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.
Renaming the plane might work. The 717 was a rebranded McDonnell Douglass DC9/MD95. (Arguably a better and more modern design than the 737). Since they discontinued the 717 they could call the rebranded 737 a 717 and play off of that plane’s good …
To grow an economy, you make sure that it has a good labor force that is well educated (or well trained for jobs), that is not growing disproportionately old, and that brings a wealth of ideas and zeal. The stock prices will follow.
There seems to be a $5K ACH limit for Navy Fed-initiated transfers, but I don't see a limit on transfers initiated from outside.
Wiring out will definitely cost you money ($14/wire plus potential fees on the receiving end), but you might be able to…
I used to work with someone who told me that in the 80s he would shoot for the highest paying Texas S&Ls, knowing that there was a good chance they'd go under. His experience differed from yours - he generally got his money back within a few d…
AFAIK, Causeway never offered ETFs. Turns out these weren't. NextShares are ETMFs, not ETFs.
NextShares’ New Product Combines Active Management With ETFs
https://mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/26290/nextshares-new-product-combines-a…
Congress originally established the Student Loan Marketing Association, or SLMA, in 1972. The SLMA acronym was pronounced “Sallie Mae,” a nickname that stuck, became widely recognized and therefore had value. Ownership of the right to the Sallie M…
"'To the best of our knowledge, there weren't problems in this part of the organization.'"
"Wells Fargo said the deal reflects its goal of focusing resources on areas it can grow."
Well, there we go. WF needs to cheat to grow, and this part of the…
I was just trying to be flippant.
Index ETFs have the same set of rules as "other" mutual funds, i.e. just quarterly disclosures, though most disclose daily, and as linked to above, Vanguard discloses monthly.
Actively managed ETFs are required to…
Personally, I think transparency is overrated (how many people read their fund's quarterly disclosures, let alone check the holdings day by day?).
Nevertheless, I'm unclear on what your concern is. Currently, no funds, not even actively managed ET…
In addition, REITs are now somewhat more attractive to own outside of tax shelters, because they get a Section 199A 20% reduction in taxes. That is, whatever income they pass through, you get to deduct 20% of that. So if you're in the 22% tax bra…
There are various sites (with their own biases) that rate bias. FWIW, MediaBiasFactCheck rates USA Facts as least biased, high factual content.
"Essentially this is a search engine for statistical data, such as “What is the Crime rate?” etc. This …
Again, thanks to Ted for linking to the Barron's article via Marketwatch.
Worth repeating: Recommended portfolio size for investing in individual bonds:
Treasuries only: "'We would recommend starting with a minimum of $50,000, with at least 10 bo…
Kudos to Ted for linking to a Barron's article republished with free access in its sister publication, Marketwatch.
A more detailed analysis is provided by Kitces, in a column I've linked to before:
https://www.kitces.com/blog/tax-efficient-retirem…
Who is benefiting is obvious even without reading this WSJ editorial.
State tax-free income became more valuable to those who could no longer deduct state income taxes (SALT limitations), i.e. the very high earners in low income/low property val…
Relative to the funds in the article (and the additional funds mentioned here), RPHYX doesn't look so impressive these days. It has an SEC yield of 2.10%. Clearly it's having difficulty meeting its objective of beating the 1 year Treasury (current…
"...The information contained herein is not represented or warranted to be accurate, correct, complete, or timely." ...Pretty effing useless, then. All these outfits and people depend on us. But we don't care to actually be conscientious.
All fina…
See last large paragraph below (I suggest you view image in separate page and magnify). It begins: Except as noted below, all data provided by Morningstar, Inc.
The exception is in the next (one line) paragraph: Market data for Daily Fund (NAVs) a…
My thinking falls somewhere in the cracks here.
I will only read content at a third party site if it is licensed there. For example, T. Rowe Price used to provide select WSJ articles online to Personal Services investors (back when that required "…
The quote below from M* is old (it refers to the 14 older bond sectors), but even then M* did its own bond fund sector analysis:
The fixed-income sectors are calculated for all domestic taxable-bond portfolios. It is based on the securities in the m…
Okay, I think what you're talking about is classification into sectors (e.g. Treasuries, convertibles, etc.)
IMHO it's the fund industry that is bollixed up when it comes to bond sectors. M* defines a reference set of categories that can be use…
I'd suggest skipping M* entirely when researching bond fund allocation. It's easy to find almost any fund's allocation, using their info, and that info usually has the distinct advantage of being basically accurate. M* bollixed up their bond analysi…
I'm sure you (@Old_Joe) know this, but if you're buying TF funds at AC, the Gold Level enables you to do that for $14.95. That's $5 less than at Merrill Edge, and one of the lowest fees around at that price point (AUM). Vanguard will give you so…
Lipper categories:
SMD - Short Municipal Debt Funds - Funds invest in municipal debt issues with dollar-weighted average maturities of less than three years.
SIM - Short-Intmdt Municipal Debt Funds - Funds invest in municipal debt issues with doll…
I have a Merrill Edge account strictly to increase the cash back on my BofA credit cards (through Preferred Rewards).
When I first opened the account, some Merrill phone rep sent me promo literature about higher bonuses for existing customers.
N…
RE: "Turn off the tube!": It would be my guess that very few if any of us still have a "tube" to turn off. A flat screen, surely.Well now, if we're going to get literal ... :-)
Flat screen TVs are just tube TVs where the front of the tube ("screen"…
Elwell's claim that pilots were prepared for the MCAS has raised eyebrows among some training experts:
"I find it surprising that a system that affects the pitch control of an aircraft of any description is not brought to the attention of the peo…
One needs "only" $250K to qualify for Merrill's Preferred Services, so you may already have this without knowing it. That just goes to show how obscure this program is. Still wondering if it includes anything of value or if it's just a status sym…
A few random thoughts:
For @BobC - I used to know someone who, back in the day, would wander into his broker's office to read the stock ticker, or so he later claimed.
When I was going to school a couple of decades ago, on my way home I'd use a…
We're seeing posts from various people where it seems the poster tosses something up without reading it for substance. That's the poor horse. It would be nice if it were dead.
Here we've got a misrepresentation of the cited material. Maybe the …
If I'm told that sometimes I act like an idiot (as I likely am by interjecting in this nonsense), I take that as a comment on my actions, not my mental acuity.
ISTM that "Here is a Link that identifies 3 candidate Monte Carlo codes that are availab…
@MikeM's observation that absent the $300 entry fee, people were likely paying fees for just a month or two to get the more costly initial financial planning and then dropping the service makes sense.
ISTM the comments @Derf alluded to on the origi…
This review from Institutional Investor, focusing on the price of the tickets, the wealth of the audience, the genre of financial plays and so on, assures me that the stereotypical green eyeshaded bean counter is alive and well.
General newspaper…
Nice eye candy. A fun chart to look at. Seriously.
Of course it has to be true that all else being equal cheaper is better. But all else is virtually never equal, and there's a lot being glossed over in this one chart.
* It's comparing apple…
Thanks for the clarification.
The paper cited in the article is talking about all Personal Retirement Assets (PRAs), which it says "include[s] 401(k)s, IRAs, Keoghs, and similar plans." So while RMDs begin at age 70½, withdrawals are not required…
Not sure where you're finding that statement, I don't see it. There's only one "Of course" that I can find, and it reads:
"Of course, the reality is that this 65-year-old couple could have simply purchased a single premium immediate annuity with …
I’ve always felt my invested assets did me a lot more good left intact than spent. It doesn’t have much to do with providing for heirs. Just a matter of personal comfort and thinking we don’t know what types of adverse contingencies might be coming…
