This is little more than a personal opinion (or guess) , but I expect a correction in about June.

Not Vanguard Investments. See Post No. 23. And, all of their mutual funds have extremely low expense ratios, and no loads to purchase.

So, the expense ratio for the Vanguard SP 500 index stock mutual fund is 0.04 percent. The expense ratio for ther Vanguard SP 500 index ETF is 0.03 percent. I wouldn't call that MUCH, MUCH lower.

I agree with the last sentence/statement.

The best explanation as to why ETFs are superior to mutual funds.

Yes ETF's. My reason is you can buy or sell them at a price you pick and not the price (mutual funds) on the day you want to buy.
I think you will find a lower expense ratio and probably a little better on taxes you pay on capital gains.
You could live to 100 so yes you need to be in the market.

I always liked Vanguard. I made up my mind a long, long time ago to choose ETFs over managed funds. So, I am NOT an expert on Managed Funds. I know most have high management loading , but if ANY managed funds would be worthwhile, it would likely be Vanguard. Also, I am aware that my investment knowledge is NOT at the high level of some of those that respond to these investment questions. And I like to learn from THEIR responses.

As pointed out by many, ETFs offer the ability to trade at intraday prices (with that comes premium and discount pricing). But the issue is really whether you are looking for active management or index investing. There isn't much difference between ETF and mutual fund if you are doing index investing. If you want active management then the trick is to pick the best manager or management team. Most do not beat the indexes but there are some that do so consistently until the management changes. Takes research to sort that out. If you have a sense that a particular segment of the market is going to outperform over the next several years but don't feel confident to bet on only one company, then maybe put some into a well-managed ETF or mutual fund that covers that segment. Decide how much cash you want to keep on hand and liquid and leave that in the MM. Dollar cost average the rest into an ETF or mutual fund as discussed above. Keep it diversified and balanced and you will sleep well at night regardless of your age.

Another precinct heard from……
 

If your situation is such that you can spare a part of that 200,000, like maybe 20,000 - 25,000 dollars and would like to invest it in a bit of education, why not make your own “fund” of boring dividend stocks, maybe 10-ish.

Look up the Dividend Aristocrats and the Dividend Kings. Go to Fidelity and check the top ten holdings in some of their many funds managed for growth and income. Learn what you can. There is a wealth of info about individual stocks on sites like Fidelity. (Copy their homework. :))

Find a utility, a consumer staple, and some other boring stocks. Try to catch them on a bad day. You will not be able to live off the dividends for just that amount of investment, but you can take them or reinvest them.

The stock goes up and the stock goes down and the stock goes up, but you will get paid 4 times a year and quite a few of them will raise that dividend annually. Meanwhile, the right stocks can just plug along, their share price increasing significantly over time. Solid dividend stocks pay you to wait.

If in a taxable account, you will be taxed on the dividend, of course, and if you sell with a gain, you will get a tax on that — or take a loss if you can’t stand the stock anymore. You can be your own fund manager. You decide all of it. Some people do not think this is fun though.

But the thing right now is that I really do believe we could be in some seriously uncharted waters. That T-word is scaring the heckouta me. I mean T for Tarriffs. If those take hold, we ain’t seen nuthin’ yet when it comes to inflation.

Anyway, if taking some of your cash and setting up your own fund to manage appeals to you, do your homework now — and make a list and check it twice — and probably wait a while and enjoy being over 4 on money market for the time being. (There could be some opportunities right around the corner to begin to dollar-cost average in. But, of course, I don’t know. And nobody else does either.)

Boomer

If you want a dividend fund, then pick 1 out of hundreds. If you create your own fund, you are probably taking about a few stocks to a dozen or so stocks. If you buy an index fund for dividends, the index will hold hundreds of companies.

Mutual funds are usually active managed by a team of analysts, this is why a mutual fund costs more to manage than an index fund. A mutual fund usually has a high turnover (I’ve seen over 400% turnover) and you pay for this each year, buying and selling isn’t free.
Index funds are managed by a computer, very little turnover, so much cheaper. Most of my funds have an expense of .02-.04%, mutual funds are .5% to 1.3%.

You want some decent mutual funds, I haven’t been in these for years but these have made 21-27% gains during the last year and expenses are between .5%-.7%: dodfx, dodgx, flpsx. If I was going to get into a mutual fund, I would look at dodge and cox funds.
21-27% gains are pretty low during the last year plus you are paying expenses 1/2% or more for these funds. I have the equivalent of these funds but in index funds all making more than 35% with expense of .02-.04%. Plus, index funds are cheaper at tax time because the index funds don’t have the turnover

Pretty please... Specifically, which index funds?

The OP didn't say what the rest of his investment portfolio looks like. Most people employ an asset allocation strategy. To decide how best to deploy $200K sitting in a MM account, it is helpful to know how where any other moneys are invested. Is $200K the entire portfolio? Don't know. I am in no way suggesting the OP to reveal details of his finances on a forum. I am just saying the whole picture should go into his thinking....and I am sure it does. You do want some equity exposure at age 68 (or at any age in my book).

Yes, ETFs are advantageous over mutual funds with the same basket of securities in that you can control the timing of your capital gains. This matters most if one is in a high tax bracket. It also an advantage when you die as your heirs get a stepped-up basis on the inherited assets.

Dollar-cost averaging does a nice job of reducing volatility.

A broad-based index fund or ETF(s) will almost certainly be up in 20 years and very likely be up in 10 years. No one can tell you if it will be up or down in 1 or 2 or 3 years. I know, everybody knows that.

Your investment time horizon does not necessarily have to end with your death. I have stocks including ETFs that I inherited from my mother and she has been gone a long time. I am sure I will pass securities to my heirs as well.

Get professional advisor
 

Get a professional advisor that is a licensed fiduciary rather than rely on misc. people from a a chat board. May cost a few bucks but will probably be well worth it.

I don't know what you mean by a licensed fiduciary. A fiduciary does not need a license.

“Get a professional advisor, it will only cost you a few bucks”! What’s a few bucks? I had a firm tell me it will cost me $60k a year for their help. Is that a few bucks? In 10 years, that’s over $600k, is that a few bucks? I knew what these people charge decades ago and that’s when I decided to do things myself.

I know for a fact I can do better than them, since a few firms call me every few months. I ask them can they do better than what I do and none of them will guarantee me that they can do better. I can prove what I make so it would be very easy to compare but they won’t tell me what their average return is for the year. I have helped friends with their investments and every one of them used a big brokerage firm to handle their investments and every 1 of them did poorly compared to the what could have been made with the better index funds and stocks.
I threw out a few mutual funds that are making 21-27%, compare them to what you are currently making in your brokerage managed investments. Then my index funds are making 35-40% and some stocks I have are making couple hundred %, how are these gains compared to what you are making?.then subtract their fees and loads.
Learn to do this yourself!

Pretty please, with a cherry on top this time... Specifically, which index funds?