SGOV
iShares 0-3 Month Treasury Bond ETF
stock NYSE ETF

25 years is a long time to plan for her wants and needs being that modest. I guess the only other thing to consider is that all of these income sources vary from month to month. Thankfully SPYI doesn’t vary quite as much as JEPI but if you’ve got $187,500 in it per month, having the dividend swing between $0.46 and $0.55 is a big deal, there are also swings in SCHD and SGOV. SCHG varies less but hardly pays. So if she can’t figure out going back to school or starting a business can she really budget for 4 variable income sources? She may wave to look into Close Ended Funds (CEFs) many of which have the same or higher yield and have paid consistent monthly dividends for years. Those require research as there are good and bad ones. In addition they also funds of these funds which reduce overall risks and provide a consistent dividend like CEFS or YYY.

If you just want suggestions on modifications to this strategy, here's what I would focus on:
* JEPI's yield isn't going to be that high reliably. It usually sits closer to 8%. SPYI would be a better option for a higher yield with similar volatility. Plus it outperforms JEPI in terms of total returns.
* Ditch SCHG at this point. No reason to have a growth fund when income is needed. She can invest in growth once she's got steady income again. You can put that 5% back into SCHD.
* You can squeeze a little extra yield by subbing out SGOV for JAAA. There's slightly more risk in JAAA, but it's not significant IMO.
Now, I will say, the biggest flaw in this fund is that covered call funds pay very inconsistent distributions month-to-month. It may come out to $15k for the year, but some months could be slim and others months be fat. Also, SCHD is going to pay quarterly, so I'm not sure how that figures into her needs. However, there is enough room here because the yield is beyond the $15k that it would probably be fine.
Having said that, if I think there are additional adjustments you could make to the portfolio, especially if the aim is low volatility and drawdown.
* Right now, CLOs are paying decent yields. I mentioned JAAA earlier, but there's also ICLO, CLOZ, and JBBB - all of which are yielding over 6%. These are much more stable than stocks, but don't offer the much price appreciation. They also are based on the prime rate, so factor potential decreases into your calculations.
* A lot of bonds are also paying above 6% and are more resilient to drawdowns. It would be good to add a portion to reduce the overall risk of the portfolio. Bond funds I like are BINC, SPHY, AOHY, FALN, TLTI, and HYBI.
* Preferred shares are also good for yield. I like the VRP ETF, but there's also PFFA. VRP is variable rate. I'm unsure about PFFA. But the nice thing about PFFA is how consistent it is - if you look at the history, its payments are very reliable and predictable.
Adding these 3 categories to the overall blend will pretty greatly reduce the average volatility of the portfolio and come with downside protections (though none are completely immune to drawdowns).
Another area to think about, like I mentioned with PFFA, is the reliably and predictability of the dividends. CEFs and BDCs are usually pretty good about this. MAIN, EOI, EOS, and ETY, are some of my favorite monthly payers who reliably pay the same amount each month, regardless of price movement (though they aren't immune to dividend cuts, they are more resilient). And there's always O, which is also solid for consistent and predictable monthly payments.

I would diversify a bit more into a few more asset class (BDC & prefer shares via ETF). Perhaps a backdown like this where I keep a bit more in SGOV as an emergency fund.
SGOV = 20%
SCHD = 10%
SCHG = 5%
PBDC = 10%
PFFA = 10%
SPYI = 30%
QQQI = 15%
Average yield is about 10.5% with an income of $26.6K/year. SPYI & QQQI is very tax efficient.

- What currency are you holding in the account?
- Why do you want to buy SGOV?
FYI: You get interest on cash balances > 10k subject to 100k account NAV
For ETFs you can consider: IBTU/IB01
For mutual funds you can consider BlackRock ICS family of funds as an alternative eg.
BlackRock ICS US Treasury
There are US, GBP, EUR Equivalents covering different maturities and government, corporate etc. eg.
- BlackRock ICS US Dollar Liquidity tracks SOFR ~ 4.3%
- BlackRock ICS Sterling Liquidity tracks SONIA ~ 4.2%
- BlackRock ICS Euro Liquidity tracks overnight ESTR 2.172 ~2.172%
These are worth considering as alternatives to high-yield savings accounts
Mutual funds are flat fee buy/sell on IB
With the BlackRock funds beware of the array of share classes. Normally you want to go for the Premier class for the lowest OCF
There are obviously other treasury/money market funds other than those provided by BlackRock

Forget about SGOV and buy straight T-Bills instead! SGOV is a "lazy man's etf", that:
1. has much worse margin reguirement that T-Bills
2. charges mgmt fee, albeit small
3. is not as flexible as letting T-Bills expire automatically parallel to your cash requirements
T-Bills are really easy to trade in all IBKR trading platforms; search trade symbol "US-T"

SGOV has tax loss wash issues…
BOXX is a better option.

SGOV is a treasury bond ETF, that would probably get approved pretty fast.

How risky is TBUX compared to SGOV?

If your new job offers a 401K plan. then that should be your primary investment vehicle. I think you can invest up to $23,000 per year into that. If you reach that maximum and you still have more money to invest, then you can open up a Roth IRA. and invest I think up to $7000 per year in that account.
These two accounts allow you to buy and sell stocks and bonds within them without having to pay any taxes on any gains you make. And this is a huge advantage over time compared with a standard taxable brokerage account.
As far as what to invest in, when you're starting out you should buy a broad market index fund, such as VOO which is the S P 500 fund run by Vanguard or VT which is a world stock market fund composed of mostly US stocks, but around 30 to 40 percent foreign stocks run also run by Vanguard. Warren Buffet recommends that his wife and family invest in VOO 90% and 10% in Tbills - SGOV, after he dies, and he is probably the smartest investor ever.
For Emergency Fund, which is your cash savings, you need as much as you need to feel comfortable. just remember that dollar bills/cash, are just US Treasury notes that do not pay you any interest, so you should try never to have any. Instead, remove that cash from your bank checking account and buy SGOV which pays a current annual yield of 4.2%. This is US Tbills and will almost always pay more than any HYSA in a bank or any money market account.
Read The Four Pillars of Investing by Dr Willaim Bernstein, or the Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins, both very easy to read. I would read them 2-3 times until the ideas sink in deep.
never hire another human to manage your money
best not to buy individual stocks as you and I have no idea what's going on behind the curtain at any company. Think, Enron/WorldCom/Tyco/WeWork etc. United Health Care this last month

For SGOV specifically, the stock price drops when the dividend pays in a way you can easily see. While this happens with all(?) dividend stocks, it's quite visible with SGOV becauseitsgrowthchart is so consistent. In reality, your investment value does not return to that end of month price until 20-25 some odd days into the next month. If you sell after you get a dividend, you get a lower price per share than if you sold on the last day of the month, but you get that month's gains for tax loss offset. It's a trade-off. How to best use this to your advantage is the question.
This chart illustrates this, zoom out to at least 6 months.
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/SGOV/

Financial advisor here. SGOV or BIL easiest.
What is your time horizon? Are you staying out of the market just during this turbulence or looking for longer term. SGOV or BIL easiest and generating good yield now.
Also what is your tax bracket? At a high tax bracket and longer term time horizon, currently you can get higher tax-effective rate with A-rated municipal bonds.

While I like your idea,
On the physical side, I'm more into silver coins myself, bought the rounds years ago and figured that if the world was going to shit, a fist full of silver coins would buy me everything I needed for a week, Gold might buy me a bullet or someone back to my place to rob me.
I bonds, I love them. they are a solid buying power hedge overall. while I don't think it beats inflation, I do think it's a solid way to stay in AAA asset allocation.
I don't know much about TIPS. so I won't pass any judgement on them.
On wonderful asset class I do enjoy, SGOV which is an EFT, it buys, 90 to 30 days left to maturity bonds and notes, US government issued ( giving it the state tax advantage ), which give it a very slight yield basis edge ( which is also lagging ). dividends are every month. super nice and I like it.

You can get more interest, cut out the middle man, and avoid the holding period requirements and just buy short term treasuries through an ETF like SGOV.

Thank you for the write-up. I have a question.. In an ideal world, SGOV would behave exactly like this. But is that the case in the actual market considering the spreads and interest rate change?
I’m trying to do tax loss harvesting with SGOV as selling after the ex-div date would incur a capital loss of around $1k (based on the last lowest price). But I’m concerned that I won’t make back as much in dividends. Would appreciate your insight on this.

Capital T Loss Harvesting for SGOV ($1000)

And if you do hold cash you can still get over 4% yield with SGOV

SGOV (ultra short term Treasury bill fund ETF) or whatever money market mutual fund you have access to in your account. Both are effectively risk free.
But I would stay invested, or at least rebalance to a stock/bond mix appropriate for your age and that you would be comfortable holding long term.
Perhaps consider just moving to an asset allocation fund or target date fund that will manage this for you.

I had $20K as my emergency fund. I used it to replace my truck that broke down so I didn’t have to finance. I’m up to about $12K. I put it all in SGOV until I’m back up to $20K.

A rise in interest rates means bond prices on the secondary market will decline until you hit their duration, after which point it is good for you as a bond holder. Intuitively this makes some sense: if you are using something like SGOV, after a month or so the newer bonds with higher rates will be coming into the fund, whereas if you're in 30 year treasuries you'll have to wait a long time for the new 30s to beat out all the old ones you have with lower returns.
If you'd like to read more, this is a good thread: https://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=360575

SNVXX isn't exempt from state income tax. SGOV and SNSXX are. I don't think this comparison makes sense.
>SNVXX has a gross expense ratio of 0.35% SGOV has a gross expense ratio of 0.09%.
Yields are net of fees dude.
>Since I live in Colorado, SGOV should help me save on state income tax, effectively increasing my yield.
So can SNSXX.