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.
@Mark, QLENX seems to have a pretty impressive track record when comparing trends to the L/S fund I own, QQMNX. I'm happy with QQMNX. QLENX does seem to take advantage of rising markets more so than QQMNX. Not sure what that means other than it may be a bit more aggressive.
@MikeM: Thanks. Just the kind of info I was looking and hoping for. The rising markets comment gives me a bit of a pause however. I think I'll wait a bit before jumping in. I'm uneasy over what we might be looking at over the next 30-days and beyond.
@hank WEA interesting. Big "cash" position, but looks like a ton of shorts, there. CEF. The predictability of monthly pay-out is a plus, from where I sit.
@hank WEA interesting. Big "cash" position, but looks like a ton of shorts, there. CEF. The predictability of monthly pay-out is a plus, from where I sit.
From its daily behavior I think WEA does carry shorts - probably at the long end. But the fund (a CEF) is about 30% leveraged. I think that leverage represents the bulk of its sizable short cash position (essentially borrowings). I’ve owned this one (and the 3 other funds mentioned) in the past. For me a case of going with ”the devil you know”.
I’d be loath not to add that WEA was managed until recently by Western Asset’s Ken Leech who resigned under a cloud of suspicion. Complicates the equation for anyone considering buying the fund.
Yes, the House finally passed a CR. Senate expected to vote soon after. Then Prez needs to sign. I suppose we are in the clear... for now. Federal spending is out of hand, anyhow. Not buying, just riding the roller coaster. Dramamine required.
I've placed this comment here for a wide exposure and not a real buy/sell statement. Don't yell at me too much.
Depending upon one's available viewed tv stations, this 30 second ad pops up often. It is a full on marketing ploy, aimed mostly (IMHO) at those who become easy excited by real or perceived events in the world. I've not looked at pricing at the site below in the link; but one should always consider the buy/sell spread for precious metals transactions. I don't have any problem with anyone wanting to hold some gold or silver in whatever form; as long as other investment and home budget priorities are in place.
The REALLY sad point(s) about this ad, is that the fella is bitch'in about how hard it is to make money from his hardware store during a recession. Between hardware and auto parts stores; these two perform well during recessions; as more folks are D.I.Y. during tight money periods. Unfortunately, many of these folks have this monetary circumstance all of the time.
I've placed this comment here for a wide exposure and not a real buy/sell statement. Don't yell at me too much.
Depending upon one's available viewed tv stations, this 30 second ad pops up often. It is a full on marketing ploy, aimed mostly (IMHO) at those who become easy excited by real or perceived events in the world. I've not looked at pricing at the site below in the link; but one should always consider the buy/sell spread for precious metals transactions. I don't have any problem with anyone wanting to hold some gold or silver in whatever form; as long as other investment and home budget priorities are in place.
The REALLY sad point(s) about this ad, is that the fella is bitch'in about how hard it is to make money from his hardware store during a recession. Between hardware and auto parts stores; these two perform well during recessions; as more folks are D.I.Y. during tight money periods. Unfortunately, many of these folks have this monetary circumstance all of the time.
I felt like the guy that sold his boat the day I sold my precious-miners fund.
Most of the ads I see on the TV's at the city fitness center want me to buy a Medicare advantage plan, gutter guards, a walk-in shower, and a walk-in tub.
If I watch any of the free channels on the Roku, they want to sell me drugs for problems I have never heard of.
We signed up for a free week of Discovery+ in order to watch a 4-part series. We were astounded at the number and frequency of ads. I assume if you pay double the intro rate, you get no ads. No interest in that, just a confirmation of why we don’t want to cut the cord in favor of streaming.
We signed up for a free week of Discovery+ in order to watch a 4-part series. We were astounded at the number and frequency of ads. I assume if you pay double the intro rate, you get no ads. No interest in that, just a confirmation of why we don’t want to cut the cord in favor of streaming.
I cut the cable cord early this year and save a bunch of money. Mostly the same programming plus more. My bill was cut from ~220 with spectrum cable to about 89+55=144 for Hulu+ and Greenlight for internet (faster fiber optics). And yes, commercial free for movies, series and DVR'ed programs.
Some depends on what you need. Low-lying lake shore area here. Can’t pick up any of the locals due to nearby hills + forest - even with a substantial tower mounted antenna. I’ll bet most of you folks can receive your locals. Not that the locals are that great. But if you want the major networks / local stations out here you need to subscribe to something.
I’ve gone from DirectTV (rooftop dish receiver) to Hulu / Disney / ESPN (internet based) to UTubeTV (internet based) over the past 5 years. Prices fell with each change. UTube TV’s live TV package just jumped from $73 to $85. But it’s a very inclusive package with ESPN, TNT and lots of other sports channels. No complaint. Don’t mind commercials for regular programing. Hate for movies. Rent an occasional movie from Amazon Prime for $5 or buy the CDDVD used from E-Bay. Also, you can buy movies at Prime, save in your library and view them as often and for as long as you like.
I haven’t noticed any difference in the number of commercials among the 3 sources I’ve tried. DirecTV was horrible to work with. Glad to be rid of them. Hulu / Disney were fine to deal with. The Hulu / Disney package included commercial free movies. But you tire of the Disney branded eventually.
Even the local public LENDING library RENTS DVDs for a $2.00 fee. I won't pay it on principle. And I can do just fine at no cost with Roku-available channels. My curiosity always finds something. It's rare that I sit to watch for an extended period. What kiils me is when the fu****g commercials interrupt music.
@hank- I was under the impression that you were using Musk's Starlink. Have you switched to fiber optic? If so, is that service relatively new around there?
@hank- I was under the impression that you were using Musk's Starlink. Have you switched to fiber optic? If so, is that service relatively new around there?
Yup. I was early by 1-2 years in my neighborhood in having high-speed broadband when I put up a Starlink dish in November 2020 (rooftop mounted due to the tree line). Was very proud to have been an early (beta) user. Was miles ahead of the 4G cellular I’d relied on for internet. However, Musk kept jacking up the monthly rates (from around $99 initially to $135 over 3 years) and then announced plans to impose rather tight data limits.
Fortunately, by that time fiber had been installed here. Not burried but strung on poles. Less expensive & no data cap. So ditched Starlink about a year ago. A story of progress! Actually, when I retired in ‘98 and moved to this area all we had was dialup internet. Took 3-6 hours to download a single music album! I bought a DirectTV kit back then at K-Mart for about $50, nailed it up on the side of a garage, burried cable to the house, and had access to great TV for that day. Something like $29 a month back then.
* I should add that prior to 2020 there were a couple satellite based internet companies who had a few subscribers here. But the reports were poor. Essentially, slow connections and high prices.
@Crash $2 rental ?! Maybe it's goes to coffee & rolls. Graft at the public library. Do they charge for other material ? Copy machine is 25cents BW, color $.50 per piece at local library.
@hank- Good deal for you. I can't even get fiber here in a decent neighborhood in SF. When I worked SF Public Safety we used both microwave and fiber, both underground and on poles. Good stuff. Short of physical damage the fiber was almost trouble free, whereas the MW was sometimes a real pain due to heavy rain and general equipment problems.
Not meaning to further hijack the thread but yesterday I just lit up a trial of a mm-Wave 5G internet service here in NoVA. 500+ down and 100+ up for $45. If after 30 days I decide to switch back to my 300/300 FIOS (roughly same price), I can just go into the building phone closet and re-connect the coax back to FIOS. But for now I'm kicking the tires with videos, downloads, uploads, and business-as-usual stuff for my internetting.
(nice plus: they have batteries on the roof to keep the signal going during power outages - on FIOS, if there's a local power outage, it goes down across the system.)
@PRESSmUp: even tho we live in a metropolitan area of SE MI, our house might as well be in rural MI for connectivity purposes. The neighbors have Xfinity, but that company wanted $3500 in 2008 to connect our house. We tried a TV dish antenna for 2 years with cell phone hotspot for internet and had spotty results. The only provider serving us is ATT; the internet, TV, and landline services depend on our phone line. We are almost 3500’ from ATT’s distribution box, so we can have 2 HD channels on at the same time, but not 4 because of the distance. This matters when I might be taping a sports event and watching another one. We don’t watch many movies; Netflix on the smart TV meets our needs there. As for the price, even with modest internet speed and the second tier of TV offerings, it has risen to $335 per month. Talk about a screw job. I am an inveterate channel switcher so going from one streaming service to another in the time it takes the pitcher to deliver the next slider is an obvious impossibility. We could easily drop the landline and save a bit, granted. When I have to call ATT for billing or service problems, I follow a friend’s advice: keep saying over and over, “I want to speak to a real person.” It has worked before, although the service rep may not share my way of speaking English.
@BenWP : it's striking how dependent we've become on internet access in our daily lives. Hopefully AT&T brings their fiber to your neighborhood, as combining my mobile account along with internet and their TV offering (currently Direct TV) has saved me almost $150/month when consolidated.
BUY-SELL-WHY. I am bird-dogging BHB. A SELL candidate. Remember the day after the election? Everything popped. It's been fading into the woodwork, since. Still holding a 16% profit. Mr. Market does not like the idea of fewer rate cuts looming. No surprise, I suppose. Did I hold for too long? Guilty. Someone else mentioned they need to get better at selling sooner. Same here. But, where to invest the proceeds, then??? Already, I have 6% of portfolio in midstream ET. Pipelines, NG, LNG.....Should I bite the bullet and give the $$$ to the stinky, cruddy, scummy Big-Banksters?
Kanopy, a streaming service through many libraries across the nation, is free with limitations. I never use up the 15 or 20 movie limit per month. It isn't a suggestion to replace any of the choices mentioned above but rather to function as a decent adjunct.
Comments
Bought 250 NVO on the massive plunge today. Will be a candidate to add on lower prices over time.
I’d be loath not to add that WEA was managed until recently by Western Asset’s Ken Leech who resigned under a cloud of suspicion. Complicates the equation for anyone considering buying the fund.
Let’s hope an agreement will reach on time until the next Continuing Resolution vote.
Depending upon one's available viewed tv stations, this 30 second ad pops up often. It is a full on marketing ploy, aimed mostly (IMHO) at those who become easy excited by real or perceived events in the world. I've not looked at pricing at the site below in the link; but one should always consider the buy/sell spread for precious metals transactions.
I don't have any problem with anyone wanting to hold some gold or silver in whatever form; as long as other investment and home budget priorities are in place.
The REALLY sad point(s) about this ad, is that the fella is bitch'in about how hard it is to make money from his hardware store during a recession. Between hardware and auto parts stores; these two perform well during recessions; as more folks are D.I.Y. during tight money periods. Unfortunately, many of these folks have this monetary circumstance all of the time.
Well, you be the judge, and enjoy.
NOTE: this ad first aired in August of 2024.
NOBLE GOLD
Most of the ads I see on the TV's at the city fitness center want me to buy a Medicare advantage plan, gutter guards, a walk-in shower, and a walk-in tub.
If I watch any of the free channels on the Roku, they want to sell me drugs for problems I have never heard of.
I’ve gone from DirectTV (rooftop dish receiver) to Hulu / Disney / ESPN (internet based) to UTubeTV (internet based) over the past 5 years. Prices fell with each change. UTube TV’s live TV package just jumped from $73 to $85. But it’s a very inclusive package with ESPN, TNT and lots of other sports channels. No complaint. Don’t mind commercials for regular programing. Hate for movies. Rent an occasional movie from Amazon Prime for $5 or buy the
CDDVD used from E-Bay. Also, you can buy movies at Prime, save in your library and view them as often and for as long as you like.I haven’t noticed any difference in the number of commercials among the 3 sources I’ve tried. DirecTV was horrible to work with. Glad to be rid of them. Hulu / Disney were fine to deal with. The Hulu / Disney package included commercial free movies. But you tire of the Disney branded eventually.
Fortunately, by that time fiber had been installed here. Not burried but strung on poles. Less expensive & no data cap. So ditched Starlink about a year ago. A story of progress! Actually, when I retired in ‘98 and moved to this area all we had was dialup internet. Took 3-6 hours to download a single music album! I bought a DirectTV kit back then at K-Mart for about $50, nailed it up on the side of a garage, burried cable to the house, and had access to great TV for that day. Something like $29 a month back then.
* I should add that prior to 2020 there were a couple satellite based internet companies who had a few subscribers here. But the reports were poor. Essentially, slow connections and high prices.
(nice plus: they have batteries on the roof to keep the signal going during power outages - on FIOS, if there's a local power outage, it goes down across the system.)
Speakeasy internet speeds:
231 mbps download
104 upload.
Metro Honolulu.
I am bird-dogging BHB. A SELL candidate. Remember the day after the election? Everything popped. It's been fading into the woodwork, since. Still holding a 16% profit. Mr. Market does not like the idea of fewer rate cuts looming. No surprise, I suppose. Did I hold for too long? Guilty. Someone else mentioned they need to get better at selling sooner. Same here. But, where to invest the proceeds, then??? Already, I have 6% of portfolio in midstream ET. Pipelines, NG, LNG.....Should I bite the bullet and give the $$$ to the stinky, cruddy, scummy Big-Banksters?