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.
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Sven
Lynn,
Thank you so much. I am planning on a 3-year ladder since I am a year away from retirement. Lots of spreadsheet work to calculate the income replacement needed. This ladder will create a steady income stream. So thank you for all your help.
I moved back to high quality bond funds this year. Some of which you covered in the SA article. For now, I will stay with agency bonds to the bond ladder. I will pick active managers for corporate bonds.
Sven
Chris Davis funds (Selected American, Clipper, and New York Venture) consistently overweigh financial sector and they often performed poorly in down market than his peers.
My small emerging market allocation through Wasatch Emerging Small Cap and…
Not picking on M* or something. Contra fund is a growth-oriented fund and S&P 500 is not its benchmark. The second comparison to the large cap growth fund is okay though.
Contrafund's 7.71 percent total return is three times more than the S&…
@hank, I agree that PRWCX is an outlier among the moderate asset allocation fund. Consistency year after year has been one trait that other AA funds lack, including DODBX. I understand they use different approach, but the results are quite differe…
@JohnChisum, Concur with your assessment on China. Greatly reduced my EM allocation since January and now mainly through Seafare G&I, SFGIX. Lately there has been considerable discussion on how China's low labor cost advantage is disappearing…
@scott, it has been roller coaster reporting so far. Think WFM are heading headwind going forward as other large grocer chains including Costco and Albertson are offering organic foods but at much better price points. Read earlier that WFM is pla…
@catch, agree with what you said on Ed's statement.
Again, balanced or even balanced index funds are great place to start for many novice investors. That is why target date funds is a reasonable choices providing the expense ratio is low.
@hank, can you explain your statement below? Thanks
(on balanced funds) "... I am increasingly concerned that the three usual asset classes of equities, fixed income, and cash, will not necessarily work in a complementary manner to reduce risk."
@Lewis, I believe there are plenty of concern. Censorship is what limiting China's free flow of information reaching to the rest of the world. Same goes for their market information from the local sources.
topics.nytimes.com/top/news/interna…
Thank you. This is one of the informative article on Berkshire Hathaway. Not sure I come to the same conclusion with the author when Buffett steps down in the future.
@PRESSmUP and heezsafe,
For now credit risk in VWITX is low comparing to Oppenheimer exposure to PR bonds. Since rates are will definitely be higher in the future, duration risk still persist in higher rate environment, but it is still manageable …
Biotech have had good run for several years until this week's forward guidance from several big caps. I think I have enough exposure to this sector unless there is further pullback, then it becomes more attractive.
@DavidM said,
Education lets you adapt better and more readily develop new skills.
How true! My doctoral advisor once said "the more you know that you realized how little you really knew". This humbling statement came from someone whose thesis di…
For the sake of PC, I won't post an You-tube clip of "When Sally Met Harry". But I think is having one of those moment - I am having what they are having.
Can't image him attending Warren Buffet's shareholder meeting in Omaha. Other than using hedge funds, his stock picks is nothing special, i.e. no strategy.
@Scott, agree with you on Gilead. It is due to report earning on July 28th. On the longer term, Gilead is truly undervalued with respect to the biotech sector.
Agree. I have American Express card from private firms I work for. The is no spending limit on AmEx card whereas Visa and Master do. They are useful in long oversea business trips. Still prefer Visa/Master for personal use since they are more wi…
At different timeframe when the inflation rates were double digits, I am sure many had made money on PM. Today situation is quite different and PM don't fit anymore, at least in my portfolio.
Former First Eagle manager, Jean-Marie Eveillard, of First Eagle funds, always like to hold some gold in addition to cash in the global funds - conservative and cautious investor.
Who in SD country board made these poor decisions?
The City of San Diego simplified its pension plans. It barred the use of leverage; it now favors a low-risk, asset-allocation approach. As we discussed last year, it is reaping the rewards. The cit…
@Dex, I was referring to msf's prepaid cell plan. Our family plan (5 lines) cost us more in one month than what he pays for the whole year. While we are in the accumulation phase, now is the time to learn others who are doing well with their $$.
Gordon Gekko in the film, Wall Street said "for the lack of better words, greed is good". That sums up what is coming to Oppenheimer who jack up the yields to attract yield hungry and naive investors. And now both Oppenheimer and the investors are…
I vividly remember Brooksley Born who got ran over by Alan Greenspan, Larry Summers, and Robert Ruben during Clinton administration on regulating multitrillion-dollar derivatives market. No wonder there was ill feeling when Larry Summers was seekin…
Interest and relevant read on Ireland's recovery since 2008. Challenge is that Greece's economy is very different from that of Ireland, and it is difficult to grow your economy out of recession in their situation.
internationalpolicydigest.org/2…
Novice investors don't have the patience and long-term view. My only regret is that I didn't own enough of AAPL when Steve Jobs returned to Apple. It has since grow to near the single largest holding in our portfolio.
Peter Smith, chairman of the Templeton trust, acknowledged that the fund’s performance was “very disappointing,”
Möbius has been lagging the emerging market index for some time while the fund carries high expense ratio (A shares has a 5.75% load wit…
The reason is US dollar is strong relative to the rest of currencies. DODLX probably has considerable exposure outside of USD. About 30% of Loomis Sayles Bond is in Canadian dollar and Mexican Peso, it also underperformed this year with -2.6 YTD r…
