Thanks for the comments particularly MSF. A couple of things have changed in the recent past. SABA Capital Management increased their stake in SOR and now holds 9% of he shares. "Saba selectively pursues an activist approach where corporate actions may be an effective tool to unlock shareholder value and monetize the discount to NAV." The dividend for March, April and May was increased by 42%. I suspect these actions have resulted in the narrowing of the discount. It was over 13% at the end of DEC. It does look though that this may not be a good time for purchasing more. Your correct FPACX lowered the ER at least until September. Maybe it's a good time to sell?

TMSRX doesn't appeal to me, at first glance. I don't even know what TRP lists as being contained in its portfolio.

T Rowe Price lists complete holdings of each of its funds within in each quarter of a year on its website. This is a link to the last quarter of 2020 for TMSRX:
https://individual.troweprice.com/staticFiles/gcFiles/pdf/phmsrq4.pdf
If that doesn't work try this page and then select the fund. From the new page that appears select the quarter:
https://www.troweprice.com/personal-investing/funds/mutual-funds/prospectuses-reports/portfolio-holdings.html

Ah, thanks very much for that! Almost too much information. But it's great to see it all, spelled-out in front of me. :)

@Sven: thanks for reminding me about the two different types of TDFs at TRP. In my retirement account at TIAA, my former employer’s choices determine the funds I can use. The Vanguard funds you allude to are what I have chosen, while I use TIAA index funds for pure equity exposure. Harbor Capital Appreciation is the only actively managed stock fund I own in that account.
@Catch: sorry for mistaking you for @Crash, or visa versa. One COVID activity we initiated is feeding the birds. After finally figuring out how to keep the deer and squirrels from stealing the birdseed, I still need to replenish the feeder daily because our place has become very popular. I wonder if feeding the woodpeckers will deter them from attacking our cedar siding.

TMSRX doesn't appeal to me, at first glance. I don't even know what TRP lists as being contained in its portfolio.

T Rowe Price lists complete holdings of each of its funds within in each quarter of a year on its website. This is a link to the last quarter of 2020 for TMSRX:
https://individual.troweprice.com/staticFiles/gcFiles/pdf/phmsrq4.pdf
If that doesn't work try this page and then select the fund. From the new page that appears select the quarter:
https://www.troweprice.com/personal-investing/funds/mutual-funds/prospectuses-reports/portfolio-holdings.html

@Crash and @BenWP,
I think we are thinking along the same line. In order to simply our lives, we have been consolidate the holdings in our tax-deferred accounts. Our 401(K) accounts have moved to a Vanguard target date funds and the returns have been quite respectable as shown in 2020. Certainly we appreciate to consolidate from 10 funds to just one.
Outside the 401(K), we are also considering to use TRP's target date funds as the core holding and complement it with our favorite funds such as PRWCX and TMSRX. Several things to like about TRP target date funds:
1. Their flexible thinking on asset allocation and how to make the necessary changes in order for the investors to meet their future goals. In this low yield environment, traditional bond allocation may not work. See Sebastien Page's WealthTrack on Feb 20th, 2021.
https://mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/54612/wealthtrack-weekly-investment-show-with-consuelo-mack#latest
Vanguard takes on a more traditional asset allocation approach.
2. Solid active-managed funds plus a small allocation of S&P500 index fund.
3. Reasonable expense ratio (but not the lowest as in those of Vanguard)
Note that TRP offers two series of target date funds (Retirement and Target date) and their glide path is slight different. Retirement series is a bit more aggressive one of the two. I think RPGAX is a reasonable choice but I prefer the bond funds used in the Retirement funds.

Good post @bee.
Not mentioned in the excerpt is how unfair the pandemic has been to lower income Americans who weren’t able to work from home and many of whom don’t participate in the stock market. Yet, they have endured the disease and suffering to a greater extent than the better-off along with being hit with the rising prices for food and essentials.
What they say about pent-up demand is true. Took just 6 days after the 2nd Pfizer injection to book a flight to a warmer climate. Hear similar stories from others - some booking trips on faith before even being vaccinated. Airfares are likely to go to the sky. I have several big home maintenance jobs due - some deferred earlier out of concerns about having workers inside during worst of the pandemic. Very concerned about a looming labor shortage and higher labor / materials costs.
Your excerpt implies we might be in for a 10-year romp akin to the 20s. Of course, there are some differences. My Accord Hybrid gets much better mileage than did Gatsby’s Rolls Royce. Also, in his day gas was something like 20 cents a gallon. 10 more years of rising stock prices? A bit too much to expect - unless a “bubble inside of bubble” develops. Could happen.

As of 12/31/2020, the largest holding of BRSVX was GameStop. Not a stock I would expect John Montgomery to buy, but what do I know? M* claims the stock has gained 6,500% over the previous year. My experience with Bridgeway funds was that some years are blowouts and others the obverse.

Less than a year ago you (or your commodities / real assets fund manager) could have purchased a futures contract for oil selling at below $0. Much better to have had that kind of foresight / act in a timely manner than to be piling into oil and other commodities after huge one-year run-ups. Not to say they won’t continue to surge. Just saying ...
Generally, I think the best way to stay ahead of inflation is to be a good investor. Lots of good investors here. “Steady as she goes.” Grow the portfolio.
Re commodities - I’ve always kept around 10% in commodities, precious metals and real estate funds for diversification as well as an inflation hedge. Actually pulled back a bit recently after nice run-up.
@bee - Thanks for the question. Worth discussing.
-
Referenced Story (April 2020)
“US oil prices turned negative for the first time on record on Monday. ... The price of US crude oil crashed from $18 a barrel to -$38 in a matter of hours, as rising stockpiles of crude threatened to overwhelm storage facilities and forcedoil producers to pay buyers to take the barrels they could not store ... On Tuesday prices rebounded above above zero, with the US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for May changing hands at $1.10 a barrel after closing at -$37.63 in New York on Monday.”
For reference - Oil today is priced in the $65-$70 range.

Looking at Linkedin, Charles de Lardemelle is a private investor at Finiva, LLC since July 2020.

Did you notice that their monthly distributions fluctuate depending upon their returns? Also notice that the bulk of those distributions are comprised of long-term capital gains. If you're okay with that then I see no reason to not go forward. (As a point of curiosity how does the distribution and it's composition differ between the CEF version and the mutual fund version?)

The more restrained shale drillers are this year, “the more they can potentially grow production at higher prices next year and beyond,” Tran said.
As crude prices climb, the odds of another shale boom rise, JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts including Natasha Kaneva wrote in a March 11 note to clients. Even with flat capital spending, efforts are under way to maintain or grow production at low cost, according to the bank.
“At current prices, most U.S. onshore operators are economic, leaving a vast group of operators, from large public companies to private players, in good position to ramp up activity” in the second half of this year and build solid momentum for higher output in 2022

https://bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-12/the-giants-of-u-s-shale-are-proving-opec-right-with-discipline?srnd=premium

Howdy folks,
Nice discussion and Hank is spot on. The gold and silver markets are weird due to their very nature, particularly gold. For centuries it was basis for all currencies and while no longer legally so, it still impacts the actions of central banks and government treasuries.
Physical bullion is traded in the commodity market while the miners are traded in the stock market. Is there some great conspiracy to depress the POG? I don't believe so. Never have. It's simply that if anyone has the power to legally move the market to their advantage - duh, they will. Human nature. Hank mentioned the bookies. Same thing.
The demand equation is even more bizarre. Different between gold and silver but extremely diverse. Store of value, medium of exchange, survivalists, coin collectors, industrial, ad nauseum. Right now, there is a shift from gold to bitcoin for some of the store of value folks. That's fine and expected. There is also some of the EOTWAWKI crowd vis-a-vis the election and pandemic, selling some of their emergency hoard. That said, 2020 was a good year with gold up 25% and silver 48%.
I'm still of the opinion that everyone should have between 3-7% of their wealth in the precious metals, preferably physical bullion in some form. More than this is speculation, which fine, but dicey due to the nature of the market. I have never attempted to time it or short term play it. I don't know enough. That said, I LOVE to momentum invest in it when the momentum exists - with my casino money.
I have always preferred silver to gold, originally due to affordability and later due to experience. I worked restaurants in the mid-70's and bought all the 90% silver out of the till at face value. Then I went back to school to finish my degree in econ and paid for it with GI Bill and the proceeds of selling my silver stash into the Hunt Bros attempt to corner the market. OoohRah!
What I noticed was the gold went up 3x while silver went up 10x and the spectacular gains were made in the junior mining stocks. This is how I played the Big Bonanza from 2002 to 2011, Heavy silver and heavier silver miners. The junior penny stock that have 5 digit ticker symbols. Nose bleed rascals that can easily move 10% up or down in a day.
and so it goes,
peace and wear the damn mask,
rono

Thank you for the update. Reviewed the 3-alarm and great owls funds this year versus 2020. Quite a change as the style rotation took place. Will report back after further analysis.

In looking at the presumed fund that serves as the inspiration for the new ETF (PRCOX), it's remarkable how similar the PRCOX fund is to an S&P 500 Index fund. (But that's what it is designed to be- see Fact sheet, below.

Sounds similar to the original Fidelity Disciplined Equity Fund (FDEQX) under Brad Lewis. Though that was a hybrid of quant and fundamental approaches:

Using a highly disciplined approach to help identify these instruments and focusing on domestic companies with market capitalization of $100 million or more, FMR hopes to generate more capital growth than that of the S&P 500 while maintaining similar industry diversification.
The disciplined approach involves computer-aided, quantitative analysis supported by fundamental research. ... The fund spreads investment risk by limiting its holdings in any one company or industry.

1996 Fidelity Disciplined Equity Prospectus
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/275309/0000275309-94-000013.txt
Finding the old marketing literature for the fund would take effort than it's worth, but as I recall it sounded even more similar to the TRP fund. It was supposed to be a fund that outperformed the S&P 500 by tweaking holdings while keeping roughly the same sector weightings. For example, it might substitute Coke for Pepsi. In comparison, Fidelity Stock Selector was supposed to have more flexibility in altering the weightings of different sectors.

Some weeks ago there was an extensive and well-documented investigative report into the whole thing on PBS/Frontline, looking at many aspects of Wuhan, including the market and other possible transmission corridors. The facts are that there is significant traffic in live animals, some of them illegal, from areas well removed from Wuhan, but trafficked to many places in China, including that Wuhan market. The sanitary conditions in that market were abysmal.
It is true that the local government closed that market before proper samples were taken, but later samples taken from the filth in the market gutters did find traces of the virus.
Some of the animal source areas are border areas with other countries, which are well-known to harbor similar animal diseases. The traffic is in many cases illegal, therefore there are no formal records, and obviously a great reluctance for knowledgeable people to comment to the authorities.
The general finding of the Frontline investigation was that there are a number of probable sources involving live animals as the most likely origin, that the local governments, so as to not upset Beijing, spent more energy suppressing the news of the outbreak than trying to deal with it, and that the central Beijing government was more interested in saving international face than in a quick response after they were made aware of the situation.
In other words, the usual governmental routine. No secret weapons, no rogue laboratories, no elaborate conspiracies. Simply more of the usual: illegitimate traffic in sick animals that probably shouldn't be eaten anyway.
In the spring of 2020, inside the U.S. government, some officials began to promote the administration's politically fueled accusations of secret laboratory experiments and so forth. If there has ever been any actual evidence of that it has never been made public. Given our government's well justified animus towards China's present regime it's difficult to believe that if there was any such evidence it would not have been loudly and widely proclaimed for all to see.

Hi @Derf. OK, I tried the following approach:
• Entered the following as the URL:
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/profile/Old_Skeet
That takes you to Old_Skeets profile page. <<< Use this link, if you want to.
• On his profile page, upper left corner, choose "Comments"-
(That will take you to a page listing comments made by Old_Skeet. Evidently he has made 3,165 comments, but you will only see one page of the latest.)
• That listing can be expanded by clicking on "More Comments" at the lower right of the listing page. I did this a number of times, until I had a list that went all the way back to January 2020.
• Once you have that list, then use the standard "Command F" key combination on your computer. That should bring up a "Find" box which will look at all of the text showing in Skeet's comments.
I tried "DCA" in that box, no results to speak of. Then tried "Dollar"- again, a few hits but nothing about DCA.
Not sure how else to find what you're looking for.
OJ

The original Chinese government story, that the pandemic spread from a seafood market in Wuhan, was the first and therefore most widely accepted theory. But cracks in that theory slowly emerged throughout the late winter and spring of 2020. The first known case of Covid-19 in Wuhan, it was revealed in February, had no connection to the market. The Chinese government closed the market in January and sanitized it before proper samples could be taken. It wouldn’t be until May that the Chinese Centers for Disease Control disavowed the market theory, admitting it had no idea how the outbreak began, but by then it had become the story of record, in China and internationally.
In the spring of 2020, inside the U.S. government, some officials began to see and collect evidence of a different, perhaps more troubling theory—that the outbreak had a connection to one of the laboratories in Wuhan, among them the WIV, a world leading center of research on bat coronaviruses.
To some inside the government, the name of the laboratory was familiar. Its research on bat viruses had already drawn the attention of U.S. diplomats and officials at the Beijing Embassy in late 2017, prompting them to alert Washington that the lab’s own scientists had reported “a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory.”
But their cables to Washington were ignored.

josh-rogin-chaos-under-heaven-wuhan-lab-book-excerpt

https://www.pionline.com/memoriam/driehaus-capital-founder-richard-driehaus-dies
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/3/10/22324259/a-legend-investor-donor-richard-driehaus-dies-at-78
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1016073/000139834421006379/fp0063515_497.htm
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1016073/000139834421006381/fp0063514_497.htm
My condolences to his family and friends.

Hi @JonGaltIII
FBALX has been a solid performer for many years. We've been in and out of various bond funds over the years. Not to chase a yield UP for the sake of earning money from yield, but when yields are moving DOWN to obtain the price performance from this circumstance. This is where the money is made, IMHO. After 40 years of good times, for the most part, I'm now resigned to the likelihood of a much more difficult period forward making decent returns with investment grade bonds. YUCK scenario for me.
Bonds were named as dead "again" in 2009 or so. This was another bad call from the big kids. A lot of money was made from bonds until towards the end of 2020. Today, there isn't much wiggle room for yields; although a big market melt will drive folks to the good stuff...AA bonds.
As to Bitcoin. I expected formal push back from central banks a few years ago. Obviously, this has not taken place.
I have a partial draft sitting about Bitcoin, but not enough time for a full adventure.
What I had in mind was a "Bitcoin for Dummies". So, grab this title and run, or what ever your choice may be for wording.
I have a 13 minute video (Bitcoin/Dummies) I'll add to your thread.
My primary interest was to have a better understanding of this digital currency.

So, I’ve been watching Bitcoin and cryptocurrency news like many have over the last year or two. I’ve been encouraged to invest in it ... when it was in the $1,000-1500 price range. I dismissed the advice and thought it was a fad. I watched it gyrate between 1500 to 20,000 to 50,0000 and back to 35,000 and below.
Each time... I referred to the volatility as a reason to justify avoiding it as an investment.
But in the last 6-8 months, I’ve watched companies like Microstrategy and Tesla and Insurance companies decide to invest ALOT of capital (Billions!) in this digital currency that is currently unregulated. That lack of regulation is what draws investment by the uneducated but it’s also what worries me the most. Elon and Michael et al are saying that parking cash in Bitcoin is smarter than and more appreciative than watching their cash lose value in the bank due to inflation.
That said, it did not stop me from investing a whole $50.00 into Bitcoin. Not Bitcoin Cash but Bitcoin. More on that distinction later.
My chosen platform for this experiment? The PayPal app - where you can buy as little as $1.00 of Bitcoin. It’s likely not as efficient as a platform like eToro or Coinbase. My first $50.00 purchase of Bitcoin was at the beginning of the year. I have DCA into it and as of today- it’s at an all time high. I fully expect it will drop 50% or more in the next 6 months. I’ll provide exact details of my total investment in the near future.
Purpose of this thread? A cryptocurrency experiment. Can I / We use the volatility of Bitcoin and “market timing” and crypto to make money? Of course, the risk is that while I’m experimenting...it becomes a legitimate gold alternative— a better place to park cash as Elon and Michael Saylor are saying. If adoption continues to rise (and it IS)... I may regret not accelerating the investment. The opposite can happen too. It could crash as it has done previously... but can I or We trade in and out and make money? Can you?
Would appreciate replies that include stories or links promoting or detracting from the crypto conversation. I think it’s a worthy subject or topic for the investing community to monitor and evaluate. In full disclosure, I’m highly skeptical of crypto and generally conservative.
YTD... my return is +15% in Bitcoin. I’ll share specific details on total investment in a future post. At the moment, 1 Bitcoin is worth $55,500.00 Thoughts?