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.
If I recall correctly, the last calendar year in which foreign stocks outperformed US stocks, FBALX still outperformed TRPBX.
Last year (2022) FBALX lost 18.19%, while TRPBX lost "only" 17.08%. Data from M*.
Foreign vs. domestic in 2022: VFUS (VTI…
TRP certainly didn’t market or describe TRPBX as a global allocation fund when I started investing in it
I don't know when that was, but the 2019 prospectus, in describing the fund's benchmark, says: Combined Index Portfolio is a blended benchmark …
I agree with hank about the declining service at T. Rowe Price. Performance of their allocation funds merits a closer look, however.
TRPBX is a global allocation (60/40) fund, with about 1/3 of stocks and 1/3 of bonds invested outside the US. F…
Don't look to M* for insight. Its brilliant quantitative analysis suggests that in light of the recent management change you noted the fund could do more to retain its portfolio managers. What exactly does M*'s crackerjack computer have in "mind…
I-bonds are an option especially for people in high tax states, who don't need the cash flow and are looking for a 4% CD (taxable) yield. Assuming a long term inflation rate of 2.5% and assuming a state income tax rate of 5%, the current I-bonds (1…
From what I’ve read, it’s running neck and neck with a Fidelity Blue Chip ETF for top honors this year. (ARK lost 67% in 2022.)
ARKK (73.69% YTD through Dec 27, per M*) is behind its OEF clone, ADNYX (available w/$2.5K min @ Schwab) (73.80% YTD), l…
It would be interesting to see the total return of investing in MDY or SPY two days before vs the day of distribution (i.e., payment date) for each distribution date since the inception for MDY or SPY.
Their dividends are effectively quarantined (un…
SPY operates on the same schedule as MDY, discussed above. Around six weeks between ex date and pay date. Compared with that, the two days (soon to be 1 day) between ex and record dates is noise. Not interested.
Almost surely a more importa…
The page yogi cited contains this image of a book:
That image says 2023 Edition. It also has a link embedded taking you to more information about the book including: "2023 edition published May 2023". So the cited page most likely dates from Ma…
A popular misconception is that the stock market goes up most (~70%) of the time.
That's correct on an annual basis. And the odds get even better over longer periods of time.
Source: https://www.capitalgroup.com/individual/planning/investing-f…
Fairmark (Kaye Thomas) is at the top of my go to list for secondary sources. He's clearer than official pubs and IMHO at least as accurate as any other source.
He provides information and clear explanation not only on the exception for short sale…
It's way worse than that. Is the NAV or the market price used? Is it a single price or an average of prices? Is it in a single day, and which day, or an average over multiple days?
From the SPDR S&P 400 ETF (MDY) prospectus:
The total re…
Some funds do not reinvest capital gains (I think both short and long-term) but reinvest dividends.
Example? Perhaps you're thinking of ETFs structured as UITs (e.g. SPY, QQQ). What UITs cannot reinvest are dividends from underlying equities and …
The Capital Group published cap gains estimates for its ETFs along with the rest of its funds, on December 6 (link is from Shadow's post in 2023 capital gains distribution estimates):
https://www.capitalgroup.com/advisor/tax/2023-year-end-distributi…
He starts off with a graph showing the core Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the core personal consumption expenditure (PCE) "deflator". As he explains, the CPI has an extra lag due to its heavier weighting of rent (which is itself a lagging measure…
Super high liquidity, knowing precisely how much cash is in the fund (UIT cash drag can be your friend). Not advantages to the retail investor, but beneficial to large institutions.
https://www.etf.com/sections/features-and-news/why-spy-king-liqu…
M* published a quantitatively-driven analysis for PHEFX
Since the sole manager is a quant analyst, that seems somehow appropriate :-)
(The M* analysis 10% analyst-driven, i.e. the parent "pillar" is written by a human being.)
Because the fund is n…
However, there is a temporary delay with resuming full online services for your policy/contract. We anticipate full online self-service functionality to be available the week of December 18, 2023.
Full online self-service functionality appears to b…
◾you beneficially own shares in the Funds with combined balances of $250,000;
This is similar to the way one can access PRWCX - with at least $250,000 invested at T. Rowe Price. At TRP, that could mean all assets owned through their brokerage, or …
Apparently this was serious enough that TIAA had to file prospectus supplements. They're all pretty much the same; here's the one for its VUL policies:
Filed Pursuant to Rule 497(e)
...
PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT NUMBER (7)
Dated November 13, 2023 ...
…
I don't have more expertise or knowledge, but that hasn't stopped me from posting before :-)
This post of mine from another thread may help. I cite a few different sources. Of particular interest is this little item, essentially confirming your …
Short term (1-3 mo) T-bills are still paying at least as much as MMFs.
SWVXX has a current 7 day yield of 5.26%
New issue Treasuries (1,3,6 month) expected yields between 5.28% and 5.34% (from Fidelity)
In taxable accounts they have two advanta…
Schwab seems to waive loads on a variety of fund class A shares where Fidelity still charges a load. I agree this isn't typical, but it isn't uncommon. For example, SHDAX has a load a Fidelity but is offered NTF at Schwab. Likewise BCAAX carri…
There are fund families that count a short term round trip trade as either a buy-then-sell or a sell-then-buy. For example:
If you purchase [T. Rowe Price fund] shares through an intermediary (e.g., a broker/dealer, recordkeeper or other third p…
Professor Snowball wrote an article about PRCFX in the December MFO issue.
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2023/12/launch-alert-t-rowe-price-capital-appreciation-income-fund/
A minor nitpick ... Prof. Snowball writes that PRWCX is " (b) closed ti…
What I found odd was not the fees (they're pretty well known) but the claim that the brokerage fee ($49.95) went to the fund family.
Fidelity and Schwab and others get paid percentage fees by fund families (including lesser fees by TF fund famil…
Franklin Templeton Funds
Undated dollars/share range estimates (as opposed to % NAV) for 2023 are presented on the individual fund pages under "Distributions&Tax".
These are significantly different from the cap gains estimate table (in percenta…
Then the managers are eating their own cooking.
But how many mangers own NO shares in the fund they manage? almost all of them.
"It smells". Their cooking smells pretty good to me ...
Aggregate Dollar Range of Securities in the Fund as of Dec 31,…
At what moment? He never said that there would be an imminent collapse, which is what I wrote would have IMHO a hack prediction. Even then, just a hack prediction, not necessarily the writing of a hack. What he demonstrated was that admissions of…
FD1000
For a guy who claims to keep up, you really don't keep up, do you?
https://www.foxnews.com/media/paul-krugman-trump-economy
This is a 2020 article where "Krugman acknowledged that he had "reacted badly" and retracted his prediction three …
Reported by CBS, not according to CBS. It wasn't a CBS analysis.
CBS was reporting a Republican analysis and reporting that the administration had issues with the analysis. IOW, CBS reported two different political analyses.
The analysis, from…
Access has now been down all of November. This has become "service" as usual. The whole stock market was up and running six days after 9/11. It can't possibly be five times as hard to fix this cyberattack on TIAA's third party server or to migr…
Inflation has been the highest since the 80s at about 20% since 01/2020. Did employees get an equal increase to keep up with it? No
"Median usual weekly earnings of full-time wage and salary workers ... quarterly averages, seasonally adjusted"
http…
I can’t argue with the OP’s general conclusion that on average Americans are better off financially than they were prior to the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. ... Reminds one of the 6’ fella who drowned in a river that was on average 5 fee…
Perhaps you're missing the first paragraph in the cited piece. That first paragraph has a bullet list of five metrics for financial state, all of which are positive.
One of those is family wealth. Cash on hand is just one relatively small par…
This might also be mildly good news for prospective new issue T-bill buyers. If I remember correctly, the expected yield on a 6 month T-bill was 5.42% on Wednesday and 5.45% on Friday.
Unlike new CDs, when you put in an "indication of interest"…
Some more background info:
Intro piece on mREITS, including basic mechanics and risks:
https://money.usnews.com/investing/real-estate-investments/articles/how-to-invest-in-mortgate-reits
[Head of income equities at TCW, Iman] Brivanlou says: "Divid…
I'm a bit wary when 'enhanced', 'strategic', or 'dynamic' are included in a fund's name
Marketing aside, what do you really think about the funds?
Are enhanced index funds genuinely enhanced?
Link
Rather than (or in addition to) reading a summary,…
They are quantitatively "enhanced" index funds, though Fidelity dropped the "index" part of the name for the ETF versions.
Fidelity converted its International Enhanced Index Fund FIENX, its Large Cap Core Enhanced Index Fund FLCEX, its Large Cap G…
A deductible is the amount you have to pay before any insurance kicks in. The highest deductible a Part D plan is allowed to have is $545; some may have lower deductibles.
https://www.medicare.gov/drug-coverage-part-d/costs-for-medicare-drug-c…
