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.
Several people have mentioned that they plan to leave detailed written instructions for their spouses to follow.
I informally help several friends. IMO, those written instructions won't be effective.
A spouse who has not been interested in finan…
Both TRBCX and TBCIX had high distributions, so there won't be relief from CG distributions from class conversion.
Ex-div 12/12/24
TRBCX distribution $16.9089, reinvestment price $193.34
TBCIX distribution $17.1255, reinvestment price $194.51
Of …
WisdomTree BTCW waived ER for 6 months and the website shows 25 bps now. Other sites haven't updated.
https://www.wisdomtree.com/investments/etfs/crypto/btcw
Largest are IBIT and FBTC.
There is certainly a mismatch in the generally announced ex-div date 12/26/24 & the ex-div date on which the exchange reduced the price, 12/27/24.
In cases where there is a discrepancy, the official ex-div date is that on which the exchange tak…
I do look at From 990 sometimes to see how some charities are operating or to find their EIN#. The IRS doesn't seem rigid on filing deadlines. Large charities with several branches have the Form 990 for the main charities and then may have separate …
In the linked table, highlighted are SWPPX/SP500, QQQ/Nasdaq100, AVUV/SC. Those are fine starting choices, but mix will matter - most in SWPPX, some in QQQ, little in AVUV.
@dtconroe, I remember discussing this some years ago. At the time, you had indicated that Fido office was 2 hours away in Dallas, but there was a 2-3 person local Schwab broker/office - did that close?
One should avoid bank or CU financial advisors. They typically have high commissions & push a narrow group of products or firms' own products.
A general salaried advisor at Fido or Schwab may offer better free, no obligation opinions.
Use bank…
Several sources are citing the National Fraternal Order of Police (NFOP) that the WEP & GPO repeal bill will be signed on January 6. The NFOP has said that it's leaders got that information from the White House, but no one else has got similar i…
M* under People for EXDAX says this:
Privately owned for decades, the firm went public in 2011. Following a period of outflows and two waves of personnel turnover, the firm appeared to stabilize in 2020 when cofounder Bill Manning sold his ownershi…
Since 2022,M* has gone through refinements of MPRS. There was an update in 10/2024. I like this absolute risk system better than old M* within-the-categories risk parameters.
https://pdfhost.io/v/E..d~yHtX_MStar_MPRS_102024
MFO Risks are also absol…
Some are guessing that 30-yr T-Bond auction scheduled for January 9 will not be disrupted by half-day bond market open. Remember that the debt-ceiling kicks in on 1/1/25.
https://www.forexlive.com/news/sifma-recommends-early-bond-market-close-on-jan…
I would trust AAA rated corporates over AAA rated securitized stuff.
There are lots of assumptions built into AAA rated tranche of structured credits that may have only A or BBB rated underlying portfolios. So, I won't take AAA CLO at face value, …
@Anna, trend is just the opposite. Many states that were exempt from SSA have joined the SSA. Now, their employees can have both the state pensions and SSA. Of course, the SSA mandatory deductions are in addition to the mandatory state deductions.
…
NCUA
The Federal National Credit Union Administration (NCUA, 1934- ) insures deposits at credit unions. These are nonprofit, smaller and simpler in functions and operations than banks, have some corporate, institutional or organizational connection…
It's not an issue like the mini-budget deal that had to be rushed to avoid the government shutdown. That may have drained some oxygen in the DC.
As for the WEP & GPO repeal, here is the timeline:
Saturday, 12/21/24 - Senate passed it
Tuesday,…
@stillers, thanks.
That is from an article on "Portfolio Income & Withdrawals" that I published in a local e-paper this week (the full weekly issue isn't out yet, may be later today). It may also be of interest to others here.
https://ybbperson…
Mini-Grayscale BTC (ER 15 bps) now has $3.7 billion AUM and trades an average of 2 million shares/day. That is good enough for retail investors.
BTC vs the elder GBTC (150 bps) is a liquidity game for Grayscale. So, GBTC has very high ER, but also…
A 30-yr zero will have a duration of 30 years, 30-yr T-Bonds less due to coupon payments.
If like to lock in some at current yield (4.76%) without reinvestment risk, look at 30-yr Treasury Zero-Coupon. It may cost about $25 for $100 par in 30 yrs.
T-Notes are 1+ to 10 year maturities.
T-Bonds are 10+ to 30 year maturities. They have high duration, so high rate sensitivity. You can have large gains or haircuts when selling before maturity. They will pay par on maturity - that is guaranteed b…
IBIT is at #35 among the top 100 ETFs by AUM. It started just in 01/2024. Surprising that GBTC (with very high ER) is #100.
https://etfdb.com/compare/market-cap/
How about Europe? Marshall Plan & MSA paid for a lot of what Europe is now.
Canada for sure - it keeps sending those Alberta Clippers to the Midwest in Winter. This has gone on long enough.
Bond rating and insurer ratings have very different criteria. And different things happen in cases of failures.
If a company issuing bond goes under, bond investors are in line with other creditors depending on where the bond is in the capital stru…
I have followed this thread, but had only 2 short posts on T-Note quotes & FRN USFR.
IMO, good CD alternatives are T-Bills/Notes (noncallable). All these can be held to maturity without incurring losses. The CD & Treasuries investors are qu…
There will also be a 5-yr internal review of Fed operations that will be released formally at the 2025 Jackson Hole Fed Conference.
In a related news on Fed Stress-Tests, some banks are planning to sue the Fed over it,
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/12/…
This settlement about Vanguard TDFs (or, TRFs, as VG also calls them) happened a month ago in November 2024. Issue arose from poor handling of the merger of 2 VG TDFs in 2022. VG Chester is the name VG uses for a group of its funds of funds. Those a…
WEP & GPO offsets were simple and crude mechanisms that had been in effect for 41 years. Now they are gone for at least 10 years. The public perception may have changed too about their fairness or unfairness.
My guess is that they may comeback…
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 …
