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.
"Blue Zones" - lessons for living longer from the people who have lived the longest.
"Life" - Keith Richards biography
"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance"
"The Shack"
"Paddle North - Canoeing the Boundary Waters-Quetico Wilderness"
"Goodnigh…
Reply to @msf: the 'opportunity cost' issue is one of the primary reasons I threw this general article up for review. I have been guilty of hanging on to certain issues just because I rationalized that I was earning X% (e.g. 10%) dividend on cost. W…
As you knew it would be sooner or later. Fortunately for those of us who still hold shares in the fund it was the former and not the latter. I actually bought more while the fund was down. We'll see how much St. Joe's dirt I end up eating.
Awesome and richly deserved. Congratulations! Out of curiosity I wonder how manyoffers Mr. Snowball has turned down to write a coulumn for the likes of the WSJ or other. I'd have paid him whatever a long, long time ago.
Reply to @Mindy: Certainly not. That just adds padding to her bottom line. She shpuld stick with what brought her to the dance anyway which was basically don't spend more than you earn. Even that she hijacked from many who came before her.
Reply to @MikeM: Mike. if I recall correctly the portfolio was developed NOT by choosing those with the best poerfromance but rather choosing those that lost LESS in bad (down) years while still performing admirably in good (up) years. Any correlati…
Reply to @VintageFreak: One of the beautiful things about investing is that no one portfolio is right for everyone. If you can rationalize your selections to your stated criteria and to your satisfaction as Fundmental did in setting up the MMLL port…
Reply to @glampig: Your wife is a lucky woman, I picked up one as well. My challange is trying to get it back from my 2-yr old grandson at the end of the day. He works it way better than I do. BTW - to the best of my knowledge Fundmental (note: no '…
With respect to convertible securities, it depends on what kind MACSX holds. While it's usually considered to be usually bonds it can also include notes and preferred shares, which can possess many different traits.
Convertible bonds allow the hol…
Oftentimes the M* profile of the fund will have a listing of available purchase sites although it may not always be up to date and purchase minimums can vary all over the place.
Reply to @catch22: OK then and before I forget Happy and Prosperous New Year.
I set up a hypothetical $100K portfolio of the MMLL Conservative and MMLL Agressive offerings on January 4, 2010. To date the Conservative portfolio had gained 7.39% alth…
Rick,
Are you kidding me? It's been 10 years!? Oh wow, suddenly I feel ancient. I would like to help you with your portfolio but to be honest with you from my days of running with 25-30 funds I am out save for 7. I jst don't follow them like I used …
Can't get excited. Pfizer has reduced expenses by cutting R&D spending and is losing ground to generic versions of Liptior, one of it's biggest cash machines. While they may have some new products coming down the pipes, it will be hard to sustai…
With Mac Lion OS 10.7.2 and Safari 5.1.2 tying in the first two letters gets you the list of fund names but none of the associated links to websites appear.
Hi Cathy and Merry Christmas.
I am sorry to hear of your current situation even though I think we all saw it coming. You hope for better but it just doesn't always happen. If I may be so bold, try to step out of the field of play and look at it fro…
@Maurice I'm not having any pay problems but I am curious. We all know that if a credit card company doesn't get your payment on time it hits you with a late fee. (never done it & not going to start now).
However, as an example, I have a credit…
I think it could probably be 10X that and nobody would know or care. ETF proliferation has gotten as bad as mutual fund proliferation and most offer no additional benefit to the ultimate customer, Seriously, for example, how many different S&P 5…
New article from M* Two Proposed--and Interesting--CEFs in the Pipeline
http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=449745
Also, I strongly agree with Ed that you learn about them before jumping in
You will get as many answers/choices as there are opinions. The "one" fund will be different for everyone. For me it's the Thornburg Investment Builders Fund (TIBIX) or the IVA Worldwide Fund (IVWIX) a couple of the few remaining mutual funds that I…
While true it's my salary, office expenses, etc. that are getting paid to me and not to the mutual fund company. We each have trading costs albeit theirs may be lower. Over time all of it adds up. What is it that Vanguard is noted for? Oh yeah, hold…
For discussion groups you might want to take a look at joining the Yahoo CEF discussion group or the M* CEF discussion group. I've used both quite a bit.
The difference is that you are paying the interest on the loan to yourself rather than a bank, finance company, etc.. It's still hardly ever worth it but for some there may be no other choice.
About that old format (i.e. FA), discussions there for better or worse felt like walking into the neighborhood bar or corner cafe where you knew everyone unlike the present format which feels like standing in line at the DMV or similar government en…
As always, know what you're holding. An investment in the Principal Global Dividend Fund is A) not all that global and B) basically an investment in medium term bonds, energy MLP's and real estate. Many, many MLP's are priced to perfection or at lea…
Maurice, I beg to differ on the source of the article. You know that I do not post unfounded or sesationalistic garbage so if there was no merit to the author it would have never made it here through me. Just wondering who do you suppose paid those …
I don't believe that the article suggested alternative schemes. It merely portrayed the nature of some of the deals that went down. So what you are saying is that, for instance, the two women portrayed in the article performed a legitimate service a…
Investor - maybe, just maybe, you are right that there was no other choice for 'some' of those banks and financial firms. However, by and large, most of them fall into the "you've got to be kidding me" category. Add this to your reading list http://…
Cathy, I am in agreement with all that msf had to say in general about this portfolio. When I look at it all that goes through my mind is what would it look like if all of the dividends over the years had been reinvested in additional shares. Mind-b…
Lest we forget "The Bond Book" by Annette Thau. Nearly all, if not all, you need to know about bond investing in a clear, concise, light on the math read.
http://www.amazon.com/Bond-Book-Third-Everything-Treasuries/dp/007166470X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&a…
Cathy - if I read you right you don't intend to trade these investments but rather you're just removing them from USB control and their management fee. If that is correct then I don't think it matters which stock you move or leave as is. If you are …
