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Reply to @hank:
Here's a "simple" way to get the average (annualized) return for a MMF over the past 15 years - and this technique will work for any mutual fund.
1) Get its latest prospectus via the SEC web site. Look for the 10 year annualized …
I believe (but haven't confirmed) that "average annual returns" reported are geometric, not arithmetic averages. That is, they are the true compounding that you are seeking. (For example, a 10% return in year 1 followed by a 20% return in year 2…
For the official version of A Brief History of Deposit Insurance in the United States (yes, that's the real title of the 76 page document), see this FDIC pdf.
The Times article is okay as far as it goes, but it seems rather threadbare on mid 20th c…
Reply to @Alex:
One of the many myths surrounding SS. Myth 5: President Roosevelt promised that the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income
Originally, Social Security benefits were not taxable income. This was not, however,…
The telephone excise tax was implemented in 1898 to fund the Spanish American War. FWIW, it was terminated Aug 1, 2006. Not only that, but the IRS provided a refund of taxes paid back to February 2003.
CNET: Telecom tax imposed in 1898 finally e…
Market neutral funds often short securities. When they do this, they're responsible for the dividends (or interest) on the securities shorted (i.e. they owe the dividends to the original owners of the securities that they borrowed to short). Tho…
There are at least a couple of (perhaps esoteric) reasons that I know of not to necessarily move TRP funds to TDA (or anywhere else):
- TRP Preferred Services (at the $100K or above level) include free M* premium membership
- TRP (and now Vangua…
Reply to @MJG:
I'm quite a fan of Odean and Barber. Okay, I admit it - confirmation bias. But my bias is different from yours, which goes to show that one can take away from his writing different points. (I feel that this is a good, not bad attri…
I think you're right about the difference between holding shares directly with the fund and through a brokerage. For example, from Scottrade's Account Transfer Form reads: "I acknowledge that while my fund position(s) are being held in street name …
Does it make a difference? Mutual funds (including MMFs) are securities covered by SIPC. Most other securities are covered by SIPC as well (though investments like futures contracts are not).
Since the SIPC limit is for all (covered) securities …
Reply to @Sven:
"Always wonder how these free iShares benefit Fidelity?"
From Fidelity:
For iShares ETFs, Fidelity receives compensation from the ETF sponsor and/or its affiliates in connection with an exclusive, long-term marketing program that …
Make that me three - I also couldn't parse the question. The best I could get out of it was something along the lines of: what's a good, inexpensive fund for an account that is likely to be passed to children?
That suggests to me a fund for th…
Reply to @hank: Thanks for the reminder about priority. It's not necessarily true that all the bonds in bank loan funds get higher priority - that was yet another risk factor with Loomis Sayles Senior Floating Rate and Fixed Income Y (LSFYX). It …
I tend to take a conservative view of cash. Not trying to make money on it, just trying to lose a little less. Some ideas (very little in the way of funds, though):
- Series I savings bonds ("I Bonds") - fully liquid after 1 year (3 months inte…
Reply to @Investor: TRP Investor class shares appear to be available NTF at TDAmeritrade.
Fidelity funds appear open and available (TF) at TDA, Schwab, Scottrade, and likely elsewhere. For years, there seems to have been a special arrangement w…
People (including myself, to some extent) seem to regard River Park Short Term High Yield (RPHYX) as an enhanced cash fund. That means that it is expected to have good (but not perfect) price stability, superior yield to a MMF, and a portfolio not …
Reply to @Mark: Nick may be right. While the title of the linked article is "What is Uncle Sam's Largest Asset", the text lists only financial assets. A quick search turned up a FY2005 GSA report, An Overview of the US Federal Government's Real …
Reply to @Investor: VDE is a share class of VENAX.
Vanguard ETFs are share classes of Vanguard index funds. So VDE wouldn't be a share class of the actively managed VGENX.
The only "exception" to this rule (that I know of) is VEA (MSCI EAFE)…
Reply to @Mark:
This is probably getting way off the track (and I loved the video), but I would like to respond to your comment about HMOs.
Since we're talking about "when I was a kid", when I was a kid I went to HIP - then, and I think still now,…
TANSTAAFL.
Brokers get paid one way or another. If you buy a load fund through a broker and pay the load, most of that load goes to the broker and you don't pay the broker anything directly. If you pay the broker a percentage of assets each yea…
Disturbingly incomplete.
1. Foreign taxes paid - this is in box 6 of the 1099-DIV. No calculation necessary.
Now if you do need to fill out an 1116 form, then you will likely need to do a simple multiplication to determine the amount of forei…
A fund family not mentioned in the article that comes immediately to mind is Harbor Funds. From Harbor Bond Fund (PIMCO) and other PIMCO-managed bond funds, to Harbor Int'l (Northern Cross) and a slew of other fine and mediocre funds, they've put t…
Reply to @andrei: The post indicates that over 50% of the bonds mature ("roll to cash") in 30 days or so. As to the rest, they have various features that one might say make them "synthetic" short maturity bonds. I mentioned sinking funds as one e…
Completely different strategies.
River Park is a new twist on the concept of enhanced cash funds (which generally imploded in 2008; some notoriously, others just got caught in the hurricane). It gets its yield from junk bonds (80% or more of p…
There are a variety of gotchas that won't affect most people, but one should nevertheless be aware of:
- You must calculate the RMD for each account separately (because a different table, i.e. divisor, may be used for different accounts, depending…
Brings to mind PBS's dumping of Louis Rukeyser a decade ago, and bringing in Fortune magazine to run the show. Ironically, Rukeyser went over to CNBC to continue his show.
http://www.medialifemagazine.com:8080/news2002/jun02/jun24/5_fri/news2frid…
New Income seems to remain, despite Rodriguez's gradual departure, one of the most distinctive and defensive bond funds around. Won't make a ton of money, but will protect you well. Seems ideal for today's environment. Best one star fund you m…
Not just Wellington, but Intermediate Term Tax Exempt.
Vanguard closes two funds to most new [institutional] accounts:
https://institutional.vanguard.com/VGApp/iip/site/institutional/researchcommentary/article/NewsClosingTwoFunds
I'm reminded of a current commercial: If you read it on the internet, it must be true. Where'd you hear that? On the internet.
More important than what funds own the largest amount is which funds have the largest percentage of their portfolios i…
Here, in turn, is the Harbor Funds statement, only partially quoted in the Mutual Fund Wire.com article: http://www.harborfunds.com/18065.htm
Keep in mind that Harbor funds are all(?) submanaged, and the management companies they hire seem to be ag…
I'd like to amplify what BobC is saying about expenses. All else being equal, the higher cost fund will have the "better" tax cost efficiency. So it is extremely important to consider ERs when looking at tax costs.
Here's a simple hypothetical …
ARTKX and VTSMX may have similar M* tax cost ratios, but VTSMX (Vanguard Total [Domestic] Stock Market) isn't the fund you're asking about, which is Vanguard Total International Stock Market. (This is one of the many reasons why I appreciate people…
Regarding funds - generally look for large cap value/blend funds that are moderately tax efficient. (If they're very inefficient, they're spinning off nonqualified dividends and interest, while you'd like to get qualified dividends).
A fund tha…
Reply to @Investor: Aside from drawing cash from Roths, there are sources of cash where the taxable amount is less than the gross amount - nondeductible IRAs, capital gains assuming nonzero cost basis), annuity payments (but not withdrawals, where i…
Reply to @ron: Perpetual Bull made an important point. You have to be careful about what you mean by "in the 15% bracket".
"Normally" (I use that term very cautiously) :-), when one speaks of being in a tax bracket, one is talking about the tax r…
Funds that set record dates in October, November, or December, and pay dates in January, must report the income as paid in the old year. This quirk of reporting (which seemingly violates the "cash basis" method of accounting that most individuals …
It's not clear whether you're talking about a periodic (or annual) account statement or a 1099-DIV. In the latter case, there are standard boxes and filing instructions. (The actual layout of the 1099-DIV seems to vary from family to family, but…
