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'd rather that the ... poor are not taxed into poverty"
By definition, nothing will move the poor into poverty, they're already there. On the other hand, you can tax the poor out of poverty with refundable tax credits like the EIC as well as wi…
Lots of media for main stream media. Not only hard copy and online (web/mobile versions), but you can split the difference with hardcopy images (e.g. PressReader). Subscriptions aren't limited to a single medium. If they were, how could I "su…
I know a woman who, in the '50s working in the government, was accused of being a commie symp. Part of the "evidence" used was that she and her husband subscribed to two newspapers. (Each of them preferred a different paper.) How subversive. …
Also:
FDETX 16.51%
FDESX 17.08%
FALIX 16.92%
FZALX 13.84%
FMALX 15.84%
FXAIX 11.97% (note S&P index fund beating benchmark)
FMILX 14.92%
FGLGX 15.96%
FEQIX does not use the S&P 500 as a benchmark. Its benchmark is the R3K Value. The fo…
@bee you may be good at 4th degree arithmetic, but are you smarter than a 5th grader?
Admiral shares represent about 45% of the fund's portfolio, and Investor shares about 55% (there are no ETF shares for this non-index Vanguard fund). Fractions c…
@MikeM is correct. In addition, the use of Class C shares or any class with CDSC shares is problematic for a cash-substitute investment. That's because cash is supposedly liquid, and having a redemption fee (Class C's lasts a year) impairs liquid…
I'm on holiday, so I'm just giving a quick look.
Hartford filing (see Section IV for mapping from old funds to new funds:
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/45947/000110465916142313/a16-17487_240appa.htm
The old American Funds share class use…
Try this:
https://assetbuilder.com/knowledge-center/articles/when-a-401(k)-might-not-make-sense
"The authors assumed a 35-year time horizon for a young employee. ..."
That's quite an assumption - that someone is going to leave high money in a high…
Let me try to harmonize the info that people have provided.
"Class F-1, F-2, F-3 & 529 F-1, are designed for invstors who choose to compensate their financial professional based upon the total assets in their portfolio."
Class F (later rela…
The article doesn't say whether this change will also apply to Barron's. I'd guess yes and think I've been blocked there too, but it would be nice to confirm.
Different brokerages have different deals with various fund families. Currently, AF has deals with Schwab and Fidelity (only, AFAIK) to allow F-1 shares to be purchased by retail investors.
This is not a new share class, it is by definition N…
Be careful when doing tax-free conversions. If not processed correctly, they're taxable events. I've done tax-free conversions at Fidelity. I've also had Fidelity tell me that they couldn't execute a particular conversion tax-free.
I believe…
I'd read the article before it was posted here, and my reaction was exactly the opposite. These days, so much is being written in black and white. Like Trump? Everything he's suggesting must be great for stocks. Hate Trump? He's going to d…
OS: "The article does not state wheather there is a wrap fee on the account that would hold F1 shares or a transaction fee for the purchases themselves. I'm thinking, there are going to be some fees somewhere associated with F share purchases"
Repe…
Sigh.
"He underperformed in his final year."
Neff underperformed over the period from 1984 to 1995 - the final eleven years of his career, as I documented.
"Speculating, that [final year] might well have been a major influence on why he retir…
"Vanguard actively managed funds have been and are managed by some famous investors. For a very long period legendary John Neff directed the Windsor Fund to outperform his benchmark until his recent retirement. He's just one of several examples."
A…
"With this, I'm thinking there is just no "free lunch" for the American Funds small retail investor. However, I do admire you for trying to find one."
Well, you are paying a 12b-1 fee (F-1 shares) that goes to brokers for NTF shelf space, so it's n…
If I were looking at Vanguard for a traditional balanced fund, I'd be more inclined to go with Wellington. Even Bogle has been critical of using Barclays US Aggregate as an index to track (too laden with Treasuries). But that's what you'll get …
"Speaking of style, you seem to take issue with my posting style, and not its substance."
Believe what you will. What I try to do is point out errors of facts. That can be enough to call into question the reasoning and conclusions that flow from …
Let me second what rforno wrote. They are a solid, conservatively manged fund house without esoteric funds. In other words, boring like Vanguard. Similarly solid. Not quite as low cost, but as noted above, fairly priced.
While you may not app…
"Why are you so familiar with Litman Gregory? Do you work in the financial or investment advisory industries?"
Quick, look at the squirrel. Irrelevant. FWIW, all one need do is check the management pages on M* and the original and current prosp…
A fiduciary rule simply requires brokers to act in your best interest. Part of the regulation allows brokers to continue charging commissions/loads so long as they are acting in your best interests and you sign a document essentially acknowledging…
@MikeM Bingo! I just started reading this thread now, and when I saw OS's post, my thought was along the same lines: Your choice - we can rip you off and you won't even know it, or we can do what's best for you at an honest rate.
"Litman Gregory have always assembled a superb team of fund managers with outstanding and long standing records"
The Masters funds certainly started out that way. Shelby (not Chris) Davis, Jean-Marie Eveillard (as Lewis noted), Foster Friess et al…
Of the points you mentioned, two were ones I was thinking of. When Master Select first came out, it boasted lots of well known names. Which meant they were already successful and popular (read bloated).
The other was cost (which I did mention…
It was MJG who owned the fund. He writes that management changed (substantially, it looks like, in 2008 and 2013-14; prior to 2008 it seems to have done well). But he didn't note that how the fund was managed overall changed as well.
It used …
Hi Guys,
Given that over many decades, multiple thousands of investment advisors and fund managers are candidates for superior performance accolades, the rather short list proposed by various MFOers endorsements speaks volumes about the shortfall o…
I disagree with Icahn. While he made lots of money investing, he did more to destroy than create value. If the purpose of investing is to grow businesses, he failed miserably. TWA, gone. Blockbuster, gone.
Yahoo - bought on spec (expected…
As pass through entities, REITs generally don't report their breakdown of ordinary divs, cap gains, and return of capital until January 31. Likewise, funds pass through income, so they can't begin computing what they're passing through until they …
@hank - I like Barber and Odean (the authors of the summary you cited), but as something directed toward nonacademics, the summary glosses over too much for my liking. Here's a copy of the underlying paper: Trading Is Hazardous to Your Wealth: The…
T. Rowe Price? According to M*, it offers 155 different funds (counting only one share class per fund). But that still includes several clones, e.g. TRAMX and TRIAX (Africa &Middle East - "regular" and Institutional funds). Knock those off…
There's a big difference between multi-sector funds and vanilla investment grade bond funds. The former in general, and PIMIX/PONDX in particular contain mortgage bonds, junk bonds, foreign bonds.
Here's a good 11 page primer by Nuveen on vari…
To illustrate Hank's point, suppose you bought a 10 year Treasury on Jan 5, 1973, and held it though Aug 23, 1974. So you'd have purchased a bond maturing on Jan 5, 1983. Assume that coupon matched market yield (newly minted bond).
The yield…
While most of what Trump has said is nonsense, there is a (small) bit of truth. I'll quote the relevant section of the AP column, then discuss:
"TRUMP: In the same statement, he said, “The seven countries named in the Executive Order are the same …
Count me among those who don't see the appeal with OSTVX. Compared with Wellington, OSTVX:
- tracks moderately closely (correlation coefficient r of 0.92, coefficient of determination R^2 of 85%)
- is a bit more volatile
- generally underperfor…
Just a little disagreement with the dividendgrowthinvestor site that says:
"After age of 65, withdrawals are tax-free for any type of distribution from the account."
They are still subject to taxation similar to traditional IRA's if used for regul…
