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DOGE kids probably need lessons in personal finance and Social Security system before crying (the fraud) wolf.
Lot of sensational reporting in this (open) article.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14407481/michelle-king-social-security-resi…
I subscribe to USPS Informed Delivery. I get an email each day indicating the incoming mail. Every month, a few pieces of mail are missed but they eventually show up. I suppose those were misdelivered and if the recipient put it back for remailing, …
I have followed the activities of Boaz Weinstein on social-media. I also took a flyer on his etf of CEFs CEFS. It's ER is HIGH even taking into account that the underlying CEFs have high ERs. I think he likes to pocket a lot of money himself and inv…
I think that off-topic posts should be moved to the OFF-TOPIC area - by the OP, and if not, by the site moderators.
At least there is a genuine OFF-TOPIC area at MFO. Many visit that area, but others don't. Posts there don't show up in the main MFO…
There are several ETFs with cash flow related themes - COWZ, COWG (growth), COWS (cash flows), GCOW (dividends).
There are also several shareholder yield* ETFs - SHRY, LYLD (LC), MYLD (SC).
*Dividend yield + buyback yield (need cash flow for both)
TIAA doesn't self-clear, but does that through Pershing/BK, so that causes some delays in order processing and fund transfers. You have to deal with the rules of both TIAA and Pershing.
Fido, Schwab and Vanguard (at least for a couple of years) sel…
@dryflower, things that don't transfer in-kind would have to sold and then the cash transferred. There may be large tax liabilities in taxable a/c. So, it's important to check ahead from the target firm what products are supported on its platform.
…
Account transfers are initiated at the target firms. So, fill out asset transfer paperwork at Fido or Schwab and let them handle this. Be clear in your instructions if you want in-kind transfers where applicable.
There may be large tax liability if…
@Mona, I do like gold-miners and think that they will start to catch up at some point. The gold-mining industry has also changed and is now more focused on profits and cash flows, not just more profitless mining. As the OP was only about gold-bullio…
ER 1.40% just to hold gold-bullion ETFs/ETNs?
May be use taxable a/c for GLDM, SGOL, IAU, GLD, etc.
Be aware that gold-miners (GDX. GDXJ) are lagging gold-bullion.
I have seen that large redemptions can be in-kind (although few mutual funds do it), but not for purchases.
I don't see any advantage for regular funds except saving a selling step and may be avoiding 1-2 days out of the market.
But there are 351-E…
Brokerages use the IRS Method, so the info is also useful for tax-loss harvesting (TLH). When they also provide account return info, they do it in the way investors would calculate TR. I don't see why one would bother going through extra steps @lint…
For Cost Basis, M* has both the IRS Method (default) and Adjusted-Method/Original-Cost Method. Charts are point-to-point with reinvestments - you may have also done some buys/sells along the way.
The IRS Method is to avoid double-taxation (and so do…
Current yield is simple - take the last month's distribution and annualize it. It's a snapshot now, and things could be quite different before and after.
The 30-day SEC takes into account the yields-to-maturity (YTMs) and aggregates them for portfo…
News is more sensational that it really is. Presidents don't have or need security clearance, so there is nothing to revoke.
Trump only stopped regular security briefings for Biden, as Biden did for Trump in 2021.
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/08/nx…
Sven: At Fidelity's transaction-fee platform, Vanguard and Dodge & Cox funds will cost $100 to buy, whereas the typical fee is $49.95. Not sure with Schwab's purchase policy.
Both Fido and Schwab charge mutual fund firms platform fees (25-50 bp…
Flash-crashes are other unusual examples that I didn't include. Regulators say that these are less likely to happen now. We will see.
2010 Flash Crash was a black swan event that was thoroughly investigated and some market reforms came out of those…
I am not aware of any example of an etf closing creation/redemption voluntarily.
But there have been some country ETFs that had these mechanisms disrupted due to the imposition of sudden currency controls. I think that both creation and redemptions…
Creation/redemption mechanism requires inflows/outflows from authorized-participants. If disrupted, the etf may move to CEF-like premium/discount - this has happened in the past.
VDIGX is concentrated - AUM $50.4 billion with only 43 stocks. The manager change was in 07/2022, and the new manager Fisher has probably made some portfolio changes.
There were m-mkt reforms in 2014/2016 that introduced liquidity fees, gates (redemption suspension), and floating-NAVs for some institutional m-mkt funds. So, the notion of $1 NAV for m-mkt funds was no longer universal.
Among these, gates proved t…
Target-maturity funds (OEFs or ETFs) don't promise par or anything specific at the end. They progressively turn into cash as maturity approaches and you get whatever that ends up being.
Hold individual Treasuries or bonds if you want the return of …
@zenbrew, the issues mentioned don't apply to margin a/c.
I have had margin a/c for years, but I don't use margin loans anymore.
Without margin a/c, you are relying on good graces of the brokerage to extend you a penalty-free overnight overdraft.…
ETFs are more accessible than great m-mkt products from Fido and Vanguard.
Institutional-prime m-mkt funds already have floating NAVs. These ETFs will operate under similar rules and may be even less volatile that ultra-ST funds (OEFs, ETFs).
BTW…
Beyond volunteer activities and QCDs from IRA, consider DAFs. By bunching deductions in some years, you can get a good boost from Itemized deductions for contributions to DAF.
There are several ST and Ultra-ST muni ETFs. I doubt that fund managers can add much value in this space.
ST Muni (Indexed) SUB, SHM, VTES
ST Muni (Active) MEAR, SMMU
Ultra-ST (Active) FUMB
American Funds R1-R6 are just share classes, not plan designations. Those are 401k, 403b, 457, H.S.A, etc.
Smaller plans may have R1-R4 available, larger plans R5-R6.
AF has specific classes for 3rd party channels (DIY, independent advisors), F1-…
@mskursh, before our 403b was changed ("improved", as they said), I had AF RERGX (Euro Pacific R6) in our large plan and owned it for years. So, they are available in plans, not just for AF TDFs.
3rd business day of February & no update.
May be the guy who was doing this is gone and the new IT kids at Treasury have no clue about the TSP G Fund or its update. It's easy to forget about only $285 billion when they may be handling trillions.
Good points by @InformalEconomist and @Derf.
But I think that there are other issues too.
Looking at other allocation funds with MFOP, ABALX / BALFX is doing OK in AUM, but VBINX, FBALX, FPURX are showing similar outflow patterns. An explanation …
CFPB is an oddball agency that has a complicated history. It's funding came out of the Federal Reserve, but the Fed, Fed Chair or FOMC didn't have much say in the operations of CFPB.
As CFPB tackled consumer finance issues, it wasn't a popular agen…
From this AM news, it looks like China has counter-tariffs. Xi hasn't called Trump to ask for temporary postponements of the new tariffs as Scheinbaum (Mexico) and Trudeau (Canada) did. Old news was also that Xi was invited to the Inauguration but s…
