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.
Sorry, but the "doubling" of the standard deduction is really a myth. That's part of the deception in the selling of this bill. However, it is one of the few parts of the bill that actually does serve to simply taxes. By increasing the standard…
The average prop tax in NJ and NY is around or above $9k as of a couple years ago, not that you can fully understand anything from averages.Glad to see you acknowledge that there's not much to be gleaned from mean averages. Especially in New York…
Tax bill, pdf p. 604: Under the provision a taxpayer may claim an itemized deduction of up to $10,000 ($5,000 for married taxpayer filing a separate return) for the aggregate of
(i) State and local property taxes not paid or accrued in carrying on…
The $10K limit is for combined property and state income (or sales) tax.
The median US home costs $320K, per St. Louis Fed. While western NY home prices are still quite depressed, Hudson Valley homes seem to be in line with US averages. Acco…
For the big investing news that I'm sure everyone has been waiting for (see pdf p. 898):
House Version: No provision
Senate Version: Any security sold after 1/1/18 is sold FIFO
Conference Agreement: "The conference agreement does not include the Se…
That summarizes the tax brackets. Here's a more extensive set of bullet items. And an initial analysis from Vox. Finally, the text of the bill itself:
Highlights: http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-gop-tax-reform-bill-final-text-details-brac…
We shouldn't view this bill as just a tax cut for corporations. Why, just look at the latest change that Congress threw in - it's a setback for corporations. Instead of getting their promised reduction to 20% nominal, the current draft is to cut…
Not to worry. The corporate tax cuts will "trickle down" to employees in the form of higher wages.
If you believe that and you're a Republican, you're in the minority (29%). Only half as many Democrats and Independents were as optimistic.
"A Su…
Rono got at what may have been in the back of my mind, but hadn't crystallized. It's not that there's nothing one uses these places for (as Mark noted), but so little that they really don't need so much real estate or staff.
These days, its seem…
"Obviously now we owed late charges ..."
Most Discover cards have late/missed payment forgiveness - they don't charge a late fee for your first late payment. So whether you're charged a penalty may not not as obvious as it might seem. Perhaps D…
One of the virtues of reading a real, tactile paper you hold in your hands is that you can get a sense of an article's value from its placement. There you would find this little article stuck in the lower left portion of an even numbered (left han…
I did not mean to say that something like this had appeared elsewhere. I was wondering whether your work had appeared, not something like it, perhaps in a slightly edited form somewhere else.
They're superior because of convenience. I'm not sure…
I have the feeling of deja vu with Lewis' article. Had it appeared somewhere else before?
In any case, this fall M* ran a series of five columns on donor advised funds: intro, one each on Fidelity, Schwab, Vanguard, then a comparison.
Is a Donor-…
@AndyJ &MFO Members: Sen. Tester stop whining, you got at least two hours to take a speed reading course. You should be able to handle that.
Regards,
Ted :)
I might, except that because of that handwriting, there's no searchable version of the…
Interesting discussion and yet no love for IOFCX or SEMPX. Hmmm. To be honest I get my bond exposure from PDI & PCI but they both violate msf' no leverage rule.
Yup, I don't even screen for leveraged closed end funds. (We each have our personal…
Everyone has their own preferences and tolerances for risk. Obviously I'm willing to extend risk a bit on credit. Perhaps that's because even when bonds implode there's usually a good recovery rate - it's not like stocks going bust. Well, excep…
Quick responses:
RSIVX - this will undoubtedly sound like 20/20 hindsight, since I'm not on the record with my impressions when the fund was announced. Nevertheless, I was skeptical because it sounded like it was being promoted as an extension (in…
@LLJB - nice description. I agree that the writer probably doesn't understand the fund or the index. I suspect that cause of the mischaracterization can be laid at M*'s feet. They're the ones classifying this fund (and the CAPE ETN) as LCV.
Th…
">> As I've posted before, the fact that Fidelity does not currently have a cash offer on the table does not mean that it has not done so in the past or will not do so again in the future.
Cool. Not in the 45y I have been with them, I think, …
Much of what the fund does is buy "remnants", bonds with a few weeks of life left. It's something like picking up coins on the sidewalk - it's free money, but there's just so much and it's time consuming to fetch.
That makes this, as Prof. Sno…
" - And yes, I have reported (my "technique") that one who purchases DoubleLine NTF / higher-ER class shares at Fido can get them reclassified for free at DoubleLine to the lower-ER class once above a certain $ amount.
- This last procedure has noth…
Are you saying that you have no way, outside of using an institution new to you such as Vanguard, to initiate a position in DODIX at Fidelity for less that $75?
I recognize that you already said that you wouldn't use Vanguard for this purpose, an…
"Do you think it is responsible for Congress to vote on technically complex legislation in the absence of hearings or complete analysis?"
That's not a hard question. Republicans are constantly quoting Pelosi:
"We have to pass the bill so that yo…
And yet Vanguard doesn't offer an HSA to individuals.
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/whatweoffer/overview/healthsavings
They just refer you over to Health Savings Administrators, that charges you $45/year plus the equivalent of a 12b-1 fee (0.25%…
@msf May I ask which (if any) bond funds you own? I'll address this question, but not head on, and in a new thread. (I'll follow my own advice - if one wants to talk about bond funds generally, don't do it in a thread about DODIX.)
I almost never …
BCOIX is $50 TF at Fido, but it says $25k min (self retirement accounts $500). PONDX, arguably better than any of these, is free, or, as noted if you're sure you're going to hold for the long run, PIMIX.
>> It looks like you may be forgettin…
This may help as well. Apparently Carillon was recently formed by Raymond James to serve as an umbrella for its management companies, including Eagle Asset Management.
The name Carillon may have come from Eagle's address: 880 Carillon Parkway, …
It looks like you may be forgetting things. Here's your own post on how to circumvent that fee at Fidelity:
https://mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/comment/77431/#Comment_77431
Regarding PONDX: It's different, not comparable and so not b…
The $5 is for each investment, not reinvestment. Automatic reinvestments at Fidelity, as at most brokerages, are provided as a free service. (I've recently seen a brokerage where ETF reinvestments cost money, so there is a reason for this clarific…
@MikeM - yeah, we're both being a bit pedantic here. Though there are differences, notably that I've no horse in this race, so I'm not looking to validate FTBFX (or to discredit it).
It's got its virtues. It's smaller than DODIX (though at $30B…
This is a thread about DODIX. If you want to talk about another fund in a different context, i.e. that fund's performance/investment strategy without comparing it to DODIX's, that is irrelevant to DODIX. There's always the option of starting ano…
Irrelevant. You introduced it as preferable to DODIX. That's all that matters.
"Hard to see over 10/5/3/1y why you would ever want it over FTBFX"
Edit: I disagree that you have demonstrated alpha (the existence of which depends upon correlation …
Now you're just getting silly. "Non-charter" indeed. I took your use of the term "charter" to be a colloquial reference to the prospectus. Of course the prospectus isn't the charter. In fact, Fidelity funds don't even have charters, because the…
"Supposedly both funds vary duration based on market conditions, right?; it is not written in their charters otherwise, I think."
FTBFX prospectus: "The Adviser uses the Bloomberg Barclays U.S. Universal Bond Index as a guide in structuring the fun…
"? You are saying Fidelity does not deploy the defensiveness savvy of D&C? That would show up in risk measures, right"
I am saying (and quoting M* to the same effect) that D&C consistently maintains a shorter (i.e. more interest rate risk d…
ETFs and stocks cost $4.95 to buy or to sell, or about ten bucks round trip.
TF funds, once you have a position, can usually be purchased for $5 and sold for free, a round trip cost of exactly five bucks. You have to use their automatic investmen…
"Lipper aggregated rating is the same (ML uses that one), for some reason"
Lipper rates on five attributes:
Total Return/Consistent Return/Preservation/Tax Efficiency/Expense.
"Unlike Morningstar or U.S. News, Lipper doesn't award an aggregate rat…
DODIX vs. FTBFX:
Assuming past is prologue (a not so great assumption), and given that these are two relatively vanilla intermediate term bond funds, M* star ratings should fairly well encapsulate their relative risk-adjusted performance. 5 star …
Regarding cap gains on homes - interviewee (at 5:54) states correctly: "it's also important - always important - for individuals who own their homes to keep great records of the improvements they've put into their homes in order to try to eliminate …
"No step up except at death", or except for the 1/2 community property owned by the still living spouse.
In most states, when one spouse dies, that spouse's share of jointly owned property gets a step up, but the surviving spouse's share doesn't. …
