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.
@mcmarasco: I also had two dependent children when I started SS at FRA (65 and 10 months at the time). Their benefits stopped as soon as they graduated from HS. You will be asked each year by SS if you used all the kids' $ to support them; I answere…
@TheShadow: I was wondering about MECAX annual distributions. M* has no info at all and the AMG site seems to say there were none paid for 2017. Hard to square with a 98% turnover ratio. The same managers run the Cadence mid-cap fund which has paid …
@Hank: If you read two newspapers that don't have comics, it's hard to fit in The Economist. I had a gift subscription, renewed it for two years, and then found the magazines sitting unread. It's serious journalism, a bit weighty, and I had to concl…
Good grief! I tried reading the guy's article on QLACs with little success. Then I noticed the teaser at the top of the page. The guy's company will help me get Continuing Education credits for reading such stuff. Another career is within reach...
I got a kick out of the board discussion on IRAs for kids juxtaposed with this article on the Perkins, père et fils. They claim to have started their fund for children's IRAs and small portfolios.
@VintageFreak: The moral of your story is stay at home, eat lentils, and don't try to contravene your wife's good judgement. The AI stuff is scary, I agree.
I own Homestead Growth, HNASX, a clone of this TRP institutional strategy. There is a profile by David available. I have growth in my retirement portfolio, despite my age. If I outlive my parents, I still have a long glide path. Sounds like a good c…
Can't beat Schwab's service. I ordered above-referenced ATM cards late Saturday afternoon and today FedEx comes with separate express envelopes for madame et moi.
Thanks, @msf. I just ordered ATM cards from Schwab. Have had checking there for ages, but never had the card. I got ripped off with my BOA debit card in Spain last year. Will use on next trans-Atlantic trip later this month.
Unfortunately or not, David Rolfe's RWGFX, a fund previously excoriated on this board, did not make the $1B AUM cutoff used by M* for this article. Its poor performance might have given lie to the proposition that "investing like Buffett" pays off. …
@Puddnhead: It appears to me that most of GLFOX's holdings trade in Europe, so it would be hard to gauge their trading volume even if the stocks have a US listing. FWIIW, the fund has made a decent comeback from a really rocky start this year.
I took a quick look at the M* info on POPFX. One question that I have is how large a cash position did the fund have from inception in 2007 and through 2008, the period for which performance appears so good compared to peers? While it may be stating…
@Bee: Interesting concept. My spouse is a retired teacher in MI, but her pension payout has nothing to do with the state pension fund's performance. I suspect that in CT, the same is true. I realize you are not comparing income from your pension to …
Mr. Heugh's favorite stocks are Asian tech companies. If Chinese internet firms go south, it's likely that his MS funds will also. Heugh has also been given another fund, an Asia ex-Japan growth vehicle. As with the other two funds he manages, MS ha…
We are fortunate to be Prime members as family on our daughter's account. Not quite the same as full membership because it does not include video, music, or TV. In the same way that I'm tempted to tell the car wash guy here in MI, "If it weren't for…
I was hoping the manager of these two strategies, Mr. Heugh, hidden away in Hong Kong, would not attract too much attention. Unfortunately, Baron's profiled him and now this comment from M*. The last thing I want is for big bucks to pour into MGGIX …
To complicate matters, there is now ROBT, a competitor to ROBO and BOTZ. A cynic might ask if AI is involved in the creation of ETFs; they seem to materialize when a human starts thinking.
http://www.morningstar.com/news/benzinga/BenzBZW_11247696/d…
@LewisBraham: You present a good idea for me, and a dilemma. In my retirement account I could exchange the Vanguard Balanced Index (5*-Gold) for CREF Social Choice (3*). Such an exchange would probably cost me real $ for my gesture. I can't fault my…
I wish there was a concrete gesture that I could make to demonstrate my concern about gun violence. What I have in mind is what Dick's Sporting Goods has announced: they previously said they'd stop selling guns, then more recently said they'd destro…
To echo others, I have followed the recommendation to get into commodities. One advisor I subscribe to was way early on DBC, then Gundlach chimed in last fall (IIRC), and I bought a small slice of DBC in early February and, miracle of miracles, it h…
This is his name: "DeFred G. Folts III, Fritz" as it appears on 3EDGE's site. The asset manager runs strategies for private individuals and institutions, using ETFs.
Sent a check, although I was tempted to try the online payment. Got whacked by the AMT for the first time ever, woe is me. What I read the other day suggested that the AMT won't affect as many taxpayers next year.
As allocation positions, I own RPGAX and CCAPX, as well as BRUFX. I am reducing the latter in favor of the the other two as the Bruce boys seem to have lost their mojo. Because I don't try to maintain a diversified bond portfolio, I rely on the expe…
@LewisBraham: is there an emoji for irony? Probably not, because it would be misinterpreted.
RNWOX is considered a World Stock fund by M*. My glance at the portfolio holdings leads me to believe it's a Diversified Emerging Markets fund, as 76% of …
@JoJo: Pay structure not mentioned in detail, but I read the article to mean she won’t draw any compensation until assets rise far above the current 140M, to about 300M. Maybe she can camp out in Grandeur Peak’s office while she’s not staying in che…
While I never did this, it was said of my former Dean that he went to his local brokerage every day at lunch time to watch the stock ticker. Obviously, only investors of my age would even know of what I speak. Nowadays the local branches offer CNBC.…
With regard to manager changes at Walthausen, Gerard Heffernan appears to have replaced DeForest Hinman who had been promoted last June to Portfolio Manager. The new prospectus says that only John Walthausen and Mr. Heffernan are managers of the tw…
Because I hold FIW for water exposure, I have followed WTRX for a while. There is always a huge difference between bid and ask along with price moves often to the upside based on almost no trading volume. A bizarre fund in my opinion, but my experie…
@jlev: I hold RPGAX for exposure to international bonds, of which I have little in my portfolio save a sliver of a modest position in SFGIX. The other two allocation funds I have, BRUFX and CCAPX, do not hold international bonds that I can see. RPGA…
Thanks. I owned MFMPX after MS open-ended the CEF, but I did not realize MS and other companies cited by our attentive participants were making many of their A shares load-waived. Now I find that selecting “no-load” only in M*’s screener may elimina…
If, as it sounds, you don't need the annuity payouts to meet your current expenses, why not fund an account with this year's dough, maybe in VWINX, and by reinvesting distributions, you should be at least 3.7% ahead in 12 months. Add the same 27K in…
This is very helpful @LLJB. There are two ways to invest in the CAPE strategy, through the OEF or through the Barclays ETN, CAPE. I don't think I understand fully why there are warnings about investing in ETNs; it seems to boil down to assessing the…
The "Category Kings" in the WSJ monthly section on funds and etfs are listed by YTD performance, +6.9% for VVPLX. The fund had relatively bad years in 2015 and 2017.
