President Barack Obama is expected to propose a major change to 529 college-savings plans--removing a tax benefit that has attracted parents to these investment vehicles for years.
The president’s State of the Union address Tuesday night is expected to include a long list of proposed tax changes. Among them: no longer allowing earnings on new contributions in 529 plans to be withdrawn tax-free.
If that became law, it would be a major revision to 529 plans, and plan experts say such a change would likely result in contributions to these plans declining substantially. “Contributions would dry up in 529 plans, “ says Joe Hurley, founder of Savingforcollege.com, which tracks 529 plans
Regards,
Ted
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/obama-wants-to-reduce-tax-breaks-for-529-plans-2015-01-20/print

A quick heads-up: this discussion was flagged. We did, indeed, seem to be getting rather more heated, and more personal, than is healthy. So, I closed the thread and deleted some of the more personal commentary. Subsequent readers might notice some disjointed remarks, many of which might simply refer back to now-deleted content.
Back to wondering whether the euro at $1.12 means I could afford to visit family in Ireland this year. It's a happy thought. David

FYI: Long-term investors are getting a rare signal suggesting that now might be a great time to buy stocks — that is, if they are willing to risk a potential rough patch in the near term.
For just the fourth time in over 50 years, the S&P 500’s dividend yield moved last week above the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note. If history is any guide, this means 2015 could be a very good year for the stock market
Regards,
Ted
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/stock-dividend-yields-are-above-treasury-yields----and-thats-bullish-2015-01-20/print

SPDR Gold Trust assets surge
Jan 20 2015, 10:45 ET | About: SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD) | By: Stephen Alpher, SA News Editor
Gold holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust (GLD +1.3%) jumped by 1.9% on Friday to 730.89 metric tons - the biggest one-day gain in nearly five years. For the week, holdings rose 3.3%.
http://seekingalpha.com/news/2230086-spdr-gold-trust-assets-surge
Nat Gas tumbles
The United States Natural Gas ETF, LP (UNG) - NYSEARCA
$14.41-1.28(-8.16%) 12:45 PM, 01/20
Saudi Arabia has provided a bit of bad news, stating it's pushing back the completion date for its massive clean energy program (includes $109B worth of solar investments) by 8 years to 2040. Unlike many of its top energy customers, Saudi Arabia depends heavily on oil (suddenly much cheaper) for electricity production.U.S. solar stocks are also underperforming, but less dramatically. The Guggenheim Solar ETF (TAN -2.3%) is less than $0.30 away from its 52-week low of $31.77.
http://seekingalpha.com/news/2230496-chinese-solar-stocks-off-sharply

FYI: Exchange-traded funds tracking China shares are falling in the U.S. on Tuesday, their first chance to react to waves of news over from the world’s second-largest economy.
Regards,
Ted
http://blogs.barrons.com/focusonfunds/2015/01/20/china-etfs-sinking-in-u-s-hit-by-echoes-of-regulatory-crackdown/tab/print/

Hi @Mark and @kevindow
Mark, I did exclude FENY in error; as we would be using our Fido IRA brokerage accts. for any purchase in this sector. Thank you for shaking my brain cells.
Kevindow, thank you for the notations regarding these other etfs to consider.
Note: We will continue to monitor this sector. NYMEX crude is down again this morning by about -2.4%; and one may expect a lot of bouncing in this current environment of pricing, IMO. As a form of bottom fishing in this area, we would likely average into this sector; with a goal (within a few months) to have at least 5% of total portfolio exposure to be meaningful.
With our current equity exposure mix, we remain U.S. centered (although many holdings have global exposure, of course) with 40% healthcare, 38% broadbased (80% large cap) and 22% real estate.
I expect an "interesting" year and had thought that 2015 might be a time to reduce investment grade bonds. I don't find that waving flag just yet. :)
Take care,
Catch

FYI: From a big year for European equities to precious metals and bonds, here are some ideas of where value may lie in 2015.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20150120/BLOG09/150119926?template=printart

@JohnChisum
Thanks for the heads up on SBIO. I have placed SBIO along with the recently launched BBP and BBC on my HC watch list. All of these ETFs are very young, and have inadequate daily trading volume by my standards. I see no reason to be an early buyer of these funds.
As I have stated before, I remain very positive on HC and biotech for 2015 and beyond. So far this year, I have increased my position in PRHSX up to 14.5% and added a 6.5% position in FBT.
Kevin

>> implying along the possibility of
>> comparing versus manager tenure.
>> If funds did not perform after changes in management,
\\\ Sentence structure and punctuation make a huge difference in reading.
No kiddin'.
>> our database does not account for category drift...or, manager drift, sad to say...past performance, numbers only.
I have an idea. How about a cell or field for manager tenure? In years. There's a number.
In fact, I may be misremembering FA HR, but did not Weitz et alia have something along those lines?
>> Of the 1800 or so surviving funds that have been around 20 years, only about 30 are top quintile across all five evaluation periods (20, 10, 5, 3, and 1 year), yes even in 2014.
>> Some of them are: ...
>> Meridian Growth Legacy (MERDX)
The current managers of this venerable fund have been on the job for like a year and a half. Gosh and golly, should I invest in it? I pray it has magical momentum. I wonder how the new guys will do. Is there any way to tell? Does the brandname confer skill? Were they trainees?
Well, no, no, and who the hell knows? It is a scandal this is an MFO Great Owl. Makes the site look ridiculous. People are always going off about Fidelity manager tenure and turnover, and here this venerable site dares to list effectively a brand-new fund as a Great Owl. Makes all the wonderful data work that goes into the effort dubious.
Here is M* from a few months ago:
\\\ This mid-growth fund's future was uncertain after Rick Aster, the lead manager since its 1984 inception, passed away in early 2012. Other investors from his team then oversaw the portfolio, but most had other funds to manage as well and Aster's eponymous firm was left rudderless. In 2013, Arrowpoint Partners (founded by three former Janus portfolio managers in 2007) agreed to purchase Aster's firm and take over the fund. Arrowpoint hired Chad Meade and Brian Schaub, who amassed a superb seven-year record at Janus Triton (JATTX), away from Janus to run the Meridian fund. They took over in September 2013 following a shareholder vote.
\\\ Meade and Schaub's early returns here are subpar; the fund trails both its typical peer and the Russell 2500 Growth Index (a mix of small- and mid-cap stocks that also served as the benchmark for Janus Triton) by 3 and 2 percentage points, respectively. But they've demonstrated an ability to pick winners among both rapid growers and more-stable fare over the longer haul. A six-person analyst team that includes several former Janus colleagues supports them, and they are working with a smaller asset base than they had in their last two years at Triton.
Seriously, is it too much to ask for a trigger or criterion screen having to do with manager tenure, so brand-new funds, whatever their name, do not get the highest designation this site has to offer? An absurd situation.

hello sir
not much difference the two
http://etfdailynews.com/2015/01/06/3-best-etfs-for-2015/
http://www.google.com/finance?q=xle&ei=QL69VKCbK5SU9AbTsYDADg
we do have VDE in our portfolio for quite awhile and happy with it. But I think you'll be happy with either one of them [split 50:50?]
good luck

Geez, these NURO guys are getting NO credit! Market cap is $13MN. This is tiny of the tiny and it doesn't look like there's been any real bounce from the announcement that they were going to introduce the product. If it does well I guess this will be a superstar investment, but right now it seems like no one's willing to bet on that.
I wrote a bunch on Friday night about the exoskeleton companies, didn't quite finish, and then Windows kindly installed updates overnight and restarted my computer so I lost it. The basic gist was that you can see what funds/etfs own Ekso, Cyberdyne and ReWalk in this ownership section of M*'s quote page for each. These guys all went public in 2014 and there's not much interest from funds, although Ekso is clearly the least "discovered" and maybe you could even say its undiscovered considering the only fund that owns it is called 3D Printing and Technology and it has a whopping $2.8 million in AUM. Ekso seems to be the one with ties to the military and they're clearly getting funding from the military to develop those applications. Cyberdyne is the biggest in terms of market cap and seems to have made good progress in Germany, getting their product covered by state medical.
My conclusion was that Ekso seems like the most interesting opportunity at the moment because of their ties to the military, because they're clearly not discovered and because one of their 2015 goals is to be listed on a primary exchange. In addition, what's written about them on their own site and by Forbes is that they have the best technology out there. The biggest risk I see is that they say they'll need cash by the middle of this year and that'll mean dilution, but they've been very open about that so maybe its priced in. ReWalk has FDA approval, which is nice and they're in a better cash position than Ekso plus they've also made inroads with Germany, but somehow it just seems like they don't have as broad a relationship base as Ekso does in terms of future potential.
Thanks JC for bringing this up!

Switzerland, now this.
You will look like a genius if you have anything paying interest or dividends now.
Denmark's central bank cuts deposit rate to -0.2%
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/denmarks-central-bank-cuts-deposit-rate-to--02-2015-01-19-10913628

XLE and VDE are about a coin toss for ER at .16 and .12 . XLE has 44 holdings and VDE has 144; being all of the big energy companies. I also reviewed IYE, with similar holdings, but an ER of .45%.
Both XLE and VDE may be "played" with options, too. Not by this house, but by others.
All of these moved about +3.2% with last Friday's close
Thank you for your considerations.
Catch

@Soupkitchen
Mark's link, yes.
Basically, the "TTM" is the previous 12 month period average of what the stock or fund was paying. For the two funds you noted, both the dividends from equities held and yields from bonds held in the fund were higher during the prior 12 month period. As the price of either or both the equity and bond holdings increased, the dividend/yield moved lower. Which was generally the case for both in 2014. This TTM will vary depending upon what is held within any given fund based upon the mix.
The 30 day yield is related (as noted in Mark's link) to the most recent short time period, usually based at the end of the prior month (in this case, Dec. of 2014).
The funds you noted show yields decreasing; being from price appreciation during the previous 12 month period.
The same applies to high yield/junk bonds; but in reverse to what you find with the funds you mentioned.
SPHIX is an example: 12 months ago, more folks were still buying junk bonds, moving prices up and yields down. Today is the reverse, with folks selling junk bonds causing pricing to move down and yields to much higher.
TTM for the above fund is 5.44% (average). The 30 day SEC yield is 6.08%.
'Course, related to investment grade bonds in particular; is some of the supposedly sharp folks who talk on the tv and write articles; is that how can one expect to make any money with IG bonds with such crappy, low yields. Seldom do they note what happened to the bond pricing as yields continued downward. The answer, of course; is that investors made money on the price appreciation, not really caring about the yield, as long as it (the yield) was still going down.
Hope this helds somewhat.
Regards,
Catch

Help here maybe:
http://ibd.morningstar.com/article/article.asp?id=594471&CN=brf295,http://ibd.morningstar.com/archive/archive.asp?inputs=days=14;frmtId=12, brf295

I've been looking at a fund that has a 4.67% TTM yield, at the same time having a 2.99% 30 day SEC yield. What would the difference be between the two yields (not mathematically :), and why are the numbers so different? Oh, the fund is CAIBX by the way. Looking at another income fund, VWINX, I see that the two yields are almost the same. 3.10% TTM and 2.53% 30 day. What gives?

@catch. Yep.
Here's some Bio on the author Priya Anand from Likiden. Nothing in her background relating to financial training or experience. https://www.linkedin.com/in/prianand
Here's The Newsroom Roster from MarketWatch. Most seem to have only Liberal Arts and Journalism backgrounds.http://www.marketwatch.com/newsroom/roster
To be fair, perhaps 25% (being generous) have degrees in Finance, Economics or some other type of financial experience. (Some intriguing descriptions: "mutual funds analyst" and "broker-trader")

Even healthy people over the age of 65 show “profound declines in cognitive function” that affect their financial decision-making ...
Maybe all posts here should have poster's age prominently displayed? (Like those EPA window stickers?)
-
(I think it would be fun writing for Marketwatch. Begin with a shred of evidence ... than let your imagination run. Very compelling writing - if greatly exaggerated and distorted.)

Hi David.
I love you man.
I agree.
15 years is about the most we can hope for with single manager.
But I do not know for sure...our database does not account for category drift...or, manager drift, sad to say...past performance, numbers only.
Here are some of the 10 year funds with top-quintile risk-adjusted performance across the past 10, 5, 3, and even 1 year evaluation periods through Dec 2014. (I left off most of the sector funds and munis.)
Access Capital Community Investment I (ACCSX)
American Century Mid Cap Value Inv (ACMVX)
AMG Chicago Equity Partners Bal Instl (MBEYX)
Artisan International Value Investor (ARTKX)
Buffalo Discovery (BUFTX)
First Trust Value Line Dividend ETF (FVD)
GE Instl Premier Growth Equity Inv (GEIPX)
Guinness Atkinson Global Innovators (IWIRX)
Hennessy Equity and Income Institutional (HEIIX)
Homestead Small Company Stock (HSCSX)
iShares Morningstar Large-Cap (JKD)
iShares S&P 500 Growth (IVW)
JPMorgan Mid Cap Value Instl (FLMVX)
Metropolitan West Total Return Bond M (MWTRX)
PIMCO Intl StksPLUS AR Strat (USD-Hg) A (PIPAX)
PIMCO StocksPLUS Absolute Return Instl (PSPTX)
Pinnacle Value (PVFIX)
Principal MidCap R2 (PMBNX)
RidgeWorth Conservative Allc Strat I (SCCTX)
SEI Moderate Strategy Allc A (SAAT) (SXMAX)
SEI US Managed Volatility A (SIMT) (SVOAX)
Shelton Nasdaq-100 Index Direct (NASDX)
T. Rowe Price Diversified Sm Cap Growth (PRDSX)
T. Rowe Price Global Technology (PRGTX)
T. Rowe Price Instl Mid-Cap Equity Gr (PMEGX)
T. Rowe Price Instl Small-Cap Stock (TRSSX)
Vanguard Target Retirement 2015 Inv (VTXVX)
Vanguard Target Retirement 2045 Inv (VTIVX)

Hi @JohnChisum
Chart for DLFNX set for 50, 100 & 200 days, over a 3 year period, RSI (relative strength) at 14.
Chart for DLFNX set for 10 & 39 days, over 1 year period, RSI at 14, smooth moving average.
There are numerous other setting one may fiddle with below the chart in 3 different areas. Also, just to the right of the ticker symbol; these charts are set for weekly price movements. This may be changed to daily. An "inspect" box may be checked to allow some other functions with the cursor over the graph.
I have only studied a few of the features available at this site. Wish I had more time in the day.
Take care,
Catch

Take a look at the components, and it's not hard to realize that it is not "up" at all for 2015.