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
PIMIX is down 1.1% YTD and the unconstrainted fund, PFIUX has done better, up 1.2%. Next week the fed rate will likely be raised again. Not sure how the leveraged CEFs will do given there are several rounds of rate hikes are planned for the rest o…
Hank said it all about Pimco's backroom support that contributed to decade long out-performance in Bill Gross's Total Return fund. Out-performing by several % per year comparing to the benchmark, US Aggregate Index, is not trivial matter. Pimco as…
With money market funds are yielding at 1.6%, I use cash instead of most bond funds. Otherwise balanced funds such as PRWCX and VWELX have been doing a decent job.
Our family visited the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego over the Memorial Day. It was a sobering experience to see rows of grave stone along with an American flag on each one of them. New graves are being made that reminded us the cont…
For years the drug industry has spent millions lobbying Washington to have thing their way. Wish I am more optimistic, but I am not. It will take more tha an act of God to change that.
He is pointing at the smaller cap EM oriented funds. Matthews Asia Small Companies fund, MSMLX is Asia focus small cap fund.
While Mr. Dali recommends using index exposure to emerging Asia, he says active management will provide additional exposu…
Emerging market currencies are falling back toward earth after an extended run in which they defied gravity—also known as rising U.S. interest rates.
https://www.barrons.com/articles/emerging-market-currencies-down-but-not-out-1525464034
From 2018 IRS reporting schedule above
Examples:
1. Danny, an unmarried college student working part-time, earns $3,500 in 2017. Danny can contribute $3,500, the amount of his compensation, to his IRA for 2016. Danny’s grandmother can make the cont…
@Maurice, It sounds like a workable solution that may save you on the management fee. The Admiral shares of most Vanguard index funds require $50K. So a total of $200K would allow you to construct the same portfolio as the Target date fund and per…
Having cash allows for small buying this year - early Feb (9% down), March and April (5-6% down). Several funds I use have over 10% cash position. Only until recently, TRP Capital Appreciation reduced the cash to high single digit.
With treasury …
@catch22, I thought I was being conservative with 20% cash and 20% bond.
Our house is now at about 50% cash, being money markets at Fidelity at about 1.3% yield/blockquote>
No major move sofar but just watching.
I regularly get invited to a local expensive restaurant for a free seminar of financial planning. Since there is no free lunch so to speak, I passed on a number of occasion. Even one of coworker who changed career and became a financial planner, I w…
I have no problem whatsoever with Vanguard online service. During busy hours their servers may run slower due to heavy volume, but so does Fidelity and T. Rowe Price.
@bee, thank you for the detail posting. Got my homework for the weekend. Is M* portfolio manager is still available at T. Rowe Price? Lately the Portfolio X-ray tool is only available when the total asset exceed $50K.
I was just debating fixing up the old reliable 13-year old GMC pickup for somewhere between $3,000 and $5,000 or buying a brand new one. Took a look. Sticker prices of $40,000 - $80,000 convinced me to fix up the old one. (What inflation?)
That is t…
Agree that is too narrowly focus since many tech companies are developing their own AI chipsets.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/21/alibaba-joins-google-others-in-making-custom-ai-chips.html
Primitive forms of AI (part of marketing) are already used to…
As I recalled, it was initially managed by Amit Wadhwaney. My impression at the time it was a so so value oriented fund. There were better choices back then. The Third Avenue funds started to lag badly after Marty Whitman sold his company. This …
Stay with Andrew Foster who has long proven track record in EM at Matthews and Seafarer. Swing in and out of EM is not investing- one has to get it "right" twice. How many active manager can do that well?
@Starchild,
I live in NJ, so don't know the tax bracket situation
When you file your tax return this year, your adjusted gross income tells you which tax bracket you are in. NJ is one of high tax state of the northwest region of the county that in…
@Crash,
Don't forget Washington which is a equally good state for raising a family. Often we get many California retirees migrating north as the cost of living of CA is getting too much for them.
