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.
Lewis, great, I never said immigrants were more or less represented than we "nativists".
Cease misrepresenting my comments -- its very underhanded -- and I am calling you on it.
You are entitled to your opinion and your facts. As am I. The in…
Cato and CNN are both part of the institutional/establishment concensus on open borders. -- Kinda like Jeb (act-of-love) Bush and the Democrats --- two wings of the same party. --Both wings like to put the economic hurt on "nativists" (we would …
90% equities?
My 'inner-robot' is screaming 'Danger Will Robinson'....
Someone help me out here --- I guess I just don't get the "robo-adviser" fad... Seems more like marketing the sizzle, rather than delivering the steak. These retail broker…
I’ve heard/read the pro-trade economists for 35 years. Their opinions are usually based on an idealized/intellectual ideal of how the world should work, not how it works in reality. – In many cases, they work for think-tanks funded by member of…
Lewis:
You ask "what is different about this wave of immigrants?" -- And then go on to hint at dark motives of those who you disagree with you. I will however answer you on point:
Here are some differences:
a) Entitlements. Government hando…
Offshoring jobs and importing mass quantities of immigrants (legal or illegal) has as a natural --and IMO, an intended-- consequence of tamping down wage income, and thus, increasing income INequality.
Policymakers for both parties have been "work…
I find the attitude expressed in that article reminiscent of Alfred E Neuman's "What me worry?"
One of the most storied investors on Wall Street was the late Marty Zweig. Mr. Zweig was famous for admitting with great frequency, when queried…
Schiff always seems to find a fly in the soup or a cloud around the silver lining.
What he labels "QT", most would probably describe as interest rates becoming normalized. Is that tightening? Well sure, but that is what 'getting back to normal…
I concur that the "all or nothing" seems over the top. I always make my moves in increments. -- But then I may lack the confidence, competence (or hubris) of others. -- Then again, staying fully invested, regardless of price also does not strike me…
I remember the jokers from Salomon Smith Barney coming to my workplace during the teck-wreck, making this very same argument. (SSB served as "advisors" --cheerleaders really -- for our 401k, offering monthly "education" [i.e. propagandizing for an e…
District: VWINX is slated to be a long-term holding for me -- targeted to be 20% of my portfolio as I near/go into retirement. So I am biased. With that caveat, here is a thought...
Our current bull-market is long in the tooth. There is a hig…
The seeming 'reasoned' approach laid out in the memo, ignores, in my opinion, a very important factor: PRICE.
Vanguard, which admirably delivers a low-price (i.e. low-expense) suite of products, apparently feels that the price an investor pays (o…
I guess I will plead "ignorance" on the topic..
Apparently "social investing" means shunning fossil-fuel producing energy companies. Yet, all the Top 25 holdings in VFTSX are massive CONSUMERS of fossil fuels, aren't they?
Virtually all MNCs wh…
I suspect the list is: a)based on size of revenues (not qualitative measures) and b)only of those chains whose revenues are in the public domain.
For instance, it amazes me that Little Caesars is on any "top list", let alone still around. Its pizz…
Not sure what the 'apples to donuts' mean comment means?
Gundlach, Gross, & Fuss all manage debt portfolios. Its true that Fuss and Gross' main vehicles provide them a wider field to deploy capital than does Gundlach's mortgage fund (i.e. DBL…
Press, M* categorizes MERFX as a Market-Neutral fund. Market-neutral funds, in turn, are classified as an alt strategy.
The comparison was to evaluate the relative merit of using MERFX (and as a proxy for alt funds more generally) as a diversifi…
"Alts" are a trick, a marketing ploy, a flim-flam.
Consider: most professional equity managers who oversee traditional (i.e. non-alt) long-only stock vehicles cannot consistently beat the S&P.
"Alt" managers engage in much more 'sophisticated…
MJG: "There is likely one tax related truism that we can all accept; from Judge Learned Hand who said: “There’s nothing sinister in so arranging one’s affairs to keep taxes as low as possible.”
Don't speak for me or others (or "all").. Tax law…
A couple points which I consider economic policy, not partisan/political:
The complexity of our current tax code is only minimally a function of multiple tax rates, and much more about defining/excluding income -- and differentiating income types…
The manager thinks its a great time to invest in real estate... of course, he is paid to invest in real estate. If you pay me six figures to invest in Florida swamp land, I can make a case for that too. Would he tell you if he thought it was a…
I was intrigued many years ago, when the "Masters" funds appeared. I was skeptical re their E/Rs, so I figured I'd wait and see. Honestly, I'd kind of forgotten about them, til I saw this thread. Prompted by the thread, I decided to "look and …
These things have all fallen together, and when the commodity recovers, they will all move up in sympathy.
Why complicate things by adding on manager risk and higher expense ratios? -- Why not just buy an energy ETF.. XLE or FENY, for example? T…
I was a long-term holder of TTRZX & TGBAX (it was ~9% of my portfolio at one time). I sold, shortly after I became aware of his Ukraine bets, which was preceded by some time of underperformance.
I came to ask myself: would I, on my own, inves…
Wed, 8/5/15...
S&P + 0.31%; TCHVX (0.21%) (negative).
The market goes down, Gargoyle loses money; the market goes up, Gargoyle also loses money.
You gotta hand it to the new managers --- they are consistent...
Its a travesty the father/shooter was arrested. --- Basically these drones (whether govt- or private- operated) have an unbridled license to snoop/spy on people at will. Pretty disgusting. -- Its getting to be like a "Stasi State" here in the US.…
Well Maurice, I am one of those posters. I don't feel a need to do weekly posts to promote holding AU. Nor do I ponder/fret what to do about it day-to-day. So you needn't fret about why you haven't seen such posts...
I continue to hold my …
UPDATE......
I don't hold this fund (new ticker TFHVX), as I have never been impressed with the fund's performance on "down" stock market days --- it always struck me that the hedge benefit which fundholders were being asked to pay did not work --…
2,000 years ago Roman engineers constructed aquaducts to bring water to cities throughout the Empire. Some of these aquaducts traversed hundreds of kilometers.
The Roman engineers did not have motorized vehicles, satellite imaging or instant comm…
I'm not sure what the harm would be to raising ONCE, sometime in 2015, then waiting for subsequent data to determine the next move. Maybe that 2nd move comes 3-, 6-, or 9-months later (depending on unfolding data). If the US capital markets crat…
Wow, another “solution” for a problem largely of individuals’ own making/own choices.
I’ve saved every year of my working life – even when I worked 2 part-time jobs simultaneously while attending night college full time. People choose to save or …
follow-on...
About 3 months ago, my colleague/co-worker mentioned he was planning on buying a piece of jewelry for his wife, celebrating 25 years of "marital bliss".
He found the piece he liked, which was just over $10K. He planned to pay cash. …
I’d like to weigh in on this matter.
About 2 years ago, I received a call from Fidelity, one of 2 broker-custodians I use.
They were calling me, to make inquiries of me regarding several sub-$10K electronic transfers I had initiated between Fideli…
Maybe ask why REITs went UP so much in the past year --20% --- much of it by investors desperate for yield, and trend-following.
If (when) rates move up, bonds will be more competitive for capital, and capital will flow out of REITs; and utilities.…
I do tend to think define asset classes in my portfolio as per the article. Namely: equities, debt, real-assets, and cash. I don't do this solely/specifically for income, but for overall total return, of which income is typically an important com…
Tampabay
February 15 Flag
I went to Publix today to trade Gold (currency) for Chips and Beer, you know what they said?.....
Tampa (wish I was THERE today, Florida is warmer than most places this President's Day)..
I am sorry your local grocery w…
