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What funds or etf should I buy?

edited March 2018 in Fund Discussions
Hello... First time in awhile I don't have any ideas what to buy??? Anyideas.. foods for thought? Thx
Everything appears overpriced very expensive and crash may be imminent

Comments

  • Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing.
  • unanswerable as posed, man.

    There is no reason a crash is imminent --- high valuation does not trigger bear markets --- but that notion, and fear of crash, are always present, sure. You have got to exhale and think things through. How soon do you need the money? You know the answers. If soon, cash. If soonish, unclear, maybe laddered bonds or CDs, or a conservative bond fund. If neither, then equities (many of us like DSEEX) and do not watch it. Others will discuss SCV and EM and so on, including bond mixes.
  • The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • Hi @johnN,

    New money for me is targeted towards convertibles and expanding my CD ladder.

    My convertible securities fund (FISCX) is up ytd better than 8%. It seems to be meeting the interest rate headwinds pretty good and is my ytd fund leader within my portfolio.
  • beebee
    edited March 2018
    Thanks @Old_Skeet for the suggestion. Franklin is also well known for its Income Fund FKINX (FRIAX...low ER, High minimum option). M* star is quoting performance YTD for FISCX closer to 5% (4.93%).

    A no load version of FISCX is FCSZX. ER of .59, though requires a $100k investment through my brokerage.

    Has anyone invested in high minimum funds and do these funds require one to maintain that high minimum?

    Jaywalking...@msf?
  • beebee
    edited March 2018
    @JohnN what is your "buying strategy"?
    Are you a DCA investor?
    What are you presently invested in?
    What are your allocations?
    What are your goals for these investments?
    Where are you, age-wise, in your investment horizon...30,40,50,60,70,etc.

    Hard to suggest investments without goals, age, tolerance to risk, allocations, etc.
  • Hi bee.. Great question
    45 yo.
    Value investor. Hate to loose $$
    100% index stocks with 401k all across board (spy mid stock em etc)
    50/50 with private investment
  • edited March 2018
    If these are moneys you do not need soon, just keep on doing what you are doing, and do not worry about crashes near or far.

    If you really hate to lose $$, do not invest. No worthwhile investment will never lose value. But you know this. Still puzzled tho why you posted as you did, which I pointed out was unanswerable, and then @bee caused you to give detail. Read @Maurice's cites. So now you have it. A range of people here do a range of things. Your current approach, nothing wrong with it; stay the course.
  • edited March 2018
    Hi @bee,

    You might wish to take another look at the M* performance numbers. I'm still finding ytd +8.23% and +4.93% above category.

    Old_Skeet is on the move ... traveling. So, my vistis over the next couple of weeks will be short with few postings. I'm visiting when I can find a wi-fi connection without creating one through my phone.
  • I'm taking a flyer on OCIO.
  • bee said:


    Has anyone invested in high minimum funds and do these funds require one to maintain that high minimum?

    Jaywalking...@msf?

    Different funds have different policies.

    I've got institutional class shares of one fund in an IRA. The share class used to be sold at "retail level" mins, but now has a multi-million min. I asked the broker whether I'd be able to do a partial Roth conversion with that fund, since I'd be opening a new position (in the Roth) way below the current min. The broker checked with the fund family and was told that if I did a reasonable sized conversion (i.e. not just a thousand or so), the fund would allow it.

    Some funds have different mins for opening and maintaining an account. For example, FZDXX requires $100K to open in a taxable account, but "just" $10K to maintain. I own it in an IRA ($10K min to open in IRAs). Even though I keep much less than the required maintenance amount in the fund, Fidelity hasn't closed me out.

    Vanguard's official policy on Admiral shares is that if you drop below the min, they'll convert your shares to Investor class shares. I've done partial conversions there as well, leaving small amounts of different funds in my traditional IRA. With one fund (a closed one) Vanguard downgraded the remaining shares. With another, which was still open, Vanguard let me keep the small amount of Admiral shares.

    So even when you know the rules, there are no guarantees.

    I mentioned jaywalking in another post because, having written about a backdoor Roth conversion being technically illegal (as opposed to being a legal loophole), I wanted to communicate that I was not being absolutist and was not suggesting that every law be followed to the letter.

    Then again, it's supposed to be safer not to cross the street in the middle, in the middle, in the middle, in the middle, in the middle of the block ...




  • Msf sir, do u have a sepIra
  • msf
    edited March 2018
    No, the account at Fidelity where I keep this low balance MMF is a Roth IRA. (SEPs and Keoghs have a $500 maintenance min, while traditional and Roth IRAs supposedly require you to keep $10K in the fund.)

    Though that account is subject to RMDs, in case that makes a difference. That's why I keep a small amount of cash around in the account.
  • at vanguard sepIRA free if you have enough capital. I think we pay tax nor or pay whenyou are 59.5 yo, either way would be big payments
  • @msf,

    >> the account at Fidelity ... is a Roth IRA. ...
    >> Though that account is subject to RMDs

    ??
  • Not sure how SEP-IRAs entered this thread, but many institutions provide them for free, since they're little more than traditional IRAs. I opened a free one at Fidelity about a decade ago. As I vaguely recall, I opened it for a partial year where I couldn't have contributed more had I created an individual (solo) 401(k) account instead.

    Main upside is simplicity:, no special filings (no 5500 form), basically follows IRA rules (including April 15 deadline to open). Main downsides are lower contribution limits than for individual 401(k), and no Roth option is available.

    Inherited Roth IRAs and all Roth 401(k)s (post-retirement) are subject to RMDs. Note that if a surviving spouse treats an inherited IRA as his or her own, the assets are transferred to a different IRA in the spouse's name and there is no longer an inherited IRA.
  • bee said:

    Thanks @Old_Skeet for the suggestion. Franklin is also well known for its Income Fund FKINX (FRIAX...low ER, High minimum option). M* star is quoting performance YTD for FISCX closer to 5% (4.93%).

    A no load version of FISCX is FCSZX. ER of .59, though requires a $100k investment through my brokerage.

    Has anyone invested in high minimum funds and do these funds require one to maintain that high minimum?

    Jaywalking...@msf?

    FSICX is load waived af Fido. As is FKINX. Low minimums, especially in retirement accounts
  • beebee
    edited March 2018
    @msf,
    As a matter of instruction to beneficiaries of an inherited Roth IRA, and so long as the beneficiaries have earned income in the year of RMDs... could you imagine (Jay-dreaming here) a strategy where the Inherited Roth IRA withdrawal is used to strategically fund the inheritance's own individual Roth IRA?

    It would seem the withdrawal (both required and voluntary) from the inherited Roth could provide a funding source for an individual to contribute to their own Roth IRA ($5500 or $6500...catch up).

    As you have said money is fungible, but when money is unexpectedly blessed through inheritance, especially Roth (tax free) inheritance...keeping a Roth a Roth seems like the Roth thing to do.
  • msf
    edited March 2018
    @bee - if you've got income to allow adding money to your own Roth, and you don't need the RMD, then using the RMD to fund the Roth seems like a great idea.

    @Graust - strange as it may seem, FKINX is not load waived at Fidelity (though FISCX is).

    https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/353496300?type=o-NavBar
    Franklin Income Fund Class A

    image Transaction Fee/Load1 • See Fund Picks from Fidelity® for no transaction fee alternatives
  • @davidrmoran I've been a DSEEX owner for several years. Although it may not be a fair benchmark for comparison, I use VTI. I've noticed that, over the past year, DSEEX's performance is 3% or so below VTI.

    Any thoughts as to why this underperformance has taken place and whether it might continue? Thanks!
  • VTI is everything, right, while DSEEX is SP500 automatically / algorithmically value-churned plus special bond sauce, and MC and SC (and for the last year-plus even SP500 overall, I think) have outperformed, meaning value has not reigned as before. Graph FUSEX vs DSEEX since Jan '17, say. Someone went into this in more detail a little while ago, probably msf.
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