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The distributor creates shares for the AP, just as a retail fund distributor creates shares for us peon investors.
A difference is that the AP pays in-kind with the underlying securities, rather than with cash. Another difference is that APs b…
@Bobpa & MFO Members: Here is U.S. News & World Report's ranking of the best 75 Short-Term Bond Funds.
Regards,
Ted
https://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual-funds/rankings/short-term-bond
BBBMX: Not RankedBBBIX: #2, Ultra-Short Term Bond Fu…
hmm ... how does one become an AP? can you lose money? (seems so, not sure)
The short answer is that you sign a contract with an ETF distributor that allows you to buy and sell creation units of the ETF.
Here's a sample AP agreement I pulled up a…
Josh Brown, meet Jack Bogle (who never met an ETF he liked - by design they encourage trading).
Jack Bogle: the lessons we must take from ETFs (FT, Dec 11, 2016) Individual investors are by far the largest holders of the Vanguard [traditional index…
I've gotten more and more down on bonds over the past decade, as bond yields have gone down more and more. A year ago, I would have suggesting sticking with banks/CUs alone and forgetting about bonds. Yields have come up a bit, IMHO enough to ma…
M* reports a drawdown for SGENX of 36.3% (5/19/08 - 3/6/09), or if you want to keep it within 2008, a drawdown of 34.9% (5/19/08 - 11/20/08).
Here's the cumulative return chart for the wider range (you can mouse over to get returns for shorter peri…
A difficulty in verifying the report is we're not sure exactly what was said.
For example, "For the year [2017], the S&P gained 19.4%." (Marketwatch). That's obviously not including dividends; M* reports S&P returned 21.83% (and VFINX…
Sounds about right, thanks.
So, there's a long term pattern of migrating from high taxes (a study I linked showed this going back to 2004 if not earlier); a good chunk at least just reflects normal migration (e.g. Florida retirements); hard to brea…
The IRS has never said what funds might constitute substantially identically securities (and thus trigger a wash sale).
I'd wager it's fair to say that the vast majority of people ("experts" if you wish) agree with McGowan that swapping an actively…
"As long as the shadow price remains in the range of $0.9950-1.1050, the money market funds can price their portfolio at a stable $1 NAV per share."
Whoops. $1.0050. Which is the whole point of the article (i.e. watch that the NAV of MMFs stay …
Direxion has an interesting history. As Potomac Funds, they originally offered 1.25x leveraged funds, and made a fair case for them. They also explained why higher leverage doesn't work well - because of rapidly growing costs of leverage as the …
GLFOX is on the chopping block - The Trump effect had little positive impact on this Global Infrastructure fund since the election.
Top 1/3 (34/99) over the past year (though dismal YTD). Here I am, again sounding like a broken record: this fund …
#1 Annuities are always a crap shoot, but can serve a valuable function in ensuring enough income to cover essential expenses. Just don't buy more than you need, since the value is in the guaranteed income stream. Unless one is sure that one's da…
@Bee, good one. Always enjoy your posts. Have a sister who moved from NJ to Florida a few years back. Still have a brother in law in Summit, both retired. One of the worst towns for taxes.
I'm sure it feels that way, because NJ property tax rates ar…
I was wondering when you'd link to the njpp piece.
Look at the graphic showing the primary exodus states for NJ. Missing is where NJ stands relative to these states. According to the Tax Foundation (source cited by graphic) NJ had the third hi…
I simply asked you to substantiate or at least quantify your statement that taxes were close (very or not). Or was this just a gut feel based on a sample size of one?
In any case please let us know how your NJ friends are feeling about their t…
@bee - I'd say that I don't know how people do it, but I really do. There are enough high paid young professional couples (doctors, lawyers, Indian chiefs, ...) who can handle the cash flow demands, including paying for the nannies and the student…
But as you like to tutor us, averages can be so misleading. (And rates mean little.) The tax on my old 3ksf ranched-out cape worth a little over $1M in a town next to Weston Mass. is within a few percent of the average of the NJ towns listed above…
I got to read the whole article through google, this google search may or may not work for you.
You're right that the cost of lending just got lower for high tax states. He doesn't discuss this. What he says is that Connecticut and NJ are losin…
Adding to what Anna wrote about the military being favored targets of financial scams, and tying this more closely to mutual funds, here are a couple of links to items about "systematic investment plans", like Fidelity's Destiny plans.
These were f…
It might have helped had PennyBonds continued the quote with the next line from Edelman:
"They are in “denial” because they don’t understand the technology, Edelman said."
A company that doesn't understand a technology (at least its capabilities …
My error on the Cobra deadlines/forfeitures. I'd quoted the time period to sign up, not the grace period for nonpayment. The whole thing is a bit more complicated.
Here are the DOL FAQ and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Q&A …
You are correct msf. I missed that one. My apologies.
"2008 Transportation Funding – Chapter 152
[...]"
In total it amounted to a $0.03 raise over a 4-yr period.
Glad you could find a reference. I'm not sure where the 3 cents came from, though. …
"Despite the tough politics, 26 states have raised taxes on motor fuels in the past four years."
http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2017/07/26/reluctant-states-raise-gas-taxes-to-repair-roads (July 26, 2017)
Apparen…
My apologies, you're absolutely right. From the SOTU address:
"Tonight, I'm calling on Congress to produce a bill that generates at least $1.5 trillion for the new infrastructure investment that our country so desperately needs."
But note also t…
The loop hole on Cobra is you don't have to pay until the 4th month starts. Go 3 months or less and it's basically free.
" 60 days after the later of (1) the date that the qualified beneficiary would lose coverage due to the qualifying event, or (2)…
New York is another state that provides three years of COBRA-type coverage.
ISTM that people are complaining about the high cost of medical coverage (as reflected in insurance costs). Whether group coverage (COBRA) or individual coverage (exchang…
If I recall, Trump suggests $1.5 trillion for infrastructure, with $200 billion from Federal "sources" and remainder from state, local sources, as well as "private".
Just $1T (the $1.5T figure likely relates to the hole the new tax law is project…
FRA= full retirement age. Eagerly waiting. Could have done at 62, but did not want to get into ACA.
Medicare is available at age 65. No need to wait for FRA to avoid individual health insurance. COBRA would let you back up to 63.5, and some stat…
Just a guess, but in the context of retirement, FRA could easily stand for Full Retirement Age (currently 66 - see SSA).
Trump just appointed Alex Azar, former head of Eli Lilly's US division as HHS Secretary. One of his first tasks was to accept …
But there's no rational basis to make a decision! How can a fund which holds equities maintain a constant price?
Unless it's gone to all cash.
In which case they should tell me.
It really seems strange to distribute cap gains right before a liqu…
I already have I class shares of many Pimco funds (PIMIX, PIGIX, PFORX, PSTIX). I was only stating that PiMco is increasing fees
But that was months ago, announced in July, effective Oct. 2. PIMCO hiked the fees on your PIMIX shares at that time …
I paid a load to buy Oppenheimer’s new fangled commodities fund back in ‘96 or ‘97. It did very well for several years (double digit gains) before crashing and burning. Now it’s long since eliminated from their store of funds. I’m left with some Cl…
Interesting that ponAx is *no load* at vanguard!
Nothing special about load-waived A shares. Already offered by Blackrock (e.g. bAedx), Franklin Templeton (e.g. tcwAx), Nuveen (e.g. npsAx), JPMorgan Chase (e.g. olvAx), Columbia (e.g. rebAx), and o…
If one separates from service in the year one turns 55 (even if before one's birthday), then one can tap employer-plan (government Thrift Savings Plan) without penalty.
Pretty much all tax sheltered plans (IRAs, 401(k)s, etc.) can be tapped without…
Without even reading the link, I agree with you about Ill. (perhaps an apt abbreviation). When BobC suggested NEARX, I expressed concern about its fairly high percentage of Illinois bonds. He felt that the manager was good at monitoring risk, and…
So the small investors can:
1) put up the money for I class shares
2) go through an advisor
3) buy the loaded A shares (for the new investors, not the converted D share investors ).
4) buy the etf BOND which is a more tax efficient structure than t…
I don't think you appreciate the nature of FPRTX. This was a fund that was double tax free in all 50 states. At the risk of sounding repetitive, the only way to accomplish this is to invest exclusively in munis issued by territories. This must …
