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That's early access (1-2 days) to direct deposits by your bank or credit union. Not all banks do this. For SSA payments, my wife has gotten them early for several months (on Mondays instead of Wednesdays).
My bank doesn't do this. So, I "inquired" …
My understanding is that Watchlist now is a feature within Morningstar Portfolio (Legacy or New) that is a subscription product.
If you have alternate access to M* Portfolio via Rowe Price, etc, that's fine. But if not, you would lose access if yo…
This info in OP link is false:
"Starting this May, the Social Security Administration (SSA) is updating its payment schedule, and millions of Americans are going to notice the difference..."
There is no change by SSA - the schedule is similar for …
It's clear that info in the OP link isn't correct. SSA website publishes SSA payment calendar on the 1st of the prior year, and there hasn't been any changes to that (2024, 2025, 2026 calendars).
https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/calendar.htm
Then, I search…
@JPtak (MFO) is Morningstar Managing Director of Research. He posts at Morningstar (see link below), LinkedIn, X/Twitter, Substack, etc.
https://www.morningstar.com/people/jeffrey-ptak
TRs use geometric-average of annual returns, so it's easy to incorporate annual CPIs, and applying an overall inflation factor to overall TR would also work.
Additions/withdrawals will make it more complicated.
Prospectuses report the max ERs.
Websites and quarterly reports may report actual ERs that may be slightly lower. These may also show any fee waivers.
Morningstar does its own thing as it isn't regulated as funds are. In its current reporting, M* …
"On Monday, Moody’s Ratings announced a downgrade in the long-term ratings for several major U.S. banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co, Bank of America"
News from Thailand https://www.kaohooninternational.com/markets/558008
https://www.tradingv…
TestFol is a good alternative for PV.
Additional benefits of TestFol are use of daily returns (vs monthly for PV, M*, etc), no run time limits and rolling metrics. TestFol SD values are higher due to daily data.
TestFol can be more useful for newe…
which corporates have same rating as the U.S. from any agency?
is this # @ all-time high?
S&P
AAA JNJ, MSFT
AA+ (same as US) GOOGL, AAPL, Fannie Mae
Fitch
AAA Fannie Mae (go figure that!)
AA+ (same as US) MSFT
Moody's
Aaa JNJ, MSFT, Fannie M…
Fitch kept TIAA at AAA in 09/2024 even though it downgraded US to AA+ in 08/2023. So, not all agencies follow this max-sovereign-rating-limit policy.
Moody's also didn't issue a general downgrade for US financials following its downgrade of US to A…
Keep in mind another rule that only S&P applies - US financials cannot have better credit rating than the US government. So, when US was downgraded to AA+ in 2011, top US financials were also downgraded to AA+ regardless of their own financial s…
In charts at StockCharts, Portfolio Visualizer, TestFol, Morningstar, Yahoo Finance, the date ranges can set and performance assessed.
Popular CEFs like PDI didn't exist in 2007-09.
Morningstar DBRS still has US at AAA.
https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/451559/morningstar-dbrs-confirms-the-united-states-of-america-at-aaa-stable-trend
Moody's downgrade came after the market close on Friday, so any impact would be seen in Su…
Here comes Empower (a large 401k provider) with private-equity within its advisor-managed 401k - several private-equity/credit/real-estate CITs will offered through advisors.
https://www.empower.com/press-center/empower-offer-private-markets-investm…
Much of the Morningstar fee data are up to 12/31/24.
Additional fee data to 12/31/24 can also be found in ICI Fact Book, 2025, Ch 6.
https://www.icifactbook.org/pdf/2025-factbook-ch6.pdf
That + CEO quits & company withdraws guidance,
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/unitedhealth-group-stock-sinks-as-ceo-steps-down-company-suspends-guidance-135257453.html
There was a new executive order about a coming executive order - on drug prices.
Using M*, I see negative UNH, CI; moreover, LLY, NVO didn't participate in the rally as much. https://finance.yahoo.com/quotes/LLY,NVO,UNH,CI/
Yahoo Finance has quote…
Discover/DFS is a financial with $50+ billion market cap. Looks like DJ/S&P Committee decided that a modern financial replacement with a similar market-cap is Coinbase/COIN.
At 0.10% weight, the nature of SP500 won't change. But this is great …
SP500 closed above 200-dMA; also DJIA and Nasdaq Comp.
SP500 %Above 50-dMA 72.41% (overbought now!)
NYSE %Above 50-dMA 66.91% (positive)
There data much improved vs last Friday.
Yes, Bessent is in a different group than Musk-Lutnick-Navarro.
Moreover, Bessent just got through dumping the IRS Head that the Musk's group had secretly slipped in.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-replacing-acting-irs-commis…
There are now 2 models of US trade deals - when the US has trade surplus (US-UK trade deal) & when the US has trade deficit (US-China trade deal; tentative). Other trade deals, including US-India, US-Japan, US-Korea, etc should follow soon.
You can renew online if you meet all these requirements:
The passport you are renewing is or was valid for 10 years, and you are age 25 or older.
The passport you are renewing is either expiring within one year or has expired less than five years…
@rforno, yes, investors can buy options, cryptos and use margin. IMO, these are much more risky than private-equity/credit.
So, there is the issue of abuse in selling them. That can be handled by lowing the gates or requiring that the investors be …
We renewed our passports with Walgreens photos.
Beware that several conditions must apply for online US passport renewal.
We have used Walgreens for visa photos too.
Walgreens have an extensive database of various (country) passport and visa ph…
curious if anyone has already estimated total return to date for [prcfx-prwcx]
a. in 2025
b. since 2024 election
YTD PRWCX +0.81%, PRCFX +1.05%
From 11/5/24, PRWCX +1.05%, PRCFX +1.42%
PRCFX inception was 11/29/23. Since then, PRWCX +18.87%, PRCF…
Read more about ICI viewpoint here, https://www.ici.org/news-release/25-private-markets-accessible
ICI's argument is that private-equity markets are sufficiently developed now, so the regulators don't have to put gates that practically allow only i…
FUNDS. There is a push by the fund trade association ICI to expand access to PRIVATE-MARKETS. Several firms are also pushing in this area. Private-market AUM now is $25 trillion vs $4 trillion in 2013. Many companies are remaining private for longer…
PRWCX has been closed for years. AUM $64.1 billion.
T Rowe Price has introduced similar funds that are open. FLOW data below from MFOP.
Etf TCAF with 100% equity: inflows for 10 months $4.0 billion, for 3 months $1.0 billion. AUM $4.2 billion.
Mo…
Interval-funds (IVs) are sold through advisors. As noted, it's easier to get into them, but not so easy to get out - sort of roach motels (-:).
IVs have a set schedule for limited redemptions, unlike other nontraded funds that have redemptions only…
NOTES
Rates: Fed funds held at 4.25-4.50%, bank reserves rate at 4.40%, discount rate at 4.50%. Treasury QT continued -$5 billion/mo, MBS QT at -$35 billion/mo.
Economy & job market are strong. Inflation is a bit higher than the target 2%+. Fed…
These aren't retail products that one can get from discount brokerage platforms. Try Fido advisors and Fido institutional site,
https://institutional.fidelity.com/advisors
The new Morningstar ratings will be for interval-funds (IVs) and some nontraded funds. They will be available only in Morningstar's expensive professional products.
A typical feature of these semiliquid funds is that redemptions are restricted and …
