FYI: Lately, there has been a lot of talk about a “secular bull market” for stocks. It definitely sounds promising. But what exactly does it mean?
Regards,
Ted
http://www.wsj.com/articles/what-exactly-is-a-secular-bull-market-1423454476

FYI: When do you give up on a poorly performing fund?
This is a thorny question facing investors of the $9 billion MainStay Marketfield fund, a hedge-fund-like mutual fund that fell behind its peers and the broad stock market for the past five quarters. The fund slid 12% last year, whereas its typical peer gained around 3% and the S&P 500 index rose 11.4%, according to Morningstar Inc.
“The performance has just been horrendous,” says Owen Murray, an investment adviser in Houston who sold the fund last year.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.wsj.com/articles/many-mainstay-marketfield-investors-say-enough-1423454473?tesla=y

vfinx of vanguard charges 0.17% ( and 0.05% is for the admiral acct). Prudential retirement: Dryden s&p 500 also charges 0.17% in my 401k acct.

workaround for the link
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=S&P+500+Funds+Aren’t+All+The+Same

@Puddnhead: For your information here is a list of 16 microcap funds from M*.
Regards,
Ted
M* Microcap Funds:
http://www.morningstar.com/invest/categories/microcap-funds
Going Micro ? Skip The ETF's:
http://online.barrons.com/articles/SB50001424052748704836204578360490916076164#printMode
The Linkster Favorite: LMIYX:
http://performance.morningstar.com/fund/performance-return.action?t=LMIYX&region=usa&culture=en-US

Might start "taking" some money this year from some non IRA investments (67yo), figure 20 years of spending Money (should be easy), at same time have to still buy Roth Ira's as much as limited w2 income will allow,
Have developed a withdraw strategy that I have titled "thinning the herd" (patent pending): Really?
Bascially.... investments that are not holding their own (portfolio averages) will go first and thus lower in Gains with no taxes....Big gainers, steady earners and Roth money will be taken as tax schedules/rules will allow for min. payments to the Gov.(taxes) , Risk control will be mainly by Bond adjustments if Equities get into trouble... Spend less? probably not....
Not perfected but a starting plan for 2015....Will SEE

Interesting that in his personal portfolio, Eveillard owns "just over 15%" in gold bullion/gold equities, and he owns NO bonds......
He is always cautious and quite risk-averse, always has been by nature.
And that's how he ran his fund for 25-30 years, SGENX, which had a great risk adjusted return under him. He won a lifetime achievement award by Morningstar, and also a Manager of the Year award.
In the bear market of 2000-2002, his fund was up 10% in each of those 3 years.....
Eveillard is also a person of high moral character and concern for people.

I am always skeptical of "Average" figure reporting....Yes it is Always important to check if your investments are increasing their earnings, while other Companies may be losing money or in times of decreased earnings, thus their Investment Value follows
there is and "upside" to every mountain, but profits are predictable to some companies
But to worry about "averages" always bring me to think the "average" earnings in the U.S. is something like $35,000...having nothing to do with you/me
Nothing wrong with "conservative" investing, Balanced fund are a ROCK to any portfolio, my wife finds a winner, you can't get her to switch.....(but I have added others for her)
that's how she got me.....Ha

"As senior columnist Jeff Benjamin wrote in last week's issue, any portfolio that earned a return equal to the Standard & Poor's 500 return was assuming too much risk. A diversified portfolio in stocks and bonds should have returned less than 5%"
Lets hope Jeff is not also a financial adviser (wizard), because if HE couldn't get more than 5% out of the market the last 6-7 years, he would be writing investment articles for a living......OH he is...sorry

FYI: Investors are assuming too much risk in their portfolios, according to a Vanguard Group Inc. analysis of data from Morningstar Inc. The questions are: Who is responsible, and what can be done about it?
RegardsTed
http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20150208/REG/302089999?template=printart

FYI: It all comes down to this.
I wrote for the first edition of The Wall Street Journal Sunday. It seems fitting I should help bring down the curtain with this column that will appear in its final edition.
Parting thoughts? With my final words, here are five notions that—I believe—are indispensable to a happier financial life.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/5-ways-to-a-happier-financial-life-2015-02-07/print

FYI: When investing in low-cost index funds, it still can pay to look for lower fees.
There are more than 50 U.S. mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that try to mimic the returns of the S&P 500—one of the most closely watched stock-market benchmarks in the world—according to Morningstar, the Chicago-based investment research firm. Together, the funds held well over $900 billion at year-end.
Yet investors who put the same amount into two different S&P 500 index funds could end up with results that vary significantly over time.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.wsj.com/articles/s-p-500-funds-arent-all-the-same-1423255809

Hi Tampabay,
Thanks for the reply. I am not sure if you looked at Doug Short's link. If so ... Did you notice that December 2014 TTM earnings for the S&P 500 Index were reported at $104.50 while January's 2015 TTM earnings came in at $104.01? Seems forward earning estimates keep getting revised downward while TTM earnings are now starting to stall out since September of 2014 where they peaked at $105.96. This is not good. It will be interesting to see if investors keep paying more and more for earnings. I am of the camp most want. Does this mean a crash? Prehaps not; but, I do think the upside is now more limited and perhaps we have, or about to, top out. There are indeed headwinds blowing centering around a strong US$ and it is showing up in corporate earnings.
Just in case you missed reading this report I have linked it below again ...
http://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/PE-Ratios-and-Market-Valuation.php
I know you stated sometime ago and something to the effect that your assets had to work because you don't. Let's hope they keep on keeping on. I am thinking that your wife's portfolio being more conseratively invested with steady earners will out perform your portfolio of high flyers this year.
And, yes I still plan to reduce my holdings, over time, to domestic equities and raise my allocation to other assets by a like amount within my portfolio as I feel it is the prudent thing to do under current light. Hey, if the wind is blowing and clouds are moving in and you hear thunder in the background ... take shelter ... most likely a storm is coming. Let us hope it is a blow by and stays off shore or better yet let's change course and fly around it.
Old_Skeet

Direct link: http://online.barrons.com/article/fund_of_information.html. Annuities? No, thanks. The death of defined-benefit retirement plans is a piece of the bigger picture of society's race to the bottom, when it comes to the welfare of the worker. In other words: screw the worker. Give the CEO an obscene bonus. And increase the pay-out for shareholders. And needless to say, that dividend is for shares in a company the average worker can't afford to buy-into.

@Bitzer: Althought this is a little dated, I believe Jason Zweig explains the difference in the two fund. If you look at a M* Snapshot of both funds you will see some difference in sector weighting, and percentage in top ten holdings.
Regards,
Ted
(Click On Article Title At Top Of Google Search)
https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&site=&source=hp&q=Upstart+Fund+Beats+its+Daddy,”+&oq=Upstart+Fund+Beats+its+Daddy,”+&gs_l=hp.3..0i22i30.7308.7308.0.10138.1.1.0.0.0.0.155.155.0j1.1.0.msedr...0...1c..61.hp..0.1.154.tIbzVN5VMn8
M* BOND Portfolio:
http://portfolios.morningstar.com/fund/summary?t=BOND&region=usa&culture=en-US
M* PTTDX Portfolio;
http://portfolios.morningstar.com/fund/summary?t=PTTDX&region=usa&culture=en-US

Hi Tampabay, Ted, JohnChisum and others,
If you are of the camp that domestic equities are cheap you might wish to visit the links that I have provided below.
The first one is Morningstar’s Market Valuation Graph. It is showing that stocks in general are currently, as of Friday’s market close, four percent overvalued.
http://www.morningstar.com/market-valuation/market-fair-value-graph.aspx
The second one appears in the WSJ and is titled P/E’s & Yields on the Major Indexes. It reflects that the S&P 500 Index is selling on a TTM of 20 where as a year ago it was selling at 17. So from a TTM P/E Ratio S&P 500 stocks have gotten more expensive over the past year by better than fifteen percent.
http://online.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3021-peyield.html?mod=wsj_mdc_additional_ustocks
And, another link that might be of interest is by Doug Short. It is titled … Is the Stock Market Cheap? Mr. Short's findings are that it is expensive with TTM earnings stalling out since September of 2014.
http://www.advisorperspectives.com/dshort/updates/PE-Ratios-and-Market-Valuation.php
I believe that I will stay with my thoughts to reconfigure my asset allocation by reducing domestic equities by about ten percent and raising my other asset area within my portfolio by a like amount. When done my asset allocation will bubble somewhere around 20% cash, 20% income, 20% domestic equity, 20% foreign equity and 20% other assets. To me, domestic stocks are expensive and bonds are not a bargin either.
Have a grand weekend … and, most of all … I wish all … “Good Investing.”
Old_Skeet

FYI; The trend of money flowing towards robo-advisers and passive asset allocators is one that is likely to continue in the current market environment. Amid the more recent backdrop of low volatility capital appreciation in stocks and bonds, it seems that the natural evolution is to put your portfolio on auto-pilot or give it to someone who is just going to rebalance it quarterly.
Regards,
Ted
http://investorplace.com/2015/02/vti-vxus-bond-gaa-4-etfs-can-hold-forever/print

FYI: (Click On Article Title At Top Of Google Search)
The U.S. Treasury wants money managers to offer plans that mimic the defined-benefit programs of yesteryear.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&site=&source=hp&q=fund+of+information+barron's&oq=fund+of+information+barron's&gs_l=hp.3..0i22i10i30.1743.12240.0.12506.28.28.0.0.0.0.135.1882.27j1.28.0.msedr...0...1c.1.61.hp..0.28.1879.eOY7HH5pl18

Why is there only one share class? Do they market the fund to any 401k plans or pensions or 529 administrators?

15 days up and 1.35% gain?
hmmm....
1.35% gain every 15 tradings days...
that is pretty good.
at 252 trading days per year, that's eye-watering!
me?
today i watched one long-term holding go up 3% and two others down 3%.
a different world.
c