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.
Regarding HealthEquity:
"Unfortunately, the new fiduciary law/rules made them switch to exclusively vanguard index funds" (Graust), and
" I can't find where to find their fee structure" (MikeM)
HealthEquity does not make things easy or clear. …
Don't you wish they'd just tell you what changed?
FYI - the fee waivers for the California and NY funds were reversed (last paragraph). Instead of holding expenses to 0.29% (Calif) and 0.61% (NY), the fees are being held to 0.61% (Calif.) and 0.2…
This is too bad. There are only about 20 short term single state muni funds; fewer if you discount the high risk, junk-grade Oppenheimer Rochester funds.
These Sanford C Bernstein funds were virtually unique in offering very short term (< 2 ye…
Mexico doing the construction? Certainly not. This is a jobs creation act for American workers like Keystone, only bigger.
Have Mexico pay for the wall, but make sure that it exports those jobs to the US. At $7.25/hr of course. Unless Puzd…
"For individuals/couples who would otherwise struggle to find a funding source to fund an HSA (too much month at the end of the pension check), one becomes available at age 59.5 in the form of your T.IRA."
That's a good point, and perhaps the only …
In a similar manner to a Roth conversion strategy, I will be funding my HSA with T.IRA dollars from 59.5 - 65.
"Generally, only one qualified HSA funding distribution is allowed during the lifetime of an individual."
IRS Notice: https://www.irs.gov…
Yes, but as I asked in my earlier post, is this a supposed 40 foot high concrete wall or merely a cheap fence? Even Frost starts with his wall but ends with "Good fences make good neighbors" :-)
@davidrmoran - thanks for that link. I had given some thought about showing how Bayes applied, but didn't feel it was worth my effort. The key to the problem is stated near the beginning of the Wiki page:
"You can now take advantage of this ad…
"Monte's stage 2 action does impact the odds."
Only if his actions are random. That was why I gave two sequences - one where he acts randomly and one where he does not. To compare and contrast. To see that Monte's selection can indeed affect …
You're sure you wouldn't like to reconsider, given that you're saying the probabilities after revealing a wrong choice (1/2 + 2/3) sum to more than certainty?
Let's try again. Contestant makes a selection. With absolute certainty, at least one …
Often management company running wrap accounts (including robo accounts) offset the wrap fees with the fees they receive for managing the underlying funds. That reduces quite a bit of the difference in fees. For example, here's Schwab's own page…
"The correct choice is to change. By doing so the odds of winning the major prize are increased from a 0.500 to a 0.667 likelihood."
Not quite. The odds are increased from 1/3 (not 1/2) to 2/3. There are two choices (once one is eliminated). …
@msf,
I've never seen a clear statement on how past qualified medical expenses of the deceased spouse are treated.
I ask this same question on Ed Slott's discussion board and received this answer:
Thanks, but the response didn't clearly answer t…
"An H.S.A can bridge two lives (you and your spouse if inherited) reimbursing both spouses tax free."
That's true, but I've never seen a clear statement on how past qualified medical expenses of the deceased spouse are treated. As noted by bogleh…
Truthful facts? Mark and Hank are right, we have entered the Orwellian zone.
If you want a clearer Harvard writeup of palter, see Deceiving with the Truth
The paragraph in the HBR article describing Kaine's comment about releasing tax returns is…
Reported sooner to investors? Heck, I want to know why Yahoo didn't report sooner to its users.
BNA: California Data Security and Breach Notification Requirements
"In 2002, California was the first jurisdiction worldwide to pass a law requiring b…
What I've done when investing in vehicles with limited menus is pick the best they had to offer and then round out my portfolio elsewhere.
Since you say there are a number of good funds in the 401k even if it doesn't offer you a complete array o…
"President Trump is committed to eliminating harmful and unnecessary policies such as the Climate Action Plan and the Waters of the U.S. rule. Lifting these restrictions will greatly help American workers, increasing wages by more than $30 billion o…
If you're open to global funds with a (current) majority European portfolio, GLIFX has been written about favorably on this board. Keep in mind that like MEURX, it hedges.
When looking at MEURX returns, keep in mind that it regularly hedges currency. This has made it look especially good over the past few years. I think it's a good low cost fund, but because of the hedging it behaves differently from most other fun…
Thanks for the followup and the additional information. The voting record you describe on VFTSX is indeed inexcusable, and I appreciate your calling attention to that distinction between Vanguard and Blackrock.
Regarding index fund voting ... My …
I wrote: "Thanks to Lewis for the info on Blackrock's change of heart, since its 2015 voting performance was 0%."
Perhaps little has changed.
FT (Nov. 26, 2016) quotes a Blackrock shareholder motion: “BlackRock’s publicly reported proxy voting rec…
A mortgage can affect how much insurance you purchase (you won't get the mortgage unless you carry and continue to carry enough insurance). But it wouldn't seem to affect the rate for that insurance.
The insurance company is looking at how muc…
I agree with OJ - at best one may get a grace period (typically 30 days give or take), after which the insurance is cancelled. This can vary by insurer and state. Apparently in NC, "There is NO GRACE PERIOD for homeowners insurance."
North Caro…
I'm not sure how an opinion piece by someone not currently in a position of authority can be said to come from a "voice of authority". Voice of experience, voice of knowledge, but not voice of authority.
As an example of how it is opinion, this c…
"Didn't know Ameritrade had $5K min req. Even E*Trade I think dropped minimum to $100"
Neither CENTX nor CETAX appears to be available for purchase at E*Trade.
Both their pages here and here report:
This fund is not available for purchase throu…
@Mark - I appreciate the relationship between careful property management and risk. I just think that it's insignificant compared with auto risks.
If you're negligent with a car (e.g. failing to maintain brakes), or you're reckless in driving, yo…
"As @msf (I think) acknowledges, the issue is one of transparency."
Yes, but I also think the issue goes deeper. Just because a media outlet is reporting a lot of tripe (I prefer my words to be five letters), that doesn't mean that everything it i…
'crediting' someone typically (so far as I read) entails or implies novelty or discovery; that was all.
Perhaps, though the question focused not on whether the credit was justified, but on who was doing the crediting. ("Why do you say it was BO wh…
Some people I know who own property as joint tenants recently switched the primary name on their insurance policy from one person to another. Instead of the rate for the next year going up by 5% or so, it dropped by around 20%. (I forget the exac…
@hank - thanks for the clarification. If one is going to have a dialog, one needs to listen. That doesn't mean that much of what is being said isn't nonsense, inflammatory, and meriting total disregard. But not all of it.
Nonsense can be found…
The Forbes article says that Taranto credits Heritage with ACA concepts, e.g.
Taranto ... writes ... "Heritage did put forward the idea of an individual mandate ..."
As much as Heritage has tried to disown its writings, it did promulgate several ide…
The Cato Institute is libertarian, not conservative. As it points out, these do have many positions in common, as well as many that are at odds with one another.
https://www.cato.org/events/debate-libertarianism-vs-conservatism-2
Another organizat…
NYTimes: You Don’t Want What Wells Fargo Is Selling. What Should It Do Now?
From microscopic interest rates to negative amortization mortgages that customers don't understand, Wells Fargo takes every opportunity to emphasize profits over service an…
For a short term position, cost is secondary to market movement. Frontier market ETFs don't seem to offer an advantage aside from cost over OEFs. Meanwhile they have the usual bid/ask cost mitigating or perhaps dominating the ST management cost d…
Scottrade offers both CENTX (world allocation) and CINTX (foreign LB) for $100 minimums in taxable and retirement accounts + TF as Kevin described.
Kevin
aah...i trusted M* fund page which still does not list Scottrade.
While I find M*'s "purchas…
"I believe that by current tailwinds they mean rise of dollar, which they compensate by hedging."
That would be a good guess since M* wrote of "currency tailwinds" three paragraphs up. But in the same sentence M* added that the fund also benefite…
