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.
The Vanguard International Growth Fund is subadvised by Baillie Gifford and Schroders.
James Anderson leads Baillie Gifford's efforts on the fund alongside Tom Coutts and Lawrence Burns.
Mr. Burns is slated to succeed Mr. Anderson.
These three gentl…
Why in the World Would You Own Bond Funds?
I'm a few years away from retirement and am not comfortable with a 100% equity allocation.
Higher quality bond funds have low correlations to equities and add ballast to one's portfolio.
My bond allocati…
When bond bear markets are discussed, context can provide useful information.
As @bee illustrates above, declines for high-quality bond funds (except long-term funds) are tame compared to stock funds.
“This ETF was pretty inevitable given the market we are in and features one of the longest ‘risks’ sections I’ve seen in a prospectus in a long time,” said Eric Balchunas, ETF analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence.
What could possibly go wrong?
I also subscribe to her 'Letters from an American' newsletter which I read most days.
I appreciate the historical context that Ms. Richardson often provides.
Tonight's newsletter about the appointment of Representative Deb Haaland as Secretary of t…
Rudolph-Riad Younes and Richard Pell cost me a few dollars.
I was an investor in Julius Baer Intl Equity (later Artio Intl Equity) from 2003 - 2011.
BJBIX outperformed its Foreign Large Blend peers for many years under the tenure of Messrs. Pell and…
Howdy folks,
Change is inevitable. The urban centers will survive albeit differently than many will remember or approve.
Always liked this song from the 70's about NYC.
and so it goes,
peace and wear the damn mask,
rono
NYC has changed …
I don't know if you deem an allocation fund with slightly less than 50% stock exposure to be conservative.
If you do and are investing in a taxable account, you may want to consider VTMFX.
At least 50% of the fund's assets are allocated to munis s…
I've seen those numbers generally referred to as a long-term average return on stock investments. 8-10% is a base hit, not a home run.
Yes, these numbers approximate the stock market's long-term returns.
I was referring to stock market predictions …
His summary of 2021? Expecting an 8 percent gain in S/P for the year. Stimulus and Fed accommodating... means a great year for equities, don't hold Bonds unless they are very short term etc. etc. Stimulus is pumping a ton of money into the economy.…
Mixing religion and politics can yield interesting results.
Several so-called prophets influenced many "religious" people to abandon reason and staunchly support the immoral former president.
"In a survey conducted last year, two political scienti…
The MSN article referenced by Sven states:
"It was also announced Friday that Cruz was named as the ranking Republican member of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Aviation Safety, Operations, and Innovation."
You see, Mr. Cruz took the Cancún fli…
I'm not a fan of most "alternative" funds.
They are often opaque and expensive while their investment strategies can be overly complex.
JHQAX seems to be better than many "alternative" funds.
Millions of Texans were without electricity, many didn't have running water, and temperatures were frigid. Despite the emergency conditions, Mr. Cruz decided it was an opportune time to ensconse himself at the Ritz-Carlton in Cancún. This incident v…
Ted Cruz's daughters asked to go on a trip after school was cancelled.
Mr. Cruz was being a "good dad".
Ted Cruz objected to the certification of Electoral College votes for the presidential election.
Mr. Cruz was being a "good patriot".
Hopeful…
I'm wary about SPACs (aka "blank check" companies).
When created, they usually don't own any companies so performing proper due diligence is impossible.
Some companies that could not bear the scrutiny of the IPO process are going public via SPACs.
S…
Elsewhere I read that catalytic converters are disappearing from parked cars because of their rare metals content. Signs of a bubble or social commentary re: the new normal?
Prices for the precious metals used in catalytic converters have increased…
I own both active and passive funds.
Investors should be mentally prepared for active funds to periodically underperform their relevant benchmarks.
I agree with @LewisBraham that it is difficult to find active funds which will outperform their bench…
M* currently places FSMAX in the Mid Blend category but in the Mid Growth style box.
Category placements are based on three years of style box data.
This article discusses recent fund style box moves at M*. Link
It appears that Fidelity, Lipper, an…
There is little accountability for stock market predictions.
Wrong predictions from individuals or firms are often forgotten in the future.
Here's a little context.
Link1
Link2
“Nearly everyone interested in common stocks wants to be told by some…
The article examines economic performance under Democratic and Republican presidents.
My comment was about stock market performance.
The stock market is not the economy.
If there is a correlation between stock market performance and a sitting pres…
Presidents generally don't deserve most of the credit for good stock market performance nor do they deserve most of the blame when the market crashes. There are many variables beyond a president's control.
I rarely have to call financial institutions or service providers that I have a relationship with.
Whenever I do, I almost always receive the dreaded "Your call is very important to us..." recording.
I'm with Crash - hire some more folks!
Words matter and these people need to be held accountable to them. The allegations can cause considerable material harm to Dominion's business.
False claims made by individuals or media outlets can seriously damage a company's reputation and infli…
Yes I would delete the post if I could.
If you wish to do so, here's how you can move this discussion to Off-Topic:
Click gear in upper-right corner to Edit.
Click drop-down arrow next to Category and select Off-Topic.
Click Save.
Better off going to cash than investing with Hussman.
This is very good financial advice!
"Obviously, Hussman turned into a 'perma-bear,' calling for disaster constantly (and wrongly). Hussman still insists that he will be vindicated, and criticize…
I read the Bloomberg "Robinhood Army..." article.
When I hear about thematic ETFs, the word gimmick springs to mind.
Assets in thematic ETFs quadrupled in the past five years.
This probably will not end well for many investors.
"It may come as no surprise that smaller speculative stocks like Kodak, Nikola, Hertz, and Moderna show a high correlation between Robinhood users holding the stocks and price changes. Meanwhile much larger stocks like Apple, Amazon, and Tesla show …
I noticed this glitch in M* Portfolio Manager last week.
The current price and percent change values for VINIX have not been updated since 01-13-21.
These discrepencies (there have been other ones) erode my trust in M*.
It makes sense to be cautious when high equity valuations are considered.
I rebalanced my portfolio in late 2020 / early 2021 to lessen risk.
The current conditions don't necessarily preclude the "U.S. Market" from performing well this year.
The st…
Thanks for the info!
"The actively managed ETF will be separate from but have a similar strategy to that of the $16.0 billion Vanguard Ultra-Short-Term Bond Fund (Investor Shares: VUBFX; Admiral™ Shares: VUSFX) and will be managed by the same portf…
