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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?
Never heard the term "Broker Diversity". Does sound paranoid to me, but to each their own.
Here is some information on 'if a brokerage goes bankrupt', FWIW. I'd have to say, for good or bad, I've never even thought of that in respect to a Fidelity …
Thanks for the forecast @Hank. I just put in a sell everything order to execute 3/11. To clarify, are you saying I should get back in on the 26th? I'd like to be in when the clouds lift! :)
Consider the high ER of these funds, a low cost balanced fund such as VTMFX is a better approach.
@Sven, let me say it again, Precisely!!! That is what bee suggested and I concur.
...a balanced fund wouldn't have the options available to it that an alt fund would and that could change the relative performance.
Where is the evidence for that, other than what is said in the marketing brochure for these funds? And personally I d…
...after all that why not just own VTMFX:
Precisely bee!!! VTMFX or any other well managed balanced fund will out perform 95% of these magical alternative funds over a cycle.
lanternland, if you own a gun or 2 or 3 or 4, or a weapon of war like an AR15, your comments suggest you are exactly a person I would be afraid of. So are you a good guy or a bad guy? Or maybe just a scary guy? It may depend on who you ask.
Listen carefully to the same story on FOX and NPR. They are both biased in their language, slant and emphasis. If you agree with them you don't notice it, unless you really listen carefully
No. False moral equivalency.
Agree with Lewis. NPR in my mi…
Thanks for the info catch. You turned me off with a $40 charge. I use public wifi often when I stop at Panera Bread or McD's to read and have coffee. I actually bought a small Lenova IdeaPad for $150 just to do that. Never access any personal or mon…
Hi Derf, my robo has about 62-63% equities and it dropped -6.7% from high to low. As I look right now it is up +1.5% for the year FWIW. Comparing to the self managed isn't an accurate comparison. The self managed is only about 40-45% equities at th…
If one is going to the CD ladder route it sometimes is worth your while to see what your brokerage firm might be offering.
@Mark , good point Mark, and I did that. My adviser at Schwab suggested they (Schwab) could not compete with the on-line banks…
I agree @Bobpa. What I've learned over the years is that constant tinkering with your funds is a definite drag on total return. I like the stability of the robo, at least for a good chunk of my money. I still like to run my own 'chunk' too, just for…
@Bobpa, I'm not a gold fan myself and I don't hold it in my self managed portfolio, but I will say that my Schwab robo-portfolio holds 5% IAU, a gold index etf. So be it. The robo portfolio is static, so the managers that set the algorithms that mak…
MIkeM It sounds like you are saying short-term bonds do not make sense in this present investment environment.
Yes, that is what I'm saying.
Look at the performance of BBMX, 1.7% return over the last 3 years, 1.3% over the last 5. With rising inter…
Any opinions on these funds? BBBMX EALDX LALDX THOPX
@Bobpa, yes, they all have the same thing in common. Based on YTD, 1, 3 and 5 year return history, they will all earn less than CDs.
That's how rockets landed on Mars or Venus in those old scifi movies back in the 50's. They would typically find a city run by beautiful women if they were on Venus or scary monsters if they happen to land on Mars. Only took NASA 50 years to catch …
I see your distinction @JoJo26, but I don't see the article missing the point or that he is full of crap. The author does make the comment, ...take advantage of current economic and market conditions to produce outsized returns. . I guess that could…
@Bobpa, would a guaranteed 2-3% a year work for at least some of that 50% of your portfolio? That is what CD's are paying now and they most surely will go up as interest rates rise. That's the good news for retirees. Pretty good hedge against decrea…
Good article. Maybe I think that because this approach is what I do. 1/2 my tax deffered retirement money is in a stable index investing robo-portfolio and the other 1/2 I self manage.
Definition I found for smart beta: Smart beta strategies attem…
Zuky! Wow!. I think you win a prize here at MFO for having >100 funds. I think old skeet will be jealous :) . If you are with Schwab, why don't you work with them to help consolidate?
@Old_Skeet , just curious, are you playing these spiff hounds or just reporting what sectors are doing best at the time? Seems very hard to find an investable momentum index in this volatility.
I'll begin a toe-hold in a Pennsylvania bank, BMTC, Bryn Mawr Trust, via DSPP. Very low fees. A good plan.
What is DSPP? Sounds like you are buying a stock. What fees?
In my opinion, many of the ills of gerrymandering and voting straight party line just to get reelected could be stifled with term limits. Stop this possiblity of being a financially lucrative "career" and bring it back to serving people would go a l…
This is actually a mid-cap fund that M* decided to call an allocation fund because of all the cash it's holding. A rose by any other name would still smell as sweet expensive.
Now that you bring it up again, I do remember this fund profiled by David. Looking at it now I also remember why I wasn't interested, net exp 2.06%. Also has a TF at Schwab. It may be a fine risk/return type fund, but it's priced itself out of my co…
@willmat72, you may have much less EM in your portfolio than the 15% you stated. None of the 3 funds you listed are full-in EM funds like an index EM fund would be. There is a lot of developed, bonds and cash in that 3-some total.
For example, it l…
Resistance lines... Really.... Technical analysis is black magic. C'mon people.
Your right. I'm going to turn back to the tried-and-true magic 8-ball. Come on Mr. JoJo, just fun and games here.
By the way, every time I see your username I want to …
@bee, I think your time span is too short and if influenced by what you call the Trump bump, not representative. I would think a "bump" would be considered an anomaly within a wider range. Anyway, if you go back to the start of the bull in 2009 and …
If we stick to @Crash's original question and not try and give our reasons for why or how it's different than other EM funds (it of course is - it's suppose to be), there is no splitting hairs.
I believe SFGIX gives good risk adjusted return. That'…
I see SFGIX has dropped 4.76% from 1/31 to 2/7. I see PRIJX dropped 5.74% in the same time range. SFGIX dropped 17% less than PRIJX. You decide.
I'll edit and throw in another comparison. Schwab's emerging market ETF, SCHE, has dropped 6.9% from …
How about the fund David highlighted in this months commentary, CBLDX? The selling point, I think, is in the statement below from the commentary. If you want low risk, this might be a consideration.
CrossingBridge is an affiliate Cohanzick Managem…
Well, now it gets exciting! :)
The value of my accounts is almost exactly the same as the value on 1/1/18, within a couple hundred. Easy come - easy go. In perspective, I guess that's not bad. Down about 4% from my total portfolio high. I guess tim…
I've never heard of QLAC within an IRA before. Seems like a sweet deal for many retirees seeking a guaranteed income stream for life and looking to lower RMD.
I see 2 huge problems though. 1) QLAC appears to benefit and fit-well for many senior ind…
