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What Are You ... Buying ... Selling ... and/or Pondering? (Summer 2017)
If the cash from ML is that much of an incentive, talk to Fidelity. They'll probably give you cash or some free trades to stay (speaking from experience).
Entering today I am 50% IOFIX 38% PONDX and 12% cash. Can't say I am very confident about either equities or bonds and worry about increased volatility. But then I always worry with tight exit points and never get married to any position.
I have not followed sufficiently their evilness as to policies or past practices. We use BoA for everything (check, save, mortgage, cheap heloc, cred cards now unused) and ML is their brokerage. (We go back 50y w BoA predecessors, local branches and like that, previous mortgages.) We pay zero commish on etfs and stocks, the main benny, and thus have now a couple of brokerage accounts, rollovers, and roths there. It is trivially easy and fast to make brokerage-checking transfers and vice-versa, also to get money to our adult kids (also BoA users). I imagine we could have done all of this w Fido with a little bit of extra effort and planning, as with transfers (and theirs is our chief credit card now), and the total etf / stock trading fees incurred would have amounted to $200-$400 the last few years. So no real biggie. But if I can get a thou, or perhaps less but close, for moving a few IRAs, that seemed appealing.
Did not know of their DoL rule reversals. Worse than other banks?
If the cash from ML is that much of an incentive, talk to Fidelity. They'll probably give you cash or some free trades to stay (speaking from experience).
yeah, I see I now have a msg from them; gee, that was quick (I queried them last night)
gee, the truly wealthy must be able to play this sort of game all year long...
Bought some T (AT&T) and UTG (Reeves Utility Income) on their beat down today. UTG has an upcoming rights offering which is temporarily messing with their price.
Yeah, I got email from Fido saying that if I consolidated in their direction I could get commissionfree trades of nn quantity, depending on amount.
Their interest in pleasing longterm HNW (so to speak) customer is notably lower than ML's interest in growing their assets.
Still have not decided, though. Have to conclude housing loan with one child and commence one with the second, then get first full SS check, then reassess everything....
It would be nice if we could "Deep Six" one such thread when a new one arrives on the scene. Some of us over 70 have enough trouble just focusing on one. (Damn - Where'd I put the keys?)
Something to think on ... Perhaps as the new thread gets opened the old one gets closed for continued comment. In this way, the old is there for reference; but, the discussion and comment continues into the new. So far, this has not been an issue. But, I can see how this could become confusing to transition from one thread to the other while keeping good flow. I did this with the April thread and extended it on and into May making it into the April, May thread.
For now, let's leave it like it is and if someone wants to revert back to an old thread and continue the discussion (bringing it back to the top of the stack) ... Well, I think that is fine too now that I more fully understand what transpired.
The board is not perfect ... but, it beats the next best thing by miles. In short words, there is nothing else like it or better than it. But, again it is not perfect.
Thanks to all that make the thread what it is and what it has become. Because if it were not for the comments and discussion it would not be what it is.
@Old_Skeet , et al You may change the subject wording of the thread, as you are the author of the thread. This will allow you to indicate "closed, old, see new" or whatever. You'd have to be sparse with wording to provide the full meaning in the allowed space.
Now that we have made it through June Old_Skeet is enjoying the summer and continues to expand my foot print in hybrid funds within my portfolio due to excess cash. Being in retirement I have looked for ways to participate in the capital markets while at the same time seek investments that generate good cash distributions along with being able to adapt to the ever changing market conditions. Hybrid funds seem to be a good choice for me to do this. Currently, I have three sleeves consisting of 19 hybrid type funds and when combined make up about 43% of my portfolio. Equity funds make up about 29% and bond funds about 8% putting cash (including CDs) at about 20%.
Year-to-date the portfolio has performed well with an investment return (excluding cash) of 7.3%. In comparrison, the Lipper Balanced Index has returned 6.9% and the widely followed S&P 500 Index 8.2%. Should the 500 Index have a nice pullback in the nearterm Old_Skeet will become a buyer in equities raising my allocation to them while reducing my cash allocation. My market barometer open June with a reading of 143 and closed it with a reading of 147. Generally, a higher barometer reading indicates there is more investment value in the 500 Index over a lower reading; however, the barometer has yet to provide a recent buy reading for the Index. The last barometer buy reading took place back in November around election time.
With this, we now move on into July which historically has been pretty much a flat month for stocks. However, earnings season will soon be upon us so we will just have to see where this takes us. The barometer's earnings feed will be recalibrated as we begin the new quarter.
Bond yields as measured by the Ten Year Treasury reached a high during the quarter of around 2.6% and fell to a low of around 2.1% with a current reading of around 2.3%. From this, you can see there has been some good movement within the quarter for bonds as measured by yields.
My best performing fund for the quarter was ALPS/Red Rocks Listed Private Equity (LPEFX) with a return if 13% which is also my best year-to-date performer with a return of 19.72%. And, for the month it was Prudential QMA Small-Cap Value (TSVAX) with a return of 3.76%
I am still with my call (Made at the first of the year.) that the S&P 500 Index will reach 2475 (or thereabouts) sometime during 2017. Seems we've closing in on this mark but not quite there yet. Perhaps, we will get there sometime in the thrid quarter and if not then there is still the 4th quarter to come. For reference the S&P 500 Index started the year with a reading of around 2239 and should the 2475 mark be obtained this would result in a gain of about 10.5% plus dividends.
I wish all a good and happy summer; but, most of all ... "Good Investing."
Thanks for the update old_skeet. Mid year seems like a good time to evaluate a portfolio.
My 401k and IRA are basically split in 2 portfolios. Half the money is in a Schwab "Intelligent" robo-portfolio which is rebalanced to about a 62:38 mix of equities: bonds and cash. The other 1/2 of the total is in 12 funds (13 if you include the cash portion). This is my self-managed portfolio. Self-managed is closer to a 50:50 mix (equity:bonds and cash). My benchmark to keep things in perspective is the T. Rowe Price Target Date 2020 fund TRRBX, a 60:40 mix. Quite honestly, a difficult benchmark to beat consistently (so why not just own that? not as much fun )
Year to date: Schwab robo: 7.1% Self managed: 8.2% TRRBX: 8.5%
Pretty much just plan to sit and watch through the summer.
Hi guys! Just some thoughts..... I said earlier I opened a watcher position in RAANX which has gone straight down -4.69%. So far, good it's small.....$250.....so I'm down about $12 so far. Since I now have time to drink coffee and surf a little, I saw this on Fidelity. It said no new cell towers are being built right now. With all the data, voice and video growing so fast, the profits from them are jumping. RAANX has 14% in this area they own CCI, ATM and IBAC. Just saying a little good news in a tough space in time. Will build as rates go up. Because I believe there will be an OMG moment in real estate as rates rise, and the baby will go again----with the bath water. God bless the Pudd
Hi @Puddenhead. Can I ask, what is your attraction to RAANX? Looking at it's portfolio break down, I can't even figure out what "space" this fund fits into let alone if it's in a tough space in time.
Hi MikeM! I like it because it has things like GLFOX, they have data centers, towers, utilities, land, water, they can go long or short. It's not just malls, apartments, business centers.....not the same companies you see all the time. The difference is what I like. They have 11% warehouses....think cloud. They have 8.6% ag farms and water, 28% diversified REITs.....think towers (that's not all that's in that 28%, but it's a majority). It's diversified, I guess I'd say. God bless the Pudd
I recently opened a position with PRGTX through Fidelity. I intend on DCA'ing for the next several months until I reach a position that is worthy of a satellite holding in my portfolio.
hi david, I am holding PONDX at Merrill Edge. (ML advisory offers PONPX.) I agree, however, that DSENX is not available. I think we should be pushing for them to add.
I know the platform pretty well. Since you are also banking with BofA, you can get a preferred status and never pay any commissions. feel free to contact me with any questions.
This past Friday Old_Skeet's market barometer closed the week moving from a negative bias tilt to positive bias tilt with a reading of 153. The neutral reading on the barometer is 150. This reading change was primarily due to a revision in the earnings feed (as the third quarter begins) although there was some improvement coming form the 200R feed as well. The technical strength feed declined during the week. Although there was a change to positive bias please note the barometer still scores the 500 Index in fair value range although moving towards being considered undervalued. A reading of 155 and above scores the Index as being undervaled.
Building cash & safe havens a bit as momentum stalls nearly across the board: sold PFN (still fairly healthy stakes in PCI & PDI, but much more in PIMIX); first adds into foothold positions in QLENX and QMNNX in quite a while.
Sold IYLD and purchased Commerce Bond CFBNX, which has a stellar long-term record as primarily a corporate bond fund with pretty low fees, good SD, SR and upside/downside capture ratio. Oh yeah, and it's a Great Owl fund, which helpsI'm trying to dial down my high yield bond exposure.
Hi guys! Have added a small amount to FJSCX. Why? It's the last QE hugging place on earth. Also, added a small amount to RAANX because I'm down 5% and Janet said it all looks good. God bless the Pudd
Added to OSMAX, but had to convert the Y shares to A shares (no load at Fido) in order to add to it. . Still have the y shares in my traditional ira, lower expense. Also added to CPXAX and IWIRX. Slowly putting cash to work, rest as s market moderates.
Comments
I have not followed sufficiently their evilness as to policies or past practices. We use BoA for everything (check, save, mortgage, cheap heloc, cred cards now unused) and ML is their brokerage. (We go back 50y w BoA predecessors, local branches and like that, previous mortgages.) We pay zero commish on etfs and stocks, the main benny, and thus have now a couple of brokerage accounts, rollovers, and roths there. It is trivially easy and fast to make brokerage-checking transfers and vice-versa, also to get money to our adult kids (also BoA users).
I imagine we could have done all of this w Fido with a little bit of extra effort and planning, as with transfers (and theirs is our chief credit card now), and the total etf / stock trading fees incurred would have amounted to $200-$400 the last few years. So no real biggie.
But if I can get a thou, or perhaps less but close, for moving a few IRAs, that seemed appealing.
Did not know of their DoL rule reversals. Worse than other banks?
thanks much for chiming in.
gee, the truly wealthy must be able to play this sort of game all year long...
Yeah, I got email from Fido saying that if I consolidated in their direction I could get commissionfree trades of nn quantity, depending on amount.
Their interest in pleasing longterm HNW (so to speak) customer is notably lower than ML's interest in growing their assets.
Still have not decided, though. Have to conclude housing loan with one child and commence one with the second, then get first full SS check, then reassess everything....
Regards,
Ted
Something to think on ... Perhaps as the new thread gets opened the old one gets closed for continued comment. In this way, the old is there for reference; but, the discussion and comment continues into the new. So far, this has not been an issue. But, I can see how this could become confusing to transition from one thread to the other while keeping good flow. I did this with the April thread and extended it on and into May making it into the April, May thread.
For now, let's leave it like it is and if someone wants to revert back to an old thread and continue the discussion (bringing it back to the top of the stack) ... Well, I think that is fine too now that I more fully understand what transpired.
The board is not perfect ... but, it beats the next best thing by miles. In short words, there is nothing else like it or better than it. But, again it is not perfect.
Thanks to all that make the thread what it is and what it has become. Because if it were not for the comments and discussion it would not be what it is.
Thanks again,
Skeet
You may change the subject wording of the thread, as you are the author of the thread.
This will allow you to indicate "closed, old, see new" or whatever. You'd have to be sparse with wording to provide the full meaning in the allowed space.
An update.
Now that we have made it through June Old_Skeet is enjoying the summer and continues to expand my foot print in hybrid funds within my portfolio due to excess cash. Being in retirement I have looked for ways to participate in the capital markets while at the same time seek investments that generate good cash distributions along with being able to adapt to the ever changing market conditions. Hybrid funds seem to be a good choice for me to do this. Currently, I have three sleeves consisting of 19 hybrid type funds and when combined make up about 43% of my portfolio. Equity funds make up about 29% and bond funds about 8% putting cash (including CDs) at about 20%.
Year-to-date the portfolio has performed well with an investment return (excluding cash) of 7.3%. In comparrison, the Lipper Balanced Index has returned 6.9% and the widely followed S&P 500 Index 8.2%. Should the 500 Index have a nice pullback in the nearterm Old_Skeet will become a buyer in equities raising my allocation to them while reducing my cash allocation. My market barometer open June with a reading of 143 and closed it with a reading of 147. Generally, a higher barometer reading indicates there is more investment value in the 500 Index over a lower reading; however, the barometer has yet to provide a recent buy reading for the Index. The last barometer buy reading took place back in November around election time.
With this, we now move on into July which historically has been pretty much a flat month for stocks. However, earnings season will soon be upon us so we will just have to see where this takes us. The barometer's earnings feed will be recalibrated as we begin the new quarter.
Bond yields as measured by the Ten Year Treasury reached a high during the quarter of around 2.6% and fell to a low of around 2.1% with a current reading of around 2.3%. From this, you can see there has been some good movement within the quarter for bonds as measured by yields.
My best performing fund for the quarter was ALPS/Red Rocks Listed Private Equity (LPEFX) with a return if 13% which is also my best year-to-date performer with a return of 19.72%. And, for the month it was Prudential QMA Small-Cap Value (TSVAX) with a return of 3.76%
I am still with my call (Made at the first of the year.) that the S&P 500 Index will reach 2475 (or thereabouts) sometime during 2017. Seems we've closing in on this mark but not quite there yet. Perhaps, we will get there sometime in the thrid quarter and if not then there is still the 4th quarter to come. For reference the S&P 500 Index started the year with a reading of around 2239 and should the 2475 mark be obtained this would result in a gain of about 10.5% plus dividends.
I wish all a good and happy summer; but, most of all ... "Good Investing."
Thanks for stopping by and reading.
Old_Skeet
My 401k and IRA are basically split in 2 portfolios. Half the money is in a Schwab "Intelligent" robo-portfolio which is rebalanced to about a 62:38 mix of equities: bonds and cash. The other 1/2 of the total is in 12 funds (13 if you include the cash portion). This is my self-managed portfolio. Self-managed is closer to a 50:50 mix (equity:bonds and cash). My benchmark to keep things in perspective is the T. Rowe Price Target Date 2020 fund TRRBX, a 60:40 mix. Quite honestly, a difficult benchmark to beat consistently (so why not just own that? not as much fun
Year to date:
Schwab robo: 7.1%
Self managed: 8.2%
TRRBX: 8.5%
Pretty much just plan to sit and watch through the summer.
Have opened a small watcher position in RAANX. It's just a little different in the RE space. Will add on weakness.
God bless
the Pudd
Just some thoughts.....
I said earlier I opened a watcher position in RAANX which has gone straight down -4.69%. So far, good it's small.....$250.....so I'm down about $12 so far. Since I now have time to drink coffee and surf a little, I saw this on Fidelity. It said no new cell towers are being built right now. With all the data, voice and video growing so fast, the profits from them are jumping. RAANX has 14% in this area they own CCI, ATM and IBAC. Just saying a little good news in a tough space in time. Will build as rates go up. Because I believe there will be an OMG moment in real estate as rates rise, and the baby will go again----with the bath water.
God bless
the Pudd
I like it because it has things like GLFOX, they have data centers, towers, utilities, land, water, they can go long or short. It's not just malls, apartments, business centers.....not the same companies you see all the time. The difference is what I like. They have 11% warehouses....think cloud. They have 8.6% ag farms and water, 28% diversified REITs.....think towers (that's not all that's in that 28%, but it's a majority). It's diversified, I guess I'd say.
God bless
the Pudd
I agree, however, that DSENX is not available. I think we should be pushing for them to add.
I know the platform pretty well. Since you are also banking with BofA, you can get a preferred status and never pay any commissions. feel free to contact me with any questions.
D_EUX no, not yet, but now avail at Fido ntf, the lesser version
I am preferred or whatever it's called at ML, yes
An update.
This past Friday Old_Skeet's market barometer closed the week moving from a negative bias tilt to positive bias tilt with a reading of 153. The neutral reading on the barometer is 150. This reading change was primarily due to a revision in the earnings feed (as the third quarter begins) although there was some improvement coming form the 200R feed as well. The technical strength feed declined during the week. Although there was a change to positive bias please note the barometer still scores the 500 Index in fair value range although moving towards being considered undervalued. A reading of 155 and above scores the Index as being undervaled.
Derf
Regards,
Ted
Have added a small amount to FJSCX. Why? It's the last QE hugging place on earth. Also, added a small amount to RAANX because I'm down 5% and Janet said it all looks good.
God bless
the Pudd