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.
Yes, that's the same email I received on Oct. 2.
I'm still wondering why my "information was [still] contained in the affected database" since I'd closed my account more than a dozen years ago.
The way the email is written, it sounds like Scottrad…
@msf- math is certainly not my strong point, so this is probably a really stupid question: with respect to "below B" in that table, is it the assumption that 100% of the bonds in that category will default? That seems quite extreme, so it likely doe…
Yup. Having a few bonds with a high probability of default gives the portfolio as a whole a good shot at losing at least a small percentage of money to defaults.
Since highly rated bonds have a miniscule chance of default, you have to move fair…
I noticed the quality numbers, too. Still, if 47% is AAA rated, then why is the average quality only BB for the fund? He must own some real junk in there.It's a default-rate-weighted average, so that the average quality represents the average or exp…
I doubt R shares would ever convert. They are more like C shares that never convert than like B shares (with high but declining deferred sales charges).
The purpose of the higher fees is to pay servicing expenses, not sales expenses, so you wo…
The one (more aggressive) choice that leaps to mind is T.Rowe Price's Growth Stock Fund (PRGFX) ... R-Class would allow you to own Class A equivalent at Oppenheimer without paying the customary (near 5%) load.I'll try again to describe loads.
Woul…
Vanguard is the perfect place to compare ETF and OEF, because they invest in the same underlying portfolio and their shares, say VIG and VDADX, and have identical ERs. This removes portfolio differences and ER differences, allowing one to see clea…
Here's a good thread on M* from someone asking a similar question - new investor, a bit younger (age 25, not 30), lots of the same funds (or similar funds, or funds from the same families).
http://discuss.morningstar.com/NewSocialize/forums/t/34119…
Thank you for clearly enumerating some of the issues with ETFs. (Though the hidden cost of NTF platforms is orthogonal - that's a problem with the platform regardless of the vehicle, ETF or OEF - and one that doesn't plague most ETFs.)
A couple of…
While there's a good amount of truth in your individual statements, I'm not sure where you're going with them. The question you originally addressed was what percent of national spending was going toward healthcare (20% - over/under?).
it seems le…
Healthcare is predicted to reach 20% of GDP by 2020 and it will probably happen.
Looks like we are already there:
how-countries-spend-their-money
Lies, darn lies, and statistics. Ritholtz mislabeled the graph (it is not how countries spend thei…
@msf - you said you received emails from Scottrade even though your accounts were closed years ago ?
I have 2 accounts there currently and I have received no information or emails from them whatsoever to this point.
Besides myself, has anyone else…
That would be a known unknown - a question to which the answer is unknown. An unknown unknown would be where you don't even know the question. You know?
Vanguard just changed its security protocol to something I consider both less desirable and l…
"The incident took place around late 2013 and early 2014."
WHY ARE WE JUST HEARING ABOUT THIS NOW!!!They're a little slow on these things. I closed my Scottrade account a dozen years before that. Why am I hearing about this at all?
Scottrade s…
The Lazard prospectus does say: "The Investment Manager generally seeks to substantially hedge foreign currency exposure in the Portfolio against movements relative to the US dollar by entering into foreign currency forward contracts, although the P…
When I researched infrastructure funds, it seemed that most of them were growth (and energy) oriented. Lazard (coming from a value shop) focuses much more heavily on transportation infrastructure (airports, railroads, etc.). Very different focus…
This could also be a good time to recharacterize last year's Roth conversion. You have until Oct. 15th to do that.
The decision to do so may depend on whether last year's conversion is still above water, whether a recharacterization would leave…
Thanks. That's very helpful. It looks like this is a pure quant fund (albeit with multiple models).
It's curious that this information is not in any SEC filings. The only similar information (in the prospectus) is that Harindra de Silva, Ph.D,…
Looks like SVOAX lines up very well with BPAIX (the shareclass of BPVAX with the same min). It's doing 3-6% better short term (YTD, 1 year), a bit less than 1% worse over 3 and 10 year spans, 1.25% better over 5 years.
Clearly doing better tha BP…
An individual bond would meet that requirement (at least until it matured and you had to roll it over), so long as you did not mark to market. That is, if you bought a bond, buried your head in the sand (ignored market price fluctuations), collect…
Think that this sort of information should be disclosed by the funds for benefit of shareholders that don't have the time or resources to gather the information and calculate the numbers themselves.
I'm 100% with you here. It seems like you are s…
Your original question was: "Why then, doesn't the SEC require that mutual funds that own foreign dividend-paying stocks report two expense ratios"
In order to call for the reporting of two different ERs, it was necessary for you to establish two p…
BPVAX remains on my short list. It seems difficult to find good actively managed LCV funds that don't drift into blend.
Another LCV fund on my short list you might want to consider is LCEIX. Along with doing relatively well in the 2008-2009 mar…
The short answer to your question is to reread the Schwab page, specifically the section on Deferred Accounts: "Think of it as a timing issue."
First let me note that many funds do not pass through foreign taxes at all. Global funds are not allow…
Regarding sales tax - customers are liable for sales tax. The issue is not one of whether one owes sales tax, but whether vendors help customers pay it by collecting the tax from them. If not, customers have to do extra work to comply with the law…
Given the relatively small amount of money involved (as was pointed out in the NYTimes article), this may have been a situation where First Eagle cut legal corners on something it could have done legally.
It could have gone to the board and said…
"Succession planning" sounds like you might consider active management a risk because sooner or later the manager(s) must be succeeded by other managers. Vanguard states that VMFVX is actively manged, selecting approximately 200 stocks from out of …
Because of the currency hedging, that may be an apples and oranges comparison. The dollar has been growing stronger over the past few years, so a hedged fund is likely to have done better than unhedged funds. That doesn't mean the fund will do be…
Vanguard seems to be of mixed minds on hedging currency. While it is adamantly in favor of hedging for bonds, it suggests that hedging equity reduces volatility but at a cost of absolute performance. I agree with this equity assessment.
[W]e woul…
Sloppy reporting. The SEC is proposing Rule 22e-4 that would require all open end funds (mutual funds and ETFs) to establish practices for managing liquidity risk. Only mutual funds would be permitted swing pricing (via a proposed change to Rule …
@ibartman - thanks for the links. The second one says that Fidelity was the record keeper for USAirways while JPMorgan Retirement Plan Services was the record keeper for AA.
I'd seen the latter as the major owner of AMR shares when I looked throug…
GLDSX has all of the trappings of a friends and family fund. Golden Asset Management runs 10 strategies, including this one, through separately managed accounts. They've got about $6.5 billion in AUM. This appears to be the only one also available a…
I notice that American Beacon Advisors (the management company) was acquired by Astro AB on April 30th. (Technically, American Beacon's grandparent company was acquired by Astro AB's two parent companies.)
I wonder if that could have precipitated …
It looks like single supplier and low demand, so not much motivation for competition to enter the market. Throw in laws that can be used by companies to block competition (rather than to protect health), add a "maximize profits" owner, and you hav…
I notice that the min balance at Artisan for getting into closed funds is being increased from $100K to $250K. The current prospectus reads:
• you are a shareholder with combined balances of $100,000 in any of the Funds (in your own name or as be…
People here have raised some of the same questions, some of which I've addressed. Appearing together in one article makes them look like potshots at something Investment News doesn't like, as opposed to a coherent position.
Two rationales for the…
Not sure what this all means, but interesting.
Russia leads the pack in spending on food, alcohol/tobacco, and clothing/footware.
U.S. leads in health care spending.
No one mentioned bias in the original chart. The chart represents household …
If you want to avoid the $49.95 (or $75) initial fee, you can even open the account directly with the fund, and do an in kind transfer to Fidelity. Unlike brokerages, funds typically don't charge a fee for transferring an account to another institu…
This is a column not about moves to make, but simply bookkeeping (if you're going to sell shares, which shares of a particular holding to sell for tax purposes).
Much of what Jaffe's written is simplistic. People here know I'm a fan of Kaye Thoma…
