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.
Reply to @scott:
Hi Scott,
Thanks for the link. I needed a laugh!
I appreciate both your and JohnChisum's words of encouragement.
I'll be fine and hopefully with time my edge of bitterness will wear off.
Mona
Reply to @msf:
Hi msf,
Thanks for the "good" information ;-)
I am familiar with the underwritten plans offered by Blue Cross and Aetna. I am also familiar with the pricing you address. As I have done my DD, please keep in mind that these price…
JohnChisum, Hogan and msf,
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Unfortunately, I do not have much more to add, but I would like to address a few points in msf's post.
One. Here in center city Philadelphia, while we probably have more teaching hos…
Reply to @msf:
Hi msf,
I wish I had more time to study your post, but I don't.
However, I would like to say a few things. Here in Philadelphia, Blue Cross has cancelled over 45% of their individual plans. Mine is one.
In Florida, Blue Cross has…
What I would like to know is why I always hear the drums beating that that Social Security is "running out of money", but I have never heard a beat that Medicaid is.
Mona
"Health plans are sending hundreds of thousands of cancellation letters to people who buy their own coverage, frustrating some consumers who want to keep what they have and forcing others to buy more costly policies..."
http://www.kaiserhealthnews.…
I am in Vanguard Tax-Exempt Money Market symbol VMSXX which has over 800 holdings. I took a look at a few hundred and I am not seeing U.S. Government debt. I see a bunch of state, city, county, school, housing, state highway and transportation, wate…
Reply to @Ted:
Ted,
When I go to BigPicture.Com I get the following site:
http://www.bigpicture.com/ and cannot see the article "S&P 500 % Change Relative To Government Shutdown".
You said that there are two ways. Since I am getting nowhere…
Hi Ted,
What tool/program do you use to take a screen-shot?
And then how do you post it?
For the longest I have been wanting to do this, but have absolutely no idea how or where to begin.
Please enlighten me!
Thanks,
Mona
Reply to @BobC:
Hi Bob,
I need and would appreciate a bit of clarity on your post.
When you say " For small accounts, this may be an ok option", are you referring to OSTIX? If so, why not for large(er) accounts?
Then you said "That COULD give …
Reply to @Junkster:
So my stop would simply be 1.25% from yesterday close
Hi again Junkster,
OSTIX closed yesterday at 11.78, so at 1.25% off, we are looking at a stop of 11.63.
A few months ago that would have seemed tight, but after setting a …
Reply to @Junkster:
so a simple and small percentage trailing stop works quite well to protect profits
Hi Junkster,
Thanks for your thoughts.
What do you consider a "small percentage" for NFRIX to protect profits and would you use the same percen…
since I don't have significant gains to harvest
VintageFreak,
Please help me out with this terminology as I do not understand it. I thought the idea was to harvest a loss, not a gain.
Mona
Reply to @mrdarcey:
M* says as much in their Fund Analysis as well. FPNIX is down to around 1.4 yrs avg. duration, and by rule can't hold more than 25% junk bonds. Basically they're a fish out of water when being compared to other Multisector/Non-t…
Reply to @Investor:
Investor, it is a plan unlike I have seen before, especially for a retiree. But if I think, it only adds to economy of scale.
Interestingly, the plan is administered by Fidelity.
Mona
Reply to @Ted:
Hi Ted,
Frankly, I get sick on roller coasters. Some good years of return (2009 +81.49%), some poor (2008 -48.84%) and in the past 10 years, it's been up 6 and down 4. The fund continuously has a negative alpha .
And didn't VCVLX …
Reply to @AndyJ:
AndyJ,
I too like MWTRX, however, I do not own it. But when I look at the different elements of MWTRX, I find it impossible for me to differentiate between an "Intermediate-Term" bond fund like MWTRX and a number of "mulisector" …
Reply to @msf:
One other note - in order to be a Flagship customer (and eligible for the 25 free trades), you must have $1M in Vanguard funds (which may include ETF share class and annuity portfolios as well as retail funds). It's not enough to hav…
Reply to @Investor:
Investor, here is one for you.
I was talking to my friend today who recently retired from her 35 year career with IBM. In her 401k she has a number of American Funds with share class R6 (the lowest ER and no-load). A bunch of …
Reply to @mrc70:
I am with Vanguard since 2001, so know a bit about the fund shop. Tried even a trial subscription of Dan Wiener around 2004-2005; Please give me any other suggestions, when you have time.
mrc70,
More suggestions? In my opinion, al…
Ted,
"The $8.4 billion Pimco Investment Grade Corporate Bond Fund, a top-performing bond fund in 2012 and run by Gross’s protege, Mark Kiesel, also saw an outflow of $939 million last month after a $1.3 billion redemption in June, according to Morn…
Reply to @mrc70:
Kiplinger's includes VDIGX and VASVX as two of their 25 favorite no load mutual funds.
I think VDIGX is a good large cap blend fund and VASVX a good mid cap value fund.
Mona
Reply to @claimui:
On the bonds side, Vanguard is lacking a dedicated actively managed diversified bond fund comparable to the offerings from Pimco, Doubleline, Loomis Sayles, etc. This could be a weakness, depending on your view of the bond market…
Reply to @msf:
IMHO this is an argument (albeit a weak one) for:
1) holding foreign/global funds in taxable accounts (to take advantage of the foreign tax credit)
I would think that if you have a tax efficient international fund with low turnover, …
Reply to @Kenster1_GlobalValue:
FMIJX is quite close in style to the successful but closed to new investors, ARTKX.
Kenster,
It which ways do you see FMIJX and ARTKX being quite close in style?
The reason I ask is because I am in ARTKX (like it…
Reply to @STB65:
From the limited research I know how to do, it appears Fundamental Indexing does nicely with US large-cap stocks.
I find less evidence with small or mid cap stocks.
Mona
Reply to @Ted:
Hi Ted,
Thanks for your thoughts.
I was rather surprised to see the lowest Lipper rating of 1, in the area of tax efficiency. This raises another thought. Possibly I should be looking in the direction of a Large Cap Value fund wi…
Reply to @mrc70:
PONDX: Can you please provide reasons behind your suggestion?
Investor was referring to RPHYX. Isn't that closed to new investors?
Mona
Reply to @Junkster:
Junkster,
I need to stay with Vanguard or on a Vanguard Brokerage platform. I am in OSTIX and pleased. I like the tamer junk and am thinking about VWEAX. However the duration is 4.9 years. I could add to OSTIX.
Any thoughts?…
Reply to @Old_Joe:
I use the M* tools that they license to T. Rowe Price. What are the differences between the M* tools and portfolio tools in Google Finance?
Mona
I want very short duration, and therefore minimal interest rate sensitivity. Capital preservation is important.
But I worry about the expense ratio (0.91%), and the average credit quality (B), which puts it in junk bond territory.
OSTIX has credit r…
Reply to @AKAFlack:
Before you dash off another wordy reply, can we just agree to let it go?
Now, now AKAFlack. I love MJG's posts. Read two and suddenly I don't feel guilty not resuming with War and Peace.
Mona
