FUNDS. Another piece on high yearend CG distributions. (This piece by Lauren Foster seems to be based on a longer piece by @LewisBraham in the Guide to Wealth supplement, see below)
INCOME from EM dividend-stocks – CEMDX / CEMIX with holdings in Brazil, China, Greece, Mexico.
RETIREMENT. The good news is that Americans have $39 trillion in RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS. But the bad news is that only 54.3% have defined-contribution (DC) retirement accounts, 13% have traditional defined-benefit (DB) pensions, and accounting for overlaps, that leaves lots of Americans without ANY retirement funds beyond Social Security (1935- ). The average balance in DC accounts is only $86K. In the very old days, people worked until they died. Pensions were a creation of Industrial Revolution to make room for younger employees by luring older workers to “retire”, and the first retirement fund was by American Express in 1875. It didn’t catch on right away, and then the Great Depression came (1930s), and the SSA was created. Employees liked old pensions, but employers saw them as growing liabilities. According to the father of 401k, Ted BENNA, 401k was by accident from the short 869-word section (subtitled 401k) in the 1978 revenue Act that allowed pretax employer and employee contributions for retirements (unclear who slipped that in). Companies caught on to this quickly, and by 1983, there were already 7.1 million 401k accounts, now 60 million accounts. The great shift from old pensions to 401k/403b also started. But 401k/403b aren’t perfect, and while auto-signups and auto-escalations have helped, that hasn’t been enough (especially for lower-income and self-employed groups and small businesses). (By Kenneth Pringle who has authored some great historical pieces)
Supplement, GUIDE TO WEALTH.
Yearend tips for portfolios: Max 401k/403b, make IRA contributions and/or Roth conversions, payoff high-rate debt, deploy some tech profits into bonds, rebalance if far from targets, consider alternatives, keep cash in higher-rate money-market funds. Some stock and bond ideas are also included.
Several high 2023 yearend mutual fund distributions are mentioned: IYVAX, KLCKX, FMXKX, CREEX, DHSCX, JPDEX (tax-aware!), BTIIX (SP500!). Heavy outflows and/or manager change are reasons. The ETFs avoid this problem due to their tax-efficient design. There are also direct-indexed accounts that can do TLH; some of these accept mutual funds (in-kind) that they can slowly adjust with TLH. Mutual fund holders with huge CG distributions may also sell them ahead if their unrealized gains are not large. For individuals, excess TLH net losses beyond $3K/yr offset of ordinary income can be carried over to future years. Tax issues don’t matter in tax-deferred/free accounts. Charitably inclined may contribute highly appreciated securities to DAFs or directly to charities (but one has to itemize to claim charitable deductions). (By @LewisBraham at MFO)
Top yearend ideas from 5 financial pros:
Cheryl HOLLAND/Abacus: Family talks about finances around holidays.
Patrick FRUZZETI/Rose-Hightower: TLH, QCDs, CRTs from IRAs, DAFs.
Matthew SPRADLIN/Godfrey & Spradlin-Steward Partners: 529s – split w/spouse to max state tax benefits; use 5-yr forward for 5x annual contributions (but cannot contribute more for 5 years), individual 401k for proprietors.
Indrika ARNOLD/Colony Group: Gifting with purpose – it’s a good feeling when gift recipients benefit from gifts while you are around.
Mark MUMFORD/Hollow Brook: TLH, gifts.
LINK
Those interested may also check the International Roundtable in Part 1.

ROSOX has underpeformed 100% cash holdings since inception. Will the fund be returning the management fees to shareholders?
I have my doubts about this one going forward...one of top holdings is PUMA...ask any German teen/young adult and they will tell you none of the cool kids rock PUMAs...likely a number three or four sneaker choice over there...but, but, the fundamentals, yada yada yada...
Isn't this fund more a currency play going forward...you prolly better in something like RESD Wisdom Intl ESG fund...(I see your NWBOC WBE certification and raise you a ESG Rondure...sheet....94.25% of investors don't care if the peoples running their monies are white, black, brown, blue hair, men, lefty's, conservatives, women, LGBT etc as long as they are of good character, high degree of integrity and perform...i.e, make shareholders money)
Best Regards,
BF

Just took a look at a legendary small cap offering from TRP (PRNHX). Recall when it was a stand-out performer (under a manager who later left and struck out on his own) and shut its door to new investors more than a decade ago, leaving many clamoring to get in. (Looks like they’ve reopened it.)
… Up + 57.7% in 2020 / Down - 37% in 2022. I have to ask - Who in their right mind would want to own something like that? ISTM you’d have to have ice in your veins. FWIW - M*’s analysts award it a “silver” rating, their second highest.
Suppose funds like that are great for speculating. But a difficult long term hold. Brings to mind @Mark’s recent quip about being left without a chair when the music stops.

From the Capital Group summary page for CGDV:

Summary
"Value" refined. Seeks to produce consistent income that exceeds the average yield of the S&P 500 by focusing on companies that pay dividends or have the potential to pay dividends.

Fund Objective
The fund's investment objectives are to produce income exceeding the average yield on U.S. stocks generally and to provide an opportunity for growth of principal consistent with sound common stock investing.

Distinguishing Characteristics
Invests primarily in dividend-paying stocks of larger established U.S. companies.

Risk/reward is relative to time. Depends on your goals of course, but if you aren't timing the markets, this fund has, and I think will continue over time to have a better risk/reward return than cash at 5.3% - and dropping.

Maybe still a really good fund but hasn't outperformed cash on a return/risk basis..yet?

YTD return of CGDV is over 16% while money market funds yield 5.3%. It will likely to outperform cash next year.
CGDV is more of a blend large cap ETF and Morningstar messed up again.

I’ve been buying longer term CDs (3-5 years) lately based on my presumption that rates were peaking. I was able to buy a number of call protected issues with yields all exceeding 5%, but available yields have dropped to 4.5-4.7% over the past couple weeks, so I’m glad that I acted when I did. However, I have a number of Treasuries maturing from December through March, and I’m afraid that yields exceeding 5% will not be available by then.

We seem forever in search of the gray clouds that must surely envelop our silver linings. I'm feeling rather more thankful than gray today.
For the fact that stores are closed today and families together, thanks. I know it was triggered by the pandemic, but it seems a fundamentally healthy reminder that we don't need to consume constantly and might want to connect with people instead.
For the fact that unemployment is near historic lows for people both black and white, and wages are near the highest rate this century, I'm thankful. More young people need to find a path to a life that requires only one job and offers a safe home (a third of young adults now live with their parents which is great if it's a planned multi-generational home, less great if it's a last resort), perhaps from an economy less enchanted by billionaires than by thousandaires.
For the fact that the US will produce 4.7 billion tons of CO2 this year ... down by 25% from 2006, likely down again next year, with the energy sector producing the lowest emissions since 1974, thanks. Our survival hinges on doing more, but we are doing.
For the fact that Chip and Will and I will share dinner tonight, cooking and eating, cleaning and talking, all together and in reasonably good health, I'm endlessly thankful.
Likewise, for the stack of unread books beside my chair and unopened wine in the basement.
For the fact that you are here, and reading this. The people we interview - managers and others - sometimes marvel at the quality of work we produce, uncompensated. And I've tried to be patient and amiable in explaining to them that compensation comes in many forms ... in community and exchange, banter and comfortable retreats ... not all of which are reported to the IRS.
And for role in that, most especially, thanks from all the folks behind the curtain.

Not here. The month of October have scare off many toward the safety of money market funds. From the peak-to-trough cycle in end of October, S&P500 gained over 10%.

All comments below are about CP, brokerage CDs, 2-5 year durations.
VG: Bought a New Issue CD last week that met my hurdle. No worthy Secondary Issue opportunities at the time of my BUY.
Fido: Bought a New Issue CD Monday that met my hurdle. There were some worthy Secondary Issue opportunities available then but none that were good enough to best the New Issue. Still looking to add one more rung and may well go the Secondary Issue route on it. Have been trying some low-ball offers to juice the effective APY but so far no takers
Overall: I've been building CP CD ladders for 15 years. HUGE drops in inventory from the BIG 10-year event earlier this month that only happen with BIG events like that. Some significant drops from the peak at the 3-5 year levels. HUGE amount of BUYing New Issue as they came on line yesterday. We appear to be past the peak. If you snoozed, you losed!

I track ICI fund allocations monthly, so I looked up the recent history.
In mid-2022, when the Fed just started to raise rates, the allocation to m-mkt funds on 5/23/22 was 14.95%. The most recent report on 9/30/23 had it at 18.37%. That +3.4% shift is huge as +/- 1% is about +/- 300 billion. The shift was from all other categories - stocks, hybrids, bonds. (There is about 1-month lag in the monthly data, so 10/31/23 report will be available soon)
5/31/23 OEFs & ETFs: Stocks 58.89%, Hybrids 5.76%, Bonds 20.40%, M-Mkt 14.95%
9/30/23 OEFs & ETFs: Stocks 57.72%, Hybrids 4.83%, Bonds 19.08%, M-Mkt 18.37%
A sample point during the ZIRP in 2017 had m-mkt allocation only at 12.9% (but that seems high in hindsight considering that the rate then was almost 0%).
12/31/17 OEFs & ETFs: Stocks 59.3%, Hybrids 7.0%, Bonds 20.8%, M-Mkt 12.9%
These allocation shifts include both inflows/outflows AND price changes.

I don’t know why so many seem to assume that investors are selling stocks to put in money markets. I’ve been holding steady on stock allocations but selling bonds funds to invest in MMs, Treasuries and CDs. What are often called “plain vanilla bond funds “ are the biggest disasters in my portfolio over the past two years. I expect stock funds to fluctuate a lot in value. I did not expect my “safe” bond funds to crater. How many years will it take for investors to recover from losses in bond funds? It’s not like they’re known for 20-30% returns in a year, like stock funds.
I still have substantial money in short-term and multi-sector bond funds that have fared less poorly, but I’ll keep buying Treasuries and CDs as long as the generous yields hold up. I’ll take a guarantee 5% return any day over bond funds that continue to lose money. At some point I’ll start buying bond funds again, particularly if CD and Treasury yields drop a lot. However, my CD/Treasury ladder will take me out five years.

AAII Sentiment Survey, 11/22/23
BULLISH remained the top sentiment (45.3%; above average) & bearish remained the bottom sentiment (23.6%, below average); neutral remained the middle sentiment (31.1%, average); Bull-Bear Spread was +21.7% (above average). Investor concerns: Budget; inflation; economy; the Fed; dollar; crypto regulations; market volatility (VIX, VXN, MOVE); Russia-Ukraine (91+ weeks, 2/24/22-now); Israel-Hamas (6+ weeks); geopolitical. For the Survey week (Th-Wed), stocks were up, bonds up, oil up, gold up, dollar down. SEC is talking to crypto filers about changes. Nonprofits controlling for-profits created a live thriller at OpenAI. #AAII #Sentiment #Markets
https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/post/1262/thread

No need to over-think this one. As long ago as April 2023 there were articles being written about the huge MM inflows. The last line of this article pretty much says it all:
"Money goes where money grows."
https://www.marketplace.org/2023/04/05/billions-moved-to-money-market-funds/

Which begs the question of who do you think is selling out and depositing their funds there? Bezos? Institutions? Small investors playing the FOMO game will be left w/o a chair when/if the music stops.

Huh? Who would not do this when spare cash can now earn 5.3% ??
And what does the last sentence even mean? What is FOMO and music-stopping with mm funds returning this new rate safely?
I myself am puzzled at how ML can offer the slightly higher-rate Fido MM funds (w significant ERs, no less) which are $1M min at Fido itself. Wild.

”The ICI release came in at $5.76 trillion in m-mkt funds on 11/21/23.”
Thanks @ yogibearbull for updating the money flow. Nov. 8 was the most recent I was able to dig up.
I agree with @Old_Joe. I’m waiting for “something to break.” Banks might be the weak link. Don’t know, Suspect this has a lot to do with some recent backing off of the strident central bank talk. Equity markets love it!

The ICI release came in at $5.76 trillion in m-mkt funds on 11/21/23.
Banks have lot of money just sitting at the Fed collecting 5.4% risk-free. Lending business is slow. So, most banks don't need deposits, although some do and are seeking deposits through the expensive brokered CD channel.
True, HTM vs AFS Treasuries on balance sheets remain a huge problem still.
https://www.ici.org/research/stats/mmf

The Week in Charts (11/20/23)
The most important charts and themes in markets, including...
00:00 Intro
00:15 The Road to Lower Inflation (CPI Report)
05:43 More Evidence of Cooling Inflation (PPI, Import Prices)
07:00 Will CPI Decline Again in November?
09:50 Market to Fed: No More Hikes!
13:09 Earnings at New Highs & Stocks Not Far Behind
14:58 The Tech Boom & Bust Cycle
18:14 Manufacturing/Industrial Slowdown
20:33 The Retail Sales Slowdown
25:01 Secular Shift to E-Commerce
26:37 When Debt Matters
30:15 Higher Rates, Lower Homebuilder Confidence
32:30 Thankful for Lower Food Prices
Video
Blog

Just purchased 1-yr treasury auction in IRA and Brokerage accounts at 5.2x. Still not comfortable buying Agencies or CDs. Was also looking to purchase 2-yr treasury auction, but when it dipped below 5% I said, “nope.” Rather stay for now in VG money mkt at 5.3% and .11% ER, for now.

CGDV Non US Equity 6%, Large Value, lower div, Equity holdings = 50. CGDG Non US Equity 45%, Large Blend, higher div, Equity holdings = 76 each. CGDV YTD M* shows percentile category performance 1 out of 1209. CGBL (balanced) added to watch list. Thanks for making me aware of new ETF's.

The beat goes on ….
From Reuters November 3 - https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-money-market-funds-draw-biggest-weekly-inflow-seven-months-2023-11-03/
From Bloomberg November 9: -
”About $16.9 billion flowed into US money-market funds in the week through Nov. 8, according to Investment Company Institute data. Total assets increased to $5.712 trillion from $5.695 trillion the week prior.”