PCAR
Paccar Inc
stock NASDAQ

# Sanity check: consolidating an inherited/divorce-hold IRA into a 3-fund portfolio — reasonable plan?
Managing a traditional IRA (\~$181k) for a family member going through a divorce. The account has to stay at Merrill Lynch until the divorce is finalized (we're converting it from a full-service Wealth Management account to Merrill Edge self-directed in the meantime so we're not paying advisory fees on it). Once the divorce is final, the plan is likely to move it to Vanguard.
The account was built by a previous advisor and is a mess of \~35 individual dividend stocks, 10 bond/preferred ETFs, 4 actively-managed "alt" mutual funds, and a big cash sweep sitting idle. Full holdings as of 9/18/2026:
# Individual stocks — $104,228 (57.6%)
|Ticker|Value|%|
|:-|:-|:-|
|INTC|$8,036|4.4%|
|JPM|$7,693|4.3%|
|AZN|$7,141|3.9%|
|PCAR|$6,267|3.5%|
|TD|$5,750|3.2%|
|LMT|$5,334|2.9%|
|MCD|$4,717|2.6%|
|CME|$4,416|2.4%|
|PM|$4,150|2.3%|
|SHEL|$4,065|2.2%|
|KO|$3,883|2.1%|
|PG|$3,806|2.1%|
|MET|$3,590|2.0%|
|IBM|$3,443|1.9%|
|AEP|$3,360|1.9%|
|DLR|$3,278|1.8%|
|ENB|$2,924|1.6%|
|GE|$2,828|1.6%|
|VTR|$2,514|1.4%|
|VZ|$2,501|1.4%|
|OXY|$2,059|1.1%|
|D|$2,035|1.1%|
|GEV|$1,881|1.0%|
|PFE|$1,826|1.0%|
|PPL|$1,767|1.0%|
|T|$1,575|0.9%|
|KMB|$1,370|0.8%|
|KHC|$489|0.3%|
|CCL|$480|0.3%|
|WBD|$389|0.2%|
|GEHC|$192|0.1%|
|BHF|$150|0.1%|
|OXYWS|$147|0.1%|
|VTRS|$136|0.1%|
|KD|$36|0.0%|
# Bond/preferred ETFs — $27,724 (15.3%)
|Ticker|Value|%|
|:-|:-|:-|
|BIV|$6,730|3.7%|
|MBB|$5,660|3.1%|
|BSV|$4,522|2.5%|
|LQD|$2,827|1.6%|
|IEI|$2,628|1.5%|
|TIP|$1,790|1.0%|
|PCY|$1,599|0.9%|
|HYG|$864|0.5%|
|EMLC|$655|0.4%|
|PGX|$449|0.2%|
# Active "alt" mutual funds — $8,251 (4.6%)
|Ticker|Value|%|
|:-|:-|:-|
|ABYIX|$2,328|1.3%|
|AQMIX|$2,172|1.2%|
|LROIX|$2,110|1.2%|
|ASFYX|$1,641|0.9%|
# Cash sweep — $40,642 (22.5%)
Sitting in the Merrill cash sweep (IIAXX), essentially uninvested.
**The plan:** once the Merrill Edge conversion is done, sell everything and reinvest the full $180,845 into a simple 3-fund portfolio:
* **VTI** (Total US Stock Market) — 45% (\~$81,282)
* **VXUS** (Total International Stock) — 15% (\~$27,094)
* **BND** (Total US Bond Market) — 40% (\~$72,251)
It's a tax-deferred IRA, so no capital gains hit from liquidating. This would eventually move to Vanguard post-divorce anyway.
Pulse check: does a 60/40 stock/bond split via VTI/VXUS/BND seem reasonable as a default for someone in this situation, or would you weight it differently? Any reason to phase into the ETFs rather than doing it in one shot? And is there anything in the current holdings worth carving out and keeping rather than selling (e.g., anything with an odd tax wrinkle in an IRA, or a position that's not really replaceable)? Appreciate any sanity-checking — this isn't my area of expertise and I want to get it right.

# Sanity check: consolidating an inherited/divorce-hold IRA into a 3-fund portfolio — reasonable plan?
Managing a traditional IRA (\~$181k) for a family member going through a divorce. The account has to stay at Merrill Lynch until the divorce is finalized (we're converting it from a full-service Wealth Management account to Merrill Edge self-directed in the meantime so we're not paying advisory fees on it). Once the divorce is final, the plan is likely to move it to Vanguard.
The account was built by a previous advisor and is a mess of \~35 individual dividend stocks, 10 bond/preferred ETFs, 4 actively-managed "alt" mutual funds, and a big cash sweep sitting idle. Full holdings as of 9/18/2026:
# Individual stocks — $104,228 (57.6%)
|Ticker|Value|%|
|:-|:-|:-|
|INTC|$8,036|4.4%|
|JPM|$7,693|4.3%|
|AZN|$7,141|3.9%|
|PCAR|$6,267|3.5%|
|TD|$5,750|3.2%|
|LMT|$5,334|2.9%|
|MCD|$4,717|2.6%|
|CME|$4,416|2.4%|
|PM|$4,150|2.3%|
|SHEL|$4,065|2.2%|
|KO|$3,883|2.1%|
|PG|$3,806|2.1%|
|MET|$3,590|2.0%|
|IBM|$3,443|1.9%|
|AEP|$3,360|1.9%|
|DLR|$3,278|1.8%|
|ENB|$2,924|1.6%|
|GE|$2,828|1.6%|
|VTR|$2,514|1.4%|
|VZ|$2,501|1.4%|
|OXY|$2,059|1.1%|
|D|$2,035|1.1%|
|GEV|$1,881|1.0%|
|PFE|$1,826|1.0%|
|PPL|$1,767|1.0%|
|T|$1,575|0.9%|
|KMB|$1,370|0.8%|
|KHC|$489|0.3%|
|CCL|$480|0.3%|
|WBD|$389|0.2%|
|GEHC|$192|0.1%|
|BHF|$150|0.1%|
|OXYWS|$147|0.1%|
|VTRS|$136|0.1%|
|KD|$36|0.0%|
# Bond/preferred ETFs — $27,724 (15.3%)
|Ticker|Value|%|
|:-|:-|:-|
|BIV|$6,730|3.7%|
|MBB|$5,660|3.1%|
|BSV|$4,522|2.5%|
|LQD|$2,827|1.6%|
|IEI|$2,628|1.5%|
|TIP|$1,790|1.0%|
|PCY|$1,599|0.9%|
|HYG|$864|0.5%|
|EMLC|$655|0.4%|
|PGX|$449|0.2%|
# Active "alt" mutual funds — $8,251 (4.6%)
|Ticker|Value|%|
|:-|:-|:-|
|ABYIX|$2,328|1.3%|
|AQMIX|$2,172|1.2%|
|LROIX|$2,110|1.2%|
|ASFYX|$1,641|0.9%|
# Cash sweep — $40,642 (22.5%)
Sitting in the Merrill cash sweep (IIAXX), essentially uninvested.
**The plan:** once the Merrill Edge conversion is done, sell everything and reinvest the full $180,845 into a simple 3-fund portfolio:
* **VTI** (Total US Stock Market) — 45% (\~$81,282)
* **VXUS** (Total International Stock) — 15% (\~$27,094)
* **BND** (Total US Bond Market) — 40% (\~$72,251)
It's a tax-deferred IRA, so no capital gains hit from liquidating. This would eventually move to Vanguard post-divorce anyway.
Pulse check: does a 60/40 stock/bond split via VTI/VXUS/BND seem reasonable as a default for someone in this situation, or would you weight it differently? Any reason to phase into the ETFs rather than doing it in one shot? And is there anything in the current holdings worth carving out and keeping rather than selling (e.g., anything with an odd tax wrinkle in an IRA, or a position that's not really replaceable)? Appreciate any sanity-checking — this isn't my area of expertise and I want to get it right.