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.
Hank - this is apparently a syndicated article, not original WSJ content. I know people don't like Marketwatch, but try here:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/want-to-leave-a-roth-ira-to-your-kids-beware-of-taxes-2014-09-09/print
"American Funds, which wasn't implicated in the scandal ..."
I suppose it depends on how one defines "implicated". I think "implicate" is closer to imply, insinuate than it is to shown, proven to be. In any case, not the best wording.
FINRA acc…
Mr. Ruffles is correct - the author is quite confused; Skeeter's interpretation seems much closer to the mark. (More than one Barron's author recently has misunderstood basic concepts.)
Other misunderstood items ...
"Cash and cash equivalents" d…
When you say "high fee funds", is that high expense ratio fund, or they came with loads?
What type of fees? Some load funds have the load waived in a 403b plan, depending on the specific 403b plan.
I don't see any way for a high expense ratio fun…
Fees are a mess. At the 10,000 foot altitude, it really doesn't matter whether there are line items (shareholder servicing fees, 12b-1 fees, management fees) or not. The bottom line is that you, the shareholder, are shouldering the expenses of t…
Years ago, the Vanguard International Index Fund started out as a fund-of-funds, holding shares of the European Index and Pacific Index Funds.
At some point, it, too, converted to a structure in which the fund held foreign shares directly.
Does a…
Thanks for your thoughts, everyone.
@msf, I guess that makes sense about PDI, but I'm not sure it makes me feel better -- it gives the manager an extra motive to lever up, though he's got a ton his own money in the fund that I presume he believes …
If it makes you feel any better, the management fee is "only" 1.15% (see M*'s note on the fund's expense page).
That's 1.15% of all assets under management, including the borrowed money (leverage). Since the borrowed money (amount of leverage) is…
No one's yet mentioned the Museum of American Finance right on Wall Street. Beautiful building with interesting exhibits for someone who wants to learn more about financial history. And it's free on Saturdays this year.
From a room devoted to H…
Avoiding both, like Comcast and Time Warner? :-)
I think TIAA has a couple of distinctive, if not unique, offerings - TIAA Traditional (annuity) and TIAA Real Estate (direct ownership of properties, not indirect via REITs/REOCs). And CREF Stock i…
We can talk a bit about assumptions.
Funds typically use a pricing service to price their securities, whether equities, bonds, derivatives, or other securities. http://www.icifactbook.org/2006/06_fb_appa.html
These services practice a craft (not …
One of the problems is that many administrators (whether we're talking about employer sponsored plans or IRAs) don't know what they're doing, or more politely, that they're stuck on old rules. I have vague recollections of many years ago trying to…
That helps quite a bit. I believe many if not most people here felt Buffett was being too aggressive, though I posted approvingly of his suggestion.
IMHO, he's suggesting forsaking bonds, and keeping three years cash or near cash around (at a 3-4…
Here's Vanguard's schedule. They're by Grand Central Station in NYC through Wednesday.
https://vanguarding.is/at-cost/desktop
(Vanguard's page also says: Vanguard clients: Buy one cup of coffee, get one freee. Don't know how they know whether y…
Been occupied for awhile. Let me try this briefly, for I agree with you, we are not getting anywhere, and the horse is at least out of the barn door, if not completely dead.
The ambiguity is inherent in the example you set up if buying the same bo…
They incorrectly compared Roth and traditional contributions. Assuming tax bracket in retirement is unchanged, the end result is the same, assuming you add the tax savings to the traditional contribution.
I've posted a longer response on the Kip…
Two identical bonds - same CUSIP, both bought on the secondary market. One, a year ago at a premium, the other yesterday at par. That was the example I was suggesting, and I think it has the minimum number of variables in it (as there aren't eve…
Since these funds have to mark to market on a daily basis, their NAVs might dip first before the yield catches up. If this results in a lot of outflow of money from that fund, the fund may have to sell bonds to meet redemptions. If they sell the ol…
IMHO, the ruling seems pretty straightforward.
IRS publications are just "popular writings", they're not legal documents. The law is determined by statute (e.g. the Internal Revenue Code), and by regulations (e.g. IRS regulations) so long as they…
@bee: thanks, very useful stuff.....each calendar year annual return! I've been getting my calendar year return figures from Morningstar, but they only go back to 2009 for mutual funds.
Interesting that Morningstar and Yahoo don't concur on all th…
Since my purpose is to use fixed income as a safety net, it should err on the side of caution, and therefore be invested 'as if' rates will normalize/rise. The purpose is to protect the portfolio for when equities do poorly. So I can't risk having…
Things are not always as straightforward as one would expect.
I have a fund account with a major mutual fund family (I will name the family - Legg Mason). In order for dividend checks to be direct deposited into another institution, they require a…
Cman - very nicely stated.
Let me just highlight and amplify a couple of your points. The next option if the above is not feaaible is a combination of annuities and investments. Ideally again, buying an annuity for that absolute minimum calculat…
A very confusing (and confused) article.
The bonds are CUSIP 74514LE86, with an 8.00% coupon, issued with OID (issue price of 93) for a YTM of 8.727%.
The requirement is that the face value of bonds in a trade not be less than $100K; not that t…
A few more details:
- The basis of inherited property is changed, even if the property is worth less than when purchased (as step down in basis)
- The holding period of the inherited property is automatically long term (I believe the 1040 instruct…
I agree with everything except back end loads. It is a rare back end load that has no holding period (e.g. two decades ago, Fidelity charged a fixed 1% redemption fee on Growth & Income Fund, on top of a 2% purchase fee).
Generally, though, …
FWIW, I believe the 11 funds that are under consideration as TBTF are:
SPY - SPDR S&P 500 ETF
VTSMX - Vanguard Total Stock Market (all share classes combined, as are the others)
FDRXX - Fidelity Cash Reserves MMF
PTTRX - PIMCO Total Return
VIN…
A thought about going to Vanguard, Fidelity, whatever. They may be better in their recommendations; certainly they will be less pushy. But don't be lulled into thinking that they don't have their own (institutionally backed) biases as well.
Seve…
As someone mentioned, as this appears to be a wrap account (since he is getting paid 1% of AUM) those loads are most certainly waived. However, I would question why this advisor cannot get access to the cheaper share classes on his platform. He shou…
Regarding HSA, the tax advantage is great especially if you can build up a decent balance in your healthy years, keep that unused in a no-fee account with decent investment choices to grow it, and use it as a medical emergency fund for the future r…
There are two places I go to for tax questions. Fairmark.com is one, and misc.taxes.moderated (remember Usenet?) is the other.
If you don't get a good answer in one of those places, you probably won't find one anywhere.
If your HSA started last…
There is an art to designing user interfaces, whether it is an icon or a name or an acronym. I think D&C did a very good job here - DODxX, where x stands for the name of the fund. Simple, consistent, easy to remember.
I might have done this…
Loads are typically waived for investments through wrap accounts. For example, quoting from the prospectus of TPINX, sales charges are waived for:Advisory Fee Programs. Shares acquired by an investor in connection
with a comprehensive fee or other…
I agree with the general view that, as cman put it, this planner sounds like a used car salesman. For two reasons: the annuity suggestion and more importantly the pressure to invest now.
However, I'm not ready to condemn the rest. Had the annui…
@willmatt72
A note about the taxable status of the majority of the monies.
Add this to your list of things to do :) ......
Fidelity Personal Retirement Annuity
The above link is an overview with some other internal links and a short video.
Th…
Repeat (same article, just a different source and headline):
http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/11936/there-s-nothing-wrong-with-401-k-s-except-the-players-involved
As you suggested, VWELX is indeed still open - Vanguard has simply closed some of its distribution channels (just as several years ago, I believe it closed access to VWENX - another share class of Wellington - through third party brokers).
But ev…
LOL- We live in an age of "slicing & dicing."
I'd suggest that a very good "older" manager is still a lot better than a half-dozen younger but untested or even incompetent ones. And, an older "bloated", but extremely well diversified and well …
