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.
Don't know why people take this Kabuki theater of politics seriously as if anything is a matter of being fair, balanced or on principle.
In a few months if Trump is the Republican candidate debating the Democrat candidate and Fox is hosting a debat…
Seems like an academic theory unrelated to reality.
In my anecdotal experience, except for the small minority that manages finances diligently, I don't think people's spending habits are determined by such a micro analysis of cash flow even sub con…
May be the problem with this fund is more than just mark-to-market which can be temporary or indicate a problem with the investment thesis. Does one understand the fund enough to take a bet?
I am noticing a pattern in the forum of people getting in…
Nothing in the capital markets is structurally safe and that is the reality. Just a matter of degrees.
With junk bonds, one has to worry whether the crisis is just a temporary mark to market induced crisis or a default induced crisis or if both how…
Thanks @old_skeet. I was refering to a recent statement of yours
Currently, I plan to buy again on the upswing somewhere around 1870-1890 range … perhaps, even today. If the market runs upward today above 1900, I simply want buy; and, I'll a wait fo…
Typically, the interest rate is not much of a bargaining item. Usually in the 6-8% range that neither side worries about.
The thing that late stage "dumb money" investors would like to ensure are things that affect the risk of capital such as liqui…
Lot of moving parts to the Theranos story which is evolving continually.
Walgreens has stopped its expansion plan pending further data/clarification. Safeway deal fell through as Safeway walked away.
Cleveland Clinic has distanced itself stating t…
@old_skeet, what do you do in your system when the markets go back and forth around your milestones. Do you make only one purchase at each milestone and not again? In an earlier post, you said you might put some more money in if in the 1890s but not…
Yes, I much prefer that someone posted their insights than just links.
We may have lost a few battles on poverty not the war. When the poverty spreads to a level where the ideological blindfolds come off to require proof and pudding in the improvem…
You can believe whatever doomsday scenario you want instead doing the same logical extrapolation of current trend to extreme. Doesn't make it any more valid.
Economic cycles create hardships and you need a net to get people through it whether it is…
The China that exists beyond some googling for articles. China that struggled to keep up with export demand in labor and deployed robots as you found in these articles and now finds companies laying off people (even Foxconn which pressured Apple sto…
Excercise their constitutional rights to carry a gun and go and shoot the people who write such science fiction if it isn't the reality or the politicians if it turns out to be the reality. Just the possibility of that scenario happening is what cre…
I understand that @msf. I am asking a simple question. Can the congress act in a way that would prevent these final set of rules to go into effect as written finally? Not necessarily to get rid of them but send them back to the drawing board which a…
@old_joe, If you mean enough to override presidential veto, I agree.
But I was trying to differentiate what is procedurally possible with what is likely.
The difference between the two is what determines the lobbying efforts which attempts to infl…
@msf, I am not sure I understand you well enough but the congress according to the link you posted can scuttle the final set of rules with a disapproval with a majority enough to override a presidential veto, no? It would mean the department has to …
Thanks for that honor @Ted while I note that it would have been far more rewarding to be in one of those unicorns with even half an exit than be an expert on it from the outside. :)
@msf read the section titled "How is the Congress in involved in reviewing final rules?" in the link that you posted.
Things are never that simple especially in this political climate where anything one party does gets an automatic no vote by the o…
Superficial article as typical of financial writers that mixes facts with fantasy. Unicorns are under threat but nothing to do with mutual funds or their valuation practices.
1. Mutual funds amongst money from Russian "mobs" and Chinese transfers m…
The reality is somewhere between Bloomberg and @bee.
Bloomberg is pointing to the worst case scenario of robot displaced workers not being employed or being underemployed and hence wage pressures which contributes most to inflation being subdued en…
@bobc, in addition to what @msf has pointed out, the involvement with Merrill with most of these high net worth individuals predate the BofA merger. Neither BofA nor Merrill is seen as particularly west coast. I think it is historical going back to …
@msf, thanks for digging through the details.
From what I understand, this is just a proposal for rule making which will still need to be passed via Congress. The industry already scuttled the earlier 2010 proposal and they will try to do so again.…
You seem to be heading in the right direction now. :) Just as long as you don't head into the opposite logical extreme which would be equally fallacious.
Thanks for your input to the thread. It has been fun.
@dex, Ironically enough, it is from the early warnings raised by such influential people that things tend to self-correct. Otherwise, they would get past the point of return with no one realizing this. That is the real danger.
This is a good demon…
Agree with @Alban. More paper work wouldn't deter the sale of annuities if there are sufficient returns.
But there is one clause in there that if enacted/enforced would completely stop its sales through third party brokers - have fiduciary respons…
One of the most significant factors keeping investors from reaching appropriate conclusions is their tendency to assess the world with emotionalism rather than objectivity. That's why it is of utmost importance to utilize odds/rules based investmen…
It isn't all armchair musing at Davos. Sometimes, corporate titans and movers-and-shakers will block off a chunk of time to address, "amongst themselves," some things having a more global reach, and the framework for moving off the dime gets put in …
@dex, pointing to a definition of a fallacy is not equivalent to showing how that fallacy applies here. Otherwise, everyone shouting "sky is falling" these days with the markets going down could simply accuse everyone not agreeing with it as having …
@dex, didn't say it was from the article. The prose following the link is my opinion based on my experiences in the tech area. The main point I was trying to make is that when people say tech advances create or destroy jobs, it can be true or false …
@heezsafe, it is my understanding without taking a deep look ( they have given me no reason to do so so far) is that FMIJX is currency hedged as an international fund to avoid the volatility of currency moves relative to the dollar. As to what exten…
@msf, thanks for getting back. I went back and read the article again to refresh myself and it would appear we have been misinterpreting the situation. The lawyer made no public statements, it is not something he wrote to the media as I interpreted …
Completely out of all investment grade bonds now in my aggressive portfolio. Only 7% in bonds all of it in high yield or emerging markets. More the markets go down broadly, less riskier, risk assets get is my principle.
@InformalEconomist, I really…
In my understanding from reading the investing habits of the politicians over the years, they just suck at it or aren't relevant to retail investors. One, they don't have the time because they are busy raising funds. Two, most are independently weal…
I think it is too premature to be thinking of a significant turnaround based on these kinds of technical relief rallies but you never know which one of them is going to be one eventually. Counting chickens before they are hatched is the favorite pas…
@hank,
You are right that lower commodities is stimulative except when they lead to a deflationary spiral.
http://www.investinganswers.com/financial-dictionary/economics/deflation-1160
Some inflationary is necessary for growth. What keeps the Fed…
@mozart325 thanks for that article link. Not at all surprising.
It is my hypothesis expressed before in this forum that a similar thing happened with oil as well creating artificial demand for oil that took it to above $100. The "Western traders" …
@catch22, apologies. That last post wasn't directed at you while it looks like it in retrospect. I was still composing it when you posted your note and so hadn't seen it. It was part of my continued rant on what is going on in this sector.
The bigg…
If you think you are not participating in this crap, take a look at the funds owning this stock
http://investors.morningstar.com/ownership/shareholders-major.html?t=ALKS®ion=usa&culture=en-US&ownerCountry=USA
If you are in any of th…
To add insult to injury insiders and/or people with inside information often trade out of these things before the trial results or FDA approvals become public and all that the rest see is something like this a few days before this meltdown. SEC typi…
And if you think this concern is overblown, see what is happening to ALKS today that is bringing down the entire sector. We all contribute to the greater fools market when we blindly keep buying broad ETFs and mutual funds in narrow sectors.
I figured @Ted was having fun than a heavy bromance with Art. Perhaps it is both. Given what I suspect is the major demographics of this forum, I would expect members to take exception to slights on Liz Ann Sonders than on Art ... :)
Walking into t…