Fixed Income & Vangaurd Fund Update

Rates and Yields for Series EE Bonds, I-Bonds, VIPSX, VBMFX, VFIIX (GNMA or "Ginnie Mae") and VTSMX funds from Vanguard.

On 9/18/09 I sold the last of my explore portfolio position in Vanguard’s GNMA fund (VIIX Charts) to lock in nice gains. If ECRI is wrong and the economy falls into a depression, then we will regret selling these bond funds because they will go higher.

On 10/26/09 I bought $31,250 worth of 5-Year TIPS for the "explore portfolio" in "Kirk Lindstrom's Investment Letter" and those are up 1.9% in less than a month as expected inflation surged while ECRI's FIG remains very low.

Vanguard Comparison Table
Vanguard Fund (11/21/09)	SYMBOL	Yield	YTD
GNMA (Currently part of my explore portfolio)	VFIIX	3.09%	6.40%
Total Bond Index	VBMFX	3.30%	7.02%
Prime Money Market Fund	VMMXX	0.11%	0.52%
Inflation Protected Security Fund	VIPSX	0.89%	12.29%
Total Stock Market Index Fund	VTSMX	1.78%	24.08%

Series I Bonds & E Bonds

• New I Bonds currently pay 3.36% for 6 months after purchase with a base rate of 0.30%.
• Series EE bonds now pay 1.20% total rate through April 30, 2010.

These rates for new i-bonds are effective from November 1, 2009 through April 30, 2010.

• Best CD Rates: http://verybestcdrates.com/index.html
  
  
• Composite Rates for iBonds: http://tinyurl.com/iBondRates

On November 6, 2006 Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of ECRI, said "While the USFIG remains in a cyclical upturn, indicating a further dissipation of any deflation danger, we are not on the verge of an upsurge in U.S. inflation."