Supercharge your income 👉 JOIN our VIP Investment Club and be the first to know about top rates, higher-yielding investment opportunities and members-only conversations and content!

👉 Email [email protected] to get connected with our trusted annuity, life insurance and long-term care specialists

📢 Learn all about bond investing while yields are attractive! Get both our bond courses together & save $100 here!

💡 Learn more about our foundational-level Bond Beginners and intermediate-level Bond Masters courses

⭐ Check out Caitlin and Eva's YouTube channel, Your Financial Journey, for even more personal finance content and tutorials and Sophie's YouTube channel, Sophie The Scientist, if you like cool and fun science facts as well! 

13.12% to 22.05% forward dividend yield on a business development company (BDC) with significant discounts to NAV? Might this be a buying opportunity for the potentially higher-yielding Boost part of your portfolio? Markus and I picked up some BDC shares earlier this year, and so have some of our VIP Investment Club members, so let's dive a bit deeper into how to invest in private credit with full liquidity via Blue Owl Capital (OBDC) and FS KKR Capital (FSK).

Drop us a note - what do you want to hear about next?

Support the show

💎 Join our 200,000+ Diamond NestEgg viewers on YouTube for more daily doses from Jen and Markus! 

💰 Supercharge your income 👉 JOIN our VIP Investment Club and be the first to know about top rates, higher-yielding investment opportunities and members-only conversations and content!

👉 Email [email protected] to get connected with our trusted annuity, life insurance and long-term care specialists

📢 Learn all about bond investing while yields are attractive! Get both our bond courses together & save $100 here!

💡 Learn more about our foundational-level Bond Beginners and intermediate-level Bond Masters courses

⭐ Check out Caitlin and Eva's YouTube channel, Your Financial Journey, for even more personal finance content and tutorials and Sophie's YouTube channel, Sophie The Scientist, if you like cool and fun science facts as well! 

8.7% 👉 this is how much US stocks have returned on an annualized basis since 1776. What about Treasuries and inflation? Join us for an overview of how Treasuries and US stocks have performed since independence 250 years ago. Plus, how attractive are Treasury and multi-year guaranteed annuity (MYGA) rates currently? 

Drop us a note - what do you want to hear about next?

Support the show

💎 Join our 200,000+ Diamond NestEgg viewers on YouTube for more daily doses from Jen and Markus! 

💰 Supercharge your income 👉 JOIN our VIP Investment Club and be the first to know about top rates, higher-yielding investment opportunities and members-only conversations and content!

👉 Email [email protected] to get connected with our trusted annuity, life insurance and long-term care specialists

📢 Learn all about bond investing while yields are attractive! Get both our bond courses together & save $100 here!

💡 Learn more about our foundational-level Bond Beginners and intermediate-level Bond Masters courses

⭐ Check out Caitlin and Eva's YouTube channel, Your Financial Journey, for even more personal finance content and tutorials and Sophie's YouTube channel, Sophie The Scientist, if you like cool and fun science facts as well! 

Is SGOV better than BIL, VBIL, T-Bills & money market funds like VUSXX FZFXX & SNSXX? Which would we choose?

Drop us a note - what do you want to hear about next?

Support the show

💎 Join our 200,000+ Diamond NestEgg viewers on YouTube for more daily doses from Jen and Markus! 

💰 Supercharge your income 👉 JOIN our VIP Investment Club and be the first to know about top rates, higher-yielding investment opportunities and members-only conversations and content!

👉 Email [email protected] to get connected with our trusted annuity, life insurance and long-term care specialists

📢 Learn all about bond investing while yields are attractive! Get both our bond courses together & save $100 here!

💡 Learn more about our foundational-level Bond Beginners and intermediate-level Bond Masters courses

⭐ Check out Caitlin and Eva's YouTube channel, Your Financial Journey, for even more personal finance content and tutorials and Sophie's YouTube channel, Sophie The Scientist, if you like cool and fun science facts as well! 

Fidelity’s High Dividend ETF (FDVV): is it better than an S&P 500 ETF with its 13.47% 5-Year total return and much higher dividend? Might this be something to consider for your portfolio? Watch on in Part 4 Markus' Dividend Fund Series to learn more!

Drop us a note - what do you want to hear about next?

Support the show

💎 Join our 200,000+ Diamond NestEgg viewers on YouTube for more daily doses from Jen and Markus! 

💰 Supercharge your income 👉 JOIN our VIP Investment Club and be the first to know about top rates, higher-yielding investment opportunities and members-only conversations and content!

👉 Email [email protected] to get connected with our trusted annuity, life insurance and long-term care specialists

📢 Learn all about bond investing while yields are attractive! Get both our bond courses together & save $100 here!

💡 Learn more about our foundational-level Bond Beginners and intermediate-level Bond Masters courses

⭐ Check out Caitlin and Eva's YouTube channel, Your Financial Journey, for even more personal finance content and tutorials and Sophie's YouTube channel, Sophie The Scientist, if you like cool and fun science facts as well!