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.
@WABAC: I had never heard of this fund. Thanks for the M* link; the holdings show more than 36% in Real Estate, way more than other infrastructure funds. I also noted pretty even split between US and international holdings. No idea how they tried to…
@davidrmoran: thanks for your views. Have you already consulted the books I cited? It seems a fair question to put to you who query members about their failure to read your linked sources. I grew up hearing commercials about the need to drink three …
@Old_Joe: I an entirely with you on the need for closed captions, especially for TV. As you know, there is a time lag between what you hear and what appears on the screen. Accuracy is generally hit or miss.
I use Zoom for meetings and I put on my S…
@BaluBalu: our member MikeW just sent me a performance graph of a Kristian Heugh MS fund that now appears to be on fire, so maybe international is back. The ride can be sickening, for sure.
I do maintain international exposure, but with the excepti…
@Junkster: thank you for letting us know how you stay healthy. I had my share of alcohol a long time ago, so I don’t think of not drinking as part of my diet. I will not part with serious coffee, however. I agree that it is frequently difficult to f…
Lest my passing comment about eggs be misconstrued: I abandoned the standard American Diet (SAD) quite a number of years ago. I consume no animal products, processed foods, no chemical additives and try to limit sugar and oil consumption to strict …
@rforno and any other TIAA customers: I have been tempted to consolidate my TIAA retirement (403b mostly) with our Schwab joint brokerage account and two Roths in anticipation of the day when I could no longer manage the accounts. My wife would not …
Distillate Capital also runs at least three ETFs using a cash-flow model. COWZ had wonderful performance in 2020, 2021, and 2022, and has attracted a whopping $25B in AUM. I was a fan of DSTL, DSMC, SYLD and COWZ until 2023 when fortunes turned nota…
I’m not an expert @davidrmoran, but I’ll opine nevertheless. What Ludwig and his team have apparently uncovered should be taken seriously and could be the basis for forming a political movement capable of capturing the votes of those disaffected and…
The relative weakness in international stocks and small caps, compared to US LC returns, over the past decade and more must have adversely affected the fortunes of Grandeur Peak.
I wondered a few years ago, when Trump started referring to the “Democrat” party, why those in his thrall followed right along and began insulting Democrats by making the same grammatical error. Trump has long mispronounced or distorted the names of…
On tariff news, CLF spiked Monday intra-day to $12+ and I sold my modest stake. Jim Liebenthal said on CNBC said he was not a seller. Today the stock dropped considerably, ending up at $10.56.
Thanks @msf. If REMIX wanders from one ill-defined category to another in a world of « fine distinctions » I won’t fret. I ought to have mentioned that I don’t have a dog in this fight these days, although I did own REMIX/BLNDX in 2022.
The veggie plot is reserved for the season, per usual. Chaos can ensue if FOMO takes hold and delicate plants are rushed into the ground before all danger of frost is past. Further chaos arrives later in the growing season when the old bones no long…
FWIIW, I sharply reduced my Vanguard TGFs, (VTHRX, VTTHX), in my TIAA retirement account in favor of tweaking the allocations myself. @racqueteer mentions doing the same thing, above. The VG TDFs' foreign allocations have been a brake, as have the F…
In 2022, undocumented immigrants contributed $25.7 billion in Social Security taxes. Those monies go to those of us who are "authorized" to benefit from the numerous SS programs. They certainly do not go to those who paid in via payroll deduction. P…
@larryB: we get to see the public signing of the EO's, but people like Stephen Miller have been planning these moves for the past four years out of power. The man has been described as being obsessed with immigration since his teen years. That's a l…
We may have learned that GRID is more susceptible to bad tech news than I had thought. Low of today of around -6%, much more than other tech-sensitive ETFs I follow or own.
I ordered some more Sumatra Dark because its price ( at least where I buy it) remained below any other organic of similar quality. The addict worries about disruption in the supply chain, …
@rforno: you are right to highlight the firing of the inspectors general. This move, probably planned for some time, is equivalent to letting the fox guard the henhouse. Trump’s cronies, or those who may otherwise benefit from an ineffectual enforce…
@WABAC: I also have a small stake in my taxable. PAVE represents much bigger positions in the taxable and our 2 Roths. BTW, do you think tariffs would affect overseas power generators, or related firms?
In the past, DT could never get accepted by the NYC elite, despite his efforts. He got a grifter’s welcome (the cold shoulder) from all who attended Jimmy Carter’s funeral and it seems he’s dropping all pretenses of trying to act presidential this t…
@Observant1 and @stillers: I also have BISAX, certainly because it has knocked the socks off its peers but also because Brandes Funds runs some really good strategies, domestic and international. When screening for OEFs or ETFs, I find the “Parent” …
My thanks also, @AndyJ. I am giving The Contrarian a shot. A strike against newspapers in NYC in 1962-3 brought talented journalists together and the result was The New York Review of Books. Let’s hope The Contrarian lasts as long and has equal pres…
I can’t think of a more difficult and probably less rewarding jobs than those done by many high-profile special counsels. Lawrence Walsh, Patrick Fitzgerald, Robert Mueller, and Jack Smith took on malfeasance at the highest levels of our government,…
Je Ju Do (also spelled Che Ju) is an island off the south coast of Korea. It’s a major tourist destination, but in the old days it was Korea’s Niagara Falls, the preferred honeymoon spot.
What @rforno says about the “dividends” is true. My father-in-law received physical checks from such energy partnerships as well as regular stock dividends. Family members recall him running down to the mailbox just after mail delivery to grab his c…
Josh Brown on CNBC around noon today, theorized that the weakness in techs is due to the very rich selling now (or instructing their institution to sell), as opposed to before year end, because they wanted to avoid a big tax bill for 2024. He said t…
Suggested reading: John McPhee, The Control of Nature. As early as 1988, McPhee warned that disaster loomed in the LA area because of people’s unwillingness to accept the fact that they were building in geological and climate conditions inimical to …
Very interesting stuff here @hank and @Old_Joe. My only speculative comment is that Juju Air has a bad rep for pushing crews to get as many flights as possible in a day and for questionable maintenance. Given the option to upgrade a data recorder, f…
I agree with @Mark’s assessment , « Something tells me the rubes won't remember that and/or care.« All this bluster about empire-building could be a diversionary tactic. Not only the supposed supporters won’t care, but the attention of the people w…
When synthetic oil came to be required a few years ago, I read that the then-new ceramic engine bearings have such fine tolerances that a conventional motor oil cannot lubricate them at low temperatures. I had changed my own oil for eons until the a…
Thanks for that article @AndyJ. For about two years I had been dissatisfied with the content (not political) of the Wapo. I wrote the editor to point out that much of the web version of the paper needlessly provided multiple links to the same articl…
We live in no-fault MI, like @hank. Our youngest daughter, a med student in NC, had her 2016 low-mileage Sentra totaled by a pothead who was not listed as a driver on the AAA policy in the name of his domestic partner. I had advised our kid not to c…
