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.
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MikeM
I know you are not a fan of his, Mona (understatement :) )
Another Bills fan!!! Junkster just sent me a note saying the same. GO BILLS! They will be right down the road from me when training camp starts next week at St. John Fisher College. But tickets sold out in hours, so I won't be going. Are you from the area, Western NY?
@Anna, if you happen to be dealing with TRP target date funds, they offer 2 options, but to me don't explain them well. They have for instance a 2020 "Target Date" fund that does change allocation as you get older. But they also have a "Retirement" …
@Bitzer, it's bench mark is large value, not the S&P 500. Against it's benchmark, the LV category, it is not performing poorly. Seems LV may be taking a pause right now with higher than normal valuations.
Another way to think of socialism is your social security check, or when medicare takes care of your $20,000 medical treatment. That is an example of socialism too. Is that a bad thing?
Decentralized power, dictatorships, corrupt leadership often g…
Recently I read someone claiming SS and M were overfunded because people are working longer, stressed out and so die early. Conspiracy.
@VintageFreak, are you watching Fox News entertainment again? :)
Traditional target date funds are designed to be held as one's only investment. The idea is that you're leaving the asset allocation to someone else. If you're throwing other stuff into the mix, then you're messing with that allocation. If that's wh…
I also can't remember ever using their trading platform. Let me know if you use it and what you think of it.
Sorry @CathyG, didn't notice this comment before. I've traded stocks, etf's and mutual funds on Schwab's platform and find it very easy. Nev…
I started a small play last week in commodities using USCI, united states commodity index. On the energy side I bought VLO, Valero, last year. I'd like to add to that stock but the damn thing keeps going up.
I don't know I'm right, but that is how I interpret it. TRP has been a very good, fairly conservative fiduciary. I have a hard time believing they would invest peoples money directly in a hedge fund. I think this fund is an interesting choice.
Cathy, load waved or not will be different at a specific brokerage. I believe a brokerage, like Schwab, negotiates these fees with the fund companies. M*, I don't believe, is going to say load waved at this place but not at that place. I guess if yo…
@Crash, I believe there is a distinction about RPGAX investing in Blackstone Hedge Fund Solutions that I haven't heard on this thread yet. The TRP fund is not, I don't believe, investing in a "hedge fund". It is investing in a company that manages h…
But I have found I can usually find as good or better returns funds without loads.
@CathyG, you have it right. Don't be swayed by any baloney about there being a benefit to paying a load on any fund. In any case, most load funds today can be purcha…
at the risk of its being so boring you would never look at the investment again, check out the holding breadth and proportions of the AO_ family --- AOA, AOR, AOM, AOK.
@davidrmoran . you suggested those funds to me in the past and I did take a look…
What kills everyone in New York cost wise is the real estate.
You are talking about the city, not the state. Housing in cities like Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany is down-right cheap compared to the rest of the country. Real estate tax on the…
I watched some of this on c-span. It was almost comical if not painful how Internet-illiterate our leaders are. What was hard about the questions was these men were reading from notes someone gave them but didn't know themselves what they were askin…
Thanks Bud. Excellent article.
Same conclusions I've made over the years. In my revelation, there are no perfect funds and there is no perfect portfolio. But there is an imperfect approach to investing that will kill returns... constantly pursuing…
@Old_skeet, my reply was about target date fund VTTVX. You can not get more diversified then that if you hold 100 funds. It is approximately a 60:40 mix of total domestic stock market, total domestic bond market, total Int'l stock market, total Int'…
@Old_Skeet , That 1 fund is as diversified as you can be. Probably more diversified then your 50+ funds. Maurice is buying a portfolio, not a fund. So, given that, what would be the concern?
I doubt you were serious about selling everything on March 11 No, @Hank, that was my humor :)
I'm perfectly fine with my investing style, 1/2 in a robo, 1/2 self managed. Don't feel I've missed out. Risk and reward is comfortable. PRWCX is the la…
I'm in the same place as expatsp. Just a quick look at yearly returns, it appears this fund held up well in 'down' markets like '15 and this year to date and under performs in good years '16 and '17. I believe a well managed balanced fund will retu…
Thanks @Sven and @Old_Skeet for your responses. When I read here about others buying now I just wonder what they are thinking. Not in a 'your wrong' way, but in a 'what am I missing' thought. I tend to be to conservative sometimes.
Sven, we are on…
I'm wondering what the catalyst to buy now is. Sven, old skeet? Do you guys think the correction is over?
I did put a few Limit orders in on stocks I like, Amazon, Home Depot, Visa, Alibaba. Nothing big. But they have to drop another 12-20% range …
@Crash , where did you get all that, from what mfs said? he summarized by saying "Minor benefits to being able to walk in, but little that's truly essential." He did not suggest that the "person-to-person pow-wow " was a disaster that you describe. …
It's not about "market timing". That word has gotten such a bad rap, why even use it except in a derogatory way. Let's call it something more intelligent like "tactical allocation".
@VintageFreak , tactical allocation funds are market timing funds. …
Everyone's different I suppose. I picked Charles Schwab because they had an office in one of our area suburbs, though Fidelity does also. A brick and mortar presence was my main selection priority (hate talking to who-knows-who on the phone). I pref…
I have been impressed with FCONX, RUSIX or TSYYX.
@bee, not sure what you are impressed with, at least going forward. All these funds return less than current CDs or even money markets.
I agree with both bee and @Hank though.
Also on the HSA which affects me because I turn 65 in less than a year, if you are taking Medicare at 65, you cannot contribute to an HSA less than 6 months prior to your 65th birthday. This is not new, just sharing for anyone who was unaware. For m…
I have an open mind for future consideration. At 64, not planning on it now, but will consider down the road. You don't need insurance selling brokers making big commissions on these products anymore.
In effect, I don't see it any different then …
Pondering buying a broad-basket commodities ETF like USCI (United States Commodity Index Fund). Seems to be holding it's own while the market drops and commodities are typically a good play as inflation rises (I think). Anyone have any thoughts on t…
I have a wish-list buy order in for this stock, but it still has to drop around 18% before it kicks in. That would bring it back to it's Oct. 2017 price range. Keep up the tweets!!!
Isn't April historically one of the better months of the year?
I'll play. I think the market will continue to tread water but will be down slightly at the end of April. But this year, go away in May. I think it will be down 10-15% by end of August.
Thanks @catch22. You can learn something new everyday.
Interesting "middleman" I guess. It makes sense that companies would use a middleman to reduce their own costs of processing smaller buys. Not sure why anyone would choose this platform over a…
I didn't know anyone sent a check to by a stock anymore. Is computershare a brokerage?That might be part of the problem. You may be using a process that isn't well supported. Working within a brokerage house might elevate some of your frustration, s…
If she wants to eliminate volatility or risk of principle loss with some of her money you may want to talk with her about CDs. I believe they may do better than bond funds "for many years" going forward as you stated. Below I attached a link to Bank…
@expatsp, I'm going to go with there is much more probability of down side than up. I'm no expert, but I personally wouldn't add anything right now... except for CDs.
As far as I'm concerned, if the market is going to drop 10, 15, 20%, let it hap…