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 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.
I share your enthusiasm, but my CD ladders extend out 5 years. I also include Treasuries in my ladders for shorter term holdings. CD yields have been on of the bright spots in the inflation dilemma.
We’ve got about 15% of total assets in our IRAs invested in foreign stock funds. Largest and longest term holding is ARTKX, which is closed to new investors. Other foreign funds are FTIEX, FVIFX and FMIJX, all relatively new holdings with good long …
Another option to consider is an annuity. We are considering investing my wife’s IRA in an annuity to simplify matters. It accounts for about 15% of our total retirement accounts, so we wouldn’t be locking up everything. An annuity would satisfy the…
One of the reasons why I consolidated all of accounts at Fidelity was t simplify the RMD process. Although we haven’t started distributions yet, Fidelity will tell us when RMDs are needed and do all of the calculations.
Anyone who gets their information from Faux News or other conservative news outlets would think our economy is tanking and the worst ever. Unfortunately, that’s the case for a large segment of the US population.
Apple. One of the biggest reasons why I’m a huge Apple fan is their customer service. Their staff in stores are friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Over the years, I have sought assistance many times through the Apple help line by telephone, and th…
I agree with @stillers. I tried investing in commodities through various stock funds and Pimco’s offering with no success. I’m a buy- and-hold investor, and all it seemed to do is add more volatility to my portfolio. Fortunately, I didn’t lose my sh…
Funny, instead insurance costs might be what finally drives many climate change deniers to accept reality. Many of the red states are most at risk from weather conditions affected by climate change— wildfires, hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts. Of cou…
We’ve had the Fidelity rewards VISA through Elan for several years with few problems. We use our credit card for almost all purchases, so the rewards add up — $1,245 over the past year. Our account has had false charges several times, which were imm…
Completed the reinvestment of another Roth IRA conversion. I transferred shares of PRBLX from my Rollover IRA to my Roth a few weeks ago. A few days ago, I sold those shares and reinvested in TCAF and PRCFX, completing my approximation of PRWCX.
The main reason it is underperforming is I doubled my position last fall.
never fails
I was going to take the blame, but I’ll let you be the fall guy. Although I don’t own PRWCX, I’ve added quite a bit of TCAF and PRCFX to our accounts over the pa…
Mona, I am somewhat confused by your description of the situation. However, I will offer an explanation of how I handled a situation that might be comparable. I have Rollover IRA and Roth IRA accounts with Fidelity. My Roth IRA was originally with T…
Personally, I find the Fidelity website more useful than M* ever was. I can compare funds, analyze holdings, asset allocations, etc. I have found M* ratings and analyses to be poor predictors of future performance, giving users a false sense of secu…
I sold all of our I-Bonds last fall when rates for CDs and Treasuries equaled or exceeded them. For me, the cumbersome buying and selling process for I-Bonds was a big factor in selling them. Also, I got in trouble at tax time because they do not ma…
