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For people who are sitting on the fence for I-Bonds, I have started a nearby thread on 5-yr TIPS. These get monthly inflation-adjustments, not at 6-month intervals, so the news may not be as dramatic for them. 5-yr real rates have inched up to -0.59…
@Blitzer, individual TIPS held to maturity will also get CPI-U adjustments. There is monthly index of values that Treasury publishes. But they do trade, and if sell before maturity, then the market valve depends on several factors. Specific details …
While technically correct, Fido shows monthly distributions for FIPDX at $0.000000001-0.000000002/shr and M* just calls it $0/shr (it tracks dividends to 4 decimal places only). There is a noticeable yearend distribution (from tiny coupon and inflat…
Both M* & Yahoo Finance show it as long-short fund with net long.
Although not mkt-neutral, caution applies as those are 50-50 L-S & things can be bad on both sides.
Aren't Vanguard's "digital financial planning", "VG Personal Advisor Services (older/original)", "VG Digital Advisor (newer)" different versions of its robo-advisor?
@Derf, it shouldn't matter for funds, so you can sell/exchange VG TDF 2015 whenever you wish.
Individually held TIPS "pay" interest every 6 month from the issue date, like all Treasury bonds. However, the TIPS interest is not actually paid out but …
I-Bonds are available ONLY from Treasury Direct and one exception is getting $5K extra as paper I-Bonds in IRS refund.
On the other hand, TIPS are tradable securities and those you can buy from Treasury Direct, brokerages, and as ETFs and mutual f…
Fido shows FAIRX AUMs since 2013. It seems that anyone who wanted to sell did that by 2018. https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/performance-and-risk/304871106?type=o-NavBar
@BaluBAlu, buying T-Bills now at brokerages or Treasury Direct is better than m-mkt funds. https://home.treasury.gov/resource-center/data-chart-center/interest-rates/TextView?type=daily_treasury_yield_curve&field_tdr_date_value_month=202204
In its 5/24/21 issue, Barron's noted that value had been down for so long that many older value managers died, retired, quit or became GARP managers. But it identified a handful of the "next generation" of value managers who had at least 10+ years o…
There has never been an out-of-stock situation for the US Savings Bonds. Limits are per account. So sales of I-Bonds have ballooned to about 10x, but that is still only low double-digit billions, but Uncle Sam needs/borrows trillions (-:).
It is no…
Buying I-Bonds as gifts is a good way to bypass the low annual limit. But the gifts are irrevocable. Here are some practical tips, https://thefinancebuff.com/buy-i-bonds-as-gift.html
My rule of thumb is to prefer stable-value (SV) if its guaranteed rate well exceeds the 30-day SEC yield (i.e. potential future total-return) of the bond fund under consideration. This situation may be reversing soon. The 30-day SEC yield of core BN…
These used to be FPA funds. 3 managers from FPA split in November 2020 from FPA and took their funds to a new partnership/joint-venture called Phaeacian Partners with the UK's Polar Capital (55% owner). I am surprised about the liquidations so soon.…
I was sure that there was a MFO piece on FMSDX but I couldn't find it on search. Then I realized that MFO Home is a different site than MFO Discussion, and there I found that piece by @lynnbolin2021 that I was looking for (LINK0). This piece compare…
Check out 50-50 tax-managed balanced VTMFX (obviously no-fees at Vanguard, but with transaction fees at Schwab), higher ER TAIFX (F-1 class, no-fee/NTF at Fido and Schwab).
Fido doesn't have any tax-managed mutual funds of its own but does offer ta…
Savings Bonds that qualify for educational expenses can be rolled into 529 plans. Rules are not very difficult in spite of a long list of conditions. This doesn't improve liquidity but is an exception to their taxable sale. https://www.treasurydire…
I don't think that retail investors worry too much about portfolio semitransparency.
But active ETF ERs are about 75% of comparable active mutual funds/OEF ERs. If they are about 35% of comparable active OEF ERs, that will get active ETFs going. B…
@Derf, there is no provision to "Exchange" Savings Bonds. You can only "Buy", "Redeem", or "Replace/Reissue" (if lost or stolen).
It used to be that one could "Exchange" Savings Bonds for income HH-Bonds to further extend tax deferrals, but those w…
@racqueteer, for I-Bonds, the new inflation rate will apply to existing bonds with some delay. The rate cycle starts with 6 months at the "current rate" from the purchase date, then another 6 months for the "new" rate, and so on. Think of it as appl…
@msf, you guessed correct.
I extrapolated March 2022 CPI-U (unadjusted) from January 2022, and also from February 2022 (the graph is almost linear). Then knocked off the 2nd decimal to give some wiggle room (Treasury announces rate to 2 decimal pl…
Only if cashing them after 12 months - you are totally locked in for 12 months, and then 3-mo penalty within 5 years.
Cash early in the month to get interest for the WHOLE month.
If you mean getting only the interest, then the answer is NO. You h…
There is a 3 month penalty for cashing Savings Bonds within 5 years. So, you should start to see interest posted AFTER 3 months. Don't worry, Uncle Sam is not stiffing you for interest (-:).
Housing price inflation is also not reflected in inflation indexes (CPI, PCE). This is because housing is accounted for through a mechanism of owners' rent equivalents, and rents are beginning to move up with some lag. So, when that fully kicks in, …
@shipwreckedandalone, in its Market Laboratory data tables, Barron's publishes TRAILING P/Es for indexes and the current edition has for SP500 as 25.02. I don't think Barron's presented fwd P/E for major indexes in these data tables. It does have fw…
@davfor; chart came through only for 1 yr. Use Permalink feature for posting chart as-is. After a while, even these will default to 1 yr. Alternative is to take screenshot, save on a hosting site (ImgBB, etc) and post using Image tool.
@rono, be aware of PFIC issues related to foreign funds holding physical assets. SRUUF/U-UN.to is a Canadian CEF holding uranium. These issues arise because the US funds are restricted in how they own physical assets. As the rules are different for …
@catch22, your link shows the double-hump in the yield-curve now,
https://responsive.fxempire.com/v7/_fxempire_/2022/04/chart-line-chart-scatter-chart-description-auto.png?func=cover&q=70&width=700
2Y-30Y spread has flip-flopped since last night. But generally, the middle bulge in the yield-curve is widening. Also unexplained are especially high 3Y and 20Y yields (like camel double-hump in the yield-curve) - offbeat maturities have higher yiel…
@msf, you have encountered the problem with new M* charts for CEFs that is mentioned here,
https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/thread/256/interactive-charts-newer
UTF is a high distribution CEF. Its price may not show how it did, but on adjusted-prices (approximating TR) it has kept up with SP500/SPY (both UTF and _UTF are seen on Stockcharts below, 1/1/07-now). Check out more details at CEFConnect.
https://s…
