One of the stunning numbers in the Score Card is the FirstHand fund family. Its three funds have an average ER of -1.12.
The culprit is a CEF Firsthand Technology Value Fund SVVC with an ER of -7.21.
I checked with Lipper and their folks say it's correct, referencing this 10K filing.
To my knowledge, the fund appears to have lost nearly all its AUM since launching in 2011.
Still can't quite get my head around this.
Here's an excerpt:

NOTE 4. INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT FEE
The Company has entered into an investment management agreement (the “Investment Management Agreement”) with FCM pursuant to which the Company will pay FCM a fee for providing investment management services consisting of two components—a base management fee and an incentive fee.
The base management fee will be calculated at an annual rate of 2.00% of our gross assets. For services rendered under the Investment Management Agreement, the base management fee will be payable quarterly in arrears. The base management fee will be calculated based on the average of (1) the value of our gross assets at the end of the current calendar quarter and (2) the value of the Company’s gross assets at the end of the preceding calendar quarter; and will be appropriately adjusted for any share issuances or repurchases during the current calendar quarter. Base management fees for any partial month or quarter will be pro-rated.
The incentive fee is determined and payable in arrears as of the end of each calendar year (or upon termination of the Investment Management Agreement, as of the termination date), commencing on April 15, 2011, and equals 20% of the Company’s realized capital gains, if any, on a cumulative basis from inception through the end of each calendar year, computed net of all realized capital losses and unrealized capital depreciation on a cumulative basis, less the aggregate amount of any previously paid incentive fees, provided that the incentive fee determined as of December 31, 2023, will be calculated for a period of shorter than twelve calendar months to take into account any realized gains computed net of all realized capital losses and unrealized capital depreciation from inception. For the year ended December 31, 2023, there were no Incentive fee adjustments. For the year ended December 31, 2022, there were no incentive fee adjustments. For the year ended December 31, 2021, there were no incentive fee adjustments.
Effective September 30, 2023, the Company has entered into a fee waiver agreement with FCM (the “Fee Waiver Agreement”). Pursuant to the terms of the Fee Waiver Agreement, FCM agrees to (1) waive future accruals of the base management fee starting October 1, 2023, through December 31, 2024, with future recoupment to the extent permitted by the Investment Management Agreement, and (2) waive $2.5 million of base management fee that has been accrued but unpaid prior to but unpaid as of September 30, 2023. Any accrued base management fee waived under section (2) may be recouped by FCM within ten years.

I do not think I was thick skinned when I was unemployed a few years at a time or when I was employed for that matter. If I were thick skinned, perhaps, I would not have been as unemployed as I was. Once I decided I am not going to look for a job anymore, which effectively means once I retired, I was able to look back and see where I went wrong in not being able to optimize my effort or maximize the output to input ratio in my work life. It turns out, when it comes to life, I am a slow learner! I do have fond memories of people who went out of their way to be helpful with my career. I had tones of help outside my family - I wish I made the most of it and was not so thin skinned.

+1.
I very much respect such candor. Thank you. My own career started late. I preferred school, for as long as it did not require actual work. I enjoyed what I was studying. The jobs I took lasted a few years each, with 12-18 month interruptions. I suppose I was aiming for 20 years "in," but lasted 19. I got the Big Fish in the Small Pond angry at me. Then, I said, "forget this! Not again!"

I do not think I was thick skinned when I was unemployed a few years at a time or when I was employed for that matter. If I were thick skinned, perhaps, I would not have been as unemployed as I was. Once I decided I am not going to look for a job anymore, which effectively means once I retired, I was able to look back and see where I went wrong in not being able to optimize my effort or maximize the output to input ratio in my work life. It turns out, when it comes to life, I am a slow learner! I do have fond memories of people who went out of their way to be helpful with my career. I had tones of help outside my family - I wish I made the most of it and was not so thin skinned.

Yep. I added more last week. I am probably down about 5% in the current foray into this stock - third time in four years. I started the first time during Covid at near $100. I will hate to give back any profits I already took on BA stock. Each time I buy, I think it is a forever holding but I end up selling for one reason or the other. This time I bought it in a taxable account.
P.s.: corporate wide layoffs are a nice event to get rid of a lot of fat (e.g., redundant management) in the system. Some managers also relish these events to get rid of employees who produce less but take up too much of team resources, including management time, but which employees are otherwise pain to get rid of because of various entrenched corporate idiosyncrasies (e.g., power hogging HR). In all my work, for sometime after each mass layoff, the productivity of my group increased. Some tech companies layoff 5% of their work force every year - does not mean they do not grow. I know it sucks to be unemployed but I can be objective about it because I was unemployed as many years as I was employed.

I wish I'd been as thick-skinned as you, about being unemployed. Only a prostate exam is worse.

Hi @BaluBalu
A potential report 'end date' will always be an open consideration.
As to TMF and EDV; well, we're seldom sure of what the 'pro' traders are attempting to do, eh? We've had about 2% of our portfolio in TMF for a few years, awaiting yield changes that would promote a decent price gain. TMF has travelled a rough chart during this period; as does its alter ego of TBT (the short position). These have always been 'hot potatoes'; but while we await pricing gains, we do have a tiny offset of a 3.33% yield. Generally, we do not enter an investment with only a 2% position, as this is not meaningful to any real support for an overall portfolio; but we took a fling and will patiently wait.
The recent good economic news and ongoing rising inflation potentials, as well as the looming election results are likely placing more pressure on the long duration bonds. Only my 'best guess'.

I'm totally ignorant about what you are trying to do with these moves. What do you aim for that couldn't be hit with some other type of investment?

Hi @BaluBalu
A potential report 'end date' will always be an open consideration.
As to TMF and EDV; well, we're seldom sure of what the 'pro' traders are attempting to do, eh? We've had about 2% of our portfolio in TMF for a few years, awaiting yield changes that would promote a decent price gain. TMF has travelled a rough chart during this period; as does its alter ego of TBT (the short position). These have always been 'hot potatoes'; but while we await pricing gains, we do have a tiny offset of a 3.33% yield. Generally, we do not enter an investment with only a 2% position, as this is not meaningful to any real support for an overall portfolio; but we took a fling and will patiently wait.
The recent good economic news and ongoing rising inflation potentials, as well as the looming election results are likely placing more pressure on the long duration bonds. Only my 'best guess'.

Yep. I added more last week. I am probably down about 5% in the current foray into this stock - third time in four years. I started the first time during Covid at near $100. I will hate to give back any profits I already took on BA stock. Each time I buy, I think it is a forever holding but I end up selling for one reason or the other. This time I bought it in a taxable account.
P.s.: corporate wide layoffs are a nice event to get rid of a lot of fat (e.g., redundant management) in the system. Some managers also relish these events to get rid of employees who produce less but take up too much of team resources, including management time, but which employees are otherwise pain to get rid of because of various entrenched corporate idiosyncrasies (e.g., power hogging HR). In all my work, for sometime after each mass layoff, the productivity of my group increased. Some tech companies layoff 5% of their work force every year - does not mean they do not grow. I know it sucks to be unemployed but I can be objective about it because I was unemployed as many years as I was employed.

Seems like overlapping regulatory bodies with neither of them being held accountable for the ultimate outcome. When parents bicker, kids take advantage, which is what BA is doing. May be the bigger problem is our non-functioning / non-effective Government and not Boeing.
Six years after those crashes, I do not see any real progress. Break it up. It has a rotten culture and it needs to start as a different company.
Disclosure: I own BA.
BTW, RTX had some product problems in the past 12 months and it fixed the issues enough that its stock recovered very well. If a company has a good culture, it can recover well from mistakes.
I agree with Old Joe about ascribing the issue to the supplier and not to BA in that one instance. Thanks to him for the detailed and objective reporting.

@Crash- Yes, Boeing bought (re-acquired) Spirit in July.
The FAA has been under significant regulatory capture for many years, much to the continuing irritation of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), who are the U.S. primary investigators of aircraft accidents. Over the years there have been quite a number of situations where the NTSB has issued recommendations after an investigation, only to have those recommendations watered down or even ignored by the FAA.
It has not been uncommon for the FAA to issue regulatory safety measures only after being forced to by critical publicity after repeated problems of a particular type, and well after prior NTSB recommendations on the problem.
Have you ever seen the size of the FAA building in D.C.? It's hard to understand what all those people are doing if they "don't have enough resources".

2011 was a long time ago.
Post-GFC, gold rallied hard and both gold and gold-miners peaked in 2011. Yep, people who bought then are still looking to get even.
Then both were trashed.
For years, it looked as if 2,000-2,100 was a ceiling for gold, but it broke out of that in March 2024. Factors contributing to the gold rally include Middle East tensions, Russia-Ukraine war, global moves away from dollar due to aggressive US dollar-diplomacy, central bank gold purchases, rapidly rising US debt, etc.
But as gold has rallied to new highs, gold-miners are still priced as if gold was around 2,000 - check 2010-11, 2020 and 2022.
So, either gold-bullion is overvalued now, or gold-miners are undervalued. I am betting on the latter. Watch $XAU around 164 bow; its 2010-11 peak was 225+.

@yogibearbull- I've never been interested in gold, but your comment about miners vs gold has been noted for many years.

Nope. I own some gold coins for tough times.
In 1984 my father took 10 Krugerrands for payment. Gold was about $600/OZ then. Now its $2600 40 years later.

Several years ago, in a discussion of those two types of bond div accounting, Yogi coined "accrual" vs. "NAV flow" as handles for them, which has always seemed pretty transparent language to me.

If we want to get accounting geeky, both are accruals: one to your account and the other to the NAV. The primary difference is where it is reflected.
The secondary difference perhaps is if you sold (before ex-date) a fund whose NAV is pregnant with accrued dividend, you are treating the accrued dividend as capital in nature whereas if you sold the same fund on ex-div date then the accrued dividend will be paid to you (with an equivalent drop in NAV) and is ordinary income in nature (barring limited exceptions). The reverse also applies when you are buying into the fund. If you buy a fund whose NAV is pregnant with dividend, then you are paying to get some of it back as a dividend (ordinary income). These differences are magnified if the dividend is paid quarterly or annually, rather than monthly. You will also notice the difference if your holding in the fund is in seven figures or more. This time of transaction distinction does not apply to funds that accrue div to your account and not to the NAV. This tax chatter may be useful only if you hold the fund in a taxable account. However, it may not be wise to delay your sale for tax reasons.
The third and minor difference is if you are transferring a fund from one brokerage to the other, more likely the fund that accrues div to the NAV transfers cleanly. But this is not a good reason to choose which fund one should invest in.
The above is not an exhaustive listing or discussion.
@Mona, please see this post as well.

d
@ducrow - You are correct that HBLIX is a bit more conservative than LOGIX. It holds considerably more fixed income / bonds and a lesser amount of equities. Both look like decent funds. “Year-over-year” LOGIX is up 21.74% (M*) while HBLIX is up “only” 18.91%. Both have been hot. So how much real risk reduction? Your plan might resemble leaping from the red hot frying pan into the bubbling stew pot. A bit cooler …..
Sounds like the contemplated switch is based in part on the premise that interest rates will continue falling. Maybe they will … Personally, I’m not too sure about that. It’s not the Fed or politicians that will ultimately determine longer term interest rates (a popular misconception). It’s things like government debt-load, inflation, economic growth / recessions, geo-politics (including wars), the dollar on the foreign exchanges and “black swans” like the recent global pandemic. A 10-year bond at just over 4% seems very low to those of us here who came of age in the 70s when mortgages were running 15+%.
I don’t think you can go wrong adding to cash after a couple very hot years. I also like a toe-hold in the precious metals - however they’ve been bid up a lot lately and could suffer a big correction. There’s not much out there that looks cheap to me right now in either fixed income or equities. Use a portfolio analyzer as one gage of where you are on the risk spectrum.
I note you own DODBX. Excellent fund. I owned it for many years before finally selling a year or so ago as part of a “consolidation” of assets under one umbrella.
Re Mike’s remark. if you type a fund’s symbol in capital letters the board’s software automatically highlights it and creates a link to a variety of sources. Good idea. I hadn’t paid much attention to that since I dwell mainly at the M* site and don’t mind entering symbols manually.
Good luck.

Several years ago, in a discussion of those two types of bond div accounting, Yogi coined "accrual" vs. "NAV flow" as handles for them, which has always seemed pretty transparent language to me.

I'm 70. Officially OLD. Are not DODBX and HBLIX a bit more like each other, compared to WBALX? I just threw that one into the mix. And Morningstar doesn't always label and align things very well. I own WBALX. Performance-wise, HBLIX and WBALX are in the same 5-year ballpark. DODBX outruns the other two over 5 years, but it is not avowedly "conservative" or even "moderately conservative." Of the three, WBALX holds the highest bond quality. HBLIX offers the highest yield among them. (Morningstar.) Anyhow, how many different AA/balanced funds does a person need? If you've decided to make a switch toward less beta and volatility, I'd lose DODBX and replace it with one of the other two---assuming you've made your money, and growth is not any longer the highest priority. Never a bad time to act on your priorities, unless the Market is in turmoil. The Market's been volatile, but it's always a matter of degree. I would not call it turmoil, as the Indices march ever-upward.

Congrats to those here in the CLO bond ETFs. More specifically JAAA and PAAA in the investment grade hovering around 6% YTD with nary a drawdown. And JBBB and CLOZ in the below investment grade hovering around 8.5% YTD with just a blip. The blip occurred in early August on recession fears. I prefer holding an OEF equivalent which I have previously referenced. Also I have a quirk when it comes to OEF bond funds. I prefer the ones that pay daily vs. the ones that pay monthly. A reason I just sold off CBLDX. Great fund but another bond category has been steadily rising recently and prefer to park money there.
Will be on a long posting sabbatical as the backcountry hiking season is just around the corner. Time to explore for new caves, rock shelters, arches, and waterfalls. At 77 I never know how many more years I will be able to handle the rigors and dangers of solo off trail explorations. As it is the rangers have a fit this elderly man is back there in the middle of nowhere. Not so much out of compassion for an injured hiker as for the logistics of a backcountry search and rescue, Also unable to respond to any private messages as I will not be signing here in much less checking in. Best of luck to all in their investing endeavors.

I have done the following for years at Schwab.
Suppose I have $100k in MM and want to buy $100k PRWCX.
I sell $100k of MM and buy PRWCX in the morning. At night I see the results, no problem.
I

have you tried buying, say, PRWCX in the morning and selling, say, $100k of MM later on? or even the equivalent amount from a fund you hold but no longer like, say, VASIX or similar? that's just switching the order from what you do but, again, no problem. and if it's a fund you no longer like, you still have the rest of the day to change your mind and sell something else. i don't know why anyone would use the so-called exchange feature when this other option can be used.

for me at schwab, i can place an order for anything even if i don't have the funds to pay for it immediately. i am told, before placing the order, that i'll need to have the necessary funds in my account within two or three days (can't remember which). never have to sell MM funds before buying or anything like that. same thing doesn't work at fidelity, at least not for me.

Years ago it was 3 days (T+3). Until recently it was 2 days (T+2). Now it's just a day (T+1).
Fidelity automatically sells your MMFs as needed, as though they were your core (transaction) account. Or you could think of them as "overdraft protection". AFAIK, no one else does this.

I have done the following for years at Schwab.
Suppose I have $100k in MM and want to buy $100k PRWCX.
I sell $100k of MM and buy PRWCX in the morning. At night I see the results, no problem.
If you do the reverse, same results.
If you sell all the shares of PRWCX, you don't know the exact results, just buy 95%. The next day buy the rest of the MM.
Yes, Schwab made money on that small amount.
It doesn't bother me.