PRCWX traditionally lags its peers further and further as the year goes on, then distributes a massive dividend and CG payout in December, putting it squarely back in the pre-tax Total Return lead.
This statement says that the dividend adds to total return - the "massive dividend" helps a fund that is lagging to catch up (and surpass) in Total Return. In 2023 the price of PRWCX declined on Dec 19th (ex-div date) commensurate with the size of its dividend, thus netting zero increase in Total Return. That is, not putting it squarely back in the Total Return lead.
The equalization of NAV to distribution only holds effect on the ex dividend date and NAV should revert to mean reasonably quickly.
This statement acknowledges this effect but says that it was temporary. Over time (two months was mentioned) the fund would recover this loss. At that point the dividend would have presumably added to the Total Return, putting the fund squarely back in the lead.
It's the underlined section that is problematic.
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Consider two funds that pay out over a year roughly equal dividends (percentage wise). One pays quarterly, one annually. As I understand the statements above, the one paying quarterly will pull ahead in total return during the year - it will pay out its quarterly dividend, see its price drop but recover sometime within that quarter. So its total return will for those first three quarters gradually exceed that of the other fund.
But come December, the second fund will make a larger distribution (full year's worth rather than a quarter) and that will let it catch up (perhaps surpass) in total return. That catch up will be complete in a couple of months once the price has "reverted to the mean". At least that seems to be the claim.
For simplicity and clarity, let's consider two purely hypothetical funds, each holding the same one stock. Fund A distributes quarterly, Fund B annually. Suppose the underlying stock pays a div on March 31 (record date much earlier, but irrelevant), and Fund A distributes divs on the same day.
To compute total return, one assumes all fund divs are reinvested. With that assumption, the pre- and post-distribution portfolios of Fund A are the same, and are also the same as the Fund B portfolio (which made no quarterly distribution). Going forward, both funds will have the same total return because they have identical portfolios.
Fund B does not lag just because it doesn't make quarterly distributions. It does not catch up with a "massive dividend" at year end. A dividend payment has no effect on total return.
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Where I think the confusion arises is in how investors perceive stock divs. Many investors feel that higher div stocks have better returns. But consider stocks like BRK, or see:
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/082015/3-biggest-misconceptions-dividend-stocks.asp
Even if one buys into this theory, funds don't work that way. In part because fund distributions include capital gains which are not part of this stock div theory. In part because there are so many moving parts in funds that one can't tell from the yield what's going on. A fund could be invested in a mix of money losing companies (with no divs) and companies with high div payout ratios (distributing cash since they are stagnant), or strong companies with respectable payout ratios. The fund yields could be similar either way.

It would help if you could advance some explanation of why the price of a fund, determined by the prices of over 300 underlying securities, would appreciate merely because it distributed a dividend.

You missed my point by 180 degrees here. My position is that dividends are ultimately beneficial to total returns. Although a divided payout negatively disrupts share price trajectory temporarily, mean price reversion and the compounding effect tend to push net asset value gains in subsequent periods.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1498498/000119312524161727/d765972d497.htm
497 1 d765972d497.htm ASHMORE FUNDS
ASHMORE FUNDS
Supplement dated June 14, 2024
to the Statutory Prospectus for Class A, Class C and Institutional Class Shares
of Ashmore Emerging Markets Corporate Income ESG Fund
On June 12, 2024 the Board of Trustees of Ashmore Funds approved a plan of liquidation (the “Plan of Liquidation”) for the Ashmore Emerging Markets Corporate Income ESG Fund (the “Fund”), with such liquidation scheduled to take place on or about June 14, 2024 (the “Liquidation Date”). On or before the Liquidation Date, the Fund will seek to convert substantially all of its portfolio securities and other assets to cash or cash equivalents. Therefore, the Fund may depart from its stated investment objectives and policies as it prepares to liquidate its assets and distribute them to shareholders. Any shares of the Fund outstanding on the Liquidation Date will be automatically redeemed on that date. As soon as practicable after the Liquidation Date, the Fund will distribute pro rata to the Fund’s shareholders of record as of the close of business on the Liquidation Date all of the remaining assets of the Fund, after paying, or setting aside the amount to pay, any expenses and liabilities of the Fund.
The Fund may make one or more distributions of income and/or net capital gains on or prior to the Liquidation Date in order to eliminate Fund-level taxes. For taxable shareholders, the automatic redemption on the Liquidation Date generally will be treated like other redemptions of shares generally – that is, as a sale that may result in a gain or loss to shareholders for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
Effective as of the close of business on June 14, 2024, Institutional Class Shares of the Fund will no longer be available for purchase by new or existing investors or be available for exchanges from the other series of Ashmore Funds, except for shares that may be purchased as a result of dividend reinvestments.
At any time prior to the Liquidation Date, shareholders may redeem their shares of the Fund pursuant to the procedures set forth under “How to Sell or Exchange Shares” in the Fund’s Prospectus.
Shareholders may also exchange their shares for shares of a different series of Ashmore Funds, subject to any investment minimums and other restrictions on exchanges as described under “How to Sell or Exchange Shares” in the Fund’s Prospectus.
Investors Should Retain This Supplement for Future Reference

Ya'll holding IG bond funds/etf's or bonds within your other mixed allocation funds have made some decent gains in the past two weeks; you know, lower yields = higher prices.
Treasury yields since April 5. Will the downward trend continue? I don't have that answer, only a chart.
Remain curious,
Catch

M* shows MRFOX has zero turnover (8/31/2023) ... Not sure what the current MRFOX turnover is. I was hoping with heavy inflows they would be able to buy new or more promising investments.
Four of the fund's 19 holdings (see below) were new positions as of the turnover reporting date. Turnover is the lesser of percentage bought (in dollars, not positions) and percentage sold. Apparently the fund didn't sell shares of any holdings in the year ending 8/31/23 but added new holdings (likely adding to existing holdings as well).
https://www.morningstar.com/investing-definitions/turnover-ratio
But when I look at holdings at M*, M* says of the 18 holdings 7 are three star (means fairly valued) and rest are two star or one star (means overvalued). No 4 or 5 star holdings.
Those are star ratings today of equities that the fund held four months ago. How promising were those stocks when that last portfolio snapshot was taken? Let alone how promising they were last August when the fund added four stocks.
In the six months between Aug 2023 and Feb 2024 the fund liquidated one position. A naive calculation would suggest a turnover ratio of 5.3% (1 stock out of 19 sold). The actual dollar weighted turnover (including any sales of shares in the other 18 companies) came to 7% (not annualized). That seems more typical of the fund, which had turnover ratios of 24%, 14%, and 14% for FYs 2021, 2020, and 2019.
Semiannual report, Feb 29, 2024
Annual report, Aug 31, 2023

>> The underlying premise, viz. that dividends increase total returns, is mistaken
I understand the arithmetic here, but when I compare the last three years of (e.g.) Apple and Barnes Group stock performance on Stockchart adjusted (div) and unadjusted (no div), the div value is higher by a few percent with each stock. The delta is due to ... what? Corporate capital gains?

That addresses the dividends. However, are not capital gains separate?
Regardless of what distributions are called, the effect is the same. Though for tax purposes distributions may be characterized as ordinary income divs, qualified income divs, or cap gains divs.
Since you mentioned gaming the system, it's worth mentioning that the IRS has a rule to protect against gaming cap gains. Say that you buy a fund at $10 the day before it distributes a cap gain div of $1. The next day the fund is priced at $9, and you sell your shares.
You think you've got a $1 long term gain (cap gain div) and a more valuable $1 short term loss. The IRS says that you must treat that loss (of a share you held for one day) as a long term loss. Unless you hold the share for at least six months, you can't play this game.
https://fairmark.com/investment-taxation/capital-gain/selling-mutual-fund-shares/shares-held-six-months-or-less/
The IRS has a different rule to protect against gaming qualified divs. Generally it is necessary for a security to be held for at least 61 days (starting 60 days before the ex-div date) for the div to be qualified. Funds must satisfy this rule in order to pass through divs as qualified.
https://www.fidelity.com/tax-information/tax-topics/qualified-dividends
If you don't hold likewise hold the fund shares for a 61 day period around the fund's ex-div date, then the fund divs cannot be treated as qualified. Even if the fund's 1099-DIV says that they are.

Thanks @msf. That addresses the dividends. However, are not capital gains separate? Are the cap gains also included in the NAV? I’ve heard (in the distant past) that some fund managers will not reveal the date the cap gains are to be distributed ahead of time because some investors could game the system.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/720309/000119312524160798/d844723d497.htm
497 1 d844723d497.htm AMG FUNDS III
Filed pursuant to Rule 497(e)
File Nos. 002-84012 and 811-03752
AMG FUNDS III
AMG GW&K High Income Fund
Supplement dated June 13, 2024 to the Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information,
each dated May 1, 2024
The following information supplements and supersedes any information to the contrary relating to AMG GW&K High Income Fund (the “Fund”), a series of AMG Funds III (the “Trust”), contained in the Fund’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, dated as noted above.
The Board of Trustees of the Trust has approved a plan to liquidate and terminate the Fund (the “Liquidation”), which is expected to occur on or about September 11, 2024 (the “Liquidation Date”). Effective on or about June 14, 2024, it is expected that the Fund will begin selling its portfolio investments and will invest the proceeds in cash and cash equivalents, in anticipation of the Liquidation. Proceeds of the Liquidation are expected to be distributed to shareholders of the Fund promptly following the Liquidation Date in full redemption of each shareholder’s shares of the Fund.
Effective immediately following the close of business on June 13, 2024, the Fund will no longer accept investments, except for investments made through existing asset allocation programs investing in the Fund, and shares purchased pursuant to automatic investment programs, such as automatic investments through 401(k) plans and reinvestments of any dividends and distributions. Those shareholders investing in the Fund through one of the exceptions described above may continue to purchase shares of the Fund provided that such transactions settle prior to the Liquidation Date.
A letter will be sent to shareholders who hold shares directly with the Fund (“Direct Shareholders”) setting forth the various options and instructions with respect to the Liquidation and the distribution of Direct Shareholders’ redemption proceeds. Any Direct Shareholder may elect to have redemption proceeds sent to them via check. Direct Shareholders may also elect to exchange their Fund shares into the same share class of any other fund in the AMG Funds family of funds that is open to new investors (subject to minimum initial investment requirements as described in such fund’s prospectus). Shareholders who hold their shares in the Fund through a financial intermediary should contact their financial representative to discuss their options with respect to the Liquidation and the distribution of such shareholders’ redemption proceeds.
The Fund intends to distribute its accumulated net capital gains and net investment income, if any, to shareholders of record of the Fund as of the close of business on June 17, 2024; these distributions may be taxable to shareholders who do not hold their shares in a tax-advantaged account such as an IRA or 401(k).
PLEASE KEEP THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/879947/000119312524160793/d849966d497.htm
497 1 d849966d497.htm AMG FUNDS II
Filed pursuant to Rule 497(e)
File Nos. 033-43089 and 811-06431
AMG FUNDS II
AMG GW&K Enhanced Core Bond ESG Fund
Supplement dated June 13, 2024 to the Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information,
each dated May 1, 2024
The following information supplements and supersedes any information to the contrary relating to AMG GW&K Enhanced Core Bond ESG Fund (the “Fund”), a series of AMG Funds II (the “Trust”), contained in the Fund’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, dated as noted above.
The Board of Trustees of the Trust has approved a plan to liquidate and terminate the Fund (the “Liquidation”), which is expected to occur on or about September 11, 2024 (the “Liquidation Date”). Effective on or about June 14, 2024, it is expected that the Fund will begin selling its portfolio investments and will invest the proceeds in cash and cash equivalents, in anticipation of the Liquidation. Proceeds of the Liquidation are expected to be distributed to shareholders of the Fund promptly following the Liquidation Date in full redemption of each shareholder’s shares of the Fund.
Effective immediately following the close of business on June 13, 2024, the Fund will no longer accept investments, except for investments made through existing asset allocation programs investing in the Fund, and shares purchased pursuant to automatic investment programs, such as automatic investments through 401(k) plans and reinvestments of any dividends and distributions. Those shareholders investing in the Fund through one of the exceptions described above may continue to purchase shares of the Fund provided that such transactions settle prior to the Liquidation Date.
A letter will be sent to shareholders who hold shares directly with the Fund (“Direct Shareholders”) setting forth the various options and instructions with respect to the Liquidation and the distribution of Direct Shareholders’ redemption proceeds. Any Direct Shareholder may elect to have redemption proceeds sent to them via check. Direct Shareholders may also elect to exchange their Fund shares into the same share class of any other fund in the AMG Funds family of funds that is open to new investors (subject to minimum initial investment requirements as described in such fund’s prospectus). Shareholders who hold their shares in the Fund through a financial intermediary should contact their financial representative to discuss their options with respect to the Liquidation and the distribution of such shareholders’ redemption proceeds.
The Fund intends to distribute its accumulated net capital gains and net investment income, if any, to shareholders of record of the Fund as of the close of business on June 17, 2024; these distributions may be taxable to shareholders who do not hold their shares in a tax-advantaged account such as an IRA or 401(k).
PLEASE KEEP THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/912036/000119312524160800/d807981d497.htm
497 1 d807981d497.htm AMG FUNDS IV
Filed pursuant to Rule 497(e)
File Nos. 033-68666 and 811-08004
AMG FUNDS IV
AMG Beutel Goodman International Equity Fund
Supplement dated June 13, 2024 to the Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information,
each dated March 1, 2024
The following information supplements and supersedes any information to the contrary relating to AMG Beutel Goodman International Equity Fund (the “Fund”), a series of AMG Funds IV (the “Trust”), contained in the Fund’s Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, dated as noted above.
The Board of Trustees of the Trust has approved a plan to liquidate and terminate the Fund (the “Liquidation”), which is expected to occur on or about September 11, 2024 (the “Liquidation Date”). Effective on or about June 14, 2024, it is expected that the Fund will begin selling its portfolio investments and will invest the proceeds in cash and cash equivalents, in anticipation of the Liquidation. Proceeds of the Liquidation are expected to be distributed to shareholders of the Fund promptly following the Liquidation Date in full redemption of each shareholder’s shares of the Fund.
Effective immediately following the close of business on June 13, 2024, the Fund will no longer accept investments, except for investments made through existing asset allocation programs investing in the Fund, and shares purchased pursuant to automatic investment programs, such as automatic investments through 401(k) plans and reinvestments of any dividends and distributions. Those shareholders investing in the Fund through one of the exceptions described above may continue to purchase shares of the Fund provided that such transactions settle prior to the Liquidation Date.
A letter will be sent to shareholders who hold shares directly with the Fund (“Direct Shareholders”) setting forth the various options and instructions with respect to the Liquidation and the distribution of Direct Shareholders’ redemption proceeds. Any Direct Shareholder may elect to have redemption proceeds sent to them via check. Direct Shareholders may also elect to exchange their Fund shares into the same share class of any other fund in the AMG Funds family of funds that is open to new investors (subject to minimum initial investment requirements as described in such fund’s prospectus). Shareholders who hold their shares in the Fund through a financial intermediary should contact their financial representative to discuss their options with respect to the Liquidation and the distribution of such shareholders’ redemption proceeds.
The Fund intends to distribute its accumulated net capital gains and net investment income, if any, to shareholders of record of the Fund as of the close of business on June 17, 2024; these distributions may be taxable to shareholders who do not hold their shares in a tax-advantaged account such as an IRA or 401(k).
PLEASE KEEP THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE

quick Schwab update: In 2024 I've sent several messages to CS' customer service for various and fairly (basic) enquiries ranging from why I couldn't DRIP something to asking them why some income wasn't showing up on my Projected Income page. On at least 3 such requests (including one from last week), my notes went into the ether and I never got a response. This is unfortunate because since moving to Schwab in 2020, they were always very responsive -- I never went more than 2 days before getting an answer to my enquiry that was more than their system automatically acknowledging receipt of my note. :(

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1762332/000139834424011580/fp0088639-1_497.htm
497 1 fp0088639-1_497.htm
FROST FAMILY OF FUNDS
(the “Trust”)
Frost Municipal Bond Fund
(the “Fund”)
Supplement dated June 11, 2024 to the Fund’s Summary Prospectus (the “Summary Prospectus”), Prospectus (the “Prospectus”) and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”), each dated November 28, 2023
This supplement provides new and additional information beyond that contained in the Summary Prospectus, Prospectus and SAI, and should be read in conjunction with the Summary Prospectus, Prospectus and SAI.
The Board of Trustees of the Trust, at the recommendation of Frost Investment Advisors, LLC (the “Adviser”), the investment adviser of the Fund, has approved a plan of liquidation providing for the liquidation of the Fund’s assets and the distribution of the net proceeds pro rata to the Fund’s shareholders, effective as of August 5, 2024. In connection therewith, the Fund is closed to investments from new and existing shareholders effective July 31, 2024. The Fund is expected to cease operations and liquidate on or about September 5, 2024 (the “Liquidation Date”). The Liquidation Date may be changed without notice at the discretion of the Trust’s officers.
Prior to the Liquidation Date, shareholders may redeem (sell) their shares in the manner described in the “Purchasing, Selling and Exchanging Fund Shares – How to Redeem Fund Shares” section of the Prospectus. For those Fund shareholders that do not redeem (sell) their shares prior to the Liquidation Date, the Fund will distribute to each such shareholder, on or promptly after the Liquidation Date, a liquidating cash distribution equal in value to the shareholder’s interest in the net assets of the Fund as of the Liquidation Date.
Beginning August 5, 2024, in anticipation of the liquidation of the Fund, the Adviser may manage the Fund in a manner intended to facilitate the Fund’s orderly liquidation, such as by holding cash or making investments in other highly liquid assets. As a result, during this time, all or a portion of the Fund may not be invested in a manner consistent with its stated investment strategies, which may prevent the Fund from achieving its investment objective.
The liquidation distribution amount will include any accrued income and capital gains, will be treated as a payment in exchange for shares and will generally be a taxable event for shareholders investing through taxable accounts. You should consult your personal tax advisor concerning your particular tax situation. Shareholders remaining in the Fund on the Liquidation Date will not be charged any transaction fees by the Fund. However, the net asset value of the Fund on the Liquidation Date will reflect costs of liquidating the Fund. Shareholders will receive liquidation proceeds as soon as practicable after the Liquidation Date.
PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.

There are institutional share classes and institutional investors. Schwab has designated more funds as accessible only to institutional investors / advisory platform; some of these funds are accessible to retail at Fido but the institutional share class of these funds at Fido is very high ($1m?) compared to at Schwab
Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
AQR institutional class shares, e.g. QDSIX (an MFO Great Owl) are as you described - available only to institutions at Schwab and available for a seven figure min ($5M) at Fidelity.
Allspring (formerly Wells Fargo) institutional class shares, e.g. WFMIX (another MFO Great Owl) are available only to institutions at Schwab but open to retail investors at Fidelity. In an IRA (and only in an IRA), Fidelity sets no min. One could buy $50 worth for $99.95 including TF.
a CD of any bank that has the potential to be forced by regulators/ FDIC to be taken over by another bank, the acquiring bank is allowed to change the interest rate on the CD for the remaining time period prior to maturity - generally speaking.
Yes, but. There is an out. If the rate is changed, the saver is allowed to get out without penalty. The risk is in having one's long term rate lock broken. A saver does not face an unexpected liquidity risk; in a sense just the opposite.
https://www.fdic.gov/consumers/banking/facts/payment.html
(See: How does a bank closing affect interest accruing on my deposits?)

Circumstances change over time. When I was still employed and younger, I was rather aggressive investor, traded often, and used Wellstrade Brokerage, because I was given 100 free trades a year. When I retired, my wife and I moved to a smaller city, to be close to my children and grandchildren. With that move and retirement, I decided to transfer my brokerage assets to Fidelity--that was a good experience for me until Fidelity started eliminating many of the Institutional share class funds, and replacing them with a different share class. I was not pleased with that decision by Fidelity, and decided to switch from Fidelity to Schwab Brokerage, because Schwab was still offering those Institutional share class funds that Fidelity was closing. Schwab also incentivized me to make that brokerage transfer, by offering to reduce the Transaction Fees, for the Institutional share class funds, to only a fraction of the normal Transaction Fee. It was also helpful that only Schwab had a brokerage office in the small city we had moved to. That was especially comforting to my wife, knowing she could go to the Schwab office for assistance, if she outlived me. Of the 3 brokerages I have used, Schwab provided me the best overall menu of funds, best fund research tool, and the most institutional share class funds. When I cashed out of the market in 2022, I had such a large amount of cash that I was able to invest in SNAXX as the Money Market fund that paid the highest rate. SNAXX has been paying close over 5.4% for most of 2023, and some of 2024, but recently dropped to around 5.3%. I am willing to hold larger amounts of cash in SNAXX for liquidity reasons, and wait for the CDs in highly rated Banks. I did decide to transfer a large chunk of money out of Schwab in 2023, to my Capital One Bank account, because they were offering CDs at a 5.25% rate, and if I needed to sell those Bank CDs early, my penalty would be just 3 months of interest. I prefer Bank CDs over Brokerage CDs, for liquidity reasons, but I am at my maximum FDIC insured amount for Capital One.

I gave Vanguard a chance too, but they said they would ignore all of our existing low cost basis stocks so I though that was a no go.
Years ago I suggested to a friend what became Vanguard Personal Advisor Select. (At the time there was only one tier, with a $50K min.)
Vanguard was good about preserving investments with large gains and only selling them off gradually over several years. It was a pleasant contrast to TIAA, where this person had watched as an "advisor" immediately sold off everything at the start.
TIAA compounded the problem later by harvesting a loss in a taxable account while purchasing the same security in an IRA - thus generating a wash sale and permanently destroying the ability to declare the harvested loss.
On the tax front, Vanguard seems to be doing okay. Someone else I know with them was told that an account had recently crossed the designated allocation ranges and Vanguard could rebalance. Given that this was in a taxable account and rebalancing would recognize gains, Vanguard provided the option of rebalancing or not.
Maybe you just got hold of an inexperienced person at Vanguard or someone who was having a bad day.

To clarify, I fully agree that CP CD rates are compelling in relation to other FI options. I've Just Said No to bonds for the foreeseable future thanks to CP CD rates being well over my threshold to ditch bonds.
Carving into the respective CP CD rates though:
I find nothing compelling about a 1-yr CP CD rate of 5.45% when VMRXX is paying 5.29%. On a $100K investment, the difference over the 12-months is ($5,450-$5,290 or) $160 IF the MMkt rate holds steady for the full period. That piddly difference is not a compelling difference that would cause me (at least, and I trust manty others) to lock up $100K for a year, regardless of our age.
To wit, with MMkt cash this year, instead of locking it up in a ST CP CD, I made three ST stock trades (documented on this forum in real time) on GOOGL (2) and NVDA and made some whopping ST gains. Proceeds went back into MMkt.
Conversely, locking in a 5-yr CP CD rate of 4.70% IS compelling to me given my (at least, and I trust many others) notion that we won't be seeing anything near 4.70% rates in 2029 when the 5-yr CD matures. The same notion applies to a 3-yr CP CD rate of 4.90%.

Our own Lewis Braham just highlighted them in An article in Barron’s. Some excerpts:
“ Despite the confusion, some of these funds are worthy diversifiers for a traditional fixed-allocation portfolio. The hard part is figuring out which ones, as their strategies can vary significantly. “The issue to me is ‘tactical’ means the portfolio changes,” says Michael Lowenberg, manager of Modern Capital Tactical Income  (ticker: MCTDX), which Morningstar categorizes as Moderate Allocation. That category generally includes funds with 50% to 70% in stocks and the remainder in bonds, but Lowenberg says, “Our portfolio is dramatically different” from a year ago when “fixed income wasn’t investible” as interest rates were rising and bonds falling.”
“In early 2023, Lowenberg avoided most bonds, but today, now that he thinks the rate increases are over, his fund’s portfolio, as of March 31, was 53% in bonds and cash. Lowenberg’s aggressive shifts have paid off. In 2022, his fund was up 13.9%, with significant weightings in energy stocks and cash in an inflationary environment. Last year, the fund was up almost 18% as he gradually shifted more toward high-yield bonds and floating-rate debt.”
“How do you analyze a fund like this when you don’t know what’s in its shifting portfolio? Morningstar categorizes only 80 mutual funds and 23 exchange-traded funds as Tactical Allocation, but if you include the word “tactical” in a fund screen, those numbers go up to 126 mutual funds and 50 ETFs. Some but not all of those correctly belong in non-tactical-allocation categories as they are shifting more between individual stock or bond sectors than entire asset classes.”
“Compounding the confusion, some of the best tactical funds invest in closed-end funds, both to allocate their assets and to exploit deep price discounts to the closed-ends’ underlying portfolio values. When closed-end fund price discounts narrow, their share prices get bid up. That augments the tactical funds’ returns but also adds an extra layer of closed-end fund fees. Modern Tactical’s seemingly high 1.92% expense ratio actually masks that it charges a much more reasonable 0.60% management fee. There are additional fees charged by funds it holds, like Templeton Emerging Markets (EMF), which has a 1.47% expense ratio, but also trades at an attractive 15% discount.”
“Modern Capital has an 0.86 three-year Sharpe ratio, higher than any fund in Morningstar’s Tactical Allocation category, followed by Saba Closed-End’s 0.44 and Matisse’s 0.39. Most funds in the category have negative Sharpes, indicating they aren’t rewarding investors enough for their risks.”

Sorry being late to this discussion. Our oversea exposure is about 7-8%, with mostly actively managed funds and ETFs. In taxable account, VEA and DIVI are the only one we use and they are tax efficient.
1. For large cap developed market, ARTKX and FMIJX are the main vehicles.
2. Lately CCGO was added to gain exposure to the “growth” stocks in Europe as BF mentioned the “Fantastic Five”. Capital fund does a good job so far managed the downside risk than that of Vanguard Int’l growth (we moved on when Ian Anderson retired).
3. For EM exposure, we have 2% and it is getting smaller; largely invested in Seafarer funds with Andrew Foster and his teams.
4. The only stake on int’l small caps we have is Seafarer EM Value.
5. We continue to seek actively managed funds and ETFs with lower ER; preferable less than 1%.
6. Back in the 80-90’s when US currency was less dominated to other currencies, many international funds often out-performed the US counter-parts. This has changed in the last 10 years as it reflects in our lowered exposure.
7. In our 529 plan, Vanguard Total International stock index fund is used as part of the portfolio but we have limited choice there. Preferably, the Total Stock Market index would be better.

Soon there will be a money-market ETF from Texas Capital - Twitter Link
https://x.com/ETFhearsay/status/1796665090189480198
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1972459/000158064224002882/governmm_485a.htm

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1587551/000158064224002932/nightviewfund_485a.htm
Investment Objective
The Nightview Fund (the “Fund”) seeks long-term capital appreciation, with a goal of outperforming the S&P 500 Total Return Index over a rolling five-year period.