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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.
  • JPMorgan Climate Change Solutions ETF will be liquidated
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1485894/000119312525182663/d50317d497.htm
    497 1 d50317d497.htm J.P. MORGAN EXCHANGE-TRADED FUND TRUST
    J.P. MORGAN EXCHANGE-TRADED FUNDS
    JPMorgan Climate Change Solutions ETF
    (the “Fund”)
    (a series of J.P. Morgan Exchange-Traded Fund Trust)
    Supplement dated August 18, 2025
    to the current Summary Prospectus, Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, as supplemented
    NOTICE OF LIQUIDATION OF THE JPMORGAN CLIMATE CHANGE SOLUTIONS ETF. The Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of the Fund has approved the liquidation and dissolution of the Fund on or about October 10, 2025 (the “Liquidation Date”). Effective immediately, in connection with the liquidation and dissolution, the Fund may depart from its stated investment objective and strategies as it increases its cash holdings in preparation for its liquidation. On the Liquidation Date (for settlement, the date after the Liquidation Date), the Fund shall distribute pro rata to its shareholders of record all of the assets of the Fund in complete cancellation and redemption of all of the outstanding shares of beneficial interest, except for cash, bank deposits or cash equivalents in an estimated amount necessary to (i) discharge any unpaid liabilities and obligations of the Fund on the Fund’s books on the Liquidation Date, including, but not limited to, income dividends and capital gains distributions, if any, payable through the Liquidation Date, and (ii) pay such contingent liabilities as the officers of the Fund deem appropriate subject to ratification by the Board. Income dividends and capital gain distributions, if any, may be paid on or prior to the Liquidation Date.
    After the close of business on Friday, October 3, 2025, the Fund will no longer accept creation orders. This is also expected to be the last day of trading of shares of the Fund on the NYSE Arca, Inc. (“NYSE”). Shareholders should be aware that after the close of business on Friday, October 3, 2025, the Fund will no longer engage in any business activities except for the purposes of selling and converting into cash all of the assets of the Fund, paying its liabilities, and distributing its remaining proceeds or assets to shareholders (the “Liquidating Distribution”). Furthermore, during the time between market close on Friday, October 3, 2025 and the Liquidation Date, shareholders will be unable to dispose of their shares on NYSE.
    Shareholders may sell their holdings of the Fund, incurring typical transaction fees from their broker-dealer, on NYSE until market close on Friday, October 3, 2025, at which point the Fund’s shares will no longer trade on NYSE and the shares will be subsequently delisted. Shareholders who continue to hold shares of the Fund on the Liquidation Date will receive a Liquidating Distribution (if any) with a value equal to their proportionate ownership interest in the Fund on that date. Such Liquidating Distribution received by a shareholder, if any, may be in an amount that is greater or less than the amount a shareholder might receive if they dispose of their shares on NYSE prior to market close on Friday, October 3, 2025. The Fund’s liquidation and payment of the Liquidating Distribution may occur prior to or later than the dates listed above.
    Shareholders who receive a Liquidating Distribution generally will recognize a capital gain or loss equal to the amount received for their shares over their adjusted basis in such shares. Please consult your personal tax advisor about the potential tax consequences.
    INVESTORS SHOULD RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT
    WITH THE SUMMARY PROSPECTUS, PROSPECTUS AND STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL
    INFORMATION FOR FUTURE REFERENCE
    SUP-TEMP-825
  • Approaches to placing ETF trade orders?
    In my limited experience, the answer really depends on several factors. For example, securities traded in high volume, >10M shares or higher, have narrow ask and bid prices while these values fluctuate throughout the day as they are being traded. Conversely, low volume securities trade are volatile and challenging to trade. During down market, stocks can fall several % in that day and it snap back at closing or it may continue to fall. This is where one needs the proper training. Day traders on meme stocks often don’t fare well.
    Professional traders who are skilled to exploit these movements do much better. Small gains in large block trades start to add up. But these traders have many supports. I still have much to learn, thus i stay within my competence.
    @larryB, SCHD is traded in high volume on daily basis. Trading at market price throughout the day is probably close to the closing market price.
    @hank, i am using the free version of Stock Tracker: real time - pretty old fashion layout but it works. The advanced version costs $90 a year.
  • Trends in 401k Allocations
    My 403(b) remains entirely in dividend-paying equities in RWMGX. Thankfully Capital Group's funds aren't beholden to (or track) the Mag-7 that overweights indices and therefore forces insane performance-chasing. For some accounts, I boring is beautiful.
    The only changes to that account I'd consider making right now is shiftting a not-insignificant (25-40%) percentage into EUPAC (RERGX) for greater international diversification .. but I'm still on the fence.
  • Trends in 401k Allocations
    Thanks @yogibearbull.
    A subscriber. Pulled up the article which bears out what I expected.
    ”Workers across nearly all age groups are investing record portions of their 401(k) accounts in equities. After years of relentless market gains, they are either allocating more to stocks or having it done for them by money managers.”
    Historically flows into these plans have increased when markets are hot but have fallen off during bear markets. Going from recollection. Perhaps someone will prove me wrong. But if correct … they’re doing it backwards. Ought to invest more in down markets.
  • M* Annual Mutual Fund List
    @PRESSmUP,
    From the VTMFX fact sheet (dated June 30, 2025):
    "The fund invests approximately 50% to 55% of its assets in municipal securities
    and the balance in common stocks. The fixed income portion of the fund is concentrated
    in high-quality municipal securities with a dollar-weighted average maturity expected
    to be between 6 and 12 years."
    "The fund’s stock holdings are chosen from the stocks that pay lower dividends
    within the Russell 1000 Index—an index that is made up of stocks of large- and
    mid-capitalization U.S. companies. The fund uses statistical methods to 'sample'
    the index, aiming to minimize taxable dividends while approximating the other
    characteristics of the index."
    https://institutional.vanguard.com/assets/corp/fund_communications/pdf_publish/us-products/fact-sheet/F0103.pdf
    According to M*, the equity sleeve mirrors Vanguard Tax-Managed Capital Appreciation,
    while the muni sleeve is similar to Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt.
    https://www.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/vtmfx/analysis
  • M* Annual Mutual Fund List
    I have the dubious distinction of owning one fund on that list, in a taxable account. As of today the fund reported YTD realized capital gains of over 14% of NAV. Its after tax returns, already poor, are getting much worse.
  • Do you currently have any shorts on? (+ other hedges)
    Thanks. Learned more than I wanted to.
    I’ve made a few pennies in the past shorting some / all of the 3 major indexes over short periods (couple or few weeks). Luck. Could have gone either way. And the gains weren’t large. You’d have lost your pants keeping shorts on all the time in this market. @yogibearbull. I’ll need to learn more about options.
  • QDSNX Confusion
    With the market at an all time high, and generally considered to be overvalued, I bought additional shares in QDSNX, an alternative fund with an excellent risk/reward profile which has worked very well for me so far.
    It never had a losing calendar year since its inception in July 2020. Even in 2022, a year of significant losses for most funds, the fund's total return was a gain of 14.5%. The max. drawdown over the life of the fund was 4.55%, that was from June to July of 2022. The drawdown was recovered by November 2022, according to Portfolio Visualizer. 
    By the way, QDSNX's correlation to the S&P 500 is 0.12.
    That’s a great correlation. Every decent equity or allocation fund has a .80-.90 correlation to index.
    Even JPMorgan Hedged Equity Fund, JHQAX, and FPACX has correlation of .70-75 for 5, 10 year periods. JPMorgan Hedged Equity Fund I (JHEQX) Is .85.
    BLNDX does have .11 correlation.
  • Plz help me wrap my head around the tax liability connected to my shares in an L.P.
    If you don’t sell, then you still have Annual Tax Liabilities for Holding LP Interests.
    Your Schedule K-1 is where all pass-through items show up.
    Federal Income Tax on Distributive Share
    Your share of the LP’s profits and losses “pass through” to you each year, even if no cash is distributed. You’ll owe ordinary income tax on your distributive share of business income and capital gains at your individual rates.
    Reporting and Forms
    Each year the partnership files Form 1065 and issues you a Schedule K-1. You report the K-1 items—ordinary income, interest, rental income, capital gains, etc.—on Schedule E of Form 1040 and pay any tax due with your return.
    Self-Employment Tax
    If you’re a general partner, you’ll owe self-employment tax on your share of ordinary business income. Limited partners generally avoid SE tax on distributions unless they receive guaranteed payments for services or materially participate beyond the “limited partner” rules.
    Estimated Tax Payments
    Because LP distributions typically have no withholding, you’ll need to make quarterly estimated tax payments to the IRS and state authorities. Underpaying can trigger penalties and interest, so use last year’s tax or the safe-harbor methods to calculate your installments.
    State and Local Income Taxes
    If the LP operates in multiple states, you may have to file returns and pay income tax where the partnership has nexus. Some states impose entity-level taxes or fees in addition to personal income tax on your distributive share.
    ---
    Other Annual Considerations
    - Passive activity loss limitations may restrict deductions if you don’t materially participate; unused losses carry forward.
    - Net Investment Income Tax (3.8%) can apply to capital gains, interest, and certain rental income above AGI thresholds.
    - Alternative Minimum Tax preferences can be triggered by partnership items.
    Tracking Basis:
    Basis and At-Risk Limitations
    Initial Basis: Cash or property you contributed.
    Adjustments:
    Increase by your share of income and additional contributions.
    Decrease by distributions and your share of losses.
    Loss Deductions: Limited to the lesser of your basis or “at-risk” amount (usually equal to basis for LPs)
    https://accountinginsights.org/the-taxation-of-a-limited-partnership/
    https://www.upcounsel.com/limited-partnership-tax-return
  • Wasatch International Small Cap Value & Wasatch Global Small Cap Value funds in registration
    Thanks for posting the link!
    I don't interpret it as having trouble, but the funds are in "quiet period" with SEC so they are getting everything in order before the funds start to being offered. It appears the opening date has been moved from August 11 to September 10. Look at how long the T Rowe Price Capital Appreciation and Income Fund was announced back in 2017/2018 only to open a year or two ago.
  • QDSNX Confusion
    With the market at an all time high, and generally considered to be overvalued, I bought additional shares in QDSNX, an alternative fund with an excellent risk/reward profile which has worked very well for me so far.
    It never had a losing calendar year since its inception in July 2020. Even in 2022, a year of significant losses for most funds, the fund's total return was a gain of 14.5%. The max. drawdown over the life of the fund was 4.55%, that was from June to July of 2022. The drawdown was recovered by November 2022, according to Portfolio Visualizer. 
    By the way, QDSNX's correlation to the S&P 500 is 0.12.
  • Do You Really Need 'Private' Investments? (Independent Vanguard Adviser, 05.27.2025)
    "Some funds have exploited an accounting loophole by buying stakes in other private-equity funds at big
    discounts on the secondary market and then marking them up immediately to their official net asset values.
    Sometimes the technique has resulted in gains of 1,000% or more in a single day."

    "But other funds make comparisons complicated, if not impossible, by listing the cost figures
    in lengthy footnotes, rather than in the main tables. The only way to determine the size of the markups
    is to manually match the costs for each investment (in the footnote) with the latest fair values listed
    on the disclosure table. Even that doesn’t always work."

    "Take, for instance Partners Group Private Equity (Master Fund),
    which last reported almost $16 billion of net assets.
    It is the largest SEC-registered private-equity fund, according to Interval Fund Tracker."

    image
    https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/general/how-one-big-private-equity-fund-makes-its-numbers-incomprehensible/ar-AA1Kr02r
  • Listed Alt Funds Are Disappearing
    @yogibearbull
    The alleged die-off of alternative funds in the '10s could be evidence of healthy 'wheat from chaff' separation typical of any newly emerging category. Chart in the article ends at 2020, which leaves me wondering whether the improved quality of the offerings and better understanding of the market has led to more encouraging statistics over the most recent 5-year timeframe.
    Here is some evidence.
    The Globe and Mail: Alternative funds see big jump in flows in first half of 2025 (08-06-25) [paywall]
    "Ian Tam, director of investment research for Canada at Morningstar Inc., says almost $9-billion flowed into liquid alternative mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the first half of 2025. A whopping $6.1-billion was invested in the first quarter of the year alone – more than double the inflows of any previous quarter since liquid alts came to market in 2019.
    "Alternative funds accounted for 26 per cent of mutual fund sales in the first half of the year, Mr. Bragg says, while liquid alt ETFs made up about 4 per cent of total ETF sales in the first half.
    "Performance has been relatively steady across the range of liquid alternative asset funds, which includes alternative credit and equity, market neutral, multi-strategy, and private debt and equity. The average one-year return is 7.4 per cent, the three-year average is 8.1 per cent, and the five-year average is 6.7 per cent, according to data from Morningstar.
    "Alternative investments have changed with the times, Mr. Johnston says. They used to mean investing your money for years with no liquidity options, no interim cash flow, and no secondary market, which doesn’t work for the average retail investor, he says.
    Now, funds have lower investment minimums, shorter holding periods, liquidity options and a secondary market."

  • giroux brief pod
    not much new here, but i find it very re-assuring when he takes a confident stand such as anti-tsla, which trp most certainly holds in some funds.
    this is not your typical trader\manager that capitulates on logic simply because some price goes up and stays elevated longer than expected.
    momentum likely plays a minor role for giroux only during large block trading, where these houses have dedicated specialists.
    am glad to pay slightly higher fees for such a mindset, especially GARP which i find tricky on individual names. i see giroux more now as a conservative but opportunistic asset allocater rather than stock picker. i have traded prwcx for prcfx in all ret holdings, and elsewhere w/min tax gains.
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/audio/2025-08-06/inside-active-t-rowe-s-giroux-on-avoiding-fatally-flawed-firms
  • Moneymarket Rate Creep
    I'm using M*'s chart page (a tab found on any fund/ETF page) such as:
    https://www.morningstar.com/etfs/arcx/fltr/chart
    Set the Frequency to Daily and the Data Type to "Growth w/Dividend". That gives you total return and scales each fund charted comparably (total returns relative to $10K start).
    If you set a date range of not more than 20 years or so, you can see where the peaks and valleys are. (You won't see much of anything if you look at the lifetime of VWELX, as that spans 86 years.) Mouse over spots to get approximate gains (losses). Or spend a couple of minutes zooming in on the exact start point you want. Then M* will calculate the exact gain on each subsequent date.
    Over VRIG's lifetime (starting 9/20/16) FLTR has outperformed, though barely: 34.17% vs. 33.82% cumulative.
    Zooming in to 2/1/20 through 4/1/20, one sees that they both peaked on 2/19/20. Setting that as the start point, one sees VRIG hit bottom on 3/26, losing 13.0437%, and FLTR hit its bottom on 3/18/20, losing 17.8062%. Other dips are similar though much smaller and not worth worrying about.
    VRIG lost 1.3786% from 11/14/18 to 12/21/18; FLTR lost 1.8535 from 11/13/18 to 12/21/18.
    VRIG lost 2.2798% from 1/21/22 to 6/16/22; FLTR lost 3.0049% from 2/7/22 to 6/16/22.
    VRIG lost 0.7763% from 4/2/25 to 4/7/25; FLTR lost 1.9253% from 4/2/25 to 4/4/25.
    YTD, FLTR has outperformed 3.11% vs 3.03%.
    Overall, neither FLTR's small outperformance nor its slightly deeper short term losses seem consequential. This slight difference is mirrored in FLTR's slightly higher standard deviation. FWIW, M* gives FLTR a risk score of 3 (out of 100), and VRIG a 2. All of this is just splitting hairs.
    I don't recognize what's in the CLO ETFs either. Another potential risk there.
    Finally, I'll add that I keep looking at CBLDX. My concern here is that unlike Sherman's RPHIX, it doesn't mitigate risk by buying "money good" debt. Still, the numbers (stability of returns) impress for somewhat longer term cash.
  • Moneymarket Rate Creep
    One has to be comfortable with a large amount of hi-yield fare in RPHIX. I ended up with CBUDX instead. Information on the composition of the funds is near the bottom of the links. Two funds near their range of M* standard deviation would be JPST and FLOT.
    This is what makes AAA CLOs so interesting. We've seen that no matter how an investment is structured (AAAs being first in line from a whole pool of debt) nothing will protect you if the whole house of cards comes tumbling down. That's what happened with CDOs in 2008.
    What’s especially notable is that slight differences between CLOs and CDOs have given CLOs more resistance to economic downturns. In fact, a [White & Case] report notes that CLOs were minimally affected by the same troubles as CDOs during the Great Recession. A shift toward CLOs and away from CDOs could benefit traders, investors and lenders without forming a bubble that would inevitably burst.
    https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/10353-cdo-financial-derivatives-economic-crisis.html
    I'm not ready to pull the trigger on AAA CLOs just yet. Let's see what happens over the next few months. Even then, I'd look at just the best of the best - the most "pure" AAA CLO fund. That seems to be PAAA. Though JAAA serves as a good reference for how AAA CLOs have behaved over a few years. And JBBB serves as a good comparison for seeing how the quality of the tranche (AAA vs BBB) matters.
    An ETF I haven't seen mentioned that's somewhat in FLOT's space is VRIG. FLOT and FLRN hold about 2/3 of their assets in corporate bonds (the rest in gov bonds) and track each other closely. VRIG takes a different path, splitting its non-gov bonds evenly between corporate and securitized. This seems to result in slightly more risk but with commensurate rewards.
    VRIG has a longer (but still miniscule) effective duration (0.23 years vs. 0.01 years); lower credit quality (A+ vs. AA-), worse 3 year std dev (0.99 vs 0.57) resulting in a lower Sharpe ratio (1.34 vs 1.81). On the plus side, VRIG comes with better long term performance.
    It also seems to do better with short term jolts:
    Feb-March 2020: both dropped around 13% (daily data);
    March 2023: both dropped around 1½% through March 13 but FLOT continued dropping another ¾% over the next few days;
    April 2025: VRIG dropped ¾% while FLOT dropped twice that.
    Some have used the word "gamble". I'm still looking for how best to spread my bets.
  • QDSNX Confusion
    @fred495
    Congrats & thanks for sharing. Have you tried dissecting the fund’s holdings / positioning to determine where the outsized gains have come from? Things like opportunistic short positions, high yield bonds, exposure to gold … big tech or non-dollar denominated stuff? I know that kind of analysis takes a lot of time and perseverance. M* doesn’t seem to list QDSNX’s top investments in any specificity.
    What I can glean from M* the top sector “exposure” is 17% in technology, followed by 16% in financial.
    These numbers from M* (Classic View) appear a bit off-the-wall. I have owned L/S funds before, but can’t recall numbers as high as these.
    Long equity 135% / Short Equity 127%
    Long fixed income 291% / Short fixed income 278%
    Short cash 174% / Long cash 204%
    In defense of those large numbers, it does appear the bond duration is largely on the short end with approximately 50% under 1 year out. Bond quality looks good with about 70-80% investment grade.
  • QDSNX Confusion
    A few observations about this FoF, and replicating it on your own:
    Unlike Vanguard that uses expensive share classes of underlying funds, AQR uses its cheapest (R-6) share class for acquired funds. In replicating this FoF, one would only have access to N class shares - adding 0.35% to the cost. That's still less than the 0.44% that QDSNX charges, but it is close.
    Shorting is not cheap. One can see this in the underlying fund QMNRX. Its offical ER is 4.55%. When M* backs out the cost of shorting, it comes up with an "adjusted" ER of 1.23%.
    M* says that the managers add value by tactically varying the weights of the underlying funds. I'm not so sure.
    I took what appears to be the nominal weights by rounding the current weights. Over the past five years (nearly the whole lifetime of the fund), from end of July 2020 to end of July 2025 (60 months), M* says QDSNX returned 11.76% annualized. Portfolio Visualizer concurs exactly. But the DIY portfolio (annual rebalancing) returned 11.95%.
    Portfolio Visualizer five year comparison
    Unfortunately, after subtracting 0.35%/year to use the more costly retail shares, one falls a little short of the QDSNX return.
    To address @hank's concern about this fund being too new, you can take the PV model, and set it for max timeframe (PV is limited to ten years). The static mix I used to approximate QDSNX did not distinguish itself over the ten year span. Perhaps the actual QDSNX would have done better with its managers resetting weights than with this static mix.
    I also added a second portfolio, a blend of Wellington and cash, that gave similar performance over the past decade.
    Portfolio Visualizer ten year performance
  • The Inflation Hedge That Cost Investors 17% of Their Purchasing Power
    Thanks @yogibearbull. Most of the articles I’ve seen on TIPS are positive. This one is an outlier (which I was searching for). Yes, it’s somewhat dated - referencing the 2020-2022 period. I think it says more about the herd mentality of retail investors than anything else. Many buy what’s been going up and sell when it turns south.
    You are correct that TIPs funds bear little resemblance to TIPs held individually / laddered. Fair criticism. There has been some recent discussion here of a short-term TIPS fund. These are safer than the intermediate / long term funds the article likely references.
    One more article I’ve dug up takes a more neutral stance on TIPS, pointing out the benefits and potential risks. All of this side-steps the issue of how accurate the BLS CPI data is / or will be going forward - a hot topic now days. Worth considering as the TIPs inflation adjustment incorporates that data.
    I’ve posted these articles merely to show that investing in TIPS (especially thru funds) will not necessarily protect against inflation under all circumstances. There are no free lunches.