I’m also thankful to have the write-up on REMIX. Last year I committed a hefty sum to TMSRX, thinking I’d be satisfied if it out-performed cash. What I discovered was that I was less than thrilled with performance of 0.94% YTD, given that the fund had done much better than that in 2019 and 2020. I sold at a modest profit and redeployed elsewhere. While REMIX is not completely comparable, it represents an alternative to the vast majority of my portfolio holdings which are traditional OEFs, most of which are not defensive. I’m dipping a toe in the water.

Interesting to see how times have changed. I wonder if people had boundless optimism about these companies back then too:

Also, here are the companies in the Dow in September of 1929:
September 14, 1929
Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation
General Foods Corporation †
Paramount Publix Corporation
American Can Company
General Motors Corporation
Radio Corporation of America
American Smelting & Refining Company
General Railway Signal Company
Sears Roebuck & Company
The American Sugar Refining Company
B.F. Goodrich Corporation
Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey
American Tobacco Company (B shares)
International Harvester Company
The Texas Company
Atlantic Refining Company
International Nickel Company, Ltd.
Texas Gulf Sulphur Company
Bethlehem Steel Corporation
Mack Trucks, Inc.
Union Carbide Corporation
Chrysler Corporation
Nash Motors Company
United States Steel Corporation
Curtiss-Wright Corporation †
National Cash Register Company
Westinghouse Electric Corporation
General Electric Company
North American Company
F. W. Woolworth Company

@hank said,

But I’d have more money if I’d sunk 100% in PRWCX 25 years ago and followed with a “RipVanWinkle” act!

I stand at the launch pad of retirement (age 62) thinking that PRWCX, VWINX and a little Cash will provide a safe withdrawal (different than a safe withdrawal rate) in the first ten years of retirement. I am positioning about 1/3 of my portfolio in these two funds (plus 1 year of cash equivalent withdrawals). My hope is to derive both growth and income from these positions.
The remaining 2/3 will hopefully not be needed for 10 years and will be invested for growth (to help fund year 72 - year 92 ). Along the way, I hope to reallocate gains from this long term bucket back into these 2 funds (and replenish cash). I will deal with down markets by withdrawing a little less since I have other reliable monthly income. I am a fan of withdrawing fixed percentages rather than fix dollar amounts and letting the market dictate the ups and downs of the actual dollar amount (withdrawal).
A 4% withdrawal (based on the entire portfolio) from a fund like VWINX which has a MAXXDD of about 10% would mean a withdrawal haircut in a very bad year that equates to 3.6% (10% off of 4%). I can live with that as a number to plan around. I feel VWINX will work well in conjunction with cash (as an alternative withdrawal source) giving VWINX a 1 year recovery time if we have a MAXDD event. PRWCX will remain a 5 - 10 year position that will be milked or kept out to pasture depending on what the market offers. PRWCX's milk will be refrigerated into VWINX and Cash as needed.
Long time (2/3 of my portfolio) I want to invest in trends....healthcare, tech, and consumerism...trying to own the very best funds and the very best fund managers.

I’ve never seen such heightened speculation across the wide investment spectrum. There’s been spec before - but I fear the new crop of retail investors is unprepared for what may happen. Should we worry? Not a lot. But a good analogy might be driving 70-80 mph on a crowed interstate surrounded by other nearby vehicles operated by drunks or folks who aren’t watching the road. All can seem perfectly “normal” until someone begins swerving out of control and brake lights begin flashing in every direction. In the end, everyone pays for the excesses of a few.
Noteworthy among small retail investors, there’s significant leverage being employed. And there has arisen a plethora self-made internet gurus who amass large followings ready to pounce on their next recommendation - or perhaps sell some hapless stock all on the same day. As the M* piece notes, markets can remain in a state of elevated exuberance for years or even decades. But, if history is a guide, the eventual declines can last for years at a time and be brutally painful.
I can’t recall such wild swings in the value of some assets. Energy stands out to me, with crude oil futures going negative in early 2020 and than rapidly gaining about $140 per barrel to $86 about 15 months later. This leads me to believe there’s a lot of hot money chasing assets. If it’s happening to oil, it’s likely happening to other assets. Can’t even get my head around crypto. But it makes the above mentioned swings in oil meager by comparison. Jamie Dimon, head of J.P. Morgan, is no idiot. His assessment is that Bitcoin is worthless.
There’s notably less public concern today than in the late 90s before the “tech-wreck” which saw the NASDAQ drop about 50% in a matter of days, while dragging down other markets along with it. It was more than a decade before the NASDAQ got back to its 2000:high. Where is Alan Greenspan with his “irrational exuberance” warnings of the late 90s? Or Vanguard with its “Trees don’t grow to the sky” cautionary statement to its investors around than?
What to do? Anybody’s guess. None of us can predict the future. Saying that many assets are in speculative territory does not lead to any particular solution. Some of the answer resides in age, risk tolerance and individual skill-set. Some in ancillary issues like pension, home ownership, dependents, life style. A good portion of the answer, however, resides in one’s macro view of how things will evolve going forward. For example, one view is that asset prices will eventually deflate. Another view says paper currencies will be devalued (thru price inflation) making today’s asset prices reasonable. Politics (often heated) here and abroad, has also become an ingredient to be reckoned with when trying to assess the macro view. And there exists, too, a middle road on which there may be winners and losers. We tend to segregate “investments” into domestic stocks and bonds. Simplistic of course. That overlooks potentially attractive foreign markets. And there are assets like real estate, commodities, infrastructure, floating rate loans, gold and silver; as well as derivatives like puts, calls, options, futures that a skilled professional can use to advantage or to reduce overall risk in heated markets. Funds that lean on such approaches have been highlighted recently in the MFO commentary. While I own some such funds, I don’t find them particularly worthy of note.

@David_Snowball
It pretty much summarizes the capital gain distribution estimates of many of the mutual fund families and related links cited above.

20% for PRGTX is noteworthy, but I had no idea that 8% for PRWCX constitutes a 'big distribution' in the eyes of MourningStar. Sheesh!

@David_Snowball
It pretty much summarizes the capital gain distribution estimates of many of the mutual fund families and related links cited above.

Morningstar emailed a note about CG exposure today. Let me know if you think it warrants a separate post. It reads, in part
Morningstar’s associate director of equity strategies, Christopher Franz today published the Capital Gains Roundup for 2021, evaluating distribution estimates for some of the largest fund families.
Highlights include:

• Based on preliminary estimates from fund families large and small, growth funds once again will make significant distributions, but this year resurgent value strategies will make some big distributions, too.
  
• A confluence of another year of robust performance and the ongoing trend of investors swapping out of traditional active vehicles and into exchange-traded funds and other, mostly passive, vehicles have led many managers to realize gains to rebalance their portfolios and meet redemptions.
  
• Many prominent T. Rowe Price funds will make meaningful distributions, and some are closed to new investors, which can cause managers to realize gains to meet shareholder redemptions instead of satisfying them with cash inflows.
  
• Several Fidelity funds are expected to pay a distribution of more than 5% NAV; the large, widely followed, and Silver-rated Fidelity Contrafund expects to payout 8% of NAV on December 13.
  
• A few passive funds at Columbia Threadneedle, which are supposed to be more tax-efficient, estimate they will distribute gains of almost 10% NAV in December.

I have tried a number of different managed futures funds over the years, and find that AHLPX has the best track record. BLNDX has beaten it with about the same risk, but I assume that is because BLNDX can use equities.
M* says BLNDX started in 1/2020 and lost 8% during Covid, beating other hedged equity funds like JHQAX and GATEX, as you might suspect. AHLPX made money that month, however.
Another MFO hedging favorite CTFAX also lost 9%
Lots of different ways to hedge the downside, but it is hard to predict in advance which one will be most effective.

I rarely own Alternative funds but have again been scoping some recently. So please bear with me with this question.
AHLPX is in the same Alternatives subcategory of "Systemic Trends" as PQTAX. Not sure of their respective managed futures exposures and portfolios could be significantly different,
That said, if it were me deciding between the two, all performance metrics I usually review would point me to selecting PQTAX over AHLPX. Volatility is not as an important a metric to me as I subscribe to the axiom of a venerable, former M* who routinely reminded us, "Volatility is the price you pay for growth."
Could/would you have time to compare/contrast these two funds, especially their holdings which are a wee bit above my pay grade, and state why you would/did select AHLPX over PQTAX.
TIA and understand if not interested in responding.

I have tried a number of different managed futures funds over the years, and find that AHLPX has the best track record. BLNDX has beaten it with about the same risk, but I assume that is because BLNDX can use equities.
M* says BLNDX started in 1/2020 and lost 8% during Covid, beating other hedged equity funds like JHQAX and GATEX, as you might suspect. AHLPX made money that month, however.
Another MFO hedging favorite CTFAX also lost 9%
Lots of different ways to hedge the downside, but it is hard to predict in advance which one will be most effective.

I believe the reason REMIX/BLNDX did well during the downturn is it shorted oil, which collapsed in 2020. I also believe it always has at least 50% exposure to stocks. Not positive about this, but if that's true, it should produce decent returns during bull markets, yet be less defensive normally than futures funds that aren't perpetually long stocks in bear markets.

MSSMX and NESGX are the two Fido NTF SCG funds that always end up being my final two funds to select from after screening that cat.
I owned MSSMX for part of its 2020/2021 heyday move. It started to crash in 1Q/2021 and I sold it well UP, and before too much damage was done, moving proceeds to ITOT. It continued to go DOWN and then sideways. I have recently re-opened a position in it but only 1/2 the value I previously held in it. VERY volatile fund but very rewarding LT. Expecting a BIG pop to the upside in the coming months.
NESGX is more expensive, less volatile and similar TRs over standard interim periods, and a very worthy candidate in this cat.

Thanks, David, for pointing out REMIX / BLNDX in the NOVEMBER Commentary. I used to have it on my watchlist, but apparently it had fallen off. Held up real nice in March 2020 (MAX DD of -9.3%).
Managed futures (50% of the fund) are usually a bit of a black hole in my mind, but at least "The positions can be in stocks and fixed income, as well as currencies and commodities."
If REMIX can provide annual returns somewhat similar to FMSDX, but with better downside protection, then it could be a find.
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2021/11/standpoint-multi-asset-fund-forcing-me-to-reconsider/

I've looked into this fund as a domestic micro-cap growth fund as I don't need another small-cap growth fund.
http://portfolios.morningstar.com/fund/summary?t=NESGX&region=usa&culture=en-US
M* has given it five stars. It has been a top quarterly performer in the WSJ at least on one occasion that I can remember (one was the April 5, 2020 edition, "Hanging In: Stock Funds’ No. 1 Manager Gained 12.8%." There may have been a couple of other occasions, but I can neither find nor remember.
If you don't have a small cap growth fund, this may be a good option as it has been a good performer for the last several years.
From Needham:
https://www.needhamfunds.com/commentary-insight/in-the-news/?news-category=all&news-topic=all&news-year=all
https://www.needhamfunds.com/mutual-funds/small-cap-growth-fund/
Another article:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210311005645/en/Needham-Small-Cap-Growth-Fund-Wins-Two-2021-Refinitiv-Lipper-Fund-Awards

This topic came up in a different thread. There seems to be a lot of confusion and controversy over these businesses. Solid information is very hard to come by. (I’ve searched for hours.) Apparently, when you access your account at a bank, mutual fund company, brokerage, etc. it’s likely that the actual functionality of that site is being provided by some third party under contract with the firm. Yodlee is one of the largest and a subject of much scrutiny.
One Story
Brief excerpt from above:
Charles Schwab & Co. and Fidelity Investments have finally taken action against "screen scrapers" largely by piping them better data that obviates the need to siphon it intrusively. For the first time, the San Francisco and Boston RIA custodians and retail brokerage giants will openly share data with aggregators -- and competitors like Envestnet-owned Yodlee--as well as each other.
In a nutshell - even if “anonymous” our data is valuable to others like marketers and investment houses who want to know things about how we invest, how much our holdings are worth and whether we’re buying bonds, stocks - or maybe opening a short position. A group of Democratic lawmakers called on the FTC in 2020 to investigate Yodlee for allegedly selling confidential investor information. The FTC took up the case, but I can’t find whether or not anything was ever resolved. I’ve read that a former Trump attorney is suing Yoldee - so they must have antagonized both sides of the political spectrum. FTC Case
Other links / citations welcome.

Better than Bitcoin ….. From this week’s Barron’s (11/1)
“Bitcoin investors are probably thrilled with the coin's 50% gains over the past few weeks. But that's nothing compared with the Squid Game token that popped up this past week. Pegged to an online game inspired by the hit Netflix series, the “play to earn” coin rocketed nearly 5,000% over three days, going from 12 cents to $6. It's now worth $475 million, according to CoinMarketCap.”

From the article:
"The tables show the stock market as a whole did best when rates were steady, as contrasted with what you might expect, with an average annualized return of 26.73% during four such periods. Surprisingly, it did the worst when rates were falling with an average annualized return of -3.72, and with an average annualized return of 10.89 when rates were rising!"
Equal's - by the time the Fed reacts, raising or lowering, the results have already been generally cooked in.
Implications for Investors
"Right now, even though the Fed is highly likely to quite soon begin phasing out its bond purchases, called quantitative easing, that is not the same as actually raising rates. Since the Fed Chairman has repeatedly stated the Fed is not expected to raise rates until those purchases have ended sometime later next year, we can assume that rates will remain stable until then, as they have been since the last series of cuts ended on March 15, 2020. Given this data and the fact that the overall market has shown to perform best when rates are stable, it appears likely that stocks can do considerably well until then."

I was concerned about possible integration issues, so a year ago we took advantage of Schwab waiving account closing fees at TDA and made the move before it was done in mass.

Same here. I've been through brokerage mergers before and wanted to avoid the inevitable chaos/headaches, so I fled TDA in August 2020 for Schwab and kept just a toehold in the account so I can access statements, charting, and live data. I really miss thinkDesktop and can't wait for it to become part of Schwab, though.
The week-long technical problems at TDA at that time which locked many users out of their accounts (and their exec's silence in the face of widespread public complaints) also made it easy to GTFO of there ASAP, too. They handled that situation HORRIBLY.

@Mark: Did you get any important “take-aways” from the most recent newsletter you might distill for us?
I got this far and than they wanted me to setup a free account: “A Steady Fed Suggests Further Gains In The Overall Stock Market”
That’s been the conventional wisdom for a long time now. Money is / has been cheap (since 2008). We could play some games with that widely held belief by plugging in various possible scenarios
1. Rates stay low indefinitely and stocks go up forever.
2. Rates fall even further (below 0) and the Fed begins buying up equities to “protect” investors, 401-Ks and the like. The stock market goes even higher - forever.
3. Inflation soars. Rates stay low. The stock market continues to rise - but your market “winnings” buy substantially less. (This may not persist for long, as debtors would fare better during prolonged high inflation than the wealthier individuals / corporations who lent the money.)
4. Inflation soars. Rates rise steeply. Stocks tumble.

Oakmark
https://oakmark.com/news-insights/2021-fund-capital-gain-distribution-estimates/

No deductions. None. And I assume the tax applies to all income. For all taxpayers including businesses, which is the subject of this thread.
So we eliminate the deduction that mutual funds get for passing through their earnings to investors. Make no mistake, that's a deduction that they get now. See IRC 26 USC § 852, that talks about "the deduction for dividends paid", including "capital gain dividends". Mutual funds will be taxed on their earnings.
And we eliminate the IRA deduction. That's an "above the line" deduction rather than an itemized deduction, but a deduction is a deduction. We want to keep things simple. Obviously HSA, FSA, 401k deductions, and so forth also get tossed.
And income is income, no special cases there either. In the above cited 26 USC § 852 is §852(b)(6). That excludes certain sales of appreciated property from being counted as income. Of course that special treatment has to go in pursuit of simplicity and fairness. That's the exclusion that enables ETFs to spin off capital gains without them being taxed. So now we tax the ETF in-kind transactions like all other income.
Regarding the suggested tax regimen generally, Milton Friedman was more considerate of the poor. In 1962 he proposed what he called a negative income tax. The amount paid on zero income would be negative, and taxes increased (at a flat rate) as one's income increased.
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/23/business/23scene.html
https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/negative-income-tax-explained