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VG Star VGSTX is an underrated VG moderate-allocation fund. It is a passive fund of several VG active funds. It won't be at the top or bottom of moderate-allocation funds and risk of manager changes is small (unlikely that all funds will change mana…
A 15-85 or 20-80 stock-bond portfolio is also called parity portfolio that means that the SDs of stock and bond portions are nearly equal.
There are several funds/OEFs that offer this mix - FASIX, VASIX.
Hedge-fund managers may put high leverage…
Keep in mind that David Rosenberg is among generally bearish strategists and he has been so for a long while. He was formerly with ML/BoA and Gluskin Sheff. He started his own consulting in 2020.
@sma3 : "While last year floating rates, junk ( even munis) and preferreds ( and I owned some) were the place to be, I just don't believe they will do well in 2022 unless interest rates collapse, along with the economy"
FR/BL do well when rates go …
FRIFX is a good real estate hybrid - RE stocks & bonds. It did have a terrible 2020 when both real estate stocks and bonds were badly hit. It is less volatile than all-equity VNQ, FRESX, etc.
LIHKX is US-LC R1000 + foreign-LC, etc
FISPX is US-LC SP500
QASGX is US-SC-gr R2000-gr
So, he may also consider 80% LIHKX, 20% QASGX in the expectation that US-SC are better valued now and may catchup (past is past).
As a multi-asset fund, FMSDX includes stocks, bonds and alternatives. Much of alternatives ends up as "Other".
Definition of "Other" varies by sites - whatever doesn't cleanly fit their categories of stocks and bonds.
Fido lumps all non-equity fo…
Of the 9 First Eagle mutual funds, only the Fund of America FEFAX is affected by this (as is noted by name in the release without any tickers). None of the other 8 First Eagle mutual funds have Y classes.
https://www.firsteagle.com/our-financial-pro…
Similar Funds is a M* Premium feature. It is based on fund Categories and finds "similarity" scores for portfolios and performance. It doesn't provide holding details like @rforno is looking for. I used Pimco PIMIX and it refused to find any due to …
SEC/Edgar fund reports (semiannual, annual) would have that info going back several years, but the manual retrieving and analysis process can be cumbersome.
Many funds post holding reports but the new ones replace the old ones.
I remember Hussman funds as being famous for not doing much - like stopped clock. Also v bearish in outlook. Other choices,
Permanent Portfolio PRPFX.
Global SGENX always has exposure to gold.
Inflation-related funds have exposure to hard assets,…
Giroux (46) has been with PRWCX since mid-2006 (he was only 31 then). So, he has been through the Great Financial Crisis (2007-09), the Covid selloff (2020) and other minor selloffs in between. He may have 2-3 decades ahead of him unless he gets bor…
Conservative-allocation (CA2) 30-50% VTMFX +12.63%.
M* broke up/expanded the old conservative-allocation into CA1 15-30% and CA2 30-50%.
M* moderate-allocation is 50-70%.
These are wide variations and some of the variations in performance can be …
He should open a brokerage account(s) at Fido or Schwab.
With earned income, he should start Roth IRA.
In taxable account, he can use a total stock market fund (OEF or ETF) for now. He may also want to buy some stocks that he may be familiar with …
iShare allocation series AOK, AOM, AOR, AOA is mislabeled by a notch. So, moderate-allocation AOM is really conservative-allocation (30-50% equity) by other classifications.
Also, for active funds-of-funds, don't ignore robo-advisors that are acti…
I am disappointed by the high ERs of the new active ETFs. I don't want an active ETF at 60-80% of the ER of its OEF cousin, but I want it at more like 25-35%. That may happen when some disruptors enter this market (who?).
Remember that is what hap…
NICHX/UNIQX has interval structure and that means that you can buy it anytime but redemptions are limited to small % per redemption window (5-25% of NAV per quarter).
My relative works in security compliance at ANOTHER bank and was shocked to see the news about JPM. So, no insider view of JPM. Sorry for the confusion.
SEC requires saving ALL client communications, and that is done automatically if work emails or phones are used. But if personal phones are used, then that recordkeeping step is bypassed; moreover, WhatsApp if fully encrypted. So, the assumption is …
@msf, that 22% passive seems correct now. I just used my memory that a few years ago, the split was 2/3 rd passive, 1/3 rd active. But there has been a huge expansion on the index side, including the ETFs. I don't know how VG characterizes its facto…
Land-lease can be renewed at higher amount or land can be bought outright by property owners. It depends on the nature and state of properties. That the land-lease owner will send bulldozers to demolish properties at lease expiry doesn't make econom…
@shipwreckedandalone, too many! All VG active funds (33% of VG business) have outside advisors who may be supplemented by in-house quantitative group (like enhanced index). But Wellington Management is the biggest for VG.
Fund turnover is low. M* Quote page is not showing major outflows? So, why the huge CG distribution?
M* analyst report notes that its longtime manager left at 2020 yearend. Of course, a manager change caused a complete makeover of portfolio and hug…
I think that JR meant that VG has lost its way as an indexer.
Hardly a day goes by when there isn't an email from VG on its old robo-PAS, new robo-PAS (digital), its active funds' edge, and of course, brokerage conversion request/demand/threat ema…
I have done withdrawals from IL 529 sent to beneficiary - easy. States oversee 529 but the services are from the fund companies.
As there are thousands of colleges and universities, all 529s may not be ready to handle sending funds directly to inst…
M* star-ratings are purely based on past performance in the category and are backward-looking. So, no judgements are required for 5* ratings for BST and BME. There are no forward-looking M* Analyst ratings for BST (Technology) or BME (Health).
Bot…
I used to be in take-RMD-early camp. But then 2020 happened. When the RMD was reversed at first, it didn't apply to me because I took it too early. But later, it was reversed to include everybody and I took advantage of it. And I also joined the cam…
Be aware of the degree of liability that is in place to protect YOU.
If there is fraud, the Notary doesn't have any monetary liability. He/she may lose Notary license at best, or may just get a warning/reprimand from state.
Signature Guarantee, wh…
Yep, inherited T-IRAs are not protected as they lose connection to the protected T-IRA.
Also note that I have been careful mentioning only T-IRAs (not IRAs generically) as R-IRAs also lose connection to protected T-IRAs after Roth Conversion(s).
R…
Both of the lawyers I talked to over several years, told me that 401ks are protected, but did not mention contributory IRAs are more vulnerable.
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For 401k/403b assets rolled into T-IRA, most of the protections of 401k/403b carryover to T-IRA.
F…