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.
I got out of all my muni funds a couple of years ago. In my tax bracket, they just don’t make sense anymore. Even with taxes, most taxable bond funds have higher equivalent yields than comparable muni funds.
I’m glad I don’t need to buy a new car any time soon. Hopefully mine will last at least four more years. Cars are already the most expensive thing people buy, other than homes. This is going to make it impossible for many people to buy a new car.
w@Edmond … in response to your points
1. Scientists around the globe are concerned about climate change. It is not a conspiracy, but based on analyses of facts and measurements. I spent much of my career in air quality
Quite right, what papers hav…
@Edmond … in response to your points
1. Scientists around the globe are concerned about climate change. It is not a conspiracy, but based on analyses of facts and measurements. I spent much of my career in air quality. I have personally observed and…
If someone can’t see the connections between NOAA cuts and the economy, they aren’t thinking very hard or are blinded by ideology. The US has seen alarming increases in natural disasters in recent years, much of it due to climate change. Conservativ…
I’m hedging by reducing my stock exposure and reinvesting mostly in short-term bonds and cash. I might cut stocks even more. I have zero confidence in the current power regime, and I’m considering further cuts to stocks and other riskier assets. My …
Were you investing in 1986, 2000, 2008, 2020 and 2022? Market drops happen much faster than rises. And sometimes they take many years to recover. The S&P actually lost money from 2000-2010.
My confidence has certainly dropped. I reduced my stock holdings across the board yesterday by about 10% and will probably do more. I don’t think Trump2 is going to end well. At this point, I’ll be relieved if we avoid another civil war.
I am anticipating higher inflation as a result of some of these actions, specifically tariffs and the immigration crackdown. Many of our goods in the US are imported from other countries that can produce things cheaper. Tariffs will increase prices …
DT, I’ve been facing the same dilemma. The best yields I can find for call- protected CDs at Fidelity are about 4% in the 3-5 year range, and 4.2 in the 1-2 year range.Treasuries are slightly lower but more liquid. Recently I’ve been reinvesting in …
I remember that many "experts" said that Trump tariffs will raise the inflation...and they were wrong.
You don’t think the Trump tariffs contributed to the high inflation the past few years? If not, you’re dreaming
Tariffs are also likely to cause more inflation. Does anyone doubt that cheaper imports helps keep a lid on prices of goods produced here? The same with tighter immigration policies and deporting immigrants, which would raise labor costs.
I’m not complaining about the COLA increase. There is no perfect measure of inflation, and something is better than nothing. My state pension has no inflation adjustments, and the real value of our payments has dropped considerably since retiring. R…
There are two primary problems with self-directed retirement plans. First, the old grasshopper and the ant fable. Some people save for the future, others live for today. The other big problem is how to live off your savings. It seems to me that many…
I’ve got a bunch of CDs and Treasuries coming due, and some CDs that are likely to be called. I’ll probably invest some of the cash in more CDs but more likely in bond funds. Not likely to invest in more stocks unless the markets crash.
I read an article recently about a man who lost a substantial portion of his retirement savings by investing in DJT — more than $500,000. The article wasn’t political, more of a business article about the dangers of investing with your emotions and …
Thanks for the explanation. My biggest bond fund holding is FADMX, followed by FTBFX, FCNVX, PTIAX and FAGIX. I’ve stuck mostly to Fidelity funds for simplicity and ease in rebalancing. I also have a considerable number of CDs and Treasuries in lad…
@catch22 — I’m curious as to why you only list bond ETFs (with a few exceptions) in this thread? Although the ETFs have low expenses, their performance doesn’t seem particularly noteworthy. My portfolio mainly has bond mutual funds (mostly Fidelity …
I probably won’t buy any more for one simple reason. They don’t mail you 1099 Interest forms at the end of the year. You have to download them from their site, which is no big deal unless you forget. I ended having to file an amended tax return this…
I’ve been rebalancing my Fidelity accounts this week, and it all went smoothly. It is very easy to do these things on the Fidelity site. What surprises me even more is their website shows my new asset allocations almost immediately.
@yogibearbull - The link you provided works for accessing the M* site, but the problem I’m having is with their apps. Previously I could simply check my portfolios through the iPhone and iPad apps, but apparently they no longer offer that functional…
I’ve been a regular M* user for 25 years, although I’ve never paid for it. I mainly use it now to track various funds and portfolios. However, portfolio view no longer works for me. M* converted all of my portfolios into watchlists. No big deal, exc…
I’ve had poor results from concentrated funds, the few that I’ve owned. However, I’ve had good results from some funds have more limited holdings— not concentrated but not sprawling either. Example, PRBLX. The problem with concentrated funds, IMHO, …
Most of my trades are between Fidelity or TR Price funds, so there is no time out of the market. Buy and sell occurs at the same time. In cases where I trade between different fund families, waiting a day for trade to complete is generally no big de…
@FD1000 — Rear view mirror investing is such a great strategy! I wonder why nobody has thought of that before. BTW, I could cherry-pick a number of 10-year periods in which small caps have outperformed the Nasdaq or S&P.
This week is why I always maintain small cap exposure in my portfolio. My small cap fund (FDSCX) has made huge gains this week, over 3% today alone. Big gains (and losses) tend to happen very quickly with small cap funds.
When I first started buying CDs for a ladder in early 2023, I bought a bunch of callable CDs, not realizing the distinction. So far, only one has been called in, and I was able to reinvest at the same or a higher rate. So, I’ve been benefiting from …
You guys like my kind of beer, @hank and @MikeM . Founders Porter and Elliot Ness amber are two of my favorite beers, when I can find them. Unfortunately, the local stores seem to think that everyone only wants IPAs. It has become increasingly diffi…
I’ve had bad experiences with concentrated funds and try to avoid them. You have to be very patient investor with them. They’re either very hot or very cold.
My wife and I have been retired about 8 years. We both have pensions and are receiving Social Security, so we are investing more aggressively than many people our age (70). We haven’t had to tap our IRAs since retiring, but required distributions wi…
Like almost everything else, it’s best not to generalize about pensions. My wife and I both have pensions with the state of North Carolina. It is very conservatively managed, although I’m sure it has some private equity. The pension is funded roughl…
My main credit card problem is that the chip readers don’t work much of the time. However, the machine won’t let you swipe the card until you’ve tried the chip reader three times. The tap function usually works but isn’t always available.
