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.
This is one of those rare cases where it is possible to prove a negative, because it's a negative of something very specific.
To prove that something was never used as an itemized deduction, you could hold onto your Schedule A (itemized deductions)…
No time limit. The only requirement is that you must have opened the HSA (or its predecessor, if you moved accounts) prior to incurring the qualified expenses.
So if you opened your HSA in May 2010, then you can hold onto all those bills and proof…
From that link:
In the 10-year budget window by which the tax plan is being evaluated, a switch from regular to Roth has a positive impact on revenue. Over the long run, it's a money loser.
That's wrong. The same argument that's used to show tha…
I'm not quite sure what you mean by deduct 2018 expense money from 2017 IRA. My best guess (likely wrong) is that you're paying some expenses (medical?) with IRA money, and if you do that this year, the IRA distribution income will show up in 2017…
@bee Thanks for the concrete example. This is what I was trying to explain in an earlier thread about NY slightly reducing net premiums to subsidized policy holders net year. For most people, the rack rate ACA premiums are meaningless because thei…
It's actually a lot more than that - per account fees, setup fees, etc. Here's Schwab's current disclosure statement:
NTF funds: http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/nn/no_transaction_fee_funds.html
TF funds: http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/nn…
Thanks for posting those fees assessed by the brokerages. I've dug them up from time to time (each time they seem to be a smidgen higher than the last). I figure that the only way NTF funds can pay those shelf space fees are:
a) having direct i…
With US rates rising, one would think that, yet foreign bond funds like PFUIX (PIMCO unhedged) and BEGBX went up.
Bloomberg: "The dollar ended a three-day winning streak amid wide swings in the Canadian dollar, pound and other currencies."
https:/…
Fortunately I have the cash to be able to cover medical expenses, so I treat HSAs as super duper Roth IRAs. Money checks in, but it doesn't check out. (As you do, I also keep track of medical expenses so that I will, some years down the road, be …
Yes, but Kitces complaint was that advisors were getting blindsided in TDA's move toward retail investors. He asked for more time and/or other advisor business models. In the long run, it doesn't look like any tweaks are going to help the DIY inv…
There may not be any reporting of Roth 401k contributions, e.g. individual 401k's under $250K are not required to file any Form 5500 variant. And the Roth contribution doesn't show up on your 1040 (only deductible contributions do).
So when yo…
He's proposed a tax plan?
Oh, you mean the nine page "Unified Framework for Fixing our Broken Tax Code" released Sept. 27th?
Some news sources got it right:
WSJ: Trump Says ‘No Change’ to 401(k) Plans Under Forthcoming Tax Proposal
WaPo: Trump…
You're not going to tax the principal going out. It's already been taxed. In this sense, a Roth is no different from a nondeductible IRA.
You might try to tax the earnings, but pragmatically this is virtually impossible, at least retroactively …
I agree with nearly everything hank wrote. The one exception is the juxtaposition of these two bullet items:
- Short term rates have risen since 2011, albeit not by much. But compared to a half-percent back in 2011, the near 1.5% available in mon…
To put this in perspective, the new DOL regs for fiduciaries allow different levels of compensation for selling different categories of products, up to a certain level.
BICE allows higher compensation for selling complex products that require mor…
While I enjoy Ms. Morgenson's columns and generally agree with them, they nevertheless tend to resemble hit pieces with the occasional questionable statement or two. Never factually wrong, but laden with innuendo.
She decries the "often hefty cos…
You can also read my responses in that thread. RPHYX has not had a single losing year, and only one losing quarter. Theoretically it should be impossible to outperform cash (under your mattress) 100% of the time while maintaining the same liquidi…
I've got to go along with hank here. If you want to say that "For me cash is cash", and "Calling any type of bond 'cash alternative' is a misnomer imho", then you have to go whole hog.
Those CDs that Skeet likes? Aside from a lack of instant li…
Interest rates and yields have climbed enough to take another look at where to put cash, even if the answers haven't changed. For example, VMMXX now sports an APY of 1.14%, and FZDXX ($10K min in IRA) has an APY of 1.11%. Those are comparable to…
This time, this is not even a follow up, but a duplicate. From the article:
The article “New Target-Date Funds Are Geared for Withdrawal Time” first appeared in The Wall Street Journal.
MFO: New Target-Date Funds Are Geared For Withdrawal Time
http…
Forget that lame intro, this is a good basic column on, as the subject says, considerations besides cost in choosing an index fund: index construction, methodology, tracking, bid/ask spreads, tax efficiency, and quality of execution.
Just a paragra…
To clarify, this is not talking about performance fees of mutual funds. Mutual fund performance fees, unlike those of hedge funds, must be symmetric. If their management gets extra fees for outperforming a benchmark, then management must pay an e…
@bee - thanks, that's great!
I checked another utility, and it said: press 1 then 2 then 0# each time it asks for your account number. Now that's the kind of pounding away with zeros and octothorpes I was talking about. :-)
... for your individual taxable account. Then there's your joint account. Your UGMA account, etc. Not to mention that if you ever, ever opened an account with Robinhood before via ACAT, from TDA or anyone else, they won't pay for this transfer. …
This is a follow-up to a previous thread, or perhaps a better description might be a prequel. The other thread cited an ETF.com/Sweedroe column that discussed (and cited) the Vanguard paper quoted above:
https://mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/disc…
Robinhood will cover any fees charged by your old brokerage.
Only for your first transfer into Robinhood.
https://support.robinhood.com/hc/en-us/articles/115001535326-Stock-Transfer
It means that the share class has not existed long enough for the star rating, but that this rating comes from another share class. TUHYX started 5/19/2017, the fund started 4/30/17 (TUHIX)
@msf It doesn't matter if you use buttons or voice to navigate on a poorly designed telephone tree. You have to listen a minute or two to know how to respond to get to the next branch.
If the phone tree doesn't allow you to "type ahead", it doesn'…
Full ACAT transfer from TDA costs $75 (though partial is free). Robinhood doesn't seem to have promotions to accept the new account.
It's easy to get free trades at various brokerages. It's harder getting assets out of an account. Even harder…
Your voice response example is a good illustration of why query/data entry systems often use "controlled vocabularies" (pre-set, well-defined lists of possible entries). They eliminate ambiguities, ensure clear data entry. Radio buttons, drop d…
Here's the list of ETFs being dropped:
https://www.tdameritrade.com/retail-en_us/resources/pdf/grid_etfs2017.pdf
I stand corrected regarding the old list. I checked the commission-free list as of Sept. 29th using the internet Wayback Machine ( ht…
I'm on the GOP email list, where I get various "surveys" to fill out. (The Democrats have similar "surveys".)
Re Lie #6
One of the questions was whether there should be tax cuts for the middle class rather than for the wealthy. My response (…
My issue isn't with the State Street changes, but with TDA promoting a new and improved, expanded list, when in fact it had nothing to do with the State Street improvements and dropped funds (not only Vanguard but iShares (what's the excuse there?).…
The first link says that State Street switched indexes on existing ETFs (potential albeit small cap gains for existing shareholders), renamed the funds, and gave them new tickers. This happened on Oct 16th, before the TDA switch.
That explains wh…
The "expanded ETF" sheet (first link) says that TDAmeritrade is tripling its commission-free ETFs from 100 to 296.
According to its current website (day before switchover), they offer 152 equity ETFs, 9 sector ETFs, 95 bond ETFs, 112 internation…
I recently received a written reminder from one of my IRA custodians that they apparently mailed all their clients. (I think it came from Oakmark.) The abandonment laws vary by state.
Their advice was to either (1) phone them once a year or (2) l…
Added: I found this link http://www.investopedia.com/articles/mutualfund/cost-basis-mutual-funds.asp
Now my question becomes How do you make this selection re method of reporting?
Did (or will) your fund company request it? Or, do you decide whe…
if Joe Investor reinvests a dividend that he receives in that first year and then sells before the reinvested dividend is long term, the gains on the original shares are LT gains but the gains or losses on the reinvested dividends are ST, regardles…
Got to be quick/sloppy here (sorry). Not much difference between an editorial and an op-ed beyond whether the writer is on the editorial staff. All are opinion pieces. No big deal.
I'm disinclined to take opinion pieces (editorial or otherwis…
