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.
Reply to @scott: Certainly increased demand (from more insured patients) helps a lot of these companies. But there are some other requirements built into the ACA that weigh on the other side of the ledger.
Insurance companies have more reporti…
Jaffe acknowledges that the funds' proposal has merit. He says that regardless, it's the SEC proposal that should be implemented, because he seems to have some inchoate mistrust of anything the funds propose. And that there's no extra cost to imp…
" Rationing of medical services will be unavoidable (more patients + no additional doctors and nurses = bad news for sick patients)."
The oft-repeated shibboleth - we can't start treating all those formerly uninsured (and often poorer, sicker) peop…
Got to agree with david and hank - also reviewed the video to confirm my impressions haven't changed.
My sense of history is that people having short retirements and living in relative poverty is not a new norm. Rather, the postwar image of "g…
Reply to @scott:
A couple of years ago, the company I worked for cancelled its health insurance altogether. I should know - I'm the one who wrote the notes to the insurance company with all the cancellation info.
After seeing this video, I'm won…
I see by the hands on the clock (or the page on the calendar) - it's that time of year again - capital gains season.
Try as I might, I couldn't find a video, but what sticks in my mind is Jim Lebenthal's admonition: "It's not how much you earn that…
Reply to @Jim0445: Neat trick. I guess it works because, so long as you haven't underpaid your estimates, the IRS doesn't care when it gets its money (which is why you can pay whatever is still due on April 15th).
Thanks for the reminder. I always forget to check when the new rates come out.
For people interested in maxing out Series I savings bonds, you can get another $5-$10K ($5K per tax return, so $10K if joint filing separately) by applying your refun…
Reply to @Investor: Thank you, I was going to post something along those lines, but you said it better.
Studies show that 65 year olds are in better condition than 60-64 year olds, because they have universal health coverage (Medicare). We should…
I'm trying to understand your thinking on taxes. Primecap Odyssey Growth has a very low turnover (14%), very low tax cost ratios (0.34% or less 1/3/5 year), and less in unrealized cap gains (32.64%) than New Horizons (45.34%). New Horizons has a…
Reply to @Sven: That's a cheap shot against Franklin.
The only Franklin fund on this list of Puerto Rico-heavy muni funds is their unique Double Tax-Free Income Fund. (A fund that also serves to prove that there's not always a noload equivalent f…
Reply to @Mona:
Hi Mona. Let me try to clarify what I was saying (not that I'm sure it will assist you, unfortunately).
One - The reason why I checked on access to Pennsylvania Hospital was to use it as a very crude proxy for access to your doc…
Reply to @Mona:
Hi Mona. I'm still looking at the information for Pennsylvania (I try to know what I'm talking about, and the lack of readily available info for Pa. is disturbing).
What I have found is that Coventry was supposed to be one of the…
Since funds must advertise on a standardized calendar year (and calendar quarter) basis (and not their varied fiscal bases), a run up today doesn't provide them window dressing.
However, I believe that the amount of gains they distribute are based…
Reply to @catch22:
This is, unfortunately, only a surprise to those who chose not to inform themselves of what to expect. For example, NPR (via the California Report) reported this last August.
http://blogs.kqed.org/stateofhealth/2013/08/26/obamac…
Reply to @JohnChisum: To NBC's credit, it did not yank down the old version. (The NYTimes Public Editor wrote a column a week or two ago about the problems with electronic media, in particular the NYTimes.com, doing what you suggested NBC did. I…
Reply to @SlowLane: Fantastic! Thanks a lot. I got the notice earlier this week that my plan would be starting earlier, figured it was something like this, but hadn't been able to find the information you did.
My understanding (see, e.g. this KFF graphic) is that unless you purchase a plan that meets the ACA requirements (bronze level or above), or purchase a grandfathered plan, you are subject to the penalty. That is, it is not sufficient to have insur…
The questions I have are for you and your brother - the trustees - not for the financial advisor.
You need to operate under the terms and objectives of the trust. For example, you write that she doesn't need any of the trust - even its income - t…
Reply to @MikeM: Be advised that Aetna dropped out of the exchange (for individual policies) after NYS published this list. (It also dropped out in a few other states.) As far as I know, the rest of the data is still accurate.
Regarding state vs. …
New York and California are two of the best states in terms of regulating insurance for the benefit of consumers. Even if they weren't operating their own exchanges, they would have made sure that the insurance companies filed their plans well in …
Another article with a thin premise (to fill a column?).
The premise - that full retirement is actually age 70 (because what you get monthly is less if you draw earlier) - is not accurate. It is based on the conceit that nothing substantial is af…
Some thoughts (trying not to be too negative or political):
Insurance even streamlined and standardized (see, e.g. Medicare) is a complex product, and what is here doesn't convey lots of necessary information. (If one doesn't think insurance is t…
There are defaults and there are defaults. It sounds like there's a good possibility that interest payments could be delayed (which constitutes a default). But most PR bonds don't come due for many years, and even if PR defaults on those, one do…
There are two lists - the News Media List containing funds that papers may include in their listings, and the Supplemental list containing funds that are for electronic publication only. I believe the WSJ was incorrect in stating that Triton is no…
Nice background on lemmings (a Disney fraud). (Link is from hank's cited article.)
On the other hand, in chess the end game is not the end of the game, but the final stages of a game. I would say that Boehner et al. are in the end game, and th…
As a general rule, I try not to sell off bonds, as the transaction costs are murder. I also notice that while you gave the coupon, you didn't give the yield to worst. That is, are you really getting 4-5% on the bonds, or some lesser amount (beca…
Reply to @VintageFreak: I believe that WellsTrade still does not charge its own short term redemption fee (though funds themselves may charge redemption fees). As I've said before, there are many reasons why I would not recommend WellsTrade, but i…
Reply to @Old_Joe: The key word here appears to be "eligible".
Here's what I find from Schwab's website. From their AIP FAQ (don't you love TLAs?) - it's part of the AIP enrollment form: What funds are eligible for AIP?
All funds that are par…
Reply to @MaxBialystock:
I only recently noticed that emerging market funds don't have nearly the percentage of equities in emerging market countries as one (or at least I) might expect. M* reports the median EM percentage of diversified EM funds…
The AP/CNBC reporting on how funds are handling the situation seems somewhat misleading. The lead is that "the nation's largest manager of money market mutual funds said Wednesday that it [Fidelity] no longer holds any U.S. government debt [that c…
Where is Shadow when you need him? :-) (Many thanks for all the openings/closings Shadow finds.)
Curious sequence of dates - the prospectus date is August 28th (it was originally filed Aug 27th), it was refiled Sept 17th (with the same Aug 28th p…
Reply to @mclaugh:
Here's another way to look at it. If you take a 50/50 mix of these two funds, then all of the top ten holdings in the combined portfolio come from both of the funds. Further, these are not small positions in either fund. (…
Reply to @slick:
Thanks for the correction on the holdings. Just goes to show that one should take more than a cursory look before sticking one's foot in one's mouth.
Thanks also for letting me know that I don't always make such blunders - some…
Reply to @slick: Thanks for the thoughtful explanation. Not that I agree with you :-) but it's very helpful to read something that goes beyond "this fund has done well". What sort of subsectors one is looking for (and why), and how they fit into…
Hard to miss the fact that the NYTimes lays the blame for the 2010 muni bond collapse at the feet of CBS News, and doesn't even mention Meredith Whitney (to whom CBS gave a platform).
Franklin-Templeton speaker notes that: “Puerto Rico wasn’t anyth…
Let me try to refine or clarify my questions about holding this fund:
- If one bought in for the relative short term (by that I mean, say, under 8 years or so), then one bought a blend, trending toward growth fund. In that case, might it make se…
