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.
Good fun value, but almost an apples-to-oranges figure. The definition of income (see "definitions" link) appears to be the AGI definition used for determining SS taxability, as it includes tax-exempt income. So that would appear to push the req…
Reply to @Sven:
You have to check with each broker individually. Unfortunately, the trend seems to be away from allowing "mere mortals" to purchase I class shares at reduced minimums (albeit with transaction fees). Brokers that still seem somew…
Regarding Angel Oak Multi-Strategy Income Fund A and costs ...
An expense ratio of 2.39% (per Jan 31 annual report, including waivers) plus a load?! (The prospectus and annual report say that the fund is currently waiving expenses above 2% until …
Hard to find redeeming values, beyond "wait and see".
The two funds are not symmetric in approach - the growth says that it uses top down ("theme-based") investing, which is exceptionally rare in mutual funds, while the value fund does not. Perha…
Given your statements on keeping principal intact being a must, and using a rocketship sector fund, what ran through my mind were lyrics from an old Tom Leher song:
"'Once the rockets are up, who cares where they come down? That's not my department…
Reply to @catch22:
From http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/13/opinion/sunday/fables-of-wealth.html
THERE is an ongoing debate in this country about the rich: who they are, what their social role may be, whether they are good or bad. Well, consider th…
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1027596/000089418910003478/pia-hyi_497e.htm
"The fund currently expects to commence operations on or about October 29, 2010."
A later filing: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1027596/000089418910004392/p…
Reply to @hank:
All generalizations are false, including this one.
Would you pay 5% of an asset to be assured that you'd never pay taxes on the income it generated? Sure you would, if you expected that asset to generate more than, say 20% in …
Reply to @catch22:
I'm sure you know that loads get paid (mostly) to the sales people, who are not American Funds employees. They're the people you're referring to at Merrill, etc. But since you mentioned it ...
Back in the days when Merrill, …
Reply to @BobC:
Several states still have estate taxes (or inheritance taxes) that kick in at $1M. For example, NYS's rises quickly to 16%. Ignore state taxes at one's peril.
Regarding seeking advice - I agree with you that planning comes fir…
My limited experience with Scottrade left me with the impression that Scottrade and dividends are incompatible. Back when Scottrade would let you trade all funds NTF (a decade ago), I experimented by putting a little money into a bond fund (straig…
Reply to @perpetual_Bull:
Old news.
"(July 01, 2011) SEC Sides with American Funds Against Finra. It took six years, but, thanks to the SEC, Capital Group just defeated a $5-million attack from the NASD, now called Finra. Last Friday the commi…
Reply to @claimui:
Go by the SEC yield (I was sloppy in my post).
When you (or a fund) own a bond with a high coupon (e.g. one that pays 5% of face value when the going rate is 2%), the bond is priced above face value. As it gets closer to matu…
The article says that while some foreign brands, like Coke, GM, etc. are popular in China, the ten Chinese brands that you must know are here (jpg of "Barron's picks as the Dragon Kingom's top consumer brand names").
The confusion is in the title -…
Regarding debt - generally a good priority, for financial reasons (reasonable certain rate of return), psychological reasons, and planning reasons. But if that debt is a mortgage, these days, it's hard to make a financial case for paying that off.…
Reply to @Mona:
I'll try to address some of your items, but in different sequence.
4. Until a year or so ago, most of the emerging market exposure in this fund came from Eastern Europe. That made this fund unique, and the managers do seem to h…
Bob, thanks for the heads up.
This should also serve as a reminder that just because someone is a great fund manager doesn't mean that they'll be great creating or running a fund company. Very different set of issues and skill sets. You highlig…
Reply to @Charles:
- Regarding fees, it should bother you not only that the expenses could rise, but that there's a claw back provision, where the fund expenses could be high not only because that's what the fund costs, but because the fund is re…
Reply to @David_Snowball:
According to the fund commentary, it's 50% that will be redeemed within 90 days (based on maturity date or call date if already called). Perhaps the manager is suggesting that another 20% are yet to be called and redeeme…
Reply to @Hiyield007:
In a sense, many bonds in this fund are third cousins to (muni) pre-refunded bonds. If you read the linked description, you'll find many of the same attributes as claimed for the RiverPark fund, for similar though not identic…
I agree completely. That's why I started the list above with unleveraged, no managed distribution funds, and included the comment that one needs to understand managed distributions before thinking about funds that use it. CEFs, like commodity "i…
I thought about Fidelity Canada, but in the past I've already commented on it - that it was hard to see any performance-based reason to go with it over an index fund (e.g. EWC). As DWGIX is beating S&P/TSX composite (since conversion to a new …
At Schwab, there is a round-trip limit as well as a fee:3 round trip transactions (purchase and sale of $0 or more within a 60 day period) will result in a purchase restriction in this fund family for 90 days.At Fidelity, there's a similar round tri…
Reply to @MaxBialystock:
Why the switch to quarterly distributions, and why have they shrunk?
To take the second question first: the transition to quarterly distributions was this year, and the capital gains are still distributed only annually…
Interesting idea to look at CEFs. Unfortunately, most of the CEFs in the list are pure bond funds. Fortunately, CEFconnect has a screener that makes it, if not easy, at least somewhat easier than other places to locate equity-only funds. It let…
Perpetual Bull has the right idea for pure equity funds - go plumbing through the Lipper categories Equity Income and Global Equity Income.
File under the "be careful what you wish for" category: Alpine "dividend" funds pay out dividends monthly, a…
Reply to @fundalarm:
Stock dividend payments may be quarterly, but different stocks pay in different months, so there's always a stream of income. If the frequency of security payouts drove fund dividends, then bond funds would not pay out monthl…
Reply to @Investor:
I believe you're getting confused (or I am) by a poorly worded Pub 969.
Look at the pdf file, specifically at the bookmarks (the breakdown of document sections that is shown on the left side of the window). Under HSAs, …
Reply to @Old_Joe:
OJ, the reason I ignored you was simply that I hadn't looked at this board in a day and read from top down. It annoys me also when people repeat links, especially when yours (and fortunately this one) make it so clear in the s…
Reply to @Mark:
Apples and oranges.
Here is your Roth calculation:
- Before taxes/contributions:
-- Pre-tax earnings: $10K
-- Post-tax money (e.g. bank account): $2.5K
- After taxes/contributions:
-- Roth IRA: $10K
-- Taxes pai…
As a long term investor, I still view this as noise, just as I view commissions, bid/ask spreads, etc. as noise. These are very important, if not critical factors for traders (human but especially electronic). But for me, if I get nice growth ov…
Reply to @bee:
Unfortunately that transfer to an HSA doesn't really accomplish anything special.
Suppose you simply withdraw, say $4250 from the IRA and contribute that money to an HSA. The withdrawal increases your income by $4250, but the H…
Reply to @bee:
I believe (but also have not done thorough research) that any withdrawal from a traditional IRA is subject to income taxes. There are various exceptions that apply to the 10% penalty for withdrawals before age 59.5, but none seem …
Reply to @Investor:
You are correct about my simplifying assumption. I also assumed that one is not maxing out, else (because nominal dollars are worth more in a Roth than in a traditional), the Roth becomes more valuable. That is, since the cap …
Reply to @Investor:
I'm not sure what you mean by having to take more risk. What I think you may mean (please correct me if I'm wrong) is that if you contribute the same nominal dollars (say, $5K) to a traditional and to a Roth, then you'd have t…
Reply to @Mark:
Let's try the arithmetic again.
You start with $12,500 pre-tax. You put it in a traditional IRA, and as you said, you have $12.5K to start, $25K after doubling, and $18,750 after withdrawal and taxes.
You start with $12,500 pre-…
I see no difference between the value of a traditional and a Roth IRA. And thus there seems to be no difference as to which one is invested more aggressively.
To see this, let's assume that one anticipates being in the 25% bracket at the time one …
For distressed securities (not just bonds), Fidelity Leveraged Company Stock (FLVCX) comes to mind.
There have been only a few fund managers known for vulture investing - Marty Whitman (Third Ave Value) and Michael Price (formerly of Mutual Series)…
Here's a summary of what I've posted elsewhere:
- Tax strategies, especially if one expects rates to increase at some point, are things to be executed over many years (good for you, Skeeter!)
- Regardless of what changes Congress makes or doesn'…
