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.
Bee, I imagine that you would probably have to pay an adviser to have access to the cheapest share class. One way of getting in cheaper would be to buy the short term bond fund (2.5% load), and then transfer your shares over to the fund that you wa…
Don't forget folks, that withdrawals of over $10,000 in cash are required to be reported to the gub'mint as well. If you decide that instead of withdrawing $20,000, you will go to the bank 4 times and take out $5000, then you could be reported for …
With allocation funds, I worry more about the funds taking a big hit in a bear market than paying higher fees. If I buy an index fund, besides knowing about the low fees, I know that the fund will follow the market down to it's bottom. This is a giv…
Hank, I agree with you about the past 15 years don't have anything to do with the coming 15 years. But let's not attribute that only to the James fund. That statement covers ALL funds. Assuming Vanguard has a better research department than James…
If one were going to choose FPNIX, Why not consider BSBIX? The institutional shares are almost half the cost of FPNIX .30% vs. .56%? What would be the advantage over BSBIX? The performance seems very similar as well.
Bob C., do you think that IVFIX is worth the extra expense ratio over PID? If the fund had existed in 2008, I probably could have answered my own question.
I wasn't impressed with TBGVX's 38% loss in 2008. Even though the MSCI EAFE lost 43%, this fund was reputed to "excel in down markets". I expected better downside protection, and a 38% loss coupled with high fees was good enough reason to sell the…
It isn't such a big deal to scroll past the posts, whether it be from Ted or anybody else, that don't interest you. Ted does us a service by locating articles that might be of interest to anybody reading this page. I welcome Ted's effort, which ha…
Thanks David. You were right. I had the zoom set to 120%. I can see the page at 100% and at 110%, but then, at 120% the text disappears. I guess I will just get new glasses.
It's funny that you mention Naples and taxes in the same breath. There is a huge underground economy in Naples where no taxes are paid. Well, at least not to the government...Avoiding taxes is as popular as soccer in Italy.
It must be my computer. When I try and magnify the page to 120%, I lose the text, whereas if I keep the magnification at 110% or below, then the text returns. Very strange.
OK, we have heard many of the negative aspects of this fund. I would like to to know whether or not there are still people holding this fund, and if so, what are their reasons. After yesterday's 3.51% drop, and gold predicted to keep falling, I am…
OJ, I haven't tried it, but I did call up AF and asked them if it could be done, and they mentioned that it could. This was a few years ago, so anybody thinking of trying it should ask them.
Ah, the seed corn analogy, coined by the infamous Taylor of fundalarm fame. FWIW, it is possible to buy shares in CAIBX by first buying shares in one of American's bond funds that charges a 2.5% load. Then, simply convert those shares into CAIBX. …
MJG, It is a pretty big deal for those of us living in the EU. Our bank accounts are supposedly insured up to 100,000 euros by the gov't. Each country has it's own agency which is responsible for guaranteeing each depositor's account. When a gov'…
Thanks everybody for your suggestions. I do have 6 allocation funds that I didn't mention: FPACX, GLRBX, OAKBX, VWINX, PASDX and PRPFX. Was also planning to add to these.
It seems that active management would be more effective in beating the indexes by simply losing less money when the market is heading down. This can be done by holding either holding a mixture of bonds or cash in addition to equities, or by just se…
I don't recall which bond fund has a 2.5% load, but there is one. One can then transfer those shares into an equity fund thereby paying "only" a 2.5% load instead of a 5.75% load.
I was thinking of adding to my positions in oakbx, fpacx, vwinx, glrbx, prpfx and pasdx, as well as moving out of cash and into bond positions, which I don't have except for the above funds. I'm having second thoughts though.
Just to set the record straight, I will quote the ERs directly from this page: http://investments.pimco.com/Regulatory/External Documents/PIMCO_Income_Inst_SP_BD.pdf
all ER's are total annual fund operating expenses:
Institutional class: .61%
Clas…
According to the Fidelity website, PONDX has an expense ratio of .91%. I thought that a CEF would have a lower expense ratio than the equivalent mutual fund, but I guess not.
