Howdy folks,
I posted this originally on this board back about a dozen years ago during the PM bull market that ran from 2002 to 2011. Seeing that gold is up about 71% YTD and silver +147%, seems it might be appropriate to post an update. I've collected coins for 70 years and this is my third bull market in the metals. In that late 70s, during the Hunt Bros bull, I was finishing my degree (finally) in Econ on the GI bill augmented by a stash of 90% silver coinage I had bought out of change during a restaurant gig. The big bonanza from 2002 to 2011 was easy as I was working with self-manage retirement accounts. It was fun. Now, I'm retired and normally have our portfolios on cruise-control, but good golly, the bull is running.
As a qualifier, I've been suggesting a PM holding of 3-7% for decades as an investment. More than that is speculation, which is fine, but different.
First of all, physical bullion in your possession is the best of all possible ways to invest. Cripes, a roll of American Gold Eagles is about 2" tall and the size of a quarter in diameter. It's worth about $95,000 right now and you can stash it in the oatmeal box. A 100oz bar of silver is about $7700 and you can paint it black and use it as a door stop. Or you can buy bling, but not designer stuff. You don't want to pay a premium for the name.
Many of you, myself included, use self-managed retirement funds and taxable monies to invest and speculate. With the PMs, there are two ways of playing them - bullion and mining stocks. There are bullion ETFs but keep them tax-deferred or exempt as gains get hit at 28%. For myself, I will only deal with Sprott ETFs for bullion because they must have possession of the bullion before they can sell you shares. This is unlike most of the bullion ETFs which do not have this rule and can take your money and then go looking for physical bullion with which to back it up. Right now, acquiring physical bullion is an international problem, particularly silver.
The other way of investing is with the mining stocks. The gold and silver miners. Kitco has the best listing.
https://www.kitco.com/mining/mining-equities
Of note is that over 70% of silver comes as a by-product of other mining - lead, zinc and copper. This is why it's hard to increase production to meet skyrocketing industrial demand. Some of these penny stocks are serious nosebleed stuff. That said, you can make a killing if you do your homework. While I own a few individual stocks [I just can't help myself], I choose to use ETFs that specialize in gold, silver, both, large cap, small cap miners, etc. Right now I'm riding SILJ, SGDJ, SLVR, PSLV, AND CEF.
Bias? Sure, I prefer silver to gold, although I am riding both. Silver has always exhibited much greater leverage than gold. In the Hunt Bros. bull, gold rose 3x, silver rose 10x. Same thing in the 2002-2011 bull and it's happening again right now. Why is this? I believe it involves that Gold Silver Ratio being artificial due to bullion having a paper price and physical price. Originally, I thought it was bullion ETFs, but now it seems to trace back to the 70's. There is also the supply issue which in the face of increased demand is huge. You've got Central banks and sovereign states buying and industrial usage has gone nuts. Feh, all this puts a bottom under the price.
BTW, an ounce of silver is now worth more than a barrel of oil.
and so it goes,
peace,
rono

"The Fund’s investment strategy is to generally invest in equity securities of companies that exhibit strong capital appreciation potential. Snowball Advisors, LLC (“Snowball” or the “Sub-Adviser”) assembles the Fund’s portfolio based on applying fundamental analysis and valuation models to a select universe of companies in order to identify investment opportunities. The Adviser employs a qualitative analysis approach based upon the Sub-Adviser’s fundamental research on individual securities and asset classes. The Sub-Adviser’s research focuses on the identification and modelling of companies in well positioned industries that have demonstrated the ability to grow market share, achieve pricing power, reflect a moat (competitive advantage), reflect a competitive internal rate of return (“IRR”) and generally exhibit strong cash flow generation."
https://x.com/ETFhearsay/status/2003504993874125136

I'm a big fan of BBBMX/BBBIX, but the duration, while miniscule, is about three times that of the funds linked to by msf.
The difference is likely due to CLOs being invested in floating rate instruments while BBBIX is a traditional ultrashort bond fund. This mention of duration (and hence volatility) raises the question of risk.
Volatility is commonly used as a proxy for risk but they're not the same; at most volatility is just one aspect of risk. There is structural risk - how the portfolio is designed - what is the risk of it falling off a cliff? Instinctively that may be what some are wondering about with CLOs.
Yogi alluded to this in writing of CLOs as "battle-modified" and analogizing to mad cow disease, i.e. something that could affect an entire industry. In one sense, I agree with the concern that the CLOs may be building a Maginot line, preparing for the last "war".
That said, the financial industry seems to have done a pretty good job of protecting against another outbreak of mad cow disease. CDOs collapsed when subprime mortgages collapsed. CDOs were largely invested in a single sector. CLOs are not.
ConAgra doesn't just invest in beef (e.g. Hebrew National) but in corn (e.g. Orville Redenbacher) and a plethora of other foodstuffs. Similarly,

For diversification purposes, CLOs are structured with specific investment limitations, such as issuer and industry concentrations, which aim to protect investors from potential losses. For example, a CLO’s underlying portfolio may consist of 100 or more issuers across several industries.

https://content.naic.org/sites/default/files/capital-markets-primer-collateralized-loan-obligations.pdf
Diversification across multiple industries is not just fighting the last war, it's more generally a "Healthy Choice®".
Nevertheless, CLOs carry some risk of the unknown. Though they have added various safeguards to make the chance of a meltdown remote, it isn't zero. I view CLOs as a small step along the risk/reward trajectory. Slightly more risk than something like BBBIX with a modestly greater expected return.

Per BBG:
Nelson Peltz’s Trian Fund Management and General Catalyst agreed to buy Janus Henderson Group Plc in a deal that values the asset manager at about $7.4 billion.
Shareholders will receive $49 a share in cash, up from $46 a share that the investors offered in October, according to a statement
Monday. Trian already owns 20.6% of Janus Henderson’s shares and has been represented on the board since 2022.
The move is the latest dramatic turn in Trian’s investment in Janus Henderson, the asset manager who counted Bill Gross among its bond managers before his retirement in 2019.
Trian had worked to oust previous management while pushing the fund manager to stop bleeding clients following the troubled merger that created the firm in 2017. Trian first disclosed its investment in Janus Henderson in October 2020.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-12-22/trian-general-catalyst-to-buy-janus-henderson-for-7-4-billion?srnd=homepage-americas

Good point by @msf re pools of mortgages. You or I might not receive an AAA bond rating by ourselves no matter how responsible we are. But a pool including our mortgage along with thousands of others of the same creditworthiness might.
This Lord Albert piece is one of the better I've stumbled upon re the risk profile of CLOs. I feel these are quite safe, but as @msf suggests in mentioning PAAA, the fund sponsor has room to either strengthen or weaken his offering in ways most of us might not be aware of. That's of course true of other financial products offered.
Related / Unrelated - Bloomberg is reporting today a bid to buy Janus Henderson. When I searched , it seems there has been speculation + bids to buy the firm going back at least to 2020.

VWIAX prospectus:

Investment Objective
The Fund seeks to provide long-term growth of income and a high and
sustainable level of current income, along with moderate long-term
capital appreciation.

I wouldn't place too much stock in the names of funds. M* abandoned self-classifications of funds (aggressive growth, growth, G&I, Equity Income) decades ago.
Vanguard G&I (VGIAX) is virtually pure equity (98% equity, 2% cash). If that's what Vanguard considers "growth and income" it's hardly surprising that it wouldn't include "growth" in the name of a hybrid fund like VWIAX.

I reinvest all of my TRP Capital Appreciation dividends and CG distributions every year, a practice which is unique to this fund in my portfolio and which has made it far and away my largest single holding. I may discontinue doing that going forward, but I would take a hard look at the fund's performance overall and especially in down markets before I reduce my position. If Mr. Giroux can continue to provide double-digit returns in the years to come I suspect I will again be entirely satisfied with this fund.

M*: "Default risk is remote for AAA CLO tranches"
Janus: "Due to the credit enhancement features within CLO structures,
there has never been a realized loss in any senior AAA, junior AAA, or AA rated CLO"
I previously read that no AAA CLOs have defaulted during their entire existence (since 1992?).
This is an excerpt from a KKR article that I read today.
"Not only does CLO debt offer similar or better carry to leveraged loans,
but it also has a degree of added protection against defaults.
Because rated debt tranches benefit from the subordination of equity and lower rated tranches,
a CLO portfolio’s par value can decline significantly before rated debt tranches begin taking a principal loss.
By our calculations, assuming a 50% recovery in the event of a default, which is more conservative
than historical averages, nearly one-fourth of the underlying loans in a CLO portfolio would have to default
before the CLO’s BBB-rated debt security experiences a single dollar of losses."

https://www.kkr.com/insights/clo-liabilities-in-credit-portfolios
I considered investing in JAAA or PAAA a while ago but decided against it
since I wasn't quite sure how these funds would perform during the Fed's easing cycle.
Angel Oak Capital Advisers suggests that it might be a good time to pivot away
from AAA-rated CLOs due to lower short-term rates and the likelihood of an economic slowdown.
https://angeloakcapital.com/overlooked-risks-in-aaa-rated-clos/

Full 2nd para follows.
https://www.morningstar.com/etfs/arcx/jaaa/analysis
"Collateralized loan obligations are actively managed, diversified pools of non-investment-grade bank loans. They are structured investments where various tranches, or slices, of the structure carry different ratings, based on their protection from losses of the underlying pool of leveraged loans. The AAA rated tranche sits atop the capital structure and can absorb more losses than lower-rated tranches, down the line to the B rated and equity tranches, which are most exposed to losses."
Bank-loans are non-investment-grade or not-rated. So, a pool of bank-loans would also be non-inv-grade. But then, the restructuring magic is applied to slice-and-dice the portfolio in tranches of various quality - AAA,...,BB,....equity tranch.
M* shows JAAA as having only 7.65% as non-inv-gr & not-rated. Actually, funds are allowed to have 20-35% in off-label entities.

BDC Troubles, 2025
".....Wall Street fund managers want 401(k) plans to include private credit, but similar products they have already sold to individual investors are in sharp decline this year.
Some of the same money managers leading the charge to “democratize” private markets—like KKR and BlackRock—are among the worst performers in the publicly traded private-credit funds called business development companies.
Business development companies, or BDCs, typically make high-interest loans to midsize corporations with junk credit ratings, using income from the loans to pay big dividends to their investors. They have become a popular way for fund managers to draw mom-and-pop investors into the booming private-credit industry. Demand for BDCs surged and the cash they manage has more than tripled since 2020 to about $450 billion, according to the law firm Mayer Brown.....
The BDC selloff began this summer, after falling interest rates reduced income from the loans they own. Then, a $14 billion fund managed by KKR reported heavy losses from loans gone wrong, and a rash of alleged frauds in companies such as the auto supplier First Brands spooked investors. JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, who has a love-hate relationship with private credit, warned about more credit “cockroaches” lurking.....

....."
WSJ https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/the-private-credit-party-turns-ugly-for-individual-investors-287356f9
Open at MSN https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/the-private-credit-party-turns-ugly-for-individual-investors/ar-AA1SLq0A

Thanks @msf. Great reminder to those of us who may have large capital gain in 2025. I have increased my withholding this year to meet close to 100% of the tax. Years ago we received large capital gains and we have to pay penalty due to underpaid amount. Since then we switched to index funds. Other tgan dividends, no more surprising capital gains.

@msf Thanks, as always, for the excellent info. You may have saved me some aggravation/consternation trying to change things. I'll do a little Googling.
As I paid the first three on the regular schedule and the third one is already scheduled, I will do some research on the situation. No biggie, as I made other tax adjustments this year, like having my wife pay some tax from her SS. The last three years have been transitional. And, in truth, these cap gains are not anything new on an annual basis.
@rforno Good point!

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1643838/000139834425022656/fp0096699-1_497.htm
497 1 fp0096699-1_497.htm
IDX Risk-Managed Digital Assets Strategy Fund
(Formerly, IDX Risk-Managed Bitcoin Strategy Fund)
Institutional Class Shares (Ticker Symbol: BTIDX)
A series of
Trailmark Series Trust (Formerly, IDX Funds)
December 18, 2025
Supplement to the Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”),
dated April 30, 2025, as previously supplemented
The Board of Trustees of Trailmark Series Trust (the “Board”) has concluded that it is in the best interests of IDX Risk-Managed Digital Assets Strategy Fund (the “Fund”) and its shareholders that the Fund cease operations. The Board has determined to close the Fund and redeem all outstanding shares on or about January 18, 2026 (“Redemption Date”).
Effective immediately, the Fund will not accept any new investments, will no longer pursue its stated investment objective, and will begin liquidating its portfolio and will invest in cash equivalents such as money market funds until all shares have been redeemed. Any required distributions of income and capital gains will be distributed as soon as practicable to shareholders and reinvested in additional shares, unless you have previously requested payment in cash.
Prior to or on the Redemption Date, you may redeem your shares, including reinvested distributions, in accordance with the “Redeeming Shares” section in the Prospectus. Unless your investment in the Fund is through a tax-deferred retirement account, a redemption is subject to tax on any taxable gains. Please refer to the “Other Information section in the Prospectus for general information. You may wish to consult your tax advisor about your particular situation.
ANY SHAREHOLDERS WHO HAVE NOT REDEEMED THEIR SHARES OF THE FUND PRIOR TO THE REDEMPTION DATE WILL HAVE THEIR SHARES AUTOMATICALLY REDEEMED AS OF THAT DATE, AND PROCEEDS WILL BE SENT TO THE ADDRESS OF RECORD. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact your financial advisor directly or the Fund at 216-329-4271.
* * * * * * *
You should read this Supplement, in conjunction with the Prospectus and SAI, dated April 30, 2025, as previously supplemented, each may be amended from time to time, because they provide information you should know about the Fund before investing in it. These documents are available upon request and without charge by calling the Fund at 216-329-4271.
PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FURTHER REFERENCE

PRWCX lost over 8% yesterday! Does this mean Giroux has lost his touch? I am stunned.... should I sell?
/ducks
(sorry, couldn't resist --- for those unaware, it's just the fund paying out end-of-year gains and distributions, nothing to worry about.)

Vanguard's PRIMECAP funds went ex-dividend on 12/17 with a payable date of 12/18.
Vanguard estimated VPCCX and VPMAX capital gains of 14.01% and 13.24% respectively.¹
M* Portfolio Manager indicated VPCCX and VPMAX total changes of -16.02% and -15.62% respectively.
¹ https://advisors.vanguard.com/tax-center/year-end-distributions

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1260667/000116204425001293/ancoramicrocapliquidation.htm
497 1 ancoramicrocapliquidation.htm
Ancora MicroCap Fund
Class I shares
ANCIX
Class S shares
ANCSX
(a series of Ancora Trust)
Supplement dated December 16, 2025 to
the Prospectus dated April 30, 2025
The Board of Trustees of Ancora Trust (the “Board”) has determined based on the recommendation of the investment adviser of the Ancora MicroCap Fund (the “Fund”), that it is in the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders that the Fund cease operations. The Board has determined to close the Fund and redeem all outstanding shares on February 27, 2026.
Effective at the close of business December 18, 2025, the Fund will not accept any purchases (subject to certain limited exceptions) and will no longer pursue its stated investment objectives. The Fund may begin liquidating its portfolio and may invest in cash equivalents such as money market funds until all shares have been redeemed. Any capital gains will be distributed as soon as practicable to shareholders. Shares of the Fund are otherwise not available for purchase.
Prior to February 27, 2026, you may redeem your shares, including reinvested distributions, in accordance with the “Selling (Redeeming) Your Shares” section in the Prospectus. Unless your investment in the Fund is through a tax-deferred retirement account, a redemption is subject to tax on any taxable gains. Please refer to the “Dividends, Distributions and Taxes” section in the Prospectus for general information. You may wish to consult your tax advisor about your particular situation.
ANY SHAREHOLDERS WHO HAVE NOT REDEEMED THEIR SHARES OF THE FUND PRIOR TO FEBRUARY 27, 2026 WILL HAVE THEIR SHARES AUTOMATICALLY REDEEMED AS OF THAT DATE, AND PROCEEDS WILL BE SENT TO THE ADDRESS OF RECORD. IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR NEED ASSISTANCE, PLEASE CONTACT YOUR FINANCIAL ADVISOR DIRECTLY OR THE FUND AT 1-866-626-2672.
After December 18, 2025, purchases of shares of the Ancora MicroCap Fund must qualify under one of the following exceptions:
Retirement Plans — A defined contribution retirement plan (for example, 401(k) plans, profit sharing plans and money purchase plans), 403(b) plan or 457 plan that offers the Fund as of the Close Date may continue to accept additional investments by existing shareholders of the Fund for additional shares of the Fund. New participant accounts within the plan are allowed. In addition, participants in a plan may not open a new account outside of the plan under this exception.
Gifts — An individual may receive shares of the Fund as a gift from a family member who is an existing shareholder of the Fund.
Charities — A charitable foundation or trust may receive shares of the Fund from an existing shareholder of the Fund.
Certain Ancora Affiliates — Current trustees or officers of Ancora Funds, employees of Ancora, or a member of the immediate family of any of these persons may invest in the Fund.
Once an account is closed, additional investments will not be accepted unless you meet one of the specified criteria above. Management reserves the right to: (i) make additional exceptions that, in its judgment, do not adversely affect its ability to manage Fund; (ii) reject any investment or refuse any exception, including those detailed above, that it believes will adversely affect its ability to manage the Fund; and (iii) close or re-open the Fund to new or existing shareholders at any time. An investment is subject to management’s determination of your eligibility to buy shares of the Fund and you may be required to provide additional documentation or otherwise demonstrate eligibility before an investment is accepted.
The closing of the Fund does not restrict you from redeeming or selling shares of the Fund. The other Ancora Funds remain open to all investors.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR RETIREMENT PLAN INVESTORS
If you are a retirement plan investor, you should consult your tax advisor regarding the consequences of a redemption of Fund shares. If you receive a distribution from an Individual Retirement Account or a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) IRA, you must roll the proceeds into another Individual Retirement Account within sixty (60) days of the date of the distribution in order to avoid having to include the distribution in your taxable income for the year. If you receive a distribution from a 403(b)(7) Custodian Account (Tax-Sheltered account) or a Keogh Account, you must roll the distribution into a similar type of retirement plan within sixty (60) days in order to avoid disqualification of your plan and the severe tax consequences that it can bring. If you are the trustee of a Qualified Retirement Plan, you may reinvest the money in any way permitted by the plan and trust agreement.
This Supplement and the existing Prospectus dated April 30, 2025, provide relevant information for all shareholders and should be retained for future reference. Both the Prospectus and the Statement of Additional Information dated April 30, 2025, have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, are incorporated by reference and can be obtained without charge by calling the Fund at 1-866-626-2672.

Yardeni is similar to Prof Sigel
Siegel basically has 2 long term opinions
1) Mr. Siegel is stocks perma bull. He has 2 main predictions annually: stocks will make money next year.
2) Stocks will make more than bonds.
The above is not a brain surgery, just common sense BUT NOTHING MUCH because
1) The SP500 was up over 80% in the last 40 years. He has no clue what % the SP500 will go up or what years will go down. Generic 10% range predictions don't mean much
2) Of course, stocks will make more than bonds, they have that for decades, especially when the 10 year treasury went to 0.5% in 2020...duh.
Stocks:
As expected, Siegel was wrong every down year
1) 03/2001 (link): about stocks "they are probably a better bet now than they were a year ago. You can buy them at cheaper prices.” FD: from 03/2001 to 09/2002, which is about 1.5 years, the SP500 lost over 22%, see (link)
2) 2008 (link) "I think the stock market will have another winning year in 2008." FD: The SP500 fell more than 50% and finish 2008 at -37%.
3) 2018 (link): U.S. equities will end the year with gains of as much as 10%. FD: the SP500 was negative at -4.5%.
4) 2019(link) "Jeremy Siegel says stocks could rally between 5 and 15 percent in the new year." FD: the SP500 made 31.5% more than double of what Siegel predicted.

marks has never written to offer monthly advice. his main talent has been to deploy loads of committed capital at mkt lows in high tiers of capital structures. that is the only 'signal' one will get, and maybe that is also gone within the maze of brookfield.
where i do fault marks is his ever-insistent emphasis on 'risk' without proving any practical means of assessing such for the self-investor.

I discussed that as well. His memos have always been long and convoluted, filled with commentary but very little actionable guidance. After years of avoiding a clear stance, he finally called a bubble last January.

marks has never written to offer monthly advice. his main talent has been to deploy loads of committed capital at mkt lows in high tiers of capital structures. that is the only 'signal' one will get, and maybe that is also gone within the maze of brookfield.
where i do fault marks is his ever-insistent emphasis on 'risk' without providing any practical means of assessing such for the self-investor.

Since you are the account owner or custodian, you can rename the beneficiary to another child or grandchild in case your child does not wish to attend college, or wanting to spend it on a new car instead.
They cannot access the 529 fund with you being the custodian. The rules on 529 fund is strict and they are use for qualified education expenses such as tuition, books, and room&board. The rules relax a bit recently to include private schooling (high school level). Upon withdrawal, these 529 fund are tax-free in tax reporting.
We put in about 30% of the total sum and the rest was from capital appreciation through compounding. So get start as early as possible and let time works to fund your college education. If you are so lucky to have few remaining fund, they can be use for post-graduate studies.
Edit:. 529 plans typically start with global stock funds and gradually move to a balanced and end with short term bonds and money market when the child enters college. Many options to choose from these days. As the custodian on the account, you have many flexibility. Important thing to remember, start early and let the market do the work for you. Dollar-cost-average investing works very nicely.