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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.
  • Utilities
    .25 sounds like a lot. And it is with really large amounts that are left untouched out to 5 or 10 years. For lesser amounts:
    $20,000 invested 1 year would earn roughly an additional … $50
    $50,000 .………..1 year ……………………………………….. $125
    $75,000 …………1 year………………………………..…..…. $187.50
    What will the above extra return buy?
    $50 - A 750 ml bottle of Johnny Walker Double-Black blended Scotch whisky - including state tax.
    $125 - A nice upgrade from your $500 dollar a night room at a Manhattan hotel to a “corner view.”
    $187.50 - Taxi fare from LGA to Manhattan and back - including driver tips.
    Not sure what you're looking at there.
    Per portfolio visualizer, the difference on 20K between GLIFX and GLOFX from January 2022 to June 2023 is 82 bucks. That .25 saves on the downside too. GLIFX lost 1.3% in 2022 vs 1.55% for GLOFX.
  • Stocks About to Emerge From Bear Market
    Similar, if not identical, to a story running on (hard to link) Bloomberg
    “ less than 20 months after it began, the bear market that has engulfed the S&P 500 is a mere 260 points from being completely erased. Rather than predicting problems, chart patterns that track everything from multi-asset momentum to carriers paint a picture of booming economic activity. “
    ”Nearly $10 trillion has been returned to stock values ​​in the past nine months as job growth, consumer spending and corporate earnings defied the pessimists. The S&P 500 is up 27% from its October low and is now about 5% away from regaining the all-time high of 4,796.56 it reached in January 2022.”
    https://smaartcompany.com/stock-markets-are-about-to-emerge-from-the-bear-market-on-a-10-trillion-rally/
  • But what if stocks had not just a rough year or two, but a dismal stretch for over a decade
    ”investors’ appetite for stocks remains as robust as ever.”
    Doesn’t really deserve a response. Article exhibits gross oversimplification. “Stocks” can mean anything from the cap-weighted / tech-heavy S&P 500 to frontier markets like Laos or Nigeria. I suspect they mean the S&P. Woe is he who thinks the S&P 500 or U.S. large caps stocks the only things worth investing in. I guess such people deserve whatever they get.
    @Tarwheel says it well above.
  • Utilities
    Boneheadedness? You can’t touch this. A couple of years ago, when I had a TDA account (now closed), I had an excellent Hermes Federated MM fund that paid the highest yield around (MMPXX maybe, I don’t recall). One day I was moving spare cash into it, and made a miscalculation. I bought $50,000 too much — on margin. I didn’t realize it until about two months later, after I noticed a whopping margin interest charge.
    I contacted my TDA rep and explained that it was obviously a mistake — *nobody* would buy a MM fund on margin. He was nice enough to waive all the interest charges.
    Lesson learned. Watch your balances.
  • Utilities
    Been there, done that ! Comes under, shit happens !
    OMG same. :)
    Years ago, just before the GFC, I remember suddenly being long 16 futures contracts instead of 4 b/c I never got a confirmation back and kept refreshing the screen on the ramshackle Java-based active trading platform I was using. About 15 minutes later I nearly died when I was in such a large (an unexpected) position , which I promptly liquidated completely before catching my breath....thankfully the market remained relatively flat during that period of confusion.
    To my then-broker's credit, they credited me the few hundred bucks' I was down, plus the commissions, b/c I proved, and they confirmed, the problem was due to their platform. I was relieved, to say the least ... but rarely used that system again.
    We live, we learn.
  • Utilities
    .25 sounds like a lot. And it is with really large amounts that are left untouched out to 5 or 10 years. For lesser amounts:
    $20,000 invested 1 year would earn roughly an additional … $50
    $50,000 .………..1 year ……………………………………….. $125
    $75,000 …………1 year………………………………..…..…. $187.50
    What will the above extra return buy?
    $50 - A 750 ml bottle of Johnny Walker Double-Black blended Scotch whisky - including state tax.
    $125 - A nice upgrade from your $500 dollar a night room at a Manhattan hotel to a “corner view.”
    $187.50 - Taxi fare from LGA to Manhattan and back - including driver tips.
    Good numbers/comparisons --- though fwiw saying, on principle, I still refuse to buy mutual funds with .25 12(b)-1 fees.
  • Utilities
    .25 sounds like a lot. And it is with really large amounts that are left untouched out to 5 or 10 years. For lesser amounts:
    $20,000 invested 1 year would earn roughly an additional … $50
    $50,000 .………..1 year ……………………………………….. $125
    $75,000 …………1 year………………………………..…..…. $187.50
    What will the above extra return buy?
    $50 - A 750 ml bottle of Johnny Walker Double-Black blended Scotch whisky - including state tax.
    $125 - A nice upgrade from your $500 dollar a night room at a Manhattan hotel to a “corner view.”
    $187.50 - Taxi fare from LGA to Manhattan and back - including driver tips.
  • Utilities
    Due to a couple of bone-headed moves, I ended up with both institutional (TF) and retail (NTF) of the same fund at Schwab (not Lazard). I asked to have the retail shares, which carried a much higher ER, converted to institutional. The Schwab rep figured out how to do so I would have no taxable event, but they did charge me 49.95 as if I had bought the institutional shares in the first place. The size of the consolidated position and the difference in the ERs made it worthwhile for me. It is true that I would get nicked again if I want to add to the position. Seems that GLFOX and GLFIX are NTF and TF, respectively, chez Chuck.
  • But what if stocks had not just a rough year or two, but a dismal stretch for over a decade
    (https://humbledollar.com/2023/07/courage-required/)
    William Bernstein | Jul 22, 2023
    EVEN AFTER BEAR markets in 2020 and 2022, investors’ appetite for stocks remains as robust as ever. But what if stocks had not just a rough year or two, but a dismal stretch that lasted more than a decade? Below is an excerpt from the second edition of my book The Four Pillars of Investing, which was published earlier this month.
    In August 1979, BusinessWeek ran a cover story with the headline “The Death of Equities,” and few had trouble believing it. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which had toyed with the 1,000 level in January 1973, was now trading at 875 six-and-a-half years later. Worse, inflation was running at almost 9%. A dollar invested in the stock market in 1973 purchased just 71 cents of consumer goods, even allowing for reinvested dividends.
    According to the article, “The masses long ago switched from stocks to investments having higher yields and more protection from inflation. Now the pension funds—the market’s last hope—have won permission to quit stocks and bonds for real estate, futures, gold, and even diamonds. The death of equities looks like an almost permanent condition—reversible someday, but not soon.”
    Contrast today’s universal acceptance of stock investing with the sentiment described in the BusinessWeek article, when diamonds, gold and real estate were all the rage. The price of the yellow metal had risen from $35 an ounce in 1968 to more than $500 in 1979 and would peak at more than $800 the following year, equal to roughly $3,000 in today’s dollars. Still, there are similarities between the 1970s and today. Now the wise and lucky own houses in cities with desirable real estate. Back then, those who had purchased their houses for a song in the 1950s and 1960s were by 1980 sitting on real capital wealth beyond their wildest dreams. Stocks and bonds? “Paper assets,” sneered the conventional wisdom.
  • Perils of Chasing Star Managers + Other Fund Stories from Barron's
    FUNDS. Many STAR MANAGERS who leave for other firms, or form their own firms, don’t succeed as well (JUCAX with Bill Gross was a classic disaster). The reason may be the vast analyst, research and data support systems that they relied on at their old firms. Almost 42% of these managers didn’t even last 5 years at their new firms; the startup costs at their own firms may be high. Many firms now use multi-manager team model that reduces the impact of anyone leaving. Notable exceptions/successes include GQGPX with Rajiv Jain (and Jefferey Gundlach who succeeded with DoubleLine against all odds; notably, Howard Marks underwrote most of the initial setup costs). (By @lewisbraham at MFO)
    Many fund companies (BLK, IVZ, WT, Fidelity, etc) are flooding the SEC with new SPOT-CRYPTO ETFs and daring it to reject them all – while there are noises in the DC about GENSLER’s/SEC approach, and in a recent ongoing court case SEC vs XRP/Ripple, the judge wasn’t very sympathetic to the SEC arguments or its general approach to securities regulations. BlackRock’s/BLK spot-crypto approach is novel in that it will use Coinbase/COIN trading platform, but the Nasdaq/NDAQ exchange will provide assistance for detecting fraud, manipulation, etc. BlackRock has had 576 ETFs approved with only 1 rejection, so, will its spot-crypto ETFs be its 2nd rejection, or does it know something that others don’t? Anyway, several other filers have also adjusted their spot-crypto ETF filings in a way similar to BlackRock. On another front, Fidelity, Schwab, etc are developing an alternate crypto exchange that is modelled after traditional US exchanges. (One thought is that the SEC suddenly throws in the towel by saying that this crypto stuff has now sufficiently matured, or Gensler is just dumped).
    An insightful Q&A:
    Louis-Vincent GAVE, Gavekal Research. There are huge GEOPOLITICAL shifts going on in Europe, Asia, Middle East. It’s astounding that the peace deal between SAUDI ARABIA and IRAN has been brokered by CHINA (!) – this is like the peace between France and Germany after WWII, and possibly, a future peace between China and India. For China, an immense benefit will be a land pipeline from Saudi Arabia to Iran to ? to China. The possibility of a US/Western oil shipment embargo for China during any conflict with the US has spooked China. Then, there is this new DOLLAR DIPLOMACY that is causing gradual but steady shift away from dollar-trading and dollar-reserves into local/regional currencies. The dollar index (based on a fixed currency basket) is outdated – many already use trade-weighted dollar. The EMs ex-China are actually booming now, but the EM indexes are held back by the heavy weight from lagging China. Forget AI and Nasdaq, the markets in Argentina, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico have outperformed. It still isn’t too late to participate as the EMs are under-owned and most US investors have sworn off the non-US markets. Nothing against AI, but AI will also be huge in EMs, and people would find better/cheaper alternatives to overpriced MSFT, NVDA, etc.
    JAPAN is finally changing – it has inflation and rising rates and there will be a massive shift from bonds to equities. But it will be very volatile near-term (it is said that Japan is the most cyclical among the global markets). CHINA has lagged because it didn’t have huge stimuluses during the pandemic and its Covid problems are hardly over. But that is changing. Soon, the world may wake up to the day when Chinese global auto exports will exceed those by Japan. President Xi Jinping has to realize that China’s future lies in the tech sector and everything else will be secondary (economic growth, domestic consumption, etc) (with his power assured, he may flip on policy easily). Many Chinese stocks have sold off sharply, are under-owned, but have huge future potential.
    LINK
  • Utilities
    The Automatic Investment program allows purchasing additional shares for $5 at Fidelity.
    IIRC, this can be setup to make a single purchase.
    Automatic Investment is listed in GLFIX Transaction Fee footnotes (click Additional Important Information).
    It's probably best to contact Fido directly to confirm program availability.
    GLFIX Fees
  • Harbor Small Cap Explorer ETF will be liquidated
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1860434/000119312523191398/d505828d497.htm
    497 1 d505828d497.htm HARBOR SMALL CAP EXPLORER ETF PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT


    Harbor ETF Trust

    Supplement to Prospectus dated April 6, 2023
    Harbor Small Cap Explorer ETF
    July 21, 2023
    Harbor ETF Trust’s Board of Trustees has determined to liquidate and dissolve Harbor Small Cap Explorer ETF (the “Fund”). After the close of business on August 22, 2023, subject to applicable law, the Fund will no longer accept creation orders. Trading in the Fund will be halted prior to market open on August 23, 2023. The Fund is currently scheduled to liquidate at the close of business on or about August 30, 2023 (the “Liquidation Date”).
    Shareholders may sell their holdings of the Fund on NYSE Arca, Inc. (“NYSE Arca”) until market close on August 22, 2023 and may incur typical transaction fees from their broker-dealers. At the time the liquidation of the Fund is complete, shares of the Fund will be redeemed. If you still hold shares on the Liquidation Date, you will receive a liquidating distribution of cash in the cash portion of your brokerage account equal to the amount of the net asset value of your shares. Shareholders who receive a liquidating distribution generally will recognize a capital gain or loss equal to the amount received for their shares over their adjusted basis in such shares if shares are held in a taxable account. The liquidating distribution received by a shareholder, if any, may be in an amount that is greater or less than the amount a shareholder might receive if they dispose of their shares on NYSE Arca prior to market close on August 22, 2023. The Fund may or may not, depending upon its circumstances, pay one or more dividends or other distributions prior to or along with the redemption payments. Please consult your personal tax advisor about the potential tax consequences.
    In order to ready the Fund for liquidation, the Fund’s portfolio of investments will be transitioned prior to the planned Liquidation Date to one that consists of all or substantially all cash, cash equivalents and debt securities with remaining maturities of less than one year. As a result, shareholders should no longer expect that the Fund will seek to achieve its investment objective of seeking long-term growth of capital. Furthermore, during the time between market close on August 22, 2023 and the Liquidation Date, shareholders will be unable to dispose of their shares on NYSE Arca.
    The changes to the Fund’s investment policy that were previously disclosed to shareholders in a notice dated June 6, 2023 will no longer be implemented.
  • AXS 1.5X PYPL Bull Daily and AXS Brendan Wood TopGun Index ETFs will be liquidated
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1587982/000139834423013352/fp0084562-2_497.htm
    497 1 fp0084562-2_497.htm
    AXS 1.5X PYPL Bull Daily ETF
    Ticker: PYPT
    AXS Brendan Wood TopGun Index ETF
    Ticker: TGN
    Each a series of Investment Managers Series Trust II (the “Trust”)
    Supplement dated July 21, 2023 to each currently effective
    Prospectus, Summary Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”).
    The Board of Trustees of the Trust has approved a Plan of Liquidation for each of the AXS Brendan Wood TopGun Index ETF and the AXS 1.5X PYPL Bull Daily ETF (each, a “Fund”). Each Plan of Liquidation authorizes the termination, liquidation and dissolution of the respective Fund.
    Each Fund will create and redeem creation units through August 11, 2023 (the “Closing Date”), which will also be the last day of trading on The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC, with respect to the AXS 1.5X PYPL Bull Daily ETF, and on NYSE Arca, Inc., with respect to the AXS Brendan Wood TopGun Index ETF, each Fund’s principal U.S. listing exchange. On or about August 18, 2023 (the “Liquidation Date”), each Fund will cease operations, liquidate its assets, and prepare to distribute proceeds to shareholders of record as of the Liquidation Date. Shareholders of record on the Liquidation Date will receive cash at the net asset value of their shares as of such date. While Fund shareholders remaining on the Liquidation Date will not incur transaction fees, any liquidation proceeds paid to a shareholder should generally be treated as received in exchange for shares and will therefore generally give rise to a capital gain or loss depending on the shareholder’s tax basis. Shareholders (including but not limited to shareholders holding shares through tax-deferred accounts) should contact their tax advisers to discuss the income tax consequences of the liquidation. Under certain circumstances, liquidation proceeds may be subject to withholding taxes.
    In anticipation of the liquidation of each Fund, AXS Investments LLC, the Funds’ advisor, may manage each Fund in a manner intended to facilitate its orderly liquidation, such as by raising cash or making investments in other highly liquid assets. As a result, during this time, all or a portion of each Fund may not be invested in a manner consistent with its stated investment strategies, which may prevent each Fund from achieving its investment objective. Shareholders of each Fund may sell their holdings on The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC, with respect to the AXS 1.5X PYPL Bull Daily ETF, and the NYSE Arca, Inc., with respect to the AXS Brendan Wood TopGun Index ETF, on or prior to the Closing Date. Customary brokerage charges may apply to such transactions. After the Closing Date, we cannot assure you that there will be a market for your shares.
    Please contact the Funds at 1-303-623-2577 if you have any questions or need assistance.
    Please file this Supplement with your records.
  • AXS Thomson Reuters Private Equity Return Tracker Fund will be liquidated
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1587982/000139834423013353/fp0084562-1_497.htm
    497 1 fp0084562-1_497.htm
    AXS Thomson Reuters Private Equity Return Tracker Fund
    Class A Shares: LDPAX
    Class C Shares: LDPCX
    Class I Shares: LDPIX
    A series of Investment Managers Series Trust II (the “Trust”)
    Supplement dated July 21, 2023 to the
    Prospectus, Summary Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”),
    each dated February 1, 2023.
    The Board of Trustees of the Trust has approved a Plan of Liquidation for the AXS Thomson Reuters Private Equity Return Tracker Fund (the “Fund”). The Plan of Liquidation authorizes the termination, liquidation and dissolution of the Fund. In order to perform such liquidation, effective immediately the Fund is closed to all new investment.
    The Fund will be liquidated on or about August 18, 2023 (the “Liquidation Date”), and shareholders may redeem their shares until the Liquidation Date. Redemptions made on or after the date of this Supplement will not be subject to any redemption fee that would otherwise be applicable. On or promptly after the Liquidation Date, the Fund will make a liquidating distribution to its remaining shareholders equal to each shareholder’s proportionate interest in the net assets of the Fund, in complete redemption and cancellation of the Fund’s shares held by the shareholder, and the Fund will be dissolved. Any liquidation proceeds paid to a shareholder should generally be treated as received in exchange for shares and will therefore generally give rise to a capital gain or loss depending on the shareholder’s tax basis. Shareholders (including but not limited to shareholders holding shares through tax-deferred accounts) should contact their tax advisers to discuss the income tax consequences of the liquidation. Under certain circumstances, liquidation proceeds may be subject to withholding taxes.
    In anticipation of the liquidation of the Fund, AXS Investments LLC, the Fund’s advisor, may manage the Fund in a manner intended to facilitate its orderly liquidation, such as by raising cash or making investments in other highly liquid assets. As a result, during this time, all or a portion of the Fund may not be invested in a manner consistent with its stated investment strategies, which may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective.
    Please contact the Fund at 1-833-297-2587 if you have any questions or need assistance.
    Please file this Supplement with your records.
  • Utilities
    Thank you @msf. Will give it a shot! And thanks @WABC for sharing that.
    I haven’t said much about this one because I was hoping it wouldn’t achieve the type of “celebratory status” everything Mr. Giroux touches enjoys. Two very different approaches for sure.
    Re: (“I've done this type of transaction a couple of times at Fidelity”.) ;)
    I won’t feel badly if it doesn’t work. But with 100% now at Fidelity, they might be willing to budge a bit. My greater concern isn’t so much the 25 BP - but just getting this set up before something changes in the rules governing these funds.
  • Utilities
    Ask Fidelity to convert the GLFOX shares GLFIX. Assuming that Lazard will allow it, the transaction should go through without a transaction fee since you're not buying shares, just converting them. (I've done this type of transaction a couple of times at Fidelity.)
    Likewise, it may not count as a sale (60 day NTF restriction) since you're not selling the shares. But check with Fidelity to be sure.
    And it was @WABAC who highlighted the 25 basis point savings.
  • Utilities
    Thanks @msf .25 BP difference! That’s significant. I recently ramped up GLFOX so it is well over the 10K minimum for IRAs. But probably need to wait near 60 days to make the move. Chances Fido might grant an exemption probably slim … than there’s the additional question of frequent trading at Lazzard if I do it too soon.
    OK - I reread @msf’s post. Looks like with over 10K at Fido you can get the reduced ER on GLFOX / GLFIX. Do you know what the initial investment in GLFIX might be? I probably could start moving a sizable chunk Monday. For GLFOX Fido’s minimum is $2500.
    Nice thing to know.
  • Utilities
    GLIFX - $10K min in Fido IRAs, $100K min in taxable accounts.
    At Schwab, the min is $2,500, but you don't have Fidelity's trick of paying $5 for additional shares. (OTOH, some people claim to have gotten Schwab to waive its TFs.)
    At Vanguard, min is $10K (IRA or taxable), but $20 TF for both purchases and sales. (Limited number of waivers for Flagship customers.)
    At Firstrade and at E*Trade, min is $10K (IRA or taxable), no TF.
    Not available at Merrill.
  • Utilities
    Through 2022, we increased "defensive" allocation including utility, consumer staples and health care (all ETFs). They are a hedge against a bad case of recession. so far, healthcare held up the best and utility lags the other two ETFs. I do not consider these stock ETFs are substitutes for bonds since they are different animals.
    GLOFX is in our radar, but we need to sell something to make room for this fund.
    If you are at Fidelity you can step up to the institutional class for their standard fee, and save yourself .25 on the ER. It makes a big difference since a lot of the return comes from cap gains and dividends.