Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

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.

    Support MFO

  • Donate through PayPal

yogibearbull

About

Users name
yogibearbull
Joined
Visits
12,207
Last Active
Roles
Member

Comments

  • @sma3, no. Only Treasury Direct can hold electronic I-Bonds. If you have paper I-Bonds, you can hang on to them and hold them in bank locker. But TIPS can be held at Treasury Direct or brokerages.
  • @BaluBalu, clearly, it is important when the money is taken from the account for Treasury Auctions, whether on the Auction Day or the Settlement Day. We know that for Treasury trades in the secondary market, money will be taken out on trade-settle …
  • Thanks. I modified the post.
  • I had an order at Schwab for 5-yr TIPS auction that was today. As I remembered from my prior experience a couple of years ago for buying T-Bills at Schwab, money was taken out from my account TODAY about 1/2 hour past Noon. So, Schwab didn't wait fo…
  • @Charles, those are annualized rates (-:)
  • @BaluBalu, 2-yr FRN Announcement is out. Try online orders at Fido and/or Schwab now. https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/annceresult/press/preanre/2022/A_20220421_5.pdf Edit/Add: I don't see them listed yet at either place. I won't be at my PC f…
  • Just to be clear, my triple+ benefit of current HSA was for i) pre-tax contributions, ii) tax-deferral on earnings, iii) tax-free and penalty-free withdrawals for qualified medical use, and then "+" for penalty-free but taxable withdrawals for nonme…
  • I know people who would be very upset at Disallowed #2 as they also considered HSA as a supplemental IRA. Some who were sitting on the fence on the HSA were swayed by the allowed nonmedical use of funds after 65. If this proposal becomes serious, th…
  • Unclear what exclusivity of the deal means. I just checked that many Price funds remain no-load/NTF at Fido too. https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/fund-screener/results/table/management-fees/averageAnnualReturnsYear3/desc/1?assetClass=&categ…
  • Saba runs a FR/BL CEF BRW that trades at good discount. https://www.cefconnect.com/fund/BRW Saba also has an ETF CEFS that opportunistically owns CEFs at discounts. GIM is only a tiny weight now 0.60% (I think that it used to own more at one time)…
  • @CarlosDS, good to see you here. I have a small private directory of who is who where but I obviously I won't make it public. There are indeed many people here that I know from elsewhere (they may not know it). I am the same old everywhere (-:).
  • @msf, thanks for the further verification.
  • I have suggested in past the Fidelity Asset Manager series for benchmarking. This series has equity allocations of 20%, 30%, 40%, 50%, 60%, 70%, 85%. https://www.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/fidelity-fund-portfolios/asset-manager-funds 5 members of t…
  • Owned but got out of GIM long time ago. Michael Hasenstab lost his golden touch long time ago. He seems to chase disasters without anything to show for them. His used-to-be giant global bond TPINX is a shadow of former self due to heavy redemptions …
  • Now I have a non-linkable "proof" based on checking numbers on our OWN tax returns and what was mentioned in our SSA "DETERMINATION letters" (received typically in November/December) that it is like the 1st FORMULA. So, the SSA takes the AGI from th…
  • There is confusion on this. One definition from reading the SSA brochures is, MAGI = AGI + tax-exempt interest https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/medicare/medicare-premiums.html But another is, MAGI = AGI + untaxed Social Security payment + tax-exempt …
  • @rabockma1, thanks for noting that. On 2nd look, I see that both WABAX (ER 0.46%) and WATFX (ER 0.83%) are no-load/NTF at Schwab, but the former is indicated as restricted. May be this was a recent change. At Fido, only WABAX is no-load/NTF and WA…
  • If Kiplinger is talking about tax-loss harvesting or tax-swaps, everyone probably knows about it. Trick is to find something reasonably similar for a while or forever. As they say, "if you got lemon, make lemonade", or as Chicago "philosopher" Rahm …
  • Different classes of the SAME fund. http://financials.morningstar.com/fund/purchase-info.html?t=WACSX&region=usa&culture=en-US Edit/Add: Higher ER WABAX is no-load/NTF at Fido and Schwab.
  • @BaluBalu, I will fix my previous post - that was for Schwab, not Fido. I just checked my Fido a/c and it does allow me to enter TIPS order at Auction (but I didn't go through with that). Note that orders for Treasury Auctions can only be placed …
  • @BaluBalu, for TIPS in the secondary market, Fido Schwab also asks to give them call (no online order entry). But it is OK to enter online order for TIPS at Auctions. May be the same to buy 2-yr FRNs (next FRN Auction on 4/27/22). https://home.trea…
  • Closing TREMX reminds me of the saying, "Closing the barn door after the horses are already out". https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/TREMX?p=TREMX https://stockcharts.com/h-sc/ui?s=TREMX&p=D&b=5&g=0&id=p89457242693
  • @Observant1, keep in mind the following. 1. As mentioned elsewhere, 5-yr TIPS now are 2nd best to I-Bonds. So, it for those who had their max fill for I-Bonds or who won't buy I-Bonds. 2. Individual TIPS do tap into month-over-month changes in CPI…
  • @CecilJK, that should be a useful series here (I think you used to post them here before). But you may want to link to your latest in the series, like this LINK. IMO, serial features are important for websites. In fact, I have sampled 5 of series h…
  • Freedom FRDM looks like a very specialized ESG fund, and it picked a very soft ESG criteria to focus on.
  • @BaluBalu, I do like the original idea of EV/EBITDA as a business valuation measure with the aspects financing, taxes, accounting (depreciation, amortization) removed. It is really relevant to a cash-buyer of the entire business but to me it provide…
  • @BaluBalu, I agree that 2-yr Treasury FRNs may be a better way to go as m-mkt alternative than trying to build a T-Bill ladder.
  • She will need her own Treasury Direct account. In the meantime, you can buy gift I-Bond for her and hold them in your account. You can even buy more than $10K to be distributed slowly later into her Treasury Direct account. See details here, https:…
  • M* puts hedge-fund like strategies in mutual fund wrapper under liquid-alts and says that despite renewed interest (and inflows), these funds haven't delivered. https://www.morningstar.com/articles/1087561/liquid-alternatives-funds-belong-on-most-i…
  • @hank makes a good point. Frank Holmes runs several natural resources funds and his writings tend to be tilted by commodity angles. This also applies to Jim Rogers, Jeremy Grantham (re-timber, etc) and others. But thematic/big picture-investing ofte…
  • Many foreign funds have the PFIC issues and IDV is no exception, https://www.ishares.com/us/literature/tax-information/pfic-2021.pdf Basically, rules for the US funds to hold physical assets (real estate/property, bullion, etc) are different from …
  • @BaluBalu, 2-yr FRNs float in a different way (-:), not directly with inflation. So, FRNs rate is 13-wk T-Bill rate + a spread that doesn't change (but is fixed at issue). So, the floating is from 3-mo T-Bill rates (really, discounts) and those will…
  • Franklin Income (FKIQX /FKINX /FRIAX) is one of those misclassified funds as conservative-allocation/30-50%. But when its equities and bonds (including HY, convertibles) are accounted for, it acts more like moderate-allocation/50-70%. When properly …
    in FKIQX Comment by yogibearbull April 2022
  • Inflation-linked bonds are relatively new to the US, TIPS 1997- , I-Bonds 1998- . I read once (no link now) that in Treasury Secretary Rubin's era, Chinese were getting concerned about their large and growing US Treasury holdings and pushed for TIPS…
  • @BaluBalu, I mentioned only 52-wk T-Bills and 5-yr TIPS for the upcoming auctions NEXT week. Also being auctioned NEXT week (but I didn't mention) are 4-wk, 8-wk, 13-wk, 26-wk T-Bills and 20-yr T-Bonds. So, you can say that among all those being auc…
  • A very bearish AAII Sentiment, as now, may mean 2 things: 1) Market is ready for the next bull leg (but that seems unlikely to me in the face of current news), or 2) Investors are too bearish already and the market may not go down much (and I can su…
  • That is 30-yr low for bullish reading.
  • Announcements just came. 5-yr TIPS https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/annceresult/press/preanre/2022/A_20220414_2.pdf 52-Wk T-Bills https://www.treasurydirect.gov/instit/annceresult/press/preanre/2022/A_20220414_4.pdf
  • @hank: 3) In the case of Roths one might invest 100% in I-Bonds without fretting over tax consequences. That is a nonstarter. Treasury Direct doesn't allow IRAs, and electronic I-Bonds can be only held at Treasury Direct. But I-Bonds are tax-defer…
  • Years ago, I almost bought FAIRX but its $10K min put me off. I thought the guy had some nerve to set the min at $10 K when prevailing min were $1K-3K. Well, the guy did have steel nerves, but to me, he could do whatever without me.