Gyroscopic Investing

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I leave it in the sweep account and count it toward the cash allocation.

Yes, KevinW is correct. It's just a part of your cash. Even if you wanted to invest $500 in PRPFX, you wouldn't be able to. You would need to have enough extra cash to meet the minimum $1,000 initial investment for each account. And when you reach $1,000 in cash, you might as well just buy another 30-year Treasury bond.

I usually park my cash in PRPFX. But make sure you own it already, as Fido requires the minimum initial purchase of 2500 for most funds. The only downside is short-term redemption fee Fido charges for sales of NTF mutual funds held less than 180 days.  So if you're accumulating funds for buying into something earlier than 180 days you might pick some Fido fund or an ETF. I used to use FSICX for cash parking. Another option could be buying one of those free-trade bond ETFs, like AGG or LQD.

Gumby wrote: You would need to have enough extra cash to meet the minimum $1,000 initial investment for each account.

Gumby, I think you refer to the minimum imposed by PRPFX when buying directly from the mutual fund provider. As far as I know Fidelity imposes 2500 minimum for most funds. Index funds have even higher minimum - 10000 for FSTMX and FBILX for example.

LGrand85 wrote: I have roughly $500 left over in my Fidelity Roth IRA, where I keep my long bond position. I didn't want to buy TLT with it, as paying commission on only 500 worth of a trade felt not smart, but it has not been fun watching treasuries go crazy this past 2 months and not having those extra 500 in the allocation... I have been underexposed to treasuries, but only by 1% or so compared to the other legs of the PP.

That being said, what do you guys do with the extra money in your tax deffered accounts when it is not yet sizable? Park it in PRPFX?

I agree with KevinW, and just count it toward cash.  Since it might take up to two years to hit a 35% band in cash (assuming some other investment doesn't go wild and hit it first), I decided to rebalance once per year.  In the long run it won't matter much if you are "under invested" by a percent or so in one particular asset.  It may in fact help.  You just don't know, so there is no right answer here, just personal preference.

PRPFX's Cuggino seemed to indicate in the interview closing the fund was not out of the question. Also I have yet to hear of a 401 that offers PRPFX though I don't know much about people's 401's. I'm sure the board knows this but PRPFX holds the metal itself, coins and bars, I believe at COMEX.

Mi b-i-law has a big silver bar he bought back in the day... paid top dollar for it, $50/oz as I recall. Honestly-he keeps it under his bed.

foglifter wrote:

Gumby wrote: You would need to have enough extra cash to meet the minimum $1,000 initial investment for each account.

Gumby, I think you refer to the minimum imposed by PRPFX when buying directly from the mutual fund provider. As far as I know Fidelity imposes 2500 minimum for most funds. Index funds have even higher minimum - 10000 for FSTMX and FBILX for example.

You are absolutely correct. Fidelity's minimum for PRPFX is $2,500. So, it's definitely not an option for small amounts of extra cash in an IRA.

Gumby wrote:

foglifter wrote:

Gumby wrote: You would need to have enough extra cash to meet the minimum $1,000 initial investment for each account.

Gumby, I think you refer to the minimum imposed by PRPFX when buying directly from the mutual fund provider. As far as I know Fidelity imposes 2500 minimum for most funds. Index funds have even higher minimum - 10000 for FSTMX and FBILX for example.

You are absolutely correct. Fidelity's minimum for PRPFX is $2,500. So, it's definitely not an option for small amounts of extra cash in an IRA.

I usually try to avoid having small chunks of cash in my IRA just because I somehow feel uneasy knowing that this money earns something close to 0 these days. So I normally accumulate funds in my credit union savings account which pays 1.15%. Not too much, but still better than the core money-market fund in Fidelity.

I have the same problem as you - I bought 4x Long term treasuries in an IRA and my coupon payment is just sitting there in cash now waiting to be spent.

I think what I will probably do is buy an S&P 500 index fund, since most of those have no minimum and no trading fee.  It will be a very small percentage of my stock holdings, but at least the money is doing something productive instead of just sitting there.  I think cash and stock are the only 2 alternatives, unless the US starts issuing $1 bonds or you can start buying 1/10th ounce gold coins in your IRA...