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
Barrons did a better job in comparing the brokerages - a more balanced view. Have to agree wth @msf on his experience. We use Fidelity and Vanguard. In the end it really boils down to what the investors need in terms of NTF mutual funds, ETFs, CE…
I believe the growth stocks in the fund that provide the volatility which should be counteract by the bond portion. Vanguard Wellesley Income with 35/65 stock/bond allocation may be of interest for those who are seeking income from traditional bala…
I worked down the cash position and let everything to recover by April. Let cash build up again in July as trade war ramped up again. This time is different as the global economy has worsen.
Good reading. We have so much to thank Facebook and other social media to magnify the cultural and political differences. The russians have learned well how to exploit these differences in order to create division and discourse of others so that i…
Here is a week old data from Schwab on their perspective.
https://www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/content/market-perspective
The largest economy in Europe, Germany is on the verge of recession. UK is next as Boris Johnson pushing for no-…
The whole thing amounts to a mini-tantrum and he is angry at everybody including China who he blames them on the market and the economy on chairman Powell. The biggest mistake is the belief that lowering interest rates by 25 or 50 bp (or even 100 b…
The whole scheme is like something out of the movie, Office Space. Steal a few cents in every transaction that amounts to a big pot of money until... You need to watch this low budget but funny movie.
I wondered why he wasn't convicted of simple …
That is one reason Japan is the largest holder of US Treasury for many years. Japan government bonds have yield less than 1% since 2000.
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/INTGSTJPM193N
Can't imagine how their retirees depends on their government…
I will sit and wait just like Warren Buffet as things just getting interesting. If this recession takes hold it may be more painful and longer lasting than the 2008 recession. This time the Fed and others around the globe may not have much left to…
@MikeW, I have not use Fidelity's advisory service. Awhile back they want to talk with us to see if their service would be of value. We declined since they charge 1% of the total asset under management every year, and that is a lot of money. Schw…
@davidmoran and @msf, thank you for pointing out the link above. Again more tools to explore and learn. How is this MC simulation differs from that from Financial Engine?
Now you tell me, except the key is almost never. Investing is more than just absolute performance.
It is often equally important to review the loss during severe drawdown periods and the recovery duration. Take your pick during 2000-2002, 2008…
@MikeW, msf provided a very detailed description of two largest brokerages - Fidelity and Schwab. Both have their pros and cons and it is really depend on what you are seeking. As you can see many opinions are offered since our individual needs and…
Same here. We have been with Fidelity for several decades along with Vanguard. Their customer support, website reliability, and stock research are second to none. They also have offices in large cities if you need to talk directly with someone (we…
msf's reported ER is corrected (per PIMCO prospects 7/31/19). It is more than double the ER from a year ago.
Look like PIMCO missed several marco calls this year and the fund is lagging its peers. When the asset is so large it is very difficult …
Congratulation, you are indeed very active at 72. Lately we have been consolidating our IRAs for ease of management and also in case of declining health in the future. TRP or Vanguard's TDFs would certainly simplify our lives.
@davidmoran, thank you for all the links. I have not follow Janus for a long time. Make sure this Janus Henderson team has a consistent track record. You may want to analyze the fund on portfoliovisualizer.com for performance and risk analysis re…
@davidmoran, I invested in PRWCX 10 years ago before it closed several years back. Today It is not possible to get in as new investors. You need to do some research to find a reasonable alternative balanced fund in the brokerage you are using. As …
I also use portfoliovisualizer.com to compare fund performance as well. Also one can obtain risk data - % drawdown and so forth. Once you register with the site, you can download the information as PDF files for additional evaluation.
@ET91, today environment is challenging for smaller cap funds. TRP is one of the few shops that close their funds in order to maintain their investment process and their expense ratios are reasonable. I invested with their Mid Cap Growth fund for…
@davidmoran, you are more experienced with CEF bonds. I have not been tracking PCI for decent entry points, i.e. discounts/premium. Sometime volatility of close-end bond funds is unnerving. What do you consider a reasonable discount on PCI? …
Royce funds has been declining in performance for some time now. Long time ago I invested with them briefly but found Royce funds to be average (at best) as active managers. Today I use TRP mid- and small cap funds, but most of them are closed to …
@davidmoran, I am thinking the same on PONAX/PIMIX as well. By the way, many PIMCO bond funds are trailing this year comparing to their peers. PONAX It is a multi-sector and mostly domestic bond fund. It also uses swaps and other instruments bas…
Tried a Samsung phone for 3 months and it got inflected with malwares downloaded from Google app store! Never trust android phones if your value your privacy, especially relating to financial matters. Got an iPhone 5 years ago and it is still runn…
Look like USAA is getting out of the business of financial services. I understand they also have sizable insurance business, presumably more profitable.
I am not a USAA investor but I would expect to have improved services from Schwab if I wish …
I stayed with Dan Fuss when Kathleen Gaffney left her fund at Eaton Vance (glad I did). Her fund has all the potential to do really well with a small asset and the experience she acquired from Dan Fuss. Sadly this did not translated anywhere near th…
In the world of ESG investing, governance means operating a business in a responsible manner for shareholders, employees and—more importantly—customers. It’s in the latter where Facebook has failed.
The list of user-data breaches and personal priva…
I'm about 10 years away from retirement so am 70% equities and about 30% in money markets.
@MIkeW, you may want to consider a multi-sector bond fund such as PIMIX to start. In my humble opinion money market funds pay very little and it should be u…
Was in grade school and watching the landing on a black & white television. Over spring break our family visited The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, and saw a Lunar capsule (not sure which Apollo mission it was from). Amazing engine…
