https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/923184/000119312524209917/d812678d497.htm
497 1 d812678d497.htm FORM 497
MATTHEWS INTERNATIONAL FUNDS
dba MATTHEWS ASIA FUNDS
Supplement dated August 29, 2024
to the Prospectus dated April 29, 2024, as supplemented
For all existing and prospective shareholders of the Matthews Asian Growth and Income Fund – Institutional Class (MICSX) and Investor Class (MACSX):
The Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of Matthews Asia Funds (the “Trust” or the “Funds”) has approved the tax-free reorganization (the “Reorganization”) of the Matthews Asian Growth and Income Fund, a series of the Trust (the “Target Fund”), into the Matthews Emerging Markets Equity Fund, a series of the Trust (the “Acquiring Fund”). The Reorganization does not require the approval of the shareholders of the Target Fund or the Acquiring Fund.
The Target Fund’s investment adviser, Matthews International Capital Management, LLC (“Matthews”), proposed that the Target Fund be reorganized into the Acquiring Fund because approximately 80% of the companies comprising the emerging markets equity investment universe (as represented by the MSCI Emerging Markets Index) is located in Asia, and therefore there is an increasing overlap between an investment strategy focused on emerging market equity securities and one focused on growth and income-generating securities in the Asian region. Further, Matthews noted that the broader emerging markets universe in which the Acquiring Fund operates should benefit shareholders of the Target Fund and will have the potential to improve long-term performance for those shareholders. Matthews further believes that it is in the best interests of the Target Fund to combine the Target Fund’s assets with a fund with a lower overall expense structure and generally better performance, recognizing that the Acquiring Fund has a shorter operating history. Matthews also believes that the Acquiring Fund’s investment objective and strategies make it a compatible fund within the Trust for a reorganization with the Target Fund. Matthews believes that continuing to operate the Target Fund as currently constituted is not in the long-term best interests of the Target Fund. Matthews also believes that both Funds may benefit from potential operating efficiencies and economies of scale that may be achieved by combining the Funds’ assets in the Reorganization. As a result, Matthews determined it prudent to recommend the Reorganization to the Board of Trustees of the Trust.
The Acquiring Fund and the Target Fund have compatible investment objectives. The Target Fund seeks long-term capital appreciation, with a secondary investment objective to seek income. The Acquiring Fund’s current investment objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation; effective upon completion of the Reorganization, the Acquiring Fund will adopt, as part of its principal investment strategies, a policy to invest at least 20% of the Acquiring Fund’s net assets in income-producing securities.
The Target Fund currently operates with two fundamental restrictions that the Acquiring Fund has not adopted: (A) the Target Fund is prohibited from owning more than 10% of outstanding voting securities of any one issuer; and (B) the Target Fund is prohibited from investing more than 5% of its assets in companies that are under three years old. Effective upon completion of the Reorganization, the Acquiring Fund will adopt these fundamental restrictions, such that the fundamental investment restrictions of the Target Fund and the Acquiring Fund will be the same following the Reorganization.
To effectuate the Reorganization, the Target Fund will transfer its assets to the Acquiring Fund. The Acquiring Fund will assume all of the liabilities of the Target Fund and will issue shares to the Target Fund in an amount equal to the aggregate net asset value of the outstanding shares of the Target Fund. Immediately thereafter, the Target Fund will distribute these shares of the Acquiring Fund to its shareholders. After distributing these shares, the Target Fund will be terminated as a series of the Trust.
When the Reorganization is complete, the Target Fund’s shareholders will hold the same class of shares of the Acquiring Fund as they currently hold of the Target Fund. The aggregate net asset value of the Acquiring Fund shares received in the Reorganization will equal the aggregate net asset value of the Target Fund shares held by Target Fund shareholders immediately prior to the Reorganization. The Reorganization is expected to be completed on or about November 8, 2024.
Effective after the close of business on October 25, 2024, shares of the Target Fund will no longer be offered to new shareholders, and shareholders holding shares of any other series of the Trust will not be able to exchange their shares for shares of the Target Fund.
While the portfolio managers of the Acquiring Fund anticipate retaining a portion of the Target Fund’s holdings following the closing of the Reorganization, they do anticipate selling a material portion of the holdings of the Target Fund in preparation for the Reorganization. The extent of these sales is primarily because certain of the current holdings of the Target Fund are deemed not to be appropriate for the Acquiring Fund. Matthews anticipates that the proceeds from such sales will be reinvested in assets that are consistent with the Acquiring Fund’s investment process before and after the closing of the Reorganization. During this period, the Target Fund may deviate from its principal investment strategies.
Matthews has agreed to pay 30% of the expenses incurred in connection with the preparation and distribution of the Prospectus/Information Statement to be sent to shareholders, including all direct and indirect expenses and out-of-pocket costs other than any transaction costs relating to the sale of the Target Fund’s portfolio securities prior to or after the closing of the Reorganization. The remaining expenses will be shared by the Target Fund and Acquiring Fund in proportion to each Fund’s net assets, subject to applicable expense limitations.
If you do not want to participate in the Reorganization, you may redeem your shares of the Target Fund in the ordinary course until the last business day before the closing. Redemption requests received after that time will be treated as redemption requests for shares of the Acquiring Fund received in connection with the Reorganization.
In connection with the Reorganization, a registration statement on Form N-14 will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”). The registration statement may be amended or withdrawn and the information statement/prospectus it contains will not be distributed to Target Fund shareholders until the registration statement is effective. Investors are urged to read the materials and any other relevant documents when they become available because they will contain important information about the Reorganization. After they are filed, free copies of the materials will be available on the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov.
This communication is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer of any securities for sale. No offer of securities will be made except pursuant to a prospectus meeting the requirements of Section 10 of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, fees and expenses of the Funds.
Please retain this Supplement for future reference.
Emerging Markets Equity Fund (investment changes) :
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/923184/000119312524209922/d812678d497.htm

But my concerns are the investors who have poor/no knowledge of options but are buying options-based funds thinking that they are all-weather income funds.
Exactly. I've mentioned risk profiles in a few other posts. There's been little response but that doesn't mean that everyone is familiar with them. Here's the risk profile of a covered call and and the risk profile of a pure long position overlayed. These are two of the simplest risk profiles you can have.

This shows a current stock price of about 39 and a strike price of 40. You do get about $1 worth of "insurance" if the stock price falls. But that's little consolation if the price drops $3 (left side of the graph). And you get a little extra profit in the middle if the stock doesn't rise past the strike price.
But all the profit you might have gotten with larger price gains (right side of graph) is lopped off. That's a big price to pay for a cash stream if you're not carefully curating your call writing as Yogi described.
Anything other than a pure long position alters (distorts?) the risk profile and makes metrics like standard deviation suspect. In part simply because you're no longer dealing with a normal distribution of outcomes and in part because the risk may be all bunched into low probability (but very bad) events that aren't reflected in the aggregate numbers (haven't happened recently).
I took a quick look at DIVO. Nice fund, because the manager carefully selects and watches over the securities for which he writes calls. At the end of the day this (like all trading, I suppose) constitutes a form of timing. Quoting Yogi again, there's no "secret sauce".
Since the selloff in March 2020, DIVO has run neck and neck with solid straight equity income funds: passive, like VYM and NOBL; and active like VEIRX.
Portfolio Visualizer comparison
This is not to put down DIVO. It has done remarkably well and looks to be a fund well worth considering. And it significantly outperformed in March 2020 (despite offering just "small" insurance).

Posters familiar with options know what they are doing.
But my concerns are the investors who have poor/no knowledge of options but are buying options-based funds thinking that they are all-weather income funds.
Call-writing (-selling or -shorting) funds are a bull market phenomenon. They turn capital gains (CGs) into options income, but don't protect the downside. They have grown like weeds in this bull market due to lots of marketing hype.
Moreover, the traditional application of call-writing uses boring but steadily growing (mature?) stocks that don't move around much. So, investors holding those boring stocks can write calls and boost income some with the call premiums. Call-writing on volatile things like QQQ, on the other hand, is nontraditional and counts on rising markets that trigger written calls again and again to transform possible LT-CGs into ST options income. You may want to hold these in tax-deferred/free accounts.
It isn't as if JPM has found some secret sauce for JEPI (AUM $34.8 billion, inception May 2020) and JEPQ (AUM $15.7 billion, inception May 2022). Granddaddy of options-based fund is GATEX / GTEYX that has been around since December 1977 (soon after options started trading in the US) and in those 46+ years, it has gathered an AUM of $6.6 billion. FWIW, it never impressed me much. Gateway is now a neglected part of French Natixis that also owns some more visible boutiques - Oakmark/Harris, Loomis Sayles.
Natixis https://www.im.natixis.com/en-us/home

From Morningstar today (Excerpt):
”At this point, we know little about the shakeup at Western Asset Management. Leech’s departure comes just a few months after another key leader, John Bellows, abruptly left the firm. Like Leech, Bellows was thought to be a key part of the firm’s long-term plans. His unexpected exit in May was a blow, especially now that Leech is no longer in the picture, and there has been some fallout from his departure. Franklin noted in its recently filed 10-Q that it launched an internal investigation into certain past trade allocations involving treasury derivatives in select Western Asset-managed accounts and is currently cooperating with parallel government investigations that led to the issuance of the Wells Notice to Leech. The firm said it does not expect to take action until the investigation is concluded. That said, following Leech’s leave of absence, Franklin decided to close his Macro Opportunities Strategy fund, which had around $2 billion in AUM at the end of last month. All this could lead to a loss of confidence for a fixed-income firm that caters primarily to institutional clients, who are known to cease relationships following the departure of key personnel and/or reports of government investigations.”
Link to above story “ Franklin: Leech’s Departure and Ongoing Investigations Will Weigh on Fixed-Income Flows”
Separately, Bloomberg today is reporting heavy redemptions from WAMCO funds from retail investors.
More from Bloomberg (excerpted August 28):
“Wamco, a unit of Franklin Resources Inc., said it’s cooperating with investigations by the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission. Those probes are focused on whether it favored some clients over others — cherry-picking who got more profitable trades, according to people with knowledge of the matter … The trades involved Treasury derivatives in Wamco-managed accounts and unrealized first-day gains and losses, the person familiar with the company said. ”

From the article,
"In years where stocks declined, eg the global financial crisis in 2008 or the bear market in 2022, the call options expired worthless but did provide investors with additional income that reduced the drawdowns*."
*(YBB Note) By tiny amounts. Basically, covered calls didn't provide downside protection unless some puts were bought using the covered call income.

I will do this on positions with large gains that I wish to protect (ideally a zero-cost 'collar'), such as large dividend payers. I don't do it very often, but it can work well in that scenario. But CCs alone are rarely worth doing unless it's on a stock that doesn't really move very much -- which also means the premium you might get for the call makes it more trouble than it's worth.

Dueling, context-free, mismatched numbers:
Q1/2017 through Q2/2020 vs. Wikipedia's "real wage" figures from the "2017–2019 period".
There's a well known golf saying (a rule, actually): Play it where it lies.
Covid hit during Trump's administration. That's the hand he was dealt. The economy he inherited was strong and growing. That's also part of the hand he was delt. You don't get to cherry pick dates any more than you do when looking at investment performance.
But for fun, let's go with it. We'll use March 2020 as the month that COVID struck. That's when WHO declared it a pandemic. That's the month when number of workers employed started to drop; they fell through the floor in April.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1taIE
Since we're agreed that Covid distorts things, we'll count the numbers only up to Covid, i.e. through Feb 2020. The original FRED graph (median real employment wages) doesn't have that sort of granularity. So instead, here's a graph of nominal wages. (With inflation so low, Y/Y dropping to nearly 0 in April 2020, nominal or real is no big diff.)

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1taJw
Sure enough, there's that spike that accounts for the outsized increase in wages. But take a closer look. As we zoom in, we see that the jump occurred in April 2020, i.e. as a result of Covid. Average wages spiked (perhaps as businesses shut down lower paid workers were disproportionately unemployed?), then declined and within 2-3 months resumed the same upward trend they had been on all along.

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=1taKg
Just as we're not giving the blame to Trump for the precipitous drop in employment in April 2020, we don't give the credit to Trump for the spike in wages that same month.

First, it's 3 years, not 2 years.
Second, looks to me they started in 2019, not showing the peak of 2020. If you look at this chart(https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q)
Trump started in Q1/2017 and by Q2/2020, real wages after inflation grew up from 355 to 393. That is 10.7% real growth. Then covid hit, and since Q2/2020, it went from 393 back to 368, this is a decline of 6.4%,
2 more observations:
1) From Q4/1099 to Q1/2017 = 18 years, it grew from 335 to 355 = 5.9%
2) Since 1980, no other president except Trump has achieved above 10% real wage growth.

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

The PRWCX expense ratio is 0.71% which lies in the Moderate Allocation category's average fee quintile.
The fund's expense ratio would need to be below 0.50% (cheapest fee quintile) to be eligible for inclusion.
Mentioned in the 2020 "Thrilling 36" exercise:
"T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation PRWCX actually wasn't on the list
last time, either, but because I always get a lot of questions about it:
The fund missed the expense ratio screen by 4 basis points.
Don't worry, we still rate it Gold."

Covered calls are something that intuitively sound good. Also, they're one of the few things about options that my father taught me, and parents always know best (unless you're a teenager :-)).
But they may not work well as long term investments. If you write covered calls that never get exercised, they boost returns (let's say, 1%/year) while not reducing volatility. That's because if you shift your entire performance line up by 1% it's still got the same jiggles, just 1% higher.
Actual volatility is reduced by lopping off peaks when the market jumps and the calls are exercised. That's the exact opposite of the way you want to reduce volatility. Think Sortino ratio, that measures downside volatility only.
And those lost returns from lopping off peaks? They cost a lot more than the relatively small income stream one gets from writing the calls. Here's a graph from Finominal showing how this strategy loses in a rising market. And markets tend to rise over the long term.

Writing calls does generate a certain income stream, which many investors look for. Though as the writer of the article accompanying the graph says:

Any investor can create income by simply selling a small stake of their portfolio, which is also favorable from a taxation perspective as capital gains tend to have lower tax rates than income.

https://caia.org/blog/2024/02/24/covered-call-strategies-uncovered
That's a sentiment I agree with and why I focus more on total return than divs with bond funds. YMMV.

The market broadened out last few week to smaller stocks. I think better opportunities are here and not the big tech stocks. I use active managed funds for smaller cap stocks. Many smaller cap stocks are not profitable and end up as value traps as you stated.
Few funds I have good experience with are:
FMI common stock, FMIMX. Mid cap blend. Also a Great Owl fund
Osterweis Opportunity growth, OSTGX, small cap growth
Here are David’s profiles on OSTGX
https://mutualfundobserver.com/2020/09/osterweis-emerging-opportunity-ostgx/

Long, long ago, Buffett ceased being a diehard value investor, seeking instead what he regarded as great companies at good prices. It is not for me to say whether he currently owns great companies (aside from See’s, that is). But their prices are certainly moderate. Were this a fund, Morningstar would classify its portfolio as large (or possibly mid) value.

Article:
berkshire-hathaway-mutual-fund-disguise
A previous MFO discussion (2020) on the topic:
https://mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/57318/is-berkshire-more-like-a-mutual-fund-than-a-stock/p1

"Our Alpha Analyzer tool suggests the Russell 3000 Index as the most appropriate benchmark, but we select the S&P Growth Index given the focus on large-cap growth stocks and similar tracking error and correlation. We observe that VPMCX generated significant outperformance between 2001 and 2006, but none thereafter."
M* placed VPMCX in the Large Growth category from 2014 through 2020.
From 2021 through YTD the fund resided in the Large Blend category.
Prior to 2014, I believe VPMCX was often classified as Large Growth by M*.
It's not unusual for this active fund to experience bouts of underperformance.
The fund's prospectus includes the S&P 500 Index for comparison.
VPMCX calendar year returns for 2019 - 2021 lagged VFIAX & IVW returns.
The fund handily outperformed VFIAX from 01/03/2007 to 08/22/2024
while its overall performance was similar to IVW during this timeframe.

Portfolio Backtester

For mama portfolio capital preservations are key so continue to add more IEI SGOV TBIL AGG BND and more corporate bonds

IOW, undo the Boeing/McDonnell Douglas merger.
The European Commission in reviewing the merger considered " potential spillover of benefits from the McDonnell Douglas defense business to the Boeing commercial airplane business"
https://boeing.mediaroom.com/1997-07-23-Boeing-McDonnell-Douglas-Merger-Gains-a-Positive-Opinion-from-the-European-Commission
Up through1996, " McDonnell Douglas [had been] the leader in defense aircraft for many years", while "Boeing had not received lead military program contracts for over 40 years."
" McDonnell Douglas' commercial aircraft division, Douglas Aircraft Company (DAC), no longer exerted a competitive influence in the worldwide market for commercial aircraft. [FTC conclusion regarding merger]"
https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/56358984.pdf
You can spin off MD, but can you take 25 years of culture out of BA? It's been pervasive.
--------------
From the NPR article: " NASA has decided to reconfigure things so that this capsule has two seats free and available for Williams and Wilmore to catch a ride home."
What the NPR piece didn't mention was that they'll be sending up spare spacesuits since Starliner's aren't compatible with SpaceX's.
"NASA and SpaceX currently are working several items before launch, including reconfiguring seats on the Crew-9 Dragon, and adjusting the manifest to carry additional cargo, personal effects, and Dragon-specific spacesuits for Wilmore and Williams."
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-decides-to-bring-starliner-spacecraft-back-to-earth-without-crew/

These are two of the least expensive and most flexible VAs around. Fidelity charges 0.25% and 0.10% for over $1M in the VA. TIAA charges anywhere from 0.50% (under $100K) to 0.35% (up to $500K) and 0.25% (over $500K). But all those go down to 0.10% independent of value after ten years.
Fidelity tends to include the second cheapest share class of VA portfolios (think "retail") while TIAA tends to include the cheapest share class (think "institutional"). All in, the two have similar costs for the first ten years, then TIAA becomes much cheaper.
The real question, though, is how their underlying portfolios perform. I've looked up (via Financial Times search) all the portfolios open to new investors. Below is the table I built for myself (slightly edited for formatting here). Note: the M* ratings are for the portfolios themselves.
On the VAs' websites you'll find different ratings. That's because what you're seeing are there the ratings of the funds including the annuity fees. Since the annuity fees of both of these VAs are so low, those star ratings tend to be mostly 4s and 5s. The ratings of the funds themselves, included here, give a better picture of the funds' performance.
Since there are so many funds, I've split the table into two posts - broad equity in the first, sectors and fixed income in the second.

Fund					Class	ER	Ticker		M* 	Lipper	Annuity
Allocation Portfolios
Conservative Allocation
Fidelity VIP FundsManager 20		Inv.	0.55%	0P00003EYS	4	3/2/5/5	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP FundsManager 30		Inv.	0.57%	0P0001Q617	-	-	Fidelity
Moderately Conservative Allocation
Fidelity VIP FundsManager 40		Inv.	0.62%	0P0001Q618	-	-	Fidelity
Franklin Income VIP			Cl 1	0.46%	0P00003BNK	5	4/3/4/5	TIAA
Nuveen Life Funds Balanced			0.51%	TLBAX		5	4/4/4/5	TIAA
Vanguard VIF Conservative Alloc.		0.13%	0P0000TNLX	4	5/5/5/5	TIAA
Moderate Allocation
Fidelity VIP Asset Manager		Inv.	0.61%	0P00003ESQ	2	3/3/4/4	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Balanced			Inv.	0.51%	0P00003ESS	5	5/5/2/5	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP FundsManager 50		Inv.	0.70%	0P00003EYT	3	4/3/4/4	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP FundsManager 60		Inv.	0.71%	0P00008YBH	3	2/2/3/4	Fidelity
Vanguard VIF Balanced Portfolio			0.21%	0P00003BRZ	4	5/5/3/5	TIAA
Vanguard VIF Moderate Alloc.			0.13%	0P0000TNLY	3	4/4/3/5	TIAA
Moderately Aggressive Allocation
Fidelity VIP Asset Manager: Growth	Inv.	0.72%	0P00003ESP	3	3/3/2/4	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP FundsManager 70		Inv.	0.74%	0P00003EYU	3	4/4/2/4	Fidelity
Aggressive Allocation
Fidelity VIP FundsManager 85		Inv.	0.78%	0P00003EYW	4	4/4/1/4	Fidelity
Target Date
Fidelity VIP Investor Freedom 2010		0.44%	0P00003ET2	3	x/x/5/x	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Investor Freedom 2015		0.48%	0P00003ET4	4	x/x/5/x	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Investor Freedom 2020		0.51%	0P00003ET3	5	4/4/4/4	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Investor Freedom 2025		0.54%	0P00003ET5	5	5/5/3/4	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Investor Freedom 2030		0.58%	0P00003ET6	5	5/5/2/4	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Investor Freedom 2035		0.63%	0P0001OWHR	-	-	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Investor Freedom 2040		0.68%	0P0001OWHT	-	-	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Investor Freedom 2045		0.69%	0P0001OWHU	-	-	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Investor Freedom 2050		0.69%	0P0001OWHV	-	-	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Investor Freedom Inc.		0.40%	0P00003ET8	3	2/2/5/5	Fidelity
Tactical Allocation
Morgan Stanley VIF Global Strat.	Cl. I	0.90%	MIMPX		3	2/2/2/3	Fidelity
PIMCO VIT All Asset Portfolio		Inst.	2.04%	0P00003EXR	3	3/4/4/1	TIAA
Global Allocation
BlackRock Global Allocation VI 		Cl. 2	0.92%	0P00003E89	4	3/3/3/3	Fidelity
DFA VA Global Moderate Allocation	Inst.	0.28%	0P0000XY87	5	5/5/4/5	TIAA
US Equity Portfolios
Large Cap Blend					
ClearBridge Variable Growth Port.	Cl. I	0.85%	QLMGOX		1	1/2/2/3	TIAA
DFA Equity Allocation			Inst.	0.32%	0P00019RXP	2	5/5/4/5	TIAA
Fidelity VIP Growth & Income		Inv.	0.57%	0P00003ES4	4	5/5/5/4	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Index 500			Init.	0.09%	0P00003BWH	4	5/5/5/5	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Total Market Index		Init.	0.11%	FVIDX		3	4/4/4/5	Fidelity
Nuveen Life Core Equity Fund			0.52%	TLGWX		4	5/5/4/5	TIAA
Nuveen Life Large Cap Resp. Equity		0.22%	TLCHX		3	3/3/4/5	TIAA
Nuveen Life Stock Index Fund			0.08%	TLSTX		3	4/5/4/5	TIAA
Vanguard VIF Capital Growth Port.		0.34%	0P00003DVM	4	4/4/5/5	TIAA
Vanguard VIF Equity Index			0.14%	0P00003BS4	4	5/5/5/5	TIAA
Vanguard VIF Total Stock Mkt Index		0.13%	0P00003DVK	3	4/4/4/5	TIAA
Large Cap Growth
Fidelity VIP Contrafund			Inv.	0.64%	0P00003ESR	4	4/4/4/4	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Dynamic Cap Apprec.	Inv.	0.70%	0P00003ESX	4	4/4/4/4	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Growth			Inv.	0.65%	0P00003ES7	5	5/5/4/5	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Growth Opportunities	Inv.	0.67%	0P00003ES3	4	5/5/1/5	Fidelity
Janus Henderson VIT Forty Port.		Inst.	0.55%	JACAX		3	3/4/3/5	TIAA
MFS VIT Mass. Inv. Growth Stock Port.	Init.	0.73%	0P00003CPY	3	3/3/4/4	TIAA
Nuveen Life Growth Equity Fund			0.52%	TLGQX		3	2/3/3/5	TIAA
PSF PGIM Jennison Blend Portfolio	Cl. II	0.86%	0P00003CBD	3	2/1/4/2	TIAA
Large Cap Value
DFA VA Large Value Portfolio		Inst.	0.21%	0P00003CUU	2	2/2/3/5	TIAA
Fidelity VIP Equity-Income		Inv.	0.55%	0P00003ESO	4	4/5/5/5	Fidelity
Franklin Mutual Shares VIP		Cl. 1	0.68%	0P00003CBB	1	1/1/4/4	TIAA
Nuveen Life Large Cap Value Fund		0.52%	TLLVX		4	4/4/4/5	TIAA
PSF PGIM Jennison Value Portfolio	Cl. II	0.82%	0P00003DP6	3	3/4/5/2	TIAA
PVC Equity Income Account		Cl. 1	0.49%	0P00003CN9	3	3/2/4/5	TIAA
Mid Cap Blend
Fidelity VIP Mid Cap			Inv.	0.65%	0P00003ESF	4	5/5/3/5	Fidelity
Vanguard VIF Mid-Cap Index			0.17%	0P00003C89	3	3/2/3/5	TIAA
Mid Cap Growth
Franklin Small-Mid Cap Growth VIP	Cl. 1	0.83%	0P00003DB4	3	2/3/1/4	TIAA
PVC MidCap Account			Cl. 1	0.55%	0P00003BO4	5	5/3/3/5	TIAA
Wanger Acorn					0.95%	WUSAX		2	1/1/1/3	TIAA
Mid Cap Value
Fidelity VIP Value			Inv.	0.68%	0P00003ESN	4	5/5/3/4	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Value Strategies		Inv.	0.67%	0P00003ESM	4	5/5/2/4	Fidelity
Janus Henderson VIT Mid-Cap Value	Inst.	0.68%	JAMVX		3	3/2/4/5	TIAA
Matson Money U.S. Equity VI Port.		0.98%	FMVUX		4	4/4/3/1	TIAA
N-B AMT Mid Cap Intrinsic Value		Cl. I	1.02%	0P00003CPW	1	1/1/2/3	TIAA
Small Cap Blend
Fidelity VIP Disciplined  Small Cap 	Inv.	0.40%	0P00003EWG	3	5/5/2/5	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Extended Market Index	Init.	0.12%	FVIJX		3	3/3/1/5	Fidelity
Nuveen Life Small Cap Equity Fund		0.53%	TLEQX		4	5/5/2/5	TIAA
Small Cap Growth
ClearBridge Variable Small Cap Gr	Cl. I	0.80%	QLMSIX		2	1/1/1/5	TIAA
Small Cap Value
DFA VA U.S. Targeted Value Port.	Inst.	0.29%	0P00003D0Y	4	5/5/1/5	TIAA
Macquarie VIP Small Cap Value Ser.	Std.	0.78%	0P00003C1W	3	3/2/1/4	TIAA
Royce Capital Fund - Sm Cap Port.	Inv.	1.15%	RCPFX		3	3/3/1/1	TIAA
International Equity
Diversified Emerging Markets						
Fidelity VIP Emerging Markets		Inv.	0.97%	0P0000A9FS	4	5/5/2/4	Fidelity
John Hancock Emerg Mkts Val Trust	NAV	1.03%	JHVTX		3	4/4/4/4	TIAA
Lazard Retir. Emerging Markets Port.	Inv.	1.15%	0P00005XR9	3	4/2/3/3	Fidelity
Morgan Stanley VIF Emerg. Mkts Eq.	Cl. I	1.25%	MEMEX		3	4/4/2/2	Fidelity
Templeton Developing Mkts VIP Fund	Cl. 1	1.10%	0P00003CRI	3	4/4/2/3	TIAA
Foreign Large Blend	
Fidelity VIP International Index	Init.	0.16%	FVIGX		3	3/4/4/5	Fidelity
Nuveen Life International Equity		0.60%	TLINX		3	4/3/3/4	TIAA
Vanguard VIF Total Intl Stk Mkt Indx		0.11%	0P0001ANO3	3	3/3/4/5	TIAA
Foreign Large Growth
Fidelity VIP International Cap Ap	Inv.	0.86%	0P00003ESC	5	5/5/3/3	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Overseas			Inv.	0.81%	0P00003ESH	4	5/5/3/5	Fidelity
Vanguard VIF International Port.		0.33%	0P00003CRA	3	4/2/1/5	TIAA
Foreign Large Value
DFA VA International Value Port.	Inst.	0.27%	0P00003CY8	4	5/5/3/5	TIAA
Foreign Small/Mid Blend
DFA VA International Small Port.	Inst.	0.40%	0P00003CN3	4	x/x/2/x	TIAA
Foreign Small/Mid Growth
Wanger International				1.14%	WSCAX		2	x/x/1/x	TIAA
Foreign Small/Mid Value
Matson Money Int'l Equity VI Port.		1.14%	FMVIX		3	3/3/3/1	TIAA
Global Large Cap Blend
Invesco V.I. Global Core Equity		Ser. I	0.98%	0P00003CZL	2	2/2/3/2	Fidelity
MFS VIT Global Equities Series		Init.	0.92%	0P00003D4V	2	2/2/3/3	TIAA

Hi @yogibearbull
I probably should have clarified a bit more.
--- The Utah 529 Educational Saving Plan LINK
--- We didn't care for the vendor of the Michigan 529 plan at the time (2006). We missed the state tax deduction that would have been available; but we are very pleased with the Utah 529. A very well operated program with a lot of investment choices. One may choose established mixes by age; or as we did, and we built our own choices.
--- The annual re-balance is a feature of the Utah 529 contract. I don't really care for this aspect; as we would prefer to let the gains remain for the equity and bond portions. We've not asked, but suspect the program wants to temper the portfolio from becoming lopsided. But, this has worked out okay over the long time frame.
--- We did NOT need to use an advisor
--- And yes about Secure Act 2.0. As everything stands at this time, monies will move to the beneficiary Roth IRA (per the $35k total and the annual maximum at this time). The Roth has been active for more than 5 years. Even with the possibility of a costly Master's program, the return on the investments currently is running ahead far enough for such an expense.
NOTE: the symbols shown previous have changed (per Vanguard) two times during our investment period in these holdings. But, the fund descriptions have NOT changed. VITPX and VBMPX are still valid symbols.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/916006/000168035924000241/bridgewaymgdvol497e08222024.htm
497 1 bridgewaymgdvol497e08222024.htm
BRIDGEWAY FUNDS, INC.
Managed Volatility Fund (BRBPX)
Supplement dated August 22, 2024
to the Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information dated October 31, 2023
On August 22, 2024, the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of Bridgeway Funds, Inc. considered and approved a proposal to liquidate and dissolve the Managed Volatility Fund (the “Fund”). The Fund will be liquidated pursuant to a Board-approved Plan of Liquidation and Dissolution (the “Plan”) on or about November 18, 2024 (the “Liquidation Date”). In anticipation of the Fund’s liquidation, the Fund is permitted to depart from its stated investment objective and strategies and intends to begin to sell its assets in exchange for cash or cash equivalents.
Effective immediately, new account requests, exchanges into the Fund and purchase orders for Fund shares will no longer be permitted (other than those purchase orders received through dividend reinvestment).
The costs of the liquidation (except brokerage costs and tax consequences of shareholders), including the mailing of this notification to shareholders, will be borne by Bridgeway Capital Management, LLC. (the “Adviser”). Between now and the Liquidation Date, existing Fund shareholders may continue to reinvest dividends and distributions, redeem shares, or exchange shares into other Bridgeway Funds.
Any shareholder who has not redeemed or exchanged shares into another Bridgeway Fund by the regular close of business on the business day before the Liquidation Date will receive a liquidating distribution as of the Liquidation Date. On the Liquidation Date, the Fund will distribute pro rata to its remaining shareholders all of its assets in cash, and all outstanding shares will be redeemed and canceled.
The liquidation (or a redemption or exchange) will constitute a taxable event, except to the extent the Fund’s shares are held in a tax-advantaged product, plan or account. Therefore, you may be subject to federal, state or local taxes. The Fund does not provide tax advice. You should consider consulting with your tax advisor for information regarding all tax consequences applicable to your investments in the Fund.
To contact Bridgeway Funds for questions regarding this liquidation:
•Call us at: 800-661-3550
•E-mail us at: [email protected]
PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE

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...

In my mind, playing a gold ETF versus playing the miners is 2 very different games. IAU has been a nice, reasonable trend for me since 2020. I know I couldn't handle trading in and out of miners to make a buck.