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Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
  • S&P 500? More Like The S&P 50
    Hi guys: Thank you for your comments and your expression of concern.
    However, please know that I am an accredited investor and my account(s) have been with my current broker for better than twenty five years. In my taxable mutual fund account I hold a good number of funds from a number of fund families with the biggest being in American Funds and Franklin/Templeton. I pay nothing directly to my broker to hold all of these funds in this consolidated account as this is covered by the 12b1 fees that the funds pay to the broker. Morningstar estimates my expense ratio on this account at 0.76%. Now for me to hold etf's I'd have to open a fee based account that has a fee associated with it based upon the assets held within this account. Thus, I have elected not to hold etfs. I refer to this as a etf wrap account. It is defined in Investopedia by the following description. "An ETF wrap is an investment portfolio in which an investor, with or without the aid of an investment advisor, invests solely in exchange-traded funds." From my perspective, a portfolio can be comprised of one or more funds.
    My self directed ira account is set up much the same way as my taxable account as I pay no direct fees to the broker as it's covered by the 12b1 fees paid to the broker form the mutual fund companies. Like the other account it has an estimated expense ratio of 0.76%.
    Because of the size of these accounts I can purchase some funds at nav depending on the fund family and others at discounts to their pop based upon how much I and my family collectively hold with the subject fund family.
    Also, know that, I am most happy with my arrangement as I can do nav exchanges from one fund to another (within the same family of funds) through a nav exchange program at no direct expense to me.
    So, let's not get hung up on how I buy and what I pay because my situation is most likely much different than yours. That is why is why I suggested you consult the fund's prospectus as how to buy and for purchase discounts, etc.
    Thanks again @JoJo26 for your expression of concern. It is much appreciated.
    Have a good weekend.
    Old_Skeet
    I'd encourage you to double check all that.
    JoJo26 in Fund Discussions
  • Annual returns: Stocks, Bonds & Bills: 1928 - Current (Professor Damodaran/St Louis' Fred)
    @Vegomatic: The Annual returns: Stocks, Bonds & Bills: 1928 is excellent information that I have linked dozens of times over the years. Thanks for posting.
    REgards,
    Ted :)
    Ted Ted in Fund Discussions
  • Annual returns: Stocks, Bonds & Bills: 1928 - Current (Professor Damodaran/St Louis' Fred)
    http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/histretSP.html
    (HTML + Excel)

    The raw data for treasury bond and bill returns is obtained from the Federal Reserve database in St. Louis (FRED). The return on stocks includes both price appreciation and dividends. The treasury bill rate is a 3-month rate and the treasury bond is the constant maturity 10-year bond, but the treasury bond return includes coupon and price appreciation. It will not match the treasury bond rate each period. For more details, download the excel spreadsheet that contains the same data.
    You can get the excel spreadsheet that contains all of this data and more here...
    Hat-tip: https://www.research-finance.com/ and http://aswathdamodaran.blogspot.com/
    Vegomatic Vegomatic in Fund Discussions
  • Politicians And Twitter May Hate Buybacks. But Institutional Investors Don't.
    I held PKW from early 2013 through mid 2017 when it started to lag , threw the funds into VOO. Have not been sorry.
    slick in Fund Discussions
  • Here is what worked best ... this week ... within my portfolio.
    For the week... VVPSX+2.96, FARNX +2.54, FSCCX+1.87, OAKIX+1.62. In total 20% of portfolio with the last 2 funds being 16% of portfolio.
    Art in Fund Discussions
  • Here is what worked best ... this week ... within my portfolio.
    @Old_Skeet what worked best for me were two funds UBVSX + 1.46% and PRGTX + 1.38% and a stock TRV + 1.77%, two other funds did respectively well, FISCX and TWEIX, both at + .94%.
    You did very well this week, each week it seems different funds of mine take the top prize. I guess that means Im pretty diversified. If everything went up in a week, that means they would all go down together. Sometimes Im very surprised what does well. UBVSX is in that category, 2nd best ytd of all my positions.
    slick in Fund Discussions
  • 10 Funds With The Biggest Positions In Kraft Heinz
    FYI: ( While a couple of MFO Members who contribute little or nothing to MFO with a poor attempt of humor "Clean up in the condiment aisle" the Linkster's hard working staff searched to see which funds were major holders of KHC. That's why some of us lead and others follow. :) :) :)
    Consumer foods giant Kraft Heinz (KHC) has taken quite a hit in the wake of its earnings announcement Thursday after the bell, which included news that the company was writing off $15.4 billion of the value of its brands and is facing a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation of its accounting policies and controls. The stock was down 27.27% at $35.04 at 12:45 p.m. ET Friday, not far from its session low of $34.51.
    Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, which had a 26.71% stake in Kraft Heinz at the end of 2018, looks like the biggest loser. But which mutual funds and ETFs are likely to feel the pain from the packaged food company’s sell-off? Click through to see a list from Morningstar Inc. of the 10 funds with the biggest stakes in the company.
    Regards,
    Ted
    https://www.investmentnews.com/gallery/20190222/FREE/222009999/PH
    1. Eagle Capital Growth
    2. First Trust Consumer Staples AlphaDEX Fd
    3. Gabelli Food of All Nations NextShares
    4. WestEnd Advisors Large Cap Core Eq- UBS
    5. FT AQA (R) Large-Cap 2
    6. Frontier MFG Global Equity Institutional
    7. Oppenheimer S&P Ultra Dividend Rev ETF
    8. Frontier MFG Global Plus Fund
    9. FT AQA (R) Large-Cap 1
    10. Sims Total Return Fund
    M* Funds Holding KHC: (Click On Ownership)
    https://www.morningstar.com/stocks/xnas/khc/quote.html
    Ted Ted in Fund Discussions
  • Retirement Drawdowns, either or?
    Where is the money? taxable or IRA or in Rollover IRA and you need RMD?
    In IRA, reinvest the dist
    In taxable,
    1) most investors dist are small than what they need to live on, in this case, let your dist go into cash
    2) If your dist > than what you need you can reinvest the dist or use 2 funds instead of one with one fund paying what you need in dist to cash and the other fund to reinvest the Dist
    FD1000 in Fund Discussions
  • Retirement Drawdowns, either or?
    Interesting question @Soupkitchen.
    I've contemplated it-retirement, but at 65 I haven't pulled the trigger yet. But I have given plenty of thought to when I do. My thought for setting up withdrawals for when I do retire would be to have a cash bucket (MM, CD, maybe a short term bond fund) that held maybe 3 years of expenses needed. The rest of the pot would just be distributed in an overall risk-tolerant portfolio bucket. I've even thought about simplifying everything and just sticking the entire 'investment' bucket in a 60:40 robo (1/2 my savings are in one now and I've been satisfied so far). If done that way, the 2 bucket system, I would be more concerned about total return and not dividend income. But in saying that, it would probably be a good idea to have any income generated from the investment bucket not reinvested but go directly to that cash bucket to lessen the need for replenishment. In my case, the 3 year cash bucket would still need to be replenished periodically when markets are up. Investment income alone would not be enough to keep the cash bucket full.
    Thanks for posting the question. I look forward to others responses.
    MikeM MikeM in Fund Discussions
  • Only Five T. Rowe Price U.S. Mutual Funds Saw Positive Returns In 2018
    Hey @MSF, thanks for the heads up that HNASX is managed by the same manager as TRLGX. I've been interested in the TRLGX but it has a $1M minimum. Looking to invest in either AKREX, TRBCX, BIAWX or this one for my large cap growth exposure. Any thoughts??
    No brilliant insights here, I'm afraid. A nice thing about large cap growth is that there are a lot of good funds to choose from. It really depends on personal preference.
    For example, all else being equal (which it never is), I try to keep expenses down, especially in large cap, so while many people like AKREX, it's not one on my list. They're all rather concentrated (40+% in top ten holdings) with AKREX "insanely" so (75%). On the other hand, to its credit, AKREX's top ten list isn't filled with all of the usual suspects. As a fund family, I like T. Rowe Price because it usually handles manager succession well.
    My personal preferences run toward funds like the Primecap ones - more diversified (though that may mean less upside potential), still low cost, team managed (helps with succession), a bit less "growthy", a tad more international. But that's me. Everybody looks for different things and has different comfort levels and objectives.
    msf in Fund Discussions
  • MFAIX -- anyone kicked the tires?
    So Mark Yockey is no longer the fund manager... He used to be pretty good manager until the drawdowns in 2000 and 2008. Also notice the ER has reduced to 1.38%, a bit lower than the previous 1.5%. International smaller caps had a hard time in 2018. OSMAX did better than most peers in that category if that is an indication of risk.
    Sven in Fund Discussions
  • Here is what worked best ... this week ... within my portfolio.
    For the week the three best performing areas within my portfolio were found in commodities, emerging markets and a dividend payer. My funds held representing these areas were PCLAX +1.91% ... NEWFX +1.64% & DWGAX +1.59% ... and, SVAAX +1.26%. In comparison, the equally weighted S&P 500 Index fund VADAX, that I sometimes use for equity ballast, was +0.70% for the week.
    Linked below are the Lipper Indexes. You can view to find the leaders.
    http://www.barrons.com/mdc/public/page/9_3020-lipperindx.html
    Wondering what worked best for you?
    Have a good weekend.
    Old_Skeet
    Old_Skeet in Fund Discussions
  • S&P 500? More Like The S&P 50
    Hi guys: Thank you for your comments and your expression of concern.
    However, please know that I am an accredited investor and my account(s) have been with my current broker for better than twenty five years. In my taxable mutual fund account I hold a good number of funds from a number of fund families with the biggest being in American Funds and Franklin/Templeton. I pay nothing directly to my broker to hold all of these funds in this consolidated account as this is covered by the 12b1 fees that the funds pay to the broker. Morningstar estimates my expense ratio on this account at 0.76%. Now for me to hold etf's I'd have to open a fee based account that has a fee associated with it based upon the assets held within this account. Thus, I have elected not to hold etfs. I refer to this as a etf wrap account. It is defined in Investopedia by the following description. "An ETF wrap is an investment portfolio in which an investor, with or without the aid of an investment advisor, invests solely in exchange-traded funds." From my perspective, a portfolio can be comprised of one or more funds.
    My self directed ira account is set up much the same way as my taxable account as I pay no direct fees to the broker as it's covered by the 12b1 fees paid to the broker form the mutual fund companies. Like the other account it has an estimated expense ratio of 0.76%.
    Because of the size of these accounts I can purchase some funds at nav depending on the fund family and others at discounts to their pop based upon how much I and my family collectively hold with the subject fund family.
    Also, know that, I am most happy with my arrangement as I can do nav exchanges from one fund to another (within the same family of funds) through a nav exchange program at no direct expense to me.
    So, let's not get hung up on how I buy and what I pay because my situation is most likely much different than yours. That is why I suggested you consult the fund's prospectus as how to buy and for purchase discounts, etc.
    Thanks again @JoJo26 for your expression of concern. It is much appreciated.
    Have a good weekend.
    Old_Skeet
    Old_Skeet in Fund Discussions
  • Jason Zweig: Wall Street Has It Wrong. You’re A Smart Investor.
    FYI: For decades, Wall Street has claimed that professional investors are “the smart money” and individuals “the dumb money.” That’s been one of the most cynically lucrative propaganda campaigns in history, with billions of dollars in fees and commissions flowing to people who didn’t turn out to be smart at all.
    Investors on Main Street are nowhere near as naive as Wall Street has long contended. That’s the finding of recent research that casts new doubt on the distinction between smart and dumb money.
    Regards,
    Ted
    https://www.wsj.com/articles/wall-street-has-it-wrong-youre-a-smart-investor-11550851234
    Ted Ted in Fund Discussions
  • Q&A With Charles Shriver, Manager, T.Rowe Price Balanced & Personal Strategy Growth Funds
    FYI: Charles Shriver earned his college degree in economics and rhetoric, otherwise known as the art of persuasive speaking. You win by “lining up your facts,” says Shriver, who runs about $40 billion across several portfolios at T. Rowe Price .
    The facts line up well in Shriver’s case. Both the $4 billion T. Rowe Price Balanced fund (ticker: RPBAX) and the $2 billion T. Rowe Price Personal Strategy Growth fund (TRSGX) beat their respective Morningstar-assigned benchmarks and at least 85% of peer funds over the past three years through January. The more conservative Balanced fund returned 9.4% annually in that span, while the more aggressive Personal Strategy Growth returned 11.4% a year.
    Regards,
    Ted
    https://www.barrons.com/articles/reits-amazon-com-and-other-pockets-of-growth-51550880847?mod=hp_DAY_5
    Ted Ted in Fund Discussions
  • Barron’s Ranking Of Best Online Brokers
    FYI: Market volatility is commonplace. Interest rates, which a few months ago seemed certain to rise, now look likely to remain flat or possibly decline. The chances of an economic slowdown in the U.S. and overseas are high. So it’s tempting to follow the S&P 500, our own portfolios, and investment opportunities the way some of us check the weather—constantly and doggedly.
    Online discount brokerage firms are happy to accommodate. They provide mobile apps that let customers monitor, analyze, and trade, often with the same speed, ease, and completeness as a desktop, and with complete interoperability. Live video and television feeds are now ubiquitous on desktop and mobile. A few brokerage firms have even begun to furnish information and research via Alexa and Siri. One, TD Ameritrade Holding (ticker: AMTD), recently added the ability to trade through Amazon Echo.
    How They Stack Up
    Regards,
    Ted
    https://www.barrons.com/articles/who-are-2019s-best-online-brokers-51550882807?mod=hp_DAY_2
    Ted Ted in Fund Discussions
  • Mark Hulbert: 3 Things To Look For In Warren Buffett’s Annual Shareholder Letter
    FYI: One of the most widely read documents of the investment calendar is scheduled to be released on Saturday.
    I’m referring to Warren Buffett’s annual shareholder letter, which is contained in the annual report of his company, Berkshire Hathaway BRK.A, -1.92% BRK.B, -1.67% . (Here’s the 2017 letter for reference.)
    Just because his letter is widely read, however, doesn’t mean it is properly understood. What follows are three of the most profound investment takeaways of his soon-to-be released letter, implications that I fear may otherwise be ignored:
    Regards,
    Ted
    https://www.marketwatch.com/story/three-things-to-look-for-in-warren-buffetts-annual-shareholder-letter-2019-02-21/print
    Ted Ted in Fund Discussions
  • What Gabelli Funds Does Mario Buy?
    FYI: For decades, Mario Gabelli, one of the premier investors of our age. has regaled the Barron’s Roundtable with his insights, wit, and banter.
    Gabelli, however, has been reticent about the funds he holds himself, both of the open- and closed-end varieties. But a perusal of public records shows that he personally owns significant stakes in several closed-end offerings of his Gabelli Funds. Indeed, in some cases, he’s the biggest shareholder. And his largest investments are an interesting and eclectic mix.
    Regards,
    Ted
    https://www.barrons.com/articles/what-gabelli-funds-does-mario-buy-51550858564?mod=hp_DAY_5
    Ted Ted in Fund Discussions
  • 1 Fund Avoided The Kraft Heinz Stock Bloodbath And It’s Because Of ESG Investing: NULG) - (NULV)
    FYI: Kraft Heinz stock (KHC) was down more than 27% on Friday after the company took a $15 billion asset write down, cut its dividend, and disclosed a regulatory probe into its procurement and accounting practices. The stock was downgraded by five Wall Street analysts, too.
    That’s a bad day.
    Some big names have been caught up in the Kraft vortex, including Warren Buffett and private-equity firm 3G Capital. But one fund manager steered clear of this week’s Kraft Heinz bloodbath: Nuveen Asset Management. Nuveen avoided the decline for a unique reason: It shunned Kraft Heinz stock because the company has weak scores in ESG, the sustainable investing philosophy that looks at, and is short for, environmental, social, and governance metrics. Kraft Heinz isn’t the only high profile stock debacle Nuveen has managed to avoid. Nuveen’s ESG philosophy should give investors something to think about when assessing corporate risk in the future.
    Nuveen offers a few exchanged traded funds for U.S. investors, including the NuShares ESG Large-Cap Growth Fund (NULG) and NuShares ESG Large-Cap Value Fund (NULV). In those funds, Nuveen only invests in companies that are in the upper half of a sector based on Nuveen’s ESG scoring.
    Regards,
    Ted
    https://www.barrons.com/articles/esg-nuveen-asset-management-kraft-heinz-stock-51550862080?mod=djem_b_Weekly barrons_daily_newsletter
    Ted Ted in Fund Discussions
  • Stash your cash in bond ETFs

    (1) ... but we don’t even talk about recent buys or sells anymore.... “
    (2) “... can’t we play in the sandbox a little nicer?”
    Thanks for the comments @Graust. I won’t even try to defend the politics that seeps in. It’s indefensible - but also hard to avoid in the current political climate.
    (1) As to fewer trades, I’ve noticed it too. Couple thoughts: The group of perhaps 25-35 regulars who post often are growing older and more conservative. Heck, I can think of 2 or 3 who’ve gotten out of the market completely in the past six months. They still have a great deal to offer here - but trading funds isn’t where they are anymore. Other oldsters like myself are still investing in the market, but trading a lot less as a means of reducing risk. My most aggressive holdings nowadays tend to be balanced funds (the more boring the better). And I’ve stopped making speculative bets on beaten-up sectors because there’s a very real chance I wouldn’t live long enough to see them come to fruition.
    Another factor - We’ve just experienced a 10-20% stock market correction (depending on the index). That experience has, I think, dulled the “animal spirits” a bit. Folks after something like that become more risk averse for a while afterwards. That may be another reason why there’s less talk about buying / selling than 6 months or a year ago. There are some nice exceptions. @Puddenhead posts occasionally about trading for quick profits. I always enjoy his “longneck” ramblings. And @Old_Skeet does a real nice job weekly dissecting his approach and telling you which sectors he likes or dislikes and why. Lest I forget, @MikeM too is always looking for an edge and mentions his buys / sells from time to time. No doubt there are others I’m omitting. Apologies to them.
    (2) Re the sandbox - Unfortunately, it just takes one child peeing in it and throwing sand to ruin it for everyone.
    hank in Fund Discussions