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I have no stake here but this caught my eye. So the idea is to transfer the assets held in a LatAm fund into one that has 11% exposure to that part of the world and two-thirds of its exposure in Asia. Somehow I imagine this move is 100% for the be…
Every Vanguard CEO since Bogle is pretty much riding his coattails. Any "added value" is around the margins. Personally I was compelled to move all the assets I could out of my Vanguard accounts -- they landed at Schwab, where I used to work -- bec…
EM bonds have outpaced EM equities for THIRTY YEARS. Nuthin' like waiting for the turnaround, I guess. Of course I got suckered in myself a few times. What an opportunity cost . . . .
https://www.morningstar.com/stocks/when-bonds-beat-stocks-eme…
"Matthews has exceptionally deep investment talent." How can it when so many have departed? Have unnamed analysts left as well? I don't know, but you'd think they wouldn't stick around either, unless they had no alternatives, and that's not a rin…
Even some of the "best" EM funds (e.g., SFGIX, which I tried for awhile) have experienced anemic returns over long periods. I asked myself: why? My hypothesis is that, while those economies may indeed grow faster, there is an immense amount of "fr…
Really interesting for investors who own Primecap-managed funds. I've been with VPCCX for an awfully long time, my major regret being that I hold it in a taxable account which hasn't been ideal. Used to own POAGX, too. That fund had an uncanny a…
Never owned it, never before looked at it so I know squat but this fund is positioned for catastrophe. That 33% slug of cash did not help in 2023, but did in 2022. Some people are very uncomfortable with volatility, and that's totally understandab…
During the last 6 months, RPHIX gained $2.84%. If it continues, this will be 5.7% per year with minimal risk. If not a secret, can you tell us about better opportunities that you see now? Or do you have in mind what may happen with other funds when…
Maybe, maybe not. There's detail behind this but, short version, management has apparently decided not to extend its recently reduced minimum investment requirement for RSIIX to Schwab account holders. That, after suggesting that it would.
I was looking at the historical performance of a large-cap blend mutual fund yesterday (a good fund -- rated "Gold" and "five stars") and couldn't help but notice that 100% of its outperfomance over the past decade went straight to operating expense…
All of the Primecap Odyssey funds, which are in multi-year outflow mode, are distributing over 5%. (Looks like the Growth fund is doling out almost 12%, which comes on top of bottom quartile 5-yr. relative performance in its category, so no surpris…
Hey -- I am a dog expert: years of experience with a local shelter, served on the board of directors, became familiar with literally hundreds of dogs. Dogs don't care where they live, they care who they live with. You can assure your wife that you…
I read every columnist mentioned here when I was a kid. I'm not sure why they appealed; topically they were rather adult in nature. I became an English major and have to think it had something to do with their facility with language. My father sti…
That's really interesting. I'm familiar with reconstitutions (adding or deleting) but not shifting away from market capitalization. I'm curious to see what things look like after the changes.
I guess all one can say is that, so far, it has worked out pretty well. A whole lot better than bonds, foreign anything, or -- god forbid -- the fallacy of emerging markets. And that's been the case for over a decade. So who can blame them for st…
I used to but now that I've finally made up my mind to only index on the equity side (only took 20+ years lol) when it's gone it's gone. Anything sold now goes right into the index.... done.
Smart. This is the direction I'm heading, too, however …
How many people confirm their ability to secure insurance before they purchase a home? Farmers, CSAA, and Liberty Mutual round out the top five issuers, I think.
If you're curious you could try this. Log onto the website and under "Accounts" (for your Living Trust) click on "Balances," then scroll down to "Balance Details." I'm guessing you'll see that your "Cash & Cash Investments" are deposited with S…
"The Bank Sweep feature automatically 'sweeps' the uninvested cash in your brokerage account into one or more banks ('Program Banks'). Cash in the Bank Sweep feature is eligible for FDIC insurance." You can check this by looking at "Balances" on yo…
Not that I know what I'm talking about but while SCHW's profits could well be affected -- temporarily -- by increased costs of capital neither it nor its millions of clients will be going anywhere. Outflows from its MMFs? They've reversed. Schwab…
Between March 14th and 17th SCHW insiders bought over 128,000 shares of SCHW stock. I guess they expect to make more by doing that than the 4.5% Schwab's MMFs are paying.
Based on extensive first-hand experience I'd say that compelled arbitration isn't a disaster for consumers (maybe excepting the restrictions on access to class actions). Most cases filed in court go through arbitration anyway (at least they do arou…