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.
Hi fundalarm,
Hoping you and yours are doing well.
As you noted: " The yield rally therefore doesn’t necessarily reflect surging risk appetites (and the money certainly isn’t rushing into equities) or even material changes in eco growth or central…
Hi Scott,
Will be interesting to find whether new and/or some bond investors are/have been watching the numbers related to dollar pricing with bonds the past few weeks; as has been noted, beginning July 25. Might just cause some head scratching fro…
Morn'in hank,
You noted: " But, if you think inflation will run significantly more than 1.73% (compounded annually) than bonds today do not reflect reality very well. Catch has made much of the "capital appreciation" potential of rate sensitive bon…
Our house uses various etf's as monitoring indicators.
The current possible flaw; and one which will likely remain in place, is that many hedge funds and big investment houses now use many etf's as part of the machinations and/or flipping areas for…
Howdy Desota,
One may suppose they (Am.Fds) should have no ER's, after the loads have been placed. Pretty hefty amount of money (load) to remove, especially from, a young investors pocket.
Reminds me of the wayback days when Merrill, E.F. Hutton an…
Howdy Max,
This fella and family arriving home from vacation; and I likely have some drivers fatigue; but I am trying to understand the original subject line, "Time to buy into bond funds holding lotsa US Treasuries?", the Bloomberg story and the re…
Howdy Dian,
First, I salute your compassion and endurance for your longtime efforts with your family members. Second, you mentioned Will from a few years ago; and I have have wondered how his plan has worked with the monies. Thirdly, your note ind…
Morn'in Mark,
Ron and I are not supposed to discuss this; but he gets some of the input side to the metals and related allocations, while our house receives the queries as to the bond side.....:):):) You know, the quarterly conference call thing....…
Thank you, FA; I'll have to read this again after returning from vacation.
My short take, and what has driven some of our house's investment areas, is that after the revaluation of equities from the market melt, and into May or June of 2009 found e…
RPHYX,SJNK,SPHIX
SJNK is a newbie from March 14, 2012, and not unlike comparing RPHYX to SPHIX, is not a totally valid consideration; but is something else to view. I chose the traditional active managed SPHIX, as this fund has a very good record o…
Howdy MikeM,
Well, my statement did stretch the age a bit.........but, I am receiving those letters in the mail about preparing for Medicare and related plans..........Yikes, the clock sure moves fast, eh?
Take care,
Catch
Howdy Mark,
I have read several articles during the past few years; and although I don't disagree with what MJG noted about some being able to be consultants after retirement in some areas; I am of the opinion that the vast majority of boomers witho…
Charles, you will likely find some preferreds in some of your fund holdings; but the PFF noted by Ted is very direct to this area. The below link provides a decent overview of preferreds, as well as a notation about Dodd-Frank provisions.
Fidelity …
I read a springtime article regarding Swensen's choice (if I recall properly) concerning an etf mix of 6-8 funds. Recall that the portfolio was rather static and to only be rebalanced once a year; back to original % holdings in each area.
As noted…
Hi bee,
I don't have an idea as to how all of the data (in/outs) are matched against various acct. types; but another consideration (of whatever size) is that some who place monies into 401k's and related, only do so up to and including a company m…
Another aspect for we older folks, is that, what is Traditional IRA money today; was at one time, a 401k, 403b, 457, etc. money. One received a reduced taxable bracket for the deduction of the monies invested and perhaps further gained with matching…
Howdy Ted,
As long as this house's desire and time allow for a weekly report, it will be posted.
As you are more prescient with your knowledge and skills in the investment marketplace, versus this house; we will congratulate your house at this tim…
Howdy Skeeter,
Yes, the get away is nice; but home is comforting for the return.
A strange vacation year for our house, as a potential union strike caused all management vacations to be cancelled until recently. Not that management could cover for …
Another stick in the fire will be how much really gets done by anyone or any of the 1,000 or so committees that are in place as part of the fix programs................as the month of August for Europe, much of eastern Europe, also Russia; is pretty…
Many folks invest via IRA's, 401k, 403b, 457 and gov't plans; and one may classify them as "investing" for a variety of reasons; but the majority are not "investors". Thus no rebalance of something very few understand through lack of time, passion o…
Howdy,
This link is for MSCI indexes. You may find a page load with some legal stuff........you know, you won't sell this data to your neighbor, etc. I clicked agree and everything is fine. The data page loads are very fast. I picked around to find…
Hi scott,
What does this graph represent?
Side note: We held FDLSX, but sold in May; as some of the numbers of companies in the holdings were looking a bit weak. Not that one could use this fund or the holdings as a proxy about overall conditions …
Reply to @johnN:
Howdy, thank you for this note. May check this, too. We will likely remain with Verizon; as coverage is excellent in many places in MI (and everywhere) and we also have a large number of friends and family with Verizon, which lets …
Reply to @Mark:
You noted: "In summary I would say to decide on which carrier works for your primary location and purposes and then choose the phone. If you'd like toput off that decision go on Ebay, plug in your current model phone and see if ther…
Hi Sven,
Thank you for your notes. The wifi aspect of the smart phones do add value, in my opinion, too. And we all know wifi is just about everywhere today.
I will check your link; and I always look for discussion forums to get clues about what f…
Reply to @johnN:
You noted:
"What are your thoughts about getting ipads? these are little more money but much worth it, better than lap tops/cell phones or pc."
>>>>> Our daughter will likely get an Ipad for use with school; as this…
Reply to @johnN:
You noted: "I've talked to wifey about this. I have computer access to internet at work, and also at home. why you need iphone is beyond my understanding. I understand you can serve the net any where but most of the times I spend a…
The current low yield environment may also be critical to the abilities of some pension funds and insurance companies to maintain money levels to satisfy current and future obligations. The current bright side for them is that they should have decen…
Howdy Sven,
You noted: "As I recalled TIPs funds provided negative yields over a year ago. We are not facing high inflation today comparing to that of the 80's. There is no compelling reason to own this asset class other than fear itself."
>>…
Howdy bee,
Thank you for the article and your notes.
Somewhere between the delicate balance of money pumping by central banks and the continued aspect of delevering of the consumer will, in part; determine gold pricing outcomes in the next 12 month…
Reply to @MaxBialystock:
Per MWTRX's prospectus: PRINCIPAL INVESTMENT STRATEGIES
The Fund pursues its objective by investing, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in investment grade fixed income securities or unrated secur…
Howdy AndyJ,
You noted: " For example, TEI, the Templeton EM CEF, in the past 3 months has gone up in price by 8.75% and in NAV only 1.33%. The bandwagon may be getting a little crowded."
An excellent point with which to view an investment area tha…
Howdy hank and Sven,
As Pat Benatar, a most talented singer once phrased: "Hit me with your best shot, fire away!" You can hear that now, eh?
Ok, no pure math with this, although the TIP etf is at $121 as I write this and is a reference point.
In…
Howdy Investor,
I am sure you have also been monitoring "our inhouse", at Fido; FEDDX fund, too. Currently, about 60% sm cap and 40% mid cap in developing markets, and is really spread around globally. Performance for this new fund is impressive whe…
Howdy msf,
I recall from the late 70's, and reading the paper contract, related to either the checking or savings acct. at a local bank; the bank's legal right to impose a 30 day period, during which a limited amount or no monies were required to be…
