Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

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.

    Support MFO

  • Donate through PayPal

msf

About

Users name
msf
Joined
Visits
32,787
Last Active
Roles
Member

Comments

  • There are two different difficulties with FDGRX. One is that if you go back early enough (2006 seems about "right"), the annual reports are only found under the trust (of which FDGRX is a series), and not under the fund itself. Possibly because …
  • Are you missing 1999 to 2006 or earlier dates? Edgar goes back to roughly 1996. For example, from FCNTX's Dec 1999 Annual Report https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/24238/000079542200000022/0000795422-00-000022.txt TOP TEN STOCKS AS OF DECE…
  • Absolutely correct. Pure grandstanding. If they wanted to actually do something, they could repeal the statute that Congress passed in 2009 permitting the mutual fund window. Or they could have followed protocol and made comments on the fund…
  • if the GOP gains control of the WH, Senate and House, one of their priorities will be turning the TSP over to some fund management behemoth Like George W Bush privatized Social Security in 2005 ... Toward the end of a first term dominated by inter…
  • The IRS restricts in-service withdrawals (if permitted by the plan) to only those participants over age 59½ or who a hardship exception. https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/plan-participant-employee/when-can-a-retirement-plan-distribute-benefits T…
  • The interactive chart was also removed from the Performance page.
  • Since the TSP accounts are not mutual funds, one can't go to a prospectus filed with the SEC. At least there is a 36 page booklet describing the progam. https://www.tsp.gov/publications/tspbk08.pdf However, this program being part of the federal g…
  • This year is hard on the investors when both stocks and bonds are falling at the same time. When the he last time this happened? My recent memory goes back to 1994 when Greenspan hiked rates 6 times. Now we are about to enter the same situation. I…
  • My experience, admittedly dated, is that administrators add an additional charge for a brokerage (or, I suppose fund) window on a per user basis. An employer can choose to charge just those who use the service to pay for it. This is the approach o…
  • Investment advisory firms are required to file with the SEC. Here's GQG's filing: https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/283720 The breakdown of its AUM is on p. 13 of its Form ADV. https://reports.adviserinfo.sec.gov/reports/ADV/283720/PDF/2837…
    in GQHPX Comment by msf May 2022
  • I think you mean blackout. Though looking at those fees, I imagine that participants who signed up for the mutual fund window might want to back out. :-) From the link it appears there is not only a $95/year maintenance fee but an additional $55…
  • You might consider screening for all funds, not just NTF ones. They might be available elsewhere. My inclination is to identify funds first and then see if/how I can buy them. Even if they're not available, they can serve as good benchmarks to …
  • Fido Screener is quite good. It is the only screener I know that combines mutual funds and ETFs Ironically enough, if one can find Vanguard's screener, the first criterion shown (as a radio button) is Product Type:Mutual fundsExchange-traded funds…
  • It works fine with a basic/free login. Since that's free, all one need to do to test it out is create a non-premium account using a second email address.
  • They've just done an excellent job of hiding it. I have no idea how to navigate to it, but here's a link that should work: https://personal.vanguard.com/us/FundsMFSBasicSearch?action=reset Note that by default it searches only for Vanguard funds. …
  • By invitation, Citibank is offering a $700 bonus if you open a new checking account and keep $50K in the account for 60 days, starting 20 days after you open the account. Admittedly that's only 1.4%. If you're willing to live with a lower dollar…
  • Not interested in scoring points. But explaining points could be constructive. You wrote MS funds are innovation funds and offered performance data as evidence. As @wxman123 described, sector and style (along with magnitude of volatility) expl…
  • Oh, I don't know. It takes a certain amount of imagination to see a cup and handle in a few squiggles. Or to gaze up at the stars and see a double bottom in Cassiopeia. Heck, just to see Cassiopeia. https://earthsky.org/constellations/cassiope…
  • That performance comparison is heavily dependent on period selected. Your selection of end date makes it seem like you're cherry picking (or cherry pit picking in this case). Standardized Total Returns are reflected as of month- and quarter-end tim…
  • Perhaps we should raise the bar with a higher form of intelligence. See also Digital monkeys with typewriters recreate Shakespeare https://www.cnn.com/2011/09/26/tech/web/monkeys-typewriters-shakespeare/index.html
  • Aside from Cathie Wood in particular, you'll have to pardon my skepticism about AI potential in general. Not that work in the field doesn't lead to significant developments, but that it has a history of repeatedly overpromising and underdelivering…
  • ... my impression from absorbing extensive MFO commentary over the last year or so is that Fidelity is the way to go. We use Schwab mainly because they have an office one block away from our home, but I really don't do all that much trading anymore.…
  • Several people in the media are calling for VIX to be 40+ (without mentioning how much above 40) and then hope that this market will reverse. Do they realize that VIX has been almost there already? VIX was 39 on 1/24/22, 38 on 2/24/22 & 3/8/22, …
  • It looks like Fidelity is phasing out dedicated advisors in its Private Client Group services, much as Vanguard phased out dedicated advisors in its Flagship services. If you think you have a dedicated Fidelity advisor, check your web page. Vangu…
  • The CNBC columnist (Sara O'Brien) has apparently taken to recycling old(?) material. A "new" column appears today. The only new material I see is a single sentence giving the number of projected HSA accounts at the end of 2024 to be 38M, with as…
  • Net flows are indeed the "net" of inflows minus outflows. This (along with BenWP's comment) raises an interesting question: what exactly constitutes an in- (or out-) flow? Though that is likely further than you wanted to go here. Clearly GP know…
  • Peter Bernstein suggested a 75/25 portfolio of stocks/cash equivalents Not much different from Buffett's suggestion to skip bonds (2013 Berkshire Hathaway letter), except that Buffett felt 10% in cash equivalents (short term bonds) was sufficient.…
  • When moving money by cashing out and repurchasing on the other side, it doesn't matter whether the market is high or low. What matters is short term movement. Will the market go down during those few days you'll be in cash? Then you "win". B…
    in 401k Transfer Comment by msf May 2022
  • Generally I agree that percentages are more informative. But consider this conversation I had yesterday: Inflation in the NY metropolitan area has been running lower than the national average. The Y/Y figures in April are 8.3% national, 6.3% N…
  • BofA Securities, the same firm saying in 2019 that the 60/40 portfolio was dead. Imagine if you'd gone to cash then (as the Barron's article suggests) instead of earning double digit returns in 2020 and 2021. Admittedly that's an ad hominem remar…
  • Health insurance premiums (including ACA Insurance premiums) are deductible against self employment income It's a subtle point, but the self-employed health insurance deduction (formerly 1040 line 29, now Schedule 1 line 17) is an above the line…
  • Jason Zweig, When Cheaper P/E Ratios Mean Nothing, WSJ, Aug 16, 2017. https://www.wsj.com/articles/when-cheaper-p-e-ratios-mean-nothing-1502458113 Aside from negative P/Es, there's a more basic question of how the P/E of a portfolio is calculated. …
  • There are several differences between the OLD VWELX and NEW VWELX Most assuredly, as documented in the notes to the Bogle speech I cited. But rarely did those differences have any significant impact on total return performance then and now. It …
  • Have the first five months of 2022 been the worst start to any year for moderate and conservative allocation funds? ISTM that while using calendar year boundaries for losses may make sense from a tax perspective, the market doesn't have that same l…
  • What is fascinating to me about that chart is how perfectly it illustrates the concept of regression to the mean. Or in the words of David Clayton-Thomas, what goes up must come down ...
  • ARKK is now trailing the S&P 500 over its lifetime.
  • Rivian Tumbles After Report of Ford Share Sale at a Discount Bloomberg, via MSN It's not a big disinvestment by Ford (8M out of 102M shares), but apparently enough to rattle the market. And that does add up to 1% of the outstanding Rivian shares.
  • My comment was with respect to the OP. Legal issues or not, it would be a little difficult for Lewis to post links to articles that he says don't exist. :-)
  • Isaac Asimov tells about a time when he sat in on a class discussing one of his stories. At the end of the class he introduces himself as the author and tells the teacher that he is wrong about what the story meant. The teacher's reply is along …
  • For years Buffet was criticized for holding lots of cash. Did he really come out ahead by keeping his "powder dry" for years? I think the numbers show that the opportunity cost of holding onto that power exceeded the benefit of waiting. While Bu…