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
Reply to @Investor: Growing the economy to a sustainable pace is only way to recover for this recession. Europe is in a bad shape and US is sadly following the same path.
Reply to @MaxBialystock: Catch has mentioned in the past that the rather larger number of fund stemmed from several tax-deferred accounts.
I used to have duplicating funds in my tax-deferred IRA versus 401(K). It took quite a while to trim back …
Totally agree. Also buy cars with emphasis on reliability and cost effective in repair. We still drive an 19 years old Honda Civic with 200K miles. Last year we bought a new Odyssey and intend to keep it for at least 10+ years.
Good for Schwab. It is a bit late to the party.
By the way, one of Vanguard ETF, emerging market index, VWO, has overtaken iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index Fund. EEM, in both the asset held and daily trading volume.
Reply to @msf: thank you for the explanation. So fee waiver provides only short-term cap on management fee, and the company gets to recover the fee at a later date.
Scott, BobC, and Gary, thank you for your suggestions. In case the market is heading to a correction, This asset class should provide additional downside protection other than the traditional bonds.
Reply to @Investor: Still learning on reading these data. This week VIX has moved up to 19.6 from 14.8 at several weeks ago. The mean is at 20.5 for the past decade.
By the way, when does STLFSI publish their later data?
thanks
Reply to @Skeeter: I really appreciate for your detailed reply. In addition, I misunderstood that this is your taxable rather than a tax-deferred account. The strategy of buying and selling is different when the tax consequence is involved, Lik…
Thank you Ted. The title would be worded more appropriate as "alternate asset classes with lower correlations to equity and bonds"
Any recommendation from the board here? Many of the funds discussed here have fairly short track record. Some have…
A 13-14 % reduction in equity is significant. Hope you have done so on the way up before the decline over the last two weeks. Next week will tell if selling continues.
Next question, what are your plans for capital preservation? Several days a…
Unfortunately Meredith Whitney was wrong, very wrong on muni marke. Muni bonds were one of the few asset classes with positive returns in 2011. Where is she today?
http://www.cnbc.com/id/47014123
As for TV, it is all about the "rating". Day…
Strong used to be the custodian for Oregon 529 plan, until they were convicted of the infamously mutual fund scandal in 2003. As a result Dick Strong was banned from finance industry for life, and the company was sold to Wells Fargo. Strong was fi…
Catch & Bee,
Like many people who are caregivers for their aging parents, managing their retirement expense is a daunting task. My sister help out with the day-to-day stuff while I oversee the bigger picture. The biggest expense we face is …
Reply to @CathyG: In my humble opinion, munis are doing fine despite default fear spread by Meredith Whitney. 2011 proved that her prediction was way off.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-01/whitney-municipal-bond-apocalypse-is-short-on-defa…
Reply to @johnN: I used H&R Block in the past, and walked away quickly... They gave bad advice which I would have pay TWICE on my stock option. A local CFA set the matter straight and I will never use these large tax preparation shops.
Reply to @mclaugh: All insurance agents will share the same bias - sale commission. A better choice would be a fee-based advisor to sort out the pros and cons of annunity, most of which already discussed here.
Reply to @Investor: FSICX covers several asset classes which is easier to manage. High yield and dollar-based EM bonds are also highly correlated. Local currency EM bonds are less correlated and is also one approach to hedge against USD decline. …
Rebalanced in late March from equity to cash . Will let cash sits until better entry points become apparent. Will evaluate "alternate" funds for capital preservation.
That is the reason that Pimco Total Return is experiencing new inflow - $1.7 billion.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-02/pimco-s-total-return-fund-attracts-1-7-billion-in-first-quarter.html
Increase your cash/bond position if one feels uncomfortable with the market. It does not have to one way or the other. A balanced approach makes a lot sense.
Reply to @catch22: Thank you again. Additional articles by Mary Beth Franklin are also informative to read.
http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/personalia?ID=MBFranklin
Enjoy.
Please scroll down to bottom to locate the top mutual fund holders. Do you have any of the funds in your portfilio?
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=GRPN+Major+Holders
