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Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.

Need a solid, good, consistent, un-flashy AA fund. (Closed thread.)
PRWCX is closed to new investors, so I don’t know why people keep recommending it.
A few reasons:
1. It serves as a benchmark
2. It may be open to investors in 401(k) or other employer-sponsored plans that include it as an option
3. It is open to "mass affluent" investors (see below).
4. Some people own shares and are interested in how the fund is doing (is it a buy?).
Supposedly there are round-about ways to open a new account, but I view that as a myth.
Fund companies reward account size, not longevity. Vanguard opens some of its closed funds to Flagship ($1M+) customers. Artisan allows shareholders who hold more than $250K in its funds to buy into closed funds like ARTKX (see statutory prospectus). Similarly, T. Rowe Price allows investors holding more than $250K at TRP to invest in its closed funds, via its Summit program. This program replaced its Select Client Services in 2021. These "back doors" are not myths.
In a way, you were right to wait for TRP to partially open its closed funds. Around the end of 2020 T. Rowe Price reorganized itself in part to give it greater capacity. Not long after, it made its closed funds available to some investors.
Maybe you left before TRP sent out the memo. Or maybe, in splitting assets across institutions, you maintained only a toe hold at TRP. Whatever. Time is not what matters. I've had assets at Fidelity since before I was born (parents set up a UGMA account with really old fund shares). Yet Fidelity doesn't even offer me a free copy of Turbotax.
TRP's brokerage was always an adjunct to its fund business - offered as a convenience to its fund investors but not its mainline business. (A $35 fee each way on TF funds and a six month holding period is not competitive.) So it's not surprising that you would find Fidelity a better platform for securities aside from house funds.
Good luck with TCAF. It's not a clone of PRWCX - simply by its nature as a pure equity funds I expect it to outperform over time with greater volatility.

msf July 2023 in Fund Discussions
Need a solid, good, consistent, un-flashy AA fund. (Closed thread.)
PRWCX is NOT closed. I purchased TRAIX which is the institutional form of prwcx last week at Firstrade which has a minimum of $ 100. to purchase. Sorry ,but not a myth! If you have an account with them you would have to look it up in your account. It is also NTF. This post was made for those who might be interested in purchasing this fund. By the way I have owned PRWCX in another account for at least a decade but will hang on to it , so I do not have to pay the capital gains if I sold it at this time. Will just keep adding to the new TRAIX position.

fundly July 2023 in Fund Discussions
Need a solid, good, consistent, un-flashy AA fund. (Closed thread.)
@WABAC
Is it an insurmountable burden for a young man working three jobs to potentially deal with taxes on capital gains if he gets past a certain income at some point
Thus, enter the ROTH IRA, eh? At least some burden reduction.
Excellent. El primero. First thing I did with #1 child after liquidating the UGMA. Next thing is making sure she has year 2 contribution ready to go.
Many of us are advising our children. Many of us may have more, or less, information, experience, education, wisdom, to pass on. One of the reasons this thread persists despite the original concerns of the OP.
Same goes for the grandson thread.
What to do? What to do?
Well. You can't do much more than the person you're "helping" is ready to accept in one sitting. Pay careful attention to eyes glazing over.

WABAC July 2023 in Fund Discussions
Need a solid, good, consistent, un-flashy AA fund. (Closed thread.)
@WABAC
Is it an insurmountable burden for a young man working three jobs to potentially deal with taxes on capital gains if he gets past a certain income at some point
Thus, enter the ROTH IRA, eh? At least some burden reduction.

catch22 July 2023 in Fund Discussions
Need a solid, good, consistent, un-flashy AA fund. (Closed thread.)
At some point the perfect becomes the enemy of the good. Finding something that suits the investor described may not match up with "best" solutions. There is no guarantee that more, or professional, advice will "remedy" the situation given the druthers of the parties involved.
Is it an insurmountable burden for a young man working three jobs to potentially deal with taxes on capital gains if he gets past a certain income at some point, when the alternative is a money market fund?
Maybe somebody out there has the numbers on paying 15% on cap gains versus returns on a money market, or numerous other vehicles the beneficiary, or his benefactor, have varying interest in pursuing.

WABAC July 2023 in Fund Discussions
Two Nighshare ETFs to liquidate
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1199046/000158064223003676/nightshares497s.htm
497 1 nightshares497s.htm 497
NightShares 500 ETF (NSPY)
NightShares 2000 ETF (NIWM)
(each a series of Unified Series Trust)
Primary Listing Exchange for the Funds: NYSE Arca, Inc.
Supplement dated July 14, 2023 to the Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (the “SAI”) dated May 18, 2022 and Summary Prospectuses dated May 18, 2022
The Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of Unified Series Trust (the “Trust”) authorized an orderly liquidation of the NightShares 500 ETF and the NightShares 2000 ETF (each, a “Fund” and together, the “Funds”), each a series of the Trust. The Board determined on July 14, 2023 that closing and liquidating the Funds was in the best interests of the Funds and the respective Fund’s shareholders, following a recommendation by the Funds’ investment adviser, AlphaTrAI Funds, Inc.
The last day of trading of Fund shares on NYSE Arca, Inc. (the “NYSE”) will be July 31, 2023 (the “Closing Date”), which will also be the last day each Fund will accept creation units from authorized participants. Shareholders may sell their holdings in a Fund prior to the Closing Date and customary brokerage charges may apply to these transactions. Authorized Participants may redeem baskets of shares for a pro rata portion of a Fund’s portfolio on hand through the Closing Date.
The Funds are expected to cease operations, liquidate their assets, and distribute the liquidation proceeds to shareholders of record on or about August 10, 2023 (the “Liquidation Date”).
From the Closing Date (July 31, 2023), through the Liquidation Date (August 10, 2023), shareholders may only be able to sell their shares to certain broker-dealers and there is no assurance that there will be a market for the Funds’ shares during this time period. Between the Closing Date and the Liquidation Date, the Funds will be in the process of closing down and liquidating their portfolios. This process will result in each Fund increasing its cash holdings and, as a consequence, not pursuing its investment objective.
Shareholders of record remaining on the Liquidation Date will receive cash equal to the net asset value of their shares as of that date, which will include any capital gains and dividends as of such date. The liquidating cash distribution to shareholders will be treated as payment in exchange for their shares. The liquidation of Fund shares may be treated as a taxable event. Shareholders should contact their tax adviser to discuss the income tax consequences of the liquidation. Once the distributions are complete, the Funds will terminate.
For additional information regarding the liquidation, shareholders of the Funds may call (833) 648-3383.
This Supplement provides new and additional information beyond that contained in the Summary Prospectuses, Prospectus, and Statement of Additional Information and should be read in conjunction with those documents. The Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and are incorporated herein by reference.
PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE

TheShadow July 2023 in Fund Discussions
Need a solid, good, consistent, un-flashy AA fund. (Closed thread.)
@Crash , you've not noted:
--- taxable account or Roth IRA ?
Taxable. We intend to put his name as primary, and my wife as the other joint-owner. (She's 19 years younger than me. Like my dear son, she does not "grok" investing at all. But eventually, some things will move beyond my control. Eventually, EVERYTHING will move beyond my control.) A taxable account means no worries about running afoul of the splendid and gorgeous and marvelous IRA rules brought to you by the glorious IRS.
--- If a taxable account, an ETF basically has no short/long taxable annual distributions; with the exception of possible dividends for tax reporting. While traditional mutual funds will have these taxable events every year. There are many very acceptable etf's that a 30 year old should be investing into, and the ER's are generally very low. 30 years old= growth, growth, growth.......ride out the machinations.
I have made an executive decision, myself: no ETFs. I don't like the way they behave, somehow. I've owned and already sold two. No more ETFs.
--- Roth IRA....course, no annual taxation, annual limit for 2023 is $6,500. ANYONE may provide the money to fund the account, as long as the owner 'HE' has taxable income that satisfies the funding limits for the year. We funded our daughter's ROTH when she had income for a given year, starting at age 14. She kept her income for her needs at the time.
My son does not possess an "investing bone" in his body, anywhere. Does not want to even deal with the necessary papers. He's about as organized as his mother. Has no desire to do any investing homework or come up with a plan, or learn the admittedly abstruse, esoteric jargon. I've had some conversations with him about it, trying to simplify and break it all down, avoiding the whacked, specialized terminology. He flatly told me: "All I need is a single fund that I can hold for a long time, and just let it ride."
--- Has your son viewed the Fido site? If so, what is his opinion? If he is comfortable with the site, will he not he be the one maintaining the investments/site when you can not longer perform this function?
No, surely he's not seen the Fido website. He doesn't even know where to begin. Previously, I sent him MAPOX IRA paperwork, and he got entangled in it all and wasn't even sure where to fill out the forms. (I have since told him simply: Just look for the pages with blank spaces that tell you to provide X, Y and Z.) He is NOT dumb, just is the type who prefers to fly by the seat of his pants and eschews sorting, organizing, arranging----- or CLEANING HIS ROOM. LOL.
He will surely not be active in monitoring his mutual fund. Truthfully, I suspect I will be contributing the lion's share of what goes into it. And after getting a dose of Fidelity's website, that mutual fund will not be a Fidelity fund. (I think I've all but decided on RPBAX. He's not even going to CARE which one we use.) He is cobbling together three jobs to make a living. Doing alright for himself, in that regard.
A full world of investment choices with Fidelity.
I provided a number of choices for a young niece and her mother.....
A theme, yes, for a young person in particular; but also suitable in part for an older person, when adjusting some of the holdings positions by percentages. Redundancies with some holdings, yes. But, not a problem.
The above 6 bar chart from Sept. 13, 2016 (inception date limitation)
Using standard charting.
Time frame of niece's investment period chart< (3 years)>
'Course, this time frame includes the 2022 period of 'face slapping' until near the end of October when the equity and bond markets rotated towards a positive direction for performance. Generally, equity and bonds ranged down between -13 and -16% in 2022, including gains that started in October.
Remain curious,
Catch
Your thorough and thoughtful response is a thing I'm grateful for, @catch22.

Crash July 2023 in Fund Discussions
Need a solid, good, consistent, un-flashy AA fund. (Closed thread.)
@Crash , you've not noted:
--- taxable account or Roth IRA ?
--- If a taxable account, an ETF basically has no short/long taxable annual distributions; with the exception of possible dividends for tax reporting. While traditional mutual funds will have these taxable events every year. There are many very acceptable etf's that a 30 year old should be investing into, and the ER's are generally very low. 30 years old= growth, growth, growth.......ride out the machinations.
--- Roth IRA....course, no annual taxation, annual limit for 2023 is $6,500. ANYONE may provide the money to fund the account, as long as the owner 'HE' has taxable income that satisfies the funding limits for the year. We funded our daughter's ROTH when she had income for a given year, starting at age 14. She kept her income for her needs at the time.
--- Has your son viewed the Fido site? If so, what is his opinion? If he is comfortable with the site, will he not he be the one maintaining the investments/site when you can not longer perform this function?
A full world of investment choices with Fidelity.
I provided a number of choices for a young niece and her mother using past performance numbers and what each investment was able to provide based upon their exposure in the investment world. The niece has many years in front of her for investing .
They decided (the niece) to fund a Fido ROTH among six choices, mostly equally funded of:
---QQQ, etf
--- BOTZ, etf (robotics +)
--- FSMEX, medical tech. OR IHI etf, which about a twin for performance
--- FHLC, etf, broad healthcare (some downside market protection)
--- FTEC, etf, technology
--- FBALX, a hard to beat for performance balanced fund, generally 70/30
A theme, yes, for a young person in particular; but also suitable in part for an older person, when adjusting some of the holdings positions by percentages. Redundancies with some holdings, yes. But, not a problem.
The above 6 bar chart from Sept. 13, 2016 (inception date limitation)
Using standard charting.
Time frame of niece's investment period chart< (3 years)>
'Course, this time frame includes the 2022 period of 'face slapping' until near the end of October when the equity and bond markets rotated towards a positive direction for performance. Generally, equity and bonds ranged down between -13 and -16% in 2022, including gains that started in October.
Remain curious,
Catch

catch22 July 2023 in Fund Discussions
Anybody Investing in bond funds?
>>>Would really love to hear @Junkster’s take on your question. He’s the expert on HY.<<
Not really as except for a short period last summer haven’t had any meaningful position in junk for several years. I do like CSOAX in that space but it is more of a hybrid junk fund also holding bank loans. I have held that one a few times this year and still hold a position. But bank loans now are massively overbought with a few in that category not having a down day since late May. The epitome of trend persistency. Edit: I have orders in today to lighten up in that category.
One interesting stat on junk bonds that would keep me bullish is since 1980 after a down year (such as 2022) the next year (2023) is always positive and in all instances but one the gains were double digit. Of course in all those previous down years spreads had widened considerably. That was not the case last year. I also would attack junk bonds with an OEF and never an ETF.

Junkster July 2023 in Fund Discussions
TrueShares ESG Active Opportunities ETF will be liquidated
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1683471/000089418923004740/truesharesecozliquidation4b.htm
497 1 truesharesecozliquidation4b.htm TRUESHARES 497E
TrueShares ESG Active Opportunities ETF (ECOZ)
a series of Listed Funds Trust (the “Trust”)
Supplement dated July 14, 2023
to the Summary Prospectus, Prospectus and
Statement of Additional Information dated April 30, 2023
After careful consideration, and at the recommendation of TrueMark Investments, LLC, the investment adviser to the TrueShares ESG Active Opportunities ETF (the “Fund”), the Board of Trustees of Listed Funds Trust approved the closing and subsequent liquidation of the Fund pursuant to the terms of a Plan of Liquidation. Accordingly, the Fund was expected to cease operations, liquidate its assets, and distribute the liquidation proceeds to shareholders on or about July 31, 2023 (the “Liquidation Date”). Shares of the Fund are listed on the NYSE Arca, Inc.
Beginning on July 14, 2023 and continuing through the Liquidation Date, the Fund will liquidate its portfolio assets. As a result, during this period, the Fund will increase its cash holdings and deviate from its investment objective, investment strategies, and investment policies as stated in the Fund’s Prospectus and SAI.
The Fund will no longer accept orders for new creation units after the close of business on the business day prior to the Liquidation Date, and trading in shares of the Fund will be halted prior to market open on the Liquidation Date. Prior to the Liquidation Date, shareholders may only be able to sell their shares to certain broker-dealers, and there is no assurance that there will be a market for the Fund’s shares during that time period. Customary brokerage charges may apply to such transactions.
If no action is taken by a Fund shareholder prior to the Liquidation Date, the Fund will distribute to such shareholder, on or promptly after the Liquidation Date, a liquidating cash distribution equal to the net asset value of the shareholder’s Fund shares as of the close of business on the Liquidation Date. This amount will include any accrued capital gains and dividends. Shareholders remaining in the Fund on the Liquidation Date will not be charged any transaction fees by the Fund. The liquidating cash distribution to shareholders will be treated as payment in exchange for their shares. The liquidation of your shares may be treated as a taxable event. Shareholders should contact their tax adviser to discuss the income tax consequences of the liquidation.
Shareholders can call 1-800-617-0004 for additional information.
Please retain this Supplement with your Summary Prospectus,
Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information for reference.

TheShadow July 2023 in Fund Discussions
Grandson in a quandry
Gosh, this is a stodgy old board!
Not at all. Several people on this site have suggested 100% (or near 100%) equity portfolios for young people. But those recommendations came with the proviso that the person had an emergency fund, or perhaps that the income stream was dead certain. And that there wasn't an alternative investment available with a higher projected risk-adjusted return.
A lot to unpack there. If he had an inherited annuity paying a steady monthly income, that would be one thing. A job without more info is not a certain income. Right now, the economy is at surprisingly full employment (3.6% unemployment). When (not if) the economy goes through a recession, jobs will be at risk. Jobs are always at risk of becoming obsolete. Moving from job to job takes time, which is one of the points of having an emergency fund that will last a few months.
A three stock portfolio of leading names may look good now, but then again, so did the Nifty Fifty. (FWIW, well before my time.)
https://bridgeway.com/perspectives/party-like-its-1972-what-can-the-nifty-fifty-teach-us-about-todays-market/
Building a diversified equity portfolio is a good idea for someone starting out. That doesn't preclude him from first building an emergency fund. (That exercise alone has the benefit of forcing one to budget expenses, including health care if employer coverage is lost.)
Starting out with highly non-diversified portfolio is not a great idea. At the very least, he would be better off diversifying now - sell at least some of the stock (being inherited they likely don't have huge unrealized gains). That's not a buy/sell/hold recommendation on the individual stocks, but a suggestion for thoughtful portfolio management.
Moving on to the alternative: paying down debt. As others have said here, that's 7% return, certain. Many sources project lower returns than that for equity over the next decade. Here's Schwab's take as of nine months ago. Admittedly things so far have gone better than projected last year (inflation coming down, employment remaining high).
https://www.schwab.com/learn/story/schwabs-long-term-capital-market-expectations

(Vanguard and others offer similar projections, though similarly predicated on a 2023 recession.)
Something you didn't mention about the student loan is whether it might qualify for loan forgiveness (should that become a reality) and whether the amount he would pay down would cost him some of that "free" money. That might militate against paying down the loan.
As you said, this is a learning experience for your grandson. Even if the risk of a catastrophic failure is small, should it happen he might not return to investing for years. It would seem to be better to virtually eliminate that risk (diversify now, have a cash reserve), even at the cost of (possibly) reduced returns for now.

msf July 2023 in Fund Discussions
Need a solid, good, consistent, un-flashy AA fund. (Closed thread.)
Great, Thank you both. I'm going looking, now. :)
....Dang. I wish these animals were not all full of the stocks I love to hate. But I might have to take a big gulp and swallow my pride. Actually, it's an ethical filter. But I must keep reminding myself: if I had a conscience, I could not invest at all. ORK!
FMSDX? Monthly income. I can find no cap gains at all. Huh? Too many front-loads, sadly. Otherwise, they look great. This is for my son. A first dabble into serious investing. Age 30.

Crash July 2023 in Fund Discussions
Anybody Investing in bond funds?
To each their own, @Crash. Thought I'd mention it since there doesn't seem to be much talk beyond junk, mortgages, and bank loans.
Bank loan funds on track for their second best year in history. A few non agency mbs funds on track for double digit annual gains. Junk bonds, if history is any guide will also enjoy double digit gains this year. Even the commercial real estate bond fund I love to hate is on track for a 10% gain. If the 10 year can right itself like the past few days many other bond categories will join the party. I fully understand the logic of money market, CDs, and Treasuries at these high rates but……
Congrats to @Crash for staying strong with one of the better junk bond funds in 2023 (TUHYX)

Junkster July 2023 in Fund Discussions
Memoriam: Robert Bruce (Bruce Fund)
Eponymous funds are hard investments. Muhlenkamp was bequeathed to Ron's son, and has been vastly better without him. Akre Focus was the outgrowth of one betrayal of Chuck Akre by his analysts; he intensely prepped their successors. By MFO Premium's and Morningstar's reckoning, they've outperformed their peers by a healthy margin since but have seen huge outflows. Walthausen's team gave up. Bill Miller's successors at Miller Opportunity are top 1% this year, but the fund was also top 1% in 2020 and bottom 1% in 2021 and 2022. Cook & Bynum is five-star after Dowe's passing, but most of that comes from being reclassified by Morningstar, perhaps fairly, as a diversified EM fund.
And Bruce? The Younger Mr. Bruce will persevere, I suspect. His dad was more and more a voice in the background, I suspect. And I'm certainly willing to ask them, if you'd like.
The prudent course for active investors is usually a functional team or a firm (T Rowe Price, Mairs & Power) that has a really good record for manager replacement. The prudent course for skeptics might be a passive strategy that's not purely market-cap or debt weighted.
I agree and have generally avoided father-and-son / family firms. I think Yacktman however was one of the better ones. I believe Donald brought Steven in very early and they worked together for a very long time. I considered it numerous times but never owned it. I admired their consistent (value) approach, and I believe they put up good returns, especially when the S&P floundered. They did better than many of the other “value stalwarts” like Clipper, Oakmark Select, Muhkenkamp, Oak Value, Torray, Longleaf, etc. of the same era.

chang July 2023 in Fund Discussions
Memoriam: Robert Bruce (Bruce Fund)
@David_Snowball. I appreciate what you did, likewise. Still holding BRUFX in wife's IRA.
The elder Bruce DIED and it was reported here in late July, '23. In August, the ridiculous automated M* rating on BRUFX asserted:
"The main contributor to the rating is its parent firm's impressive long-term risk-adjusted performance, as shown by the firm's average ten-year Morningstar Rating of 4.0 stars. The rating also gains because a manager has at least$ 1 million invested in the strategy. Lastly, the rating is limited by the instability of its management team. The fund last saw a manager change two months ago, which suggests that it could do more to retain its portfolio managers."
Pathetic.
*This is another thought about BRUFX: it's having a suck-ass year in 2023. @bee likes the fund, too. It had occurred to me to maybe switch out of it? Granted, I'm writing these words at the end of this year's WORST month.

Crash July 2023 in Fund Discussions
INTERESTING WAY TO RUN A BUSINESS
I have stayed in Cleveland (major paper The Plain Dealer), Palo Alto (major Bay area paper San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst) and now Chicago (major paper Chicago Tribune; the list of its famous owners and/or editors would be too long to be included here).
Whatever was left of Chicago Tribune was destroyed by Sam Zell (whose passing was noted here) and private-equity owners that followed. In the Zell era, the directive to the staff at Chicago Tribune was just don't start talking like the boss because you will get fired if you did (but who could fire Sam other than Sam himself?).
Anyway, lots of newspapers, TV stations and media are part of big corporations or playpens of billionaires. They are just line items in the big budgets of corporations.
It a sad state of affairs.
Frankly, the discussion sites like this haven't been immune to hard times. Many sites have shutdown, gone private or become subscriptions-based; the new fashion now seems to be Facebook, Threads, Twitter, etc. As a free and open-access discussion site, the MFO is now among a few standouts. Most posters know that I came here only in late-2020.

yogibearbull July 2023 in Other Investing
Memoriam: Robert Bruce (Bruce Fund)
We ended our 2020 profile of the Bruce Fund with this note: "Bruce is an enigmatic fund because its managers choose for it to be so. They don’t explain themselves to the public, though do answer calls from their investors." Talked to Jeff Bruce for about 20 minutes today, and nothing has changed. He's very pleasant and agreeable but has spent 38 years with the mantra: we talk to our shareholders, not the outsiders." No interviews with Morningstar since the early 80s when Mr. Mansueto has a two person operation and a newsletter. (The younger Mr Bruce went to high school with Mr Mansueto but they seemed not to be in the same social circle.)
The takeaway is that Jeff anticipates no change. He and his dad worked together for 38 years. They talked about each idea. If one of them liked it, they bought a little. If both of them liked it, they bought a lot. And vice versa with sells. The support team remains in place and confidence is unshaken.
He does know that we've commented favorably on the fund's high cash stake. (Currently 25% with substantial overweights in defensive stocks.) He seems to appreciate the understanding. The fund is underwater today, mostly because they had anticipated a hard market. It is, he reports, their fifth-worst performance since launch. He admits that's there's somewhat limited comfort in the observation, "well, we have done worse four other times and always bounced back by striking with the plan."
It's entirely cool that the manager, in their 450 square foot world headquarters, answers the phone himself on the second ring and enjoys talking with shareholders.
For what that's worth,
David

David_Snowball July 2023 in Fund Discussions
INTERESTING WAY TO RUN A BUSINESS
Back in the glory days when most cities had at least a couple of large and healthy newspapers, the San Francisco Chronicle was actually a fairly decent operation. Today, it's simply a pathetic shadow of itself.
For many years the Chronicle had a number of good columnists: Herb Cain was probably the best known, but there were two or three others as well. A fellow named Art Hoppe was one of those, and always fun to read. His son, Nick Hoppe, is a successful businessman, not a columnist, but he certainly inherited his father's perspective on life in general. He writes an occasional "column" on the internet, and as a recent one is something of a commentary on business as we now know it, I thought that it was worthy of mention here on MFO.
I'm so out of touch. I've been running a business for 45 years and it's actually been profitable. What an idiot.
If I had any brains at all, I would have come up with an idea, raised billions of dollars from investors, and then proceeded to lose money every year, thereby increasing the value tenfold.
More than 40% of the companies in the S&P 500 lost money in the past year. And these are just the public companies with shares sold on the stock exchange. Imagine how many private tech companies, most funded by venture capital firms, are losing money.
It's mind-boggling how they operate. My daughter-in-law worked for one of those private startup tech companies. They found their niche in the CAP Table Management software market, which basically means they'll value your business and tell you who owns what percentage.
Apparently, that's more complicated than it seems. The founders raised $1.2 billion in 2012 and it's now valued at $8.5 billion. They have over 1500 employees and have never been profitable, losing millions and millions every year for 13 years.
They certainly don't seem to care. Like most tech companies, their employee benefits are off the charts. When my daughter-in-law had her first child not long ago, she was given a six-month paid maternity leave. That's par for the course when it comes to the tech industry, but what really blew me away was when she returned to work.
"YOU GOT A 30% RAISE??!!" I remember squealing when she told me it took her by surprise. "YOU WEREN'T EVEN THERE!!"
"Yep, I was shocked," she replied. "Very nice of them."
Six months later, 15% of the employees got laid off in a cost-cutting move. Nothing made sense.
But that's the way it goes in this new startup world. These aren't the businesses I grew up watching, nor are they the businesses I run now. We take excellent care of our employees, but we also like to remain profitable. There's a balance in there somewhere.
The list of deadbeat companies is endless. Uber lost $7.2 billion in 2022, Lyft lost $1.6 billion, Peloton $1.2 billion, WeWork $1.7 billion, Rivian Automotive (Tesla imitator) $6.2 billion. But work at any of those companies and you'll probably get a raise during your maternity or paternity leave.
Enjoy it, because you're likely to get laid off at some point. No company can endure these losses forever. Between January and May of this year, over 200,000 employees in the tech sector were laid off. Perhaps companies are realizing that the objective is to be profitable.
They certainly understand that concept at Google and Facebook. Google laid off 12,000 employees in the last 12 months and Facebook laid off 21,000. Maybe that's why Google had net income of $60 billion in that period and Facebook had net income of $23 billion.
Then there's DoorDash. The food delivery service based in San Francisco lost $468 million in 2021 and a whopping $1.3 billion in 2022. It doesn't take a genius to see it's going in the wrong direction. Someone must have noticed, because DoorDash laid off 1250 employees in November of 2022 in an effort to rein in costs.
The only problem is that the severance package included paying the employees for 13 weeks after parting ways, along with a lump sum of one month's salary. I don't want to sound insensitive, but NO WONDER THEY'RE LOSING MONEY!
To make matters worse, I was absent-mindedly scanning the job postings in Sunday's San Francisco Chronicle last weekend and up pops DoorDash. The ad said they were looking for "Engineers, including but not limited to: Software, DevOps, Backend, Data. Positions include: Junior, Senior & Management Positions. Telecommuting permitted."
I wouldn't be too thrilled if I was one of the 1250 that were laid off. And it wouldn't help to see that the positions advertised would pay between $176,000 to $238,000. What is going on here?
It's all so foreign to me. Investors keep pumping in the money, unconcerned that the losses keep piling up. They keep seeing that light at the end of the tunnel, maybe years or decades ahead. They note that Apple, Google and Facebook all lost money in their early years. But Apple became profitable in two years, Google three years, and Facebook five years. DoorDash has been around for over 10 years.
In other words, if these companies keep running their business with no concern for costs, that light at the end of the tunnel, as they say, might very well be an oncoming freight train.

Old_Joe July 2023 in Other Investing
Buy Sell Why: ad infinitum.
Be aware that most preferreds now are bank preferreds. And most bank preferreds are noncumulative - a regulatory requirement to be counted as bank capital. Some won't touch noncumulative preferreds. This shouldn't be an issue for the best too-big-to-fail banks.

yogibearbull July 2023 in Fund Discussions
Buy Sell Why: ad infinitum.
Over the past 2 weeks I made several moves, all surrounding financials. As @Yogibearbull noted in a review of recent Barron's commentary, preferred shares may offer near term opportunities.
Specifically, they indicated, "You can get a bit more yield than cash and still stay in high-quality securities if you look in some less obvious corners of the fixed-income markets. Preferred shares, often issued by large and highly rated banks, yield around 6%....Preferreds offer an interesting opportunity in an investment-grade asset with yields of more than 6%, .They are also relatively cheap due to the regional-bank crisis in March. “Rarely is there this big a discount to par for preferreds.”
That view is shared by many firms, who admittedly have funds focused in that area. Cohen and Steers wrote:
"4 Reasons to own preferred securities today"
1. Current discounts to par value represent uncommon value
2. High-quality preferreds offer some of the highest yields in fixed income
3. Performance historically has been strong following market corrections
4. An end of Fed rate hikes is a possible catalyst for price appreciation
https://www.cohenandsteers.com/insights/4-reasons-to-own-preferred-securities-today/
So....I added to PTD and established a new position in PTA. I also added to C (Citibank) and added a new position in USB (US Bank). All of these offer an attractive distribution and are selling at attractive prices. The banks may be a bit volatile this week due to earnings and possible revised capital requirements. However, the light CPI print released just this morning may suggest we are nearing the end of Fed tightening, helping all financials.

PRESSmUP July 2023 in Fund Discussions