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.
"Electing an ignorant, narcissist president and spineless supplicants to control Congress has real consequences. Tragically, the ones most affected will be the most vulnerable Americans."
Yep, I agree with the author's conclusion.
I assumed West Loop was a reference to Chicago before
finding the sub-advisor's office address in the prospectus.
West Loop in this instance references a segment of I-610
which loops around Houston's inner core.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inters…
Cliff Asness discusses the lack of mark-to-market valuations and its implications.
https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/2bstqfcskz9o72ospzlds/opinion/why-does-private-equity-get-to-play-make-believe-with-prices
How many people will needlessly die due to the actions of this megalomaniac?
Trump's supporters are wont to rebuke critique by stating elections have consequences.
Yes, this statement is indeed true!
Chickens will come home to roost for much of the …
Private equity (PE) investments don't belong within 401(k) plans.
They are illiquid and difficult to properly value.
Furthermore, PE is often riskier and considerably more expensive than public markets.
While some PE funds have generated excellent l…
"i wish they (wellington) would get rid of the high-yield mandate and had the flexibility to move
wider across credit\duration space as they see opportunities."
VWALX has considerably less exposure to below investment-grade bonds than true High Yie…
The Week in Charts (03/07/25)
The most important charts and themes in markets and investing, including:
00:00 Intro
00:19 Free Wealth Path Analysis
01:22 Topics
02:25 The End of a Historic Uptrend
06:04 There Will Be Drawdowns
11:04 A Sentiment Sh…
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's, discusses tariffs on the PBS New Hour this evening.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/as-trump-delays-tariffs-on-mexico-and-canada-businesses-brace-for-repercussions
As others have mentioned, Europe has underperformed for a very long time.
European (and international) stocks are cheap and have low expectations.
European/international stocks may outperform the U.S. if the low expectations are surpassed.
The Felonious Skunk™ has avoided prosecution for several serious crimes (e.g., Jan.6, classified docs).
His lust for power/greed is exerting severe stress to our system of checks and balances.
Felonious Skunk™ displayed enormous hubris in his addres…
Way too long, way too partisan, and way too much BS.
Trump is a pathological liar.
Thanks for the link to NPR's fact check!
Pride cometh before the fall...
@FD1000,
You provided a link to an article published by The Washington Free Beacon.
Assuming that you are genuinely concerned about factual reporting and political bias,
selecting distinguished media sources would facilitate the acquisition of accu…
"But there are tons of manufactured AAA tranches of securitized credit. Basically, an average rated portfolio can be sliced-and-diced in tranches of AAA, AA, A, BBB,...,equity tranche. Wall Street collects fees from this too, so they love securitize…
"Are these items what are broadly called 'Securitized' in bond funds. Like 21.93 % in VBMFX?
Or a whopping 49.40% of the highly regarded Dodge and Cox Income Fund."
The Dodge & Cox Income prospectus from 12/31/2024 indicates 48.7% of total as…
This sounds perfectly logical.
Slap massive tariffs on all countries which utilize the metric system.
It's a sure-fire way to dramatically increase government revenue! ;-)
Leader of Free World
There is currently a lot of uncertainty in the markets.
I surely don't know what will transpire in the near-term.
I may increase my bond/cash holdings slightly since I'm approaching retirement.
Otherwise, it's business as usual...
"In recent weeks, President Donald Trump and Musk have claimed the discovery of massive fraud within Social Security, which pays benefits to about 69 million retired and disabled Americans and their eligible dependents and survivors. Those reports—i…
"Morningstar's Manager Research analysts assign Parent ratings to more than 100 of the 150 largest firms
in the US. Only 10 of them earn our greatest conviction and are awarded a High Parent rating."
"Analysts consider a variety of factors in thei…
@Crash
Have you tried the MSN link WABAC posted above?
Works for me...
Edit/Add:
"Shown above are the rankings for 2024 and 5 years (all #1 to #5, then only selected families).
There are also tables for 10 years and for each category - 5 best and …
"Barron’s has conducted its annual survey of fund families for more than 20 years,
focusing on one-year performance across a range of actively managed funds for its primary ranking."
"Because the Best Fund Families results are asset-weighted,
firm…
Dr. Craig Spencer (referenced in OP) was a guest on the PBS News Hour this evening.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/doctor-who-survived-ebola-highlights-risks-of-musks-funding-cuts
Thanks, YBB.
I think durable poor sentiment may cause reduced consumer spending.
We'll see what happens to sentiment/consumer spending in the months ahead...
It's not surprising that the Bull-Bear Spread is very low due to current events.
What does the data suggest if the Bull-Bear Spread remains at very low levels?
Are there any studies showing the potential impact to consumer spending?
JQUA outperformed SPHQ, QUAL, and VFIAX on an absolute and risk-adjusted basis
from Dec. 2017 - Jan. 2025. The time period was constrained by available data for JQUA.
https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/backtest-portfolio?s=y&sl=1h6EglHoYVwvNJl…
StockRover includes a Novy-Marx Quality screener and Sloan Ratio metrics.
Unfortunately, both can only be used for stocks and are not applicable for ETFs.
I don't know how to screen mutual funds/ETFs for academics' quality measures or if this is eve…
Fund companies define quality inconsistently using different measures.
Obviously, this can be problematic.
Larry Swedroe references a paper which differentiates between academic
and industry definitions for quality investing.
https://www.etf.com/…
You're correct that these quality funds are not inexpensive.
The funds' P/E and P/B data is below.
I didn't search for P/S or P/CF data.
Valuation Metrics - 12/31/2024
FQAL - 27.93 P/E; 6.65 P/B
QUAL - 29.31 P/E; 8.90 P/B
SPHQ - 29.68 P/E; 17.14 …
The mentioned funds are more expensive than many large-cap index funds weighted by market capitalization.
But they're not overly expensive.
FQAL - 0.16%
QUAL - 0.15%
SPHQ - 0.15%
JQUA - 0.12%
The Other Side of Value:The Gross Profitability Premium
Robert Novy-Marx
June, 2012
Abstract
Profitability, measured by gross profits-to-assets, has roughly the same power
as book-to-market predicting the cross-section of average returns. Profitable
…
The Economic Policy Uncertainty Index is at its highest level since 1985 outside of the COVID-19 pandemic.
U.S. Monthly EPU Index
FRED (select max timeframe, modify frequency to monthly)
The market can go down anytime regardless of inflows.
Furthermore, market corrections (defined as 10% - 20% losses) can occur for seemingly no reason at all.
The Week in Charts (02/25/25)
The most important charts and themes in markets and investing, including:
00:00 Intro
00:20 Free Wealth Path Analysis
00:51 Topics
01:36 The Cruelest Tax
04:45 Rising Credit Card Delinquencies
07:43 Buffett Raising Mo…
Dodge & Cox formed a new DODBX committee in 2022 with an increased focus on risk management.
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/comment/158241/#Comment_158241
I have a 401(k), Roth IRA, Rollover IRA, H.S.A., and two taxable accounts.
My entire portfolio includes 10 mutual funds/ETFs, 1 individual stock, and 5-Year TIPS purchased at auction.
No account has more than two funds (excluding money market funds)…
