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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.
  • MDP Low Volatility Fund will be liquidated
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1437249/000158064224004810/mdp_497.htm
    497 1 mdp_497.htm 497
    MDP LOW VOLATILITY FUND
    Class A Shares - MDPMX
    Class I Shares – MDPLX
    Supplement dated August 26, 2024 to Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information dated May 31, 2024
    The Board of Trustees of Valued Advisers Trust (the “Board”) authorized an orderly liquidation of the MDP Low Volatility Fund (the “Fund”), a series of Valued Advisers Trust. The Board determined on August 23, 2024 that closing and liquidating the Fund was in the best interests of the Fund and the Fund’s shareholders.
    The Fund’s investment adviser informed the Board of its view that it no longer is economically feasible to continue managing the Fund because of the Fund’s small size and the difficulty encountered in attracting assets.
    The Fund is no longer accepting purchase orders for its shares, and it will close effective as of September 24, 2024 (“Closing Date”). Shareholders may redeem Fund shares at any time prior to this Closing Date. Procedures for redeeming your account, including reinvested distributions, are contained in the section “How to Redeem Shares” in the Fund’s Prospectus. Any shareholders that have not redeemed their shares of the Fund prior to the Closing Date will have their shares automatically redeemed as of that date, with proceeds being sent to the address of record. If your Fund shares were purchased through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and are held in a brokerage or other investment account, redemption proceeds may be forwarded by the Fund directly to the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary for deposit into your brokerage or other investment account.
    The Fund is no longer pursuing its investment objective. All holdings in the Fund’s portfolio are being liquidated, and the proceeds will be invested in money market instruments or held in cash. Shareholders may continue to reinvest dividends and distributions in the Fund or redeem their shares until the Closing Date. Any capital gains will be distributed as soon as practicable to shareholders and reinvested in additional Fund shares, unless you have requested payment in cash.
    IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR RETIREMENT PLAN INVESTORS
    If you are a retirement plan investor, you should consult your tax adviser regarding the consequences of a redemption of Fund shares. If you receive a distribution from an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) or a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) IRA, you must roll the proceeds into another IRA within 60 days of the date of the distribution to avoid having to include the distribution in your taxable income for the year. If you are the trustee of a qualified retirement plan or the custodian of a 403(b)(7) custodian account (tax-sheltered account) or a Keogh account, you may reinvest the proceeds in any way permitted by its governing instrument.
    For additional information regarding the liquidation, shareholders of the Fund may call (833) 914-3344.
    You should read this Supplement in conjunction with the Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, each dated May 31, 2024, which provide information that you should know before investing in the Fund and should be retained for future reference. These documents are available upon request and without charge by calling the Fund at (833) 914-3344.
    PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE
  • A Conservative portfolio design
    Shooting for 7% returns over time, but with very low volatility (SD). I am considering the following allocation:
    PHEFX 15%
    FMSDX 15%
    CBLDX 15%
    SWHFX 10%
    PVCMX 10%
    HMEZX 10%
    HELO 10%
    PRPFX 5%
    LCORX 5%
    RSIVX 5%
    Can you do better? Please share your ideas.

    As my CDs mature, I am considering the following low volatility allocation for my retirement portfolio :
    HELO 10%
    ICMUX 25%
    PRCFX 25%
    QQMNX 15%
    RCTIX 25%
    Two of the funds are fairly new, HELO and PRCFX, but they are run by excellent and very experienced managers.
    Available PV data over the past eight months is as follows:
    Total Return = 9%
    Std Deviation = 2.8%
    Sharpe Ratio= 2.8
    Sortino Ratio = 4.8
    Can I do better, JD? I don't know, just sharing my ideas.
    But, good luck.
  • TSUMX. Portfolio mgr changes?
    I see this Edgar/SEC filing dated 8/21/24 announcing these changes for Ben KIRBY and Jeff KLINGELHOFER. They were managing several Thornburg funds. Their bios appear on Thornburg website. Kirby was also managing $13.8 billion TIBAX / TIBIX and Thornburg's only CEF TBLD ($542 million).
    "Effective August 20, 2024, Matt Burdett has been named Head of Equities and Christian Hoffmann has been named Head of Fixed Income of Thornburg Investment Management, Inc. (“Thornburg”), replacing Ben Kirby and Jeff Klingelhofer who will conclude their service as Co-Heads of Investments of Thornburg on September 30, 2024."
    Burdett and Hoffman are already part of TIBIX and TBLD teams. In TSUMX, they will be REPLACING Kirby and Klingelhofer.
    May be retirement? Moving on? Scandal?
    Someone who is keeping tabs on Thornburg should comment on these developments.
    Edgar/SEC https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/816153/000199937124010454/tbit-497_082124.htm
    Ben Kirby https://www.thornburg.com/people/ben-kirby/
    Jeff Klingelhofer https://www.thornburg.com/people/jeff-klingelhofer/
    Matt Burdett https://www.thornburg.com/people/matt-burdett/
    Christian Hoffmann https://www.thornburg.com/people/christian-hoffmann/
  • Variable Annuities - Fidelity and TIAA
    Thank you @msf for your efforts. We've discussed these annuity types in the past; and it is important for some to be aware of these choices to expand their 'tax deferred' investment choices.
    For those not familiar, the below link we take you to the Fidelity page of their investment choices. Select the investment type in the 'name' column for details of that particular choice.
    FPRA (Fidelity Personal Retirement Annuity) LINK NO login required.
  • Fidelity Latin America Fund is being merged into another fund
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/744822/000113322824007862/flafa-efp9504_497.htm
    97 1 flafa-efp9504_497.htm FIDELITY LATIN AMERICA FUND AMCIZ - 497
    Supplement to the
    Fidelity® Latin America Fund
    Class A, Class M, Class C, Class I, and Class Z
    December 30, 2023
    Prospectus

    Effective after the close of business on or about September 6, 2024, new positions in the fund may no longer be opened. Existing shareholders may continue to hold their shares and purchase additional shares through the reinvestment of dividend and capital gain distributions until the fund’s Reorganization takes place on or about September 13, 2024.
    Proposed Reorganization. The Board of Trustees of Fidelity Investment Trust has unanimously approved an Agreement and Plan of Reorganization (“Agreement”) between Fidelity® Latin America Fund and Fidelity® Emerging Markets Fund pursuant to which Fidelity® Latin America Fund would be reorganized on a tax-free basis with and into Fidelity® Emerging Markets Fund.
    As a result of the proposed Reorganization, shareholders of each class of Fidelity® Latin America Fund would receive shares of the corresponding class of Fidelity® Emerging Markets Fund.
    The Agreement provides for the transfer of all of the assets of Fidelity® Latin America Fund in exchange for corresponding shares of Fidelity® Emerging Markets Fund equal in value to the net assets of Fidelity® Latin America Fund and the assumption by Fidelity® Emerging Markets Fund of all of the liabilities of Fidelity® Latin America Fund. After the exchange, Fidelity® Latin America Fund will distribute the Fidelity® Emerging Markets Fund shares to its shareholders pro rata, in liquidation of Fidelity® Latin America Fund. As a result, shareholders of Fidelity® Latin America Fund will become shareholders of Fidelity® Emerging Markets Fund (these transactions are collectively referred to as the “Reorganization”).
    A Special Meeting (the “Meeting”) of the Shareholders of Fidelity® Latin America Fund is expected to be held during the third quarter of 2024 and approval of the Agreement will be voted on at that time. A combined proxy statement and prospectus containing more information with respect to the Reorganization will be provided to shareholders of record of Fidelity® Latin America Fund in advance of the meeting.
    If the Agreement is approved at the Meeting and certain conditions required by the Agreement are satisfied, the Reorganization is expected to take place on or about September 13, 2024. If shareholder approval of the Agreement is delayed due to failure to meet a quorum or otherwise (an “Adjournment”), the Reorganization will become effective, if approved, as soon as practicable thereafter.
    In connection with seeking shareholder approval of the Agreement, effective the close of business on March 22, 2024, new positions in Fidelity® Latin America Fund (the fund) may no longer be opened. Shareholders of the fund on that date may continue to add to their fund positions existing on that date. Investors who did not own shares of the fund on March 22, 2024, generally will not be allowed to buy shares of the fund except that new fund positions may be opened: 1) by participants in most group employer retirement plans (and their successor plans) if a qualifying fund is already established as an investment option under the plans (or under another plan sponsored by the same employer), 2) by participants in a 401(a) plan covered by a master record keeping services agreement between Fidelity and a national federation of employers that included a qualifying fund as a core investment option, 3) for accounts managed on a discretionary basis by certain registered investment advisers that have discretionary assets of at least $500 million invested in mutual funds and already included the fund in their discretionary account program, 4) by a mutual fund or a qualified tuition program for which Fidelity serves as investment manager, 5) by a portfolio manager of the fund, 6) by a fee deferral plan offered to trustees of certain Fidelity® funds, if the fund is an investment option under the plan, and 7) by qualified intermediaries to facilitate in-kind redemption activity when deemed by the Adviser to be in the best interests of the fund, and 8) by certain asset pools associated with an organization that already offers a qualifying fund as an investment option in its retirement plan(s). These restrictions generally will apply to investments made directly with Fidelity and investments made through intermediaries. Investors may be required to demonstrate eligibility to buy shares of the fund before an investment is accepted.
    If shareholder approval of the Agreement cannot be achieved, the Board of Trustees has approved a plan of liquidation for Fidelity® Latin America Fund. Prior to such liquidation the fund’s assets will be managed to provide for sufficient liquidity to meet redemptions prior to liquidation. In this event, effective after the close of business on July 16, 2024 (or such later date as may be required in connection with an Adjournment), the fund will no longer permit new positions in the fund to be opened. Existing shareholders will be permitted to continue to hold their shares and purchase additional shares through the reinvestment of dividend and capital gain distributions until the fund’s liquidation on or about September 13, 2024 or as soon as practicable thereafter in the event of an Adjournment.
    The foregoing is not a solicitation of any proxy. For a free copy of the Proxy Statement describing the Reorganization (and containing important information about fees, expenses and risk considerations) and a Prospectus for Fidelity® Emerging Markets Fund please call 1-877-208-0098. The prospectus/proxy statement will also be available for free on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s web site (www.sec.gov).
    Effective March 1, 2024, the fund’s management contract was amended to incorporate administrative services previously covered under separate services agreements. The amended contract incorporates a management fee rate that may vary by class. The Adviser or an affiliate pays certain expenses of managing and operating the fund out of each class’s management fee...
  • Buy Sell Why: ad infinitum.
    @Crash I'm wondering how many retirement accounts are opened as T-IRA these days, versus a Roth IRA.
    Just thinking out loud and late into the night.
    Yes, I explained to him the difference between T and Roth. He wants the tax break. :) His career as a musician means banging drums, teaching others to bang drums, performing on drums at church, and performing as a member of a band. On drums, of course. Cobbling together a hardscrabble living, but he likes it. So, he wants the tax break.
  • Buy Sell Why: ad infinitum.
    @Crash I'm wondering how many retirement accounts are opened as T-IRA these days, versus a Roth IRA.
    Just thinking out loud and late into the night.
  • Follow up to my Schwab discussion
    We also us JPMC as our primary bank- all of our SS and retirement income is channeled through them, and then automatically transferred to Schwab twice a month. Both JPMC and Schwab have offices one block away from our home, so dealing with either of them is very easy. I don't believe that our JPMC branch still offers deposit boxes, but they have maintained ours for many years.
  • thinking about correlations within my non-retirement portfolio
    So, in general, I'm hopeful that each fund adds something to the strength of the whole portfolio. I tend to approach portfolio changes, additions especially, in three steps:
    1. is there something that I believe I should have exposure to (for a bad example, crypto) but don't? If yes ...
    2. is there a particularly good vehicle for gaining that access? Experienced manager, high insider investment, track record across multiple market cycles, clearly articulated positions on risk management and strategy capacity ... If yes ...
    3. is the fund highly correlated with something I already own? I might, for a bad example, think that crypto is interesting but learn that corporate high-yield debt is so correlated with crypto - presumably because they are driven by similar forces - that adding crypto has no benefit.
    Ran a correlation matrix just now. My top holding is FPA Crescent, at about 21% of the portfolio. For those not familiar, Crescent as a go-anywhere hybrid fund that started long ago as a hedge fund, has an absolute value discipline, about 60% equity just now, most of the rest in cash.
    Quick quiz: which of these funds is highly correlated (an R-squared of 85 or above) with Crescent?
    Grandeur Peak Global Microcap, 121 very small growth companies, about 13% EM exposure
    Leuthold Core, a quant-driven tactical allocation fund
    Seafarer Overseas Growth & Income, a GARPy emerging markets equity fund
    T Rowe Price Spectrum Income, a fund of actively managed T Rowe Price funds
    At the other end of the spectrum, which fund is most independent? T Rowe Price Multi-strategy Total Return, a sort of retail hedge fund, or Palm Valley Capital, a small cap value fund for people still shaking their fists at the 21st century?
    David
  • Just a friendly reminder for any newbie investors (8/5/2024)
    “Ya in hindsight why say screw around with cost averaging in, should have just pushed all the chips in.. “
    If you’re still working and contributing as much as you can to your retirement plan (IRA, 401-K) out of every paycheck (sometimes called dollar cost averaging) may I inquire where you would obtain all those “chips” to push around?
    Does BB suggest younger investors during their accumulation phase try gaming the markets by moving back and forth between equities and cash?
  • Anyone have old pages or recollections of the tenor of posts in 2008? (Fund Alarm)
    Reading 08/09 forums is a good exercise to do. I do it frequently. The one common thread of discussion was lack of income producers. Too much equity and not enough longer duration bonds, CD's etc. to provide income to pay bills. Another issue was portfolios designed to sell shares to pay bills in retirement. Selling shares in collapse. 50% down takes 100% to get even.
  • Robo-Advisors - Barron's Rankings, 2024
    The mandatory 12% in cash that returns about 0.2%, plus the mistimed heavy allotments to international, emerging markets and small caps since the funds inception has been a losing strategy for Schwab's Intelligent Portfolio. At one time it was 1/2 my retirement savings. I thought it would be care-free professionally managed money. After about 8 years, I finally gave up and baled on it at the end of last year. What sounded like a good idea, was not.
  • Just a friendly reminder for any newbie investors (8/5/2024)
    During the GFC we didn't sell anything, didn't buy much either other than continue to contribute to our Roth IRA's. We were mainly in PRWCX. I did jump into PRHYX when the yield was approaching 20%!! I believe it was early 2009 when I sold PRHYX after ~40% gain.
    Yes. ‘07-‘09 (especially ‘08) would have been a wonderful time to be dollar-averaging in to a retirement account. I hadn’t considered that. At a younger age I’d had paid it little heed. Stay the course.
    For some of us the year and a half long market crash was an unwelcome retirement gift. I was already 10 years in. Those retirees who got caught with more risk on the table then their individual situation warranted got taken to the cleaners.
  • Robo-Advisors - Barron's Rankings, 2024
    Schwab is at the bottom of the performance rankings YTD, 1 year (the only robo with single digit returns, more than a point behind second worst), and 5 year (tie for worst). Over three years it did 0.2% better than the worst.
    As a blind guess without checking, I suspect the cause is cash drag, especially since Vanguard has outperformed Schab recently by more than 3%, and by more than 1% over three and five years.
    Schwab ranks in the middle of the pack overall. That seems to be due to broad financial planning tools and features like Intelligent Income (mentioned by Barron's) for managing a monthly income stream. Raw performance only counts for so much; with Barron's that's 25% of the total score.
  • Just a friendly reminder for any newbie investors (8/5/2024)
    Thanks @gman57 for clarifying.
    @BaseballFan is spot-on in terms of the mood of most investors during those uncommon but spine-chilling episodes. Yes, the ‘87 flash-crash (about 25% down in a single afternoon) is emblazoned in my mind. Some of the older guys at work who were on the eve of retirement resembled pale ghosts walking the hallways the following day.
    Can still remember overhearing a young guy freaking out on his cellphone at the Atlanta airport sometime in 2000 while we waited for a connecting flight. His portfolio had fallen double-digits on several consecutive days and stocks were crumbling again as he spoke. (See data on NASDAQ 2000-2002 at bottom of post.)
    And in the spring of ‘08 I bumped into a long-lost HS friend (from the 60s) while shopping in a local market who appeaed sickened by having lost more than 30% of his IRA assets in the last 6-8 months. I gathered that he had been led to believe junk bonds were “safe” investments. He’d loaded up on them.
    The above merely paints an image of how humans in different situations react at these times. It’s not intended to exculpate them from blame or offer any advice going forward.
    *** “In 2000, the Nasdaq lost 39.28% of its value. In 2001, the Nasdaq lost 21.05% of its value. In 2002, the Nasdaq lost 31.53% of its value.” (Data from Google)
  • Robo-Advisors - Barron's Rankings, 2024
    Robo-Advisors - Barron's Rankings, 2024
    Robo-advisors are now $1.09 trillion business. Those are no longer seen as steppingstones to other strategies. In fact both the young & the people approaching retirement like them. The leaders in the AUM now are all latecomers with financial &/or marketing muscle; the original pioneers Betterment & Wealthfront do have respectable presence. So, it isn't all about ERs. But the competition is tough & some big players like JPM, GS have left this business.
    Performance Ranking (overall based on multiple criteria): Fidelity, Merrill, SoFi, Vanguard, Wealthfront, Betterment, Schwab, Empower, Ally, USB, E*Trade/MS, SigFig, Wells Fargo, Acorns
    1-Yr Performance for Allocation 60-40: SoFi, Fidelity, Vanguard, Wealthfront, USB, Empower, Betterment, Merrill, Ally, Schwab
    AUM: Vanguard, Edelman, Morningstar, Fidelity, Schwab, Betterment, Wealthfront, Guided Choice
    https://www.barrons.com/articles/best-robo-advisors-c2b901fe?mod=hp_columnists
  • CIT TDFs More Popular Than OEF TDFs
    Collective investment trusts (CITs) are unlisted, low-cost funds regulated by the OCC (banking regulator). So, their disclosure requirements are different - but the retirement plans have fiduciary duty in selecting them. Many firm's CITs are clones or cousins of their OEFs. The CITs are available in workplace retirement plans.
    News is that they are now more popular (50.5% of all TDFs, 06/2024) than the listed OEFs regulated by the SEC (securities regulators). For holders, the difference isn't important except that CITs don't have useable tickers for portfolio tracking, and in-kind transfers out aren't possible. Notably, some outflows from OEFs have been into CITs, so keep that in mind using the new MFO Premium FLOW, FLOWS, TNA tools. @Charles
    This while ETFs are catching up fast with OEFs in taxable accounts.
    Morningstar https://www.morningstar.com/funds/cits-dethrone-mutual-funds-most-popular-target-date-vehicle
  • BONDS The week that was.... December 31, 2024..... Bond NAV's...Most positive. FINAL REPORT 2024
    @MikeW
    Mike, my schedule is busy early today; but I'll reply in full later.
    @Junkster, good to 'see' you here. You know of many more bond cycles that I/we, but special periods pop up here and there, for various reasons.
    I am particularly reminded of the 'near' perfect storm, in junk bonds, after the GFC.
    At the time, we had access to 6 HY/HI junk bond funds in retirement accts; and placed money into all of them.
    I recall the period of time when this sector was badly damaged. Very low NAV's and of course, the related high yields. For a period of time, many fund yields were about 20%. SO, bought the cheap NAV's and obtained the yields. As the 'gov't' began to fix things, the sector began to recover, but with very nice yields. We made money on the yields and then more again from the NAV increases. I'm sure many 'bond' folks made decent money in this period.
    For the heck of it CHART: SPY vs SPHIX from June, 2008 to June, 2011.
  • ⇒ All Things Boeing ... NASA may send Starliner home without its crew
    @old_Joe,
    BA hired a new CEO, who will be based in Seattle and not at their HQ next to the law makers. The other good news is, he is an engineer. He came out of retirement to take this job.
    Lucky for BA that the market did not care for its (subpar) earnings released today.
  • Stable-Value (SV) Rates, 8/1/24
    Stable-Value (SV) Rates, 8/1/24

    TIAA Traditional Annuity (Accumulation) Rates
    No changes
    Restricted RC 5.50%, RA 5.25%
    Flexible RCP 4.75%, SRA 4.50%, Newer IRAs 4.75%
    (TIAA Declaration Year 3/1 - 2/28)
    TSP G Fund hasn't updated yet (previous 4.500%).
    Edit/Add. August rate is ?%
    Options outside of workplace retirement plans include m-mkt funds, bank m-mkt accounts (FDIC insured), T-Bills, short-term brokered CDs.
    https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/post/1581/thread