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.
Count me in as well. Not that it really matters; I'm much more concerned with what various groups and governments are doing today.
Regarding the Kennedy mystique - definitely real, a most inspiring president. But that is different from saying h…
I can't say for certain, but it strikes me that (a) paying IRA account fees from outside the IRA is an option that a custodian may (or may not) choose to offer, and (b) this would more likely be an IRS issue than an SEC issue.
The SEC deals with se…
NYTimes report - the as yet unannounced cost will be 0.1% to 0.2% according to a phone rep (how reliable is that?).
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/21/your-money/fidelity-joins-growing-field-of-automated-financial-advice.html
I expect its NAV to drop (all marketing to the contrary). Its average bond price is 102.69, its average coupon is 8.21%, and its average maturity is a tad over 2 years.
Put it all together, and you get an expected decline of 2.7% in NAV over two …
Bravo to Bloomberg. I was going to post something to the same effect. UHC wasn't in many markets. In some of its few markets, like New York, it priced itself so high (literally thousands of dollars higher than the next most costly plans) that …
No, Vanguard does that all the time with outside firms. For example, Vanguard Primecap, VPMCX, paid PRIMECAP Management Company 0.20% last year. From the fund prospectus:
For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2014, the advisory fee represented a…
Many investors look at that $50 fee and think "why should I pay this, when I can get the same fund for 'free' (NTF)?"
If they're looking at investing $5K in a TF fund, they may be right. $50/$5K is 1% and typically buys an ER reduction of 0.25%. …
"Nontransparent ETFs ... So far, only one firm has approval for this type of product. Rival Eaton Vance Corp. is planning to launch actively managed nontransparent funds next year, after getting a go-ahead from the SEC last year."
Bzzt. Wrong.
In…
FWIW, I just got another mailed proxy from Matthews. I'm having a hard time remembering the last time a fund company pushed this hard to get proxy votes, let alone a proxy from someone with such a piddling amount.
Haven't had too much time to research the management yet (they appear to be people who have only managed offshore funds, not surprising for a foreign fund). But this should help a bit:
http://www.barings.com/ucm/groups/public/documents/marketingma…
The penalty should be a surprise, the tax should not. As the WSJ points out, the custodian is responsible for timely filings, and so the IRS should be amenable to waiving penalties. Given the additional paperwork (and apparently, research) that …
"However, you simply can’t find this unique bond strategy in an ETF at this time, which is why we have continued to stick with the marginally more expensive mutual fund strategy. "
Doubleline has an ETF, TOTL.
TOTL ER = 0.65% (0.55% after temporary…
That's solid evidence that the ETF isn't a clone of the open end fund. But it doesn't say a lot about whether the ETF uses the same or different strategy.
As I recall (I haven't bothered to check the details on any of this), PIMCO's ETF follow…
The complaint is not that The Vanguard Group (VG - management company) is charging each Vanguard fund too little (in an absolute sense, e.g. under 10 bp), but that VG is not charging enough to make a profit.
Vanguard is not only conceding that fact…
Regarding the proxy - the choices are pretty clear, and spelled out in the proxy answer to the question: "Why is the Board recommending that shareholders approve the Proposal?"
The funds exist independent of the choice of management company. Reje…
Bridgeway: http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/why-bridgeway-capital-gives-away-half-of-its-profits-to-charity/
Still maintaining its 7:1 salary ratio (top to bottom) for full time employees.
Nice podcast from Knowedge@Wharton.
Normally I'd agree. But I just got a call from Matthews asking me to vote my proxy. I've got a teeny, tiny position in one Matthews fund. Yet here they are coming after me.
That suggests that either this is a close vote (I agree with you, that'…
I think I've commented on this particular writer before. So many writers come in with a cliche point of view but fail to martial their facts.
"The expenses are higher (and returns lower) for other share classes of the [PIMCO] Total Return fund, s…
Without taking a closer look at the specific holdings, I'll just give my instinctive feeling about the fund's issues. Basically a cop-out: the issues seem like a little bit all of the above.
The fund is supposed to hold around 50% in bonds that a…
Yes and no.
My understanding of Traditional is that there are only two ways to get your money out - interest only, and 10 year annuitization. So you have to be careful with your cash management planning - that you'll be able to draw more cash on …
Does Seafarer offer to issue certificates as an alternative to book entry? How quaint and charming.
I still have a mutual fund certificate (from a very old fund that has gone through several name changes as well as fund family changes). I couldn…
Okay, I see your point - that even though the star ratings for this fund aren't particularly meaningful (as David explained), this particular shift was properly reflective of poor (recent) performance in RPHYX. This was poor performance in an absol…
It doesn't matter what the fund said or didn't say. It doesn't matter what the reason for the fund performance was. If it had held securities that the market sold off because of a false rumor, it wouldn't matter.
Star ratings look at nothing but…
Do you have a reason to believe that M* does not calculate star ratings periodically on an automatic schedule (i.e. without discretion)?
Here are two statements from M* that the calculations are done monthly:
(In response to: " how often/when the …
Recent performance hasn't been so hotsy-totsy. Add to that the (reasonable) supposition that their huge Valeant holding is a dead man walking, do the math, and M* pretty much had to knock off some starsCertainly the large Valeant holding is a good e…
Through the third quarter, the fund was rated five stars: overall, for five years, and ten years; though it was rated four stars for the past three years. Here's T. Rowe Price's summary page:
http://www3.troweprice.com/fb2/fbkweb/gateway/snapshot…
David got it right.
If you have $10M in traditional retirement accounts, you won't qualify because of RMDs. But if you have $10M in a non-interest bearing checking account, you will qualify. Cash, like the real estate and tangible assets Dan Ha…
I likely wrote a bit too compressed.
The M* figures in the article are as of 9/30/2015. When one quotes YTD figures, one has to be clear on what the "date" is in "year to date". (The Nov 2 dateline of the article is the date the article was writ…
Some of the figures above mix Q3 data (portfolio composition) and 11/2/15 data (performance).
The fault ... is not in our (Morning)stars, but in ourselves.
The Morningstar data in the article cited are all Q3 data. That's why you're seeing -1.06%…
Arbitration does not have to be this flawed, but as implemented it is heavily stacked in favor of those who write the contracts (the companies).
Handling disputes via arbitration is authorized by the Federal Arbitration Act, which is read about a…
I don't think the CBPP proposal was put forth as a good solution, but one that could be lived with, if agreeing to chained CPI resulted in other plusses in a larger bill. It struck me as an attempt to keep chained CPI from being taken off the table…
OJ, 'Tis a problem that gets worse every year. My husband goes RMD next year and then me in 2018 and my mattresses are full to overflowing without any cozy comfort at all. Even the utility room storage cabinets are already full. Where do I put it? M…
Yes, but the maximum purchase allowed is $10,000 per calendar year. That wouldn't make a dent in my need to find a decent place to park cash.You can also buy $5K/year in paper(!) bonds by purchasing them directly with your IRS tax refund.
https://ww…
Even with a 0.0% fixed rate on some generations of I-Bonds, try to find another investment as liquid (after one year of ownership) yielding 1.54%, principal guaranteed, backed by the US government. Tax deferred (and state tax exempt) to boot.
Gre…
Most everything is shades of gray (though politicians would have you believe otherwise). That goes for chained CPI as well. When done as part of a broader design, it can be made to work. At least that's what CBPP wrote in 2012:
http://www.cbpp.…
This should be old news to people here. It's been going on in the securities (brokerage) industry for decades (or does no one read their brokerage agreements?)
The NYTimes had an article, somewhere around 1994 (I can't seem to find it now), descr…
Exactly.
The first statement ("The main point of the law ...") is what I said, what I cited in the legislative record as Congressional intent. The point of the law is to encourage people to work after reaching FRA. It's a reference to the elimina…
There has to be some wiggle room in that law.
Underestimate by income by $2,000 can't be too much of a red flag.
Absolutely agree. By the same token, that wiggle room won't amount to gaming the system.
As the article states, the ACA lets the IR…
