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.
I can think probably 10 more risks before breakfast. On a good day probably 11. :) Too bad most of these risks are hard to quantify. What are the odds?
Reply to @catch22: Thanks. Those yellow bars look rather heavy. Should cost a lot to ship. ;)
Obviously, they are locked up somewhere in Africa and I just need to send some money and some info (SSN, bank account numbers etc.) for taking care of pr…
It seems that this is a bond fund prospectus. It does not talk about Large Company Risk, Small Company Risk, Value stock risk, Growth stock risk and more.
Reply to @Old_Joe: Ironically, some conservatives and tea partiers have no problem receiving benefits from SS, Medicare and Medicaid. This group seems to have a problem with others receiving benefits.
Reply to @catch22: I did not track FEDDX as it is very new fund but it could be an alternative to WAEMX. Like WAEMX it is more focused to Consumer in emerging markets. Still 25% is Asia emerging, 39% Asia Developed. I do not think fundalarm would li…
Reply to @AndyJ: I believe 18K is pretty small volume. Even in this case this case bid/asked spread is low now, in a panic such small volume will definitely lead to widening gap in some cases market price is not tracking the NAV at all if the market…
The portfolios on both sides are similar in allocation and type of assets. Percentages and types of assets are correct (pg 84 of Unconventional Success, 2005 edition). The major difference is that MW portfolio uses Long Term treasury bonds vs. other…
Well, I am that idiot that actually bought extended warranty on new vehicles. If you intend to keep a vehicle a few years and replace with a new model, such warranty is probably not needed or wasted. I keep my vehicles for 10+ years so there is high…
Definitely reduction of payroll taxes in the last couple of years made the situation worse. I am personally not sure if I will ever be able to get a paycheck from SS administration. If the inflows to SS trust fund is not increased by increased pay…
Reply to @MJG: I believe more data does not necessarily improve decision making process. Often such data is correlated as opposed to independent, reported and re-reported without any reference to the original source and without questioning the accur…
Reply to @hank: Hi Hank, I did not score well regarding your questions. I guess, I do not trade anything based on this information. I know these troubled Southern European countries have interest rates in the penalty box (I believe Spain 10 yr bond …
The biggest problem with the new ETFs especially ones that target very narrow segments is the lack of volume which causes wide bid-ask spreads. I would stay away from any ETF until there is sufficient daily volume. Invest in open end mutual funds in…
The theory says there are two types of risks. Risks that has awards a risk premium (on the long term) and risks that can be eliminated (diversified away) and that does not necessarily award any premium. Simply buying a portfolio of high beta stocks …
Reply to @Skeeter: I believe X-Ray is the M*'s own sector classification of the index. It may be that M* has reclassified a whole bunch of companies to a different sector. For example, a bunch of Financial companies seems to be classified in Real Es…
I would recommend FLPSX which has a minimum of $2500. FLPSX is basically an all cap fund at this time with the weighted avreage of Mid-Cap capitalization. It is a value leaning portfolio and 1/3 of assets are in foreign holdings. So, it is a good di…
Reply to @bee: He is not supposed to get out of Treasuries. He is supposed to hold gold, silver, treasuries, swiss frank all in pretty fixed allocations and rebalance when they get out of their allocation proportions. So, that leaves him with stock …
I will read the proxy but like many proxy material it will be dry legal stuff. I rather have my fellow Austinite Mr. Yacktman to send a shareholder letter why and how he thinks this is in best interest of shareholders. Right now, I am personally inc…
Reply to @BobC: You might be right but its 2008 performance as a new fund with assets not yet fully invested, with few bucks to manage per strategy does not provide guidance for next cycle. I think modete allocation/conservative allocation funds doe…
Reply to @Sven: I am not sure. Most of these funds fail to provide that downside protection. After a failed market cycle they are typically liquidated. I think this time will not be different.
I love "Lake Wobegon". It is perfect. There is something in the water. ;)
If you ever heard "A Prairie Home Companion" on public radio, you must have heard little stories from Lake Wobegon.
Maybe, maybe not. If the worldwide economy improves, the bonds may gain value. They yield so high because they are risky. There are some hedge funds that actually trade these and if they get the timing right, they can make nice equity like returns.
Reply to @Sven: If you visit the site at the URL on the left there are recent observations (with a 1 week lag) and you can download all the data. You can even be notified of updates.
It is fun. I like the one which lady converted the laptop to a tablet and a keyboard combination.
However, some of these are fake. There is one which I saw before that throws the keyboard and monitor both of which were not hooked to anything.
Hi Art,
If you are investing in taxable accounts, asset placement become more important. For taxable, I would look for assets that does not throw a lot of taxable dividends and low internal turnover. Broad based index/passive funds that cover wide …
Reply to @Sven: It does indeed look similar on the long term chart but that is expected that VIX will increase as risk and uncertainty will be reflected in futures and volatility will increase.
VIX is obviously reactive but values are daily but ve…
Reply to @msf: I am embarrassed. I was almost sure that D shares were slightly more expensive than T shares. Maybe I saw some other shares. Oh well :( I have a very small position in JATTX held at Fidelity.
Reply to @msf: Thanks for the finer details and mini serve. As for Janus, I am aware of D shares and I believe these are grandfathered as Janus stopped selling funds directly a while ago for new accounts. D shares have higher cost than T shares prob…
Reply to @catch22: I agree, I think around 2014-2015 we might have worked out the excess inventory and foreclosures that banks could withstand short term interest rates increases. Meanwhile if long term interests move a bit up meantime banks will ma…
Reply to @MaxBialystock:
Max, I apologize for being harsh.
You are right you are getting poor service for account management. No doubt. I don't think it will change. It will highly likely to get worse going forward (not specific to D&C, overa…
Reply to @MaxBialystock:
Well, like it or not. It is your problem since you chose to invest your money this particular way. You deliberately chose to slow path unfortunately it is just executing slower than usual. There way ways to handle this fas…
I think your problem is with the transfer agent handling the transactions for Dodge and Cox. The issue may or may not be the mail or there may be other contributing factors.
Your paperwork and check goes to the custodian/transfer agent. If agent i…
