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.
For buy-and-hold investors, I don’t see the problem with THOPX. I owned it for a while, including its swoon a few years ago, but its returns over 1, 3, 5, 10 years have been excellent. I don’t understand why M* bashes funds like THOPX but continues …
I’ve owned RPSIX for 15+ years because it seemed like the best option available at TRP and provides a broadly diversified income exposure. This is its worst year I can remember in comparison to comparable funds and it seems to be due to its large st…
With two-year CDs paying 3% guaranteed interest, I am considering moving more money from bond funds to a CD ladder. I did that early this year with taxable savings that had been in a short term muni bond fund. I also moved a sizable portion of money…
I was one of the unfortunate few who invested in ARTWX and it was ugly. I end up transferring the remaining funds to ARTKX, which I had owned for years. The experience left me much less confident in Artisan Funds.
If you’re at 30% stocks, it should be nothing to worry about. Just hang tight and don’t sell at market lows. I retired about 2 years ago with stocks about 60%, but scaled back to 50% over the summer — mainly due to concerns about tariffs. Bonds have…
I must be young at heart, as I drive a VW Golf. It’s been a great car but resale value sucks, in part due to the VW emissions scandal. Still, I might buy a Golf Sportwagen for my next car because I like my hatchback so much.
Generally, I consider REITs as part of my equity allocation except for FRIFX, which performs more like a high yield bond or conservative allocation fund. I had FRESX in my portfolio for about 20 years and it was an excellent diversifier. As I got cl…
My education and most of my working career was involved with environmental protection. Climate change is very real, supported by strong reasoning and scientific evidence. The politics over climate change makes me very sad, the triumph of ignorance a…
Keep in mind that about 20 years ago, when Apple was hitting bottom, GE was the largest company in the US if not the world. Now GE is in shambles with no end in sight. My, how the tables turn.
Another parallel to WFC is VW, which deliberately cheated on emissions tests for its diesel engines to skirt regulations and sell more cars. The cheating at VW started at the top and was very intentional. I own a VW Golf (although not a diesel), an…
You can only stockpile meat (fresh or frozen) for so long. Has anyone noticed prices dropping for chicken, beef and pork in their local grocery stores?
M* forums used to be very educational and friendly. Now it’s primarily frequented by day-traders and Trumpinistas. Compared to the old days, there is little discussion of traditional mutual funds except for PIMIX/PONAX, which seems to have a new dis…
I’ve reduced my stock allocations from about 60% to 50% over the past month, primarily due to political concerns such as the trade war and immigration crackdown. My view is that these issues will cause more inflation, leading to even more interest r…
Are GE pensioners at risk? I have several retired friends who are former GE employees and receive pensions that I presume are large portions of their income. I asked one of them and he didn’t seem too concerned or aware of GEs troubles, which seemed…
I have family members and friends who are still supporting adult children. In some cases, it’s simply due to bad luck or unfortunate choices. In other cases, due to drug abuse and similar issues. Tough love can be difficult when it’s your children a…
Maybe, just maybe, investors chose Parnassus funds because of their excellent long term returns and performance in down markets. Not everyone is motivated by Trump, one way or the other.
We are fortunate in having one child who is totally financially independent but it took a while. We paid for all of her undergraduate expenses but told her that she would have to borrow money or get scholarships or other support for grad school, alt…
I’m using the following options for cash.
- Money market funds yielding 1.25-1.5%
- CD ladder with individual issues maturing about every three months and overall yield about 2%
- Stable value fund in 401k currently yielding about 2%
I’ve also shifted 10% of the total assets in our 401K plans into the stable value fund. It’s currently yielding about 2% and it’s been rising. It has actually outperformed the bond index fund in our 401K plan over the past 1,3 and 5 years. If you ha…
I’ve shifted a portion of my portfolio that was in a short-term bond fund to CDs. You can easily build a CD ladder now that yields better than 2% with no danger of principle loss. When rates appear to be stabilizing, it would be easy to reinvest mat…
