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.
WEP & GPO Repealed
Social Security WEP (Windfall Elimination Provision) & GPO (Government Pension Offset) offsets have been repealed. This isn’t an adjustment or modification, but a repeal. The extra costs by elimination of WEP & GPO may…
A follow up from Morningstar indicated that M* Discussions’ offline status is permanent & they aren’t coming back.
The day the M* Discussions died is noted as 12/20/24, about 1:00 PM Central.
UPDATE
Morningstar Discussions
A problem surfaced on 12/11/24 at M* Discussions that real names started showing instead of the UserIDs. M* hasn’t been unable to fix this problem in over 9 days. Now, M* Discussions have been taken offline, hopefull…
Things to be done in DC today:
Budget CR to avoid Government shutdown
WEP & GPO Relief Bill (if not today, the process will have to restart from scratch in the next Congress)
Both normally take days, but today is the drop dead date on both.
Response from M* is that it's working to fix this problem with real names vs userIDs. As M* Discussions now require login, this issue is within the M* community (private), and not public.
Notes by YBB
(My PC decided to have an update around 1:00 PM, so the posting of some FOMC Statement links via phone had an incorrect date. This was corrected where possible.)
Rates: Fed funds cut 25 bps to 4.25-4.50%, bank reserves rate to 4.40%, …
Interesting article about the potential of bad drones. The local law enforcement is basically powerless in countering bad drones - they have to use secondary methods (traffic cameras, local intelligence, etc) to detect bad drones.
The only federal …
Strangely, it’s illegal to interfere with drone operations. So, don't get into trouble by pulling down a drone over your backyard. Even the law enforcement cannot do anything without warrants.
This is ridiculous.
If drones have protections simil…
If you have more than enough, Schwab has good examples for various tax angles,
https://www.schwab.com/learn/story/tax-smart-ways-to-gift-highly-appreciated-assets?cmp=em-XCU
Well, with either #1 or #2, you get the tax saving, but have $40 in your hands and still have $24 to soft-manage within the DAF.
Remember, $64K with large unrealized gain does have higher market risk.
Actually, a 3rd scenario (variation of #2) can…
@equalizer, will you be covered through employer group health insurance plan until 65 when Medicare kicks in?
Years ago, mine did only IF I opted for pension, not lump-sum. But plans differ on this.
Federal Insurance Office (FIO) is already a newer smallish unit within the Treasury. As much of the insurance regulation in the US is under the states, the FIO has no separate regulatory authority. But FIO (i) keeps tabs on insurance business, (ii) …
There is the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) now that is chaired by the Treasury Secretary and includes all of the important financial agencies that exist. Just folding everything into Treasury may make Treasury a super agency. That may…
@hank, I remember that very much. I have done a few Amazon reviews. When I did one for a book by a colleague, I thought I would do it as real-me. To my horror, I found that all of my Amazon reviews then turned into real-me. I waited a month or so an…
Hawk (Tuah) token debuted last week. It rose spectacularly and crashed on the same day. Now people are talking about suing the clueless 22-yr old country girl Haliey Welch (Hawk Tuah girl) from Tennessee. I also don't believe those people who say th…
Some of the sites I use have txt 2FA, Google Authenticator, or Symantec VIP; some combination may apply too.
It may be difficult to use an authenticator not preferred by a site.
All have weaknesses. txt 2FA doesn't use encryption. Symantec VIP ap…
Thesis and capstone/project are different. Some undergraduate programs have both, but capstone/project is more common. In engineering programs, the name Senior Design (Project) may be used.
Thesis is an in-depth individual effort.
Capstone/project…
CPI +2.7%, core +3.3%, both in line with expectations (Wednesday)
PPI +3.0%, core +3.5%, both above expectations (today, Thursday)
Remember that PPI is based on wholesale prices and when those are rising, the next CPI readings (based on retail pric…
The SEC hasn't changed the cash creation/redemption for Bitcoin and Ether ETPs. So, these ETPs aren't as tax-efficient as other ETPs or ETFs. They are still in their first year and I haven't been checking their sponsor's plans for yearend distributi…
@TheShadow did post this link on 11/9/24. I thought of posting it in early November, but it was already posted.
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/comment/183194/#Comment_183194
But it's good to remind posters of these huge OEF C…
Check bank communication options - Email or text or both. In fact, many still retain old landline# for text - an impossibility.
Recently, I lost all 2FA channels for a brokerage account. Redoing was a royal headache due to tight security.
I wonder…
Due to the Rule of 4/9, any of the 5 remaining Supremes can complain why they took some case? But such complaints are unusual.
"According to these rules, four of the nine Justices must vote to accept a case. Five of the nine Justices must vote in o…
While McAfee name has lingered, late John McAfee (1945-2021; died by suicide in a Spanish prison) wasn't involved after 1994 - almost 30 years ago. Its owners since have been Network Associates, Intel/INTC, for a short while MCFE was listed on Nasda…
There is a McAfee Popup Scam going around.
A McAfee popup informs that the PC (or phone) is infected and you cannot easily close it or get rid of it.
I got the PC going somehow, ran Windows Defender in Quick Scan, Off-line Scan and Full Scan modes…
The last Walgreen (Charles III) involved in the senior management of the Chicago-area fallen icon Walgreens/WBA was in 2010. The apostrophe in Walgreen's has come & gone.
The Executive Chairman Stefano Pessina (Italy) owns 10% of WBA. He was p…
Both M* Legacy Portfolio and M* Portfolio support Watchlists (basically, dummy portfolios with 1 share each).
M* Legacy Portfolio may be slow in updating prices. It seems that @catch22 pulls his data on Saturday, so that may be OK.
Of course, that…
Yep, drinks too.
Many politicians ahead of major speeches, actors ahead of demanding scenes, and traders on volatile days may take a drink or two (who is counting?).
Humphrey Bogart famously said that the world is 3 drinks behind.
Pandemic lockdo…
A little bit of meditation goes a long way. There is a large variety of techniques - use what works best personally. Basically, meditation forces the brain to organize, prioritize, streamline.
Think of traffic at red light and the chaos that would …
5.1, 6.1. Open DAF or contribute to it.
It has been a good year with great gains in some speculative highflyers. Think of donating in-kind to your DAF (new or existing). Be sure to bunch things so that you can itemize (Schedule A). Be aware of incom…
MFOP is great and I use it a lot. But note that MFOP data are updated on a cycle - most weekly, some biweekly or monthly. For long-term fund evaluations, this may not matter.
Name comes from Dog-e-coin, a joke crypto that Musk also promoted. So, doggy is more appropriate. It's a double entendre.
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/DOGE-USD/
@BaluBalu, rolling 4-wk returns would end on Fridays, or if rolling 20-days, the ending would be any day of the week. But typical monthend is 28/29 or 30 or 31. So, there would be slight differences in 4-wk and monthly returns near the monthends. At…
@Sven, that flip has been since Page 1, but people understood so far.
A famous former Mayor in Chicago used to say, listen to what he meant, not what he said. (-:)
MFOP update to include price-based stats (PB-TICKER) is great, @Charles. Here are some data for 2 funds that are cousins - OEF PIMIX, CEF PDI.
Name, SD, MAXDD/Date, Sharpe Ratio, MFO Risk
PIMIX, 5.2%, -10.8…
