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.
You have to be careful with distinct portfolio only. I believe it is based on the oldest and/or largest share class. But the real problem with it is that it's inflexible - these are preset classes.
So, if you have a fund with two share classes,…
The top capital gains (and qualified dividends) rate of 20% only applies to those in the top ordinary income tax bracket - 39.6%. Between 25% and there, there are 28%, 33%, and 35% brackets.
You might be thinking about the Medicare surtax of 3.8…
As we look forward to a seventh year of this fat cow (bull market), it's hard not to think about Genesis 41 in response to your question about what to do with the extra money.
David makes an excellent point about doing Roth conversions. So long as one does not jump into the next tax bracket (or enter AMT territory) this is a good way to "add" money to IRAs - thus moving money from taxable accounts to tax-free accounts.
…
Once or twice a year, I try to find something comparable to FLPSX and fail (at least according to the metrics that matter to me, such as cost, portfolio, etc).
The portfolio is value-leaning, non-large cap, low turnover (12%), 1/3 foreign. IMHO,…
Keep in mind that this year is a bit unusual in terms of distributions.
2013 was a fantastic year. If funds were still sitting on realized but undistributed losses going back to 2008, they all but surely used them up that year. (Funds are req…
"[Fund] managers don't get paid for delivering performance, they collect a fee from investors regardless of the amount of money they make for their client. The amount of money they make depends on the size of assets that are under management. "
Cra…
Some funds offer guesses with their year end estimates (e.g. T. Rowe Price), but they are few and far between. And not too accurate.
I generally look at the dividends, see what portion were short term gains (if they were broken out), and treat …
JC seems to have omitted a couple of other tax effects. The gain he got on each of his sales was tax free ($250K/$500K gain exclusion on sale of residence). On the other hand, had he had a loss, he would not have been able to write it off.
That…
Rigged numbers, i.e. not an apples-to-apples comparison.
This year, using the old car would still consume 600 gallons of gasoline, but that would cost only $1500. So the actual fuel savings (replace vs. continue using) would be just $500/year. …
I won't be in the market for several years, but if I do move away from manual, so far it looks like DCT is the current best option. It seems to be closest to manual transmission in road feel and control, albeit complaints with some systems (notabl…
A Vanguard ETF is simply another share class of a Vanguard mutual fund.
The table that I linked to shows for all funds with December prospectuses the ERs for all their share classes. Investor, Admiral, Institutional, Institutional Plus, and ETF. …
From the article (talking about not changing the name of the "Mutual Fund Store"):
"I look at this almost like AT&T — it's American Telephone & Telegraph — it's been years since there has been a telegraph in the United States”
It's been 20…
Mutual funds are a little weird when it comes to dates - I think I've got it right, but I'm not sure. Though I am sure that it's not T+3 (what Skeeter linked to was a page describing T+3 for stocks; a rule that also applies to ETFs). The ex-date…
I agree. It sounds like you're being forced to consolidate, so even having this one outlier somewhere else is not going to create more bookkeeping for you. You'll still have fewer accounts (or at least no more) than you started with.
Bob, thanks for your comments.
Regarding TIAA - I realize you're talking about the fixed portion (TIAA traditional) - the TIAA portion also includes some variable options like TREA as well. The 10 year annuitization requirement is an issue, but st…
I trust that you don't advise Monument (Jeff Nat) policy holders to annuitize. That would convert the segregated account assets into general liabilities of the insurance company ("subject to the claims-paying ability of the insurer"), currently ra…
Many years ago, Fidelity offered its customers TT for free, which is how I got started with it. (Looking over my returns, that appears to have been in 1999.) So Fidelity, like many other brokers and other financial service providers, has had some…
@catch22, I always do a spreadsheet version of my taxes by early December so that I have time for tax planning (do I take deductions this year or next; prepay taxes or defer to Jan 1; take gains this year or next; etc.).
I use the software as a …
H&R Block offers a download version (Deluxe+state) for $36 on their website. (It comes with a promotion that if you use your refund to buy a store gift card, they'll add 10% to the value.) Or you can do what I just did - buy it at Staples; $…
@Ted - the value I added was to link (i.e. connect) the content of the links - that the video updated the paper. And Lowe (Matthews) added a second perspective on India in the video.
In contrast, the Brazil paper you linked to is current. There…
David Nadel discussed India (updating this whitepaper from a year ago) on WealthTrack yesterday. That (brief) discussion starts at 13:30 in the video. He is joined by Kenneth Lowe (MAFSX, MACSX) in discussing three of the BRICs (excluding Russia…
NICSX's annualized 15 year return is 6.78% as of today (Dec 18th), well below SMCDX's 11.47% at the bottom of the linked chart. It's a fine fund, though I've wondered for several years how long A. Nicholas will keep going (he's worked in the indust…
Perhaps it is double vision, but I see two funds - both Select, both transport, but one general (FSRFX), and Derf's air transport (FSAIX). Same manager, but the former holds Norfolk Southern.
You don't think fuel prices (and airlines continuing…
It's pretty rare that a lawyer loses his license, period. I occasionally read the Cal Bar's disciplinary actions, because it's astonishing to read how much it takes to get a slap on the wrist. (And Calif. is the home of the largest number of lawye…
The expenses of VDADX and VIG are identical. AFAIK, there's no commission on VDADX anywhere it is sold.
Place a limit order and you may not buy and sell at all, let alone at your price. Place a market order and you'll lose on the bid/ask spread…
Several licensed professions have provisions where licenses can be revoked for crimes of moral turpitude - I'd mentioned lawyers; also real estate agent and doctors. Likely others. Should we hold financial fiduciaries to a lesser standard than r…
Ask yourself - why did you buy Vanguard Dividend Growth (VDIGX) instead of Vanguard Dividend Appreciation (VDAIX)? Has anything changed - why would you prefer the latter fund now to the former?
That's the primary issue - which fund do you want?…
Lots of little items come to mind ...
- This was a UK action. Wonder how good their enforcement practices are.
- Sounds like moral turpitude action ("conduct fell short of the standards we expect"). Moral turpitude - behaviour that is inherently…
When I saw this yesterday, my first thought was that this would boost real estate prices in Petaluma. Of course, Petaluma hasn't been "The Egg Basket of the World" in many decades.
There are lies, darned lines, and ... Some of these figures are wildly off if read without the footnotes.
Ms. White's published speech footnote 1 says that the $63 trillion figure came from an analysis that tended toward double counting. That…
I should take a closer look at Fidelity equity funds - I'd pretty much given up on them for several years (with exceptions like FLPSX). FSDIX looks interesting, though I've always had problems fitting hybrid funds into my portfolio.
I'm not clear …
My ACA search process, aka what I did on my Thanksgiving vacation.
The only plans available to me are in-network only (HMO, EPO type plans). That's the elephant in the room - it's why so many people that were on my old plan are complaining about…
I not only lost my insurance due to ACA, but my entire insurance company was killed! The next post will describe what I did to replace it. This post is about how the situation varies state by state.
As noted in the NYTimes recently, ACA gave st…
Heavens, seems I'm wasting my time signalling differences between inferences and deductions.
Lots of claims about erroneous inferences I make. Rarely see corrections substantiating those claims, though. Even an assertion that I was wrong about w…
Mona explicitly mentioned US coverage (some international plans exclude the US). So it appears this is shopping for coverage in lieu of ACA coverage (though having previously commented that this would result in having to pay a penalty). Singling…
The income dividends on TBHDX are $0.126 (mid year) + $0.121 (YE est) ~= $0.25 on an NAV around $12, for about 2.1%
The income dividends on the other funds (that pay only yearly) are, based on estimates:
Global Value = $0.334/$26.92 ~= 1.2%
Value =…
Hank the two situations come out the same, assuming the tax rate doesn't change. I'll use a similar example to the one I used before (I'm not proud, I'll plagiarize anyone including myself :-) ) but with your $10K figure:
After some period of tim…
Here's a slightly different way to think about it. Say she's in the 25% tax bracket. Ignoring things like RMDs, $1.33 in a tax-deferred account (traditional IRA, 401K) is worth $1 in a Roth. Now, and when you take it out (assuming tax brackets …
