Advantage Fidelity:
The nice thing about Schwab ATM is the fact you can take out money around the world and they will refund you the fee by the end of the month. (Confirmed; see footnote 8)
At Fidelity "The reimbursement will be credited to the account the same day the ATM fee is debited." (See footnote 2.)
About Fidelity's disclaimer that it may not cover the 1% network exchange fee ... No one seems to have actually been charged. That includes me - I did a test at Heathrow a few years ago - same ATM, same withdrawal amount; compared Schwab and Fidelity, no difference.
The Finance Buff, Fidelity Debit Card Foreign Transaction Fee on ATM Withdrawals

LOL - Wish it were that simple! However, I have not held much cash for many years. I understand that the hypothetical, highly rumored, speculated and anticipated “Fed rate cut” would impact those who have been sitting in cash for the past year (while the S&P 500 rose 28%).
I’m trying to get my head around where to cull a little risk without dumping any apples out of the cart. Have a substantial TOD position in PRHYX (short-term muni junk fund). I’d have expected to have spent that on a new vehicle or home infrastructure by now - but haven’t for various reasons. I’m thinking next week I may move a good portion of that into SPAXX (money market fund) as a quality upgrade to my fixed income posture. (All 3 accounts, TOD + 2 IRAs, are considered as one for allocation purposes.)
If things get any crazier next week I might even move a bit of IRA cash into SPDN (2X inverse S&P) as a downside hedge. Prefer that to selling out of any major positions because I think they are good long term holds and not nearly as “bubbly” as the major indexes. I’d liken the froth atop them to be more like the head of foam on a stein of good beer. (Don’t dump out the beer because of the froth.)
My fixed income funds now (aside from cash):
- PRIHX
- WEA
- LSST
- CVSIX - Arbitrage fund / Seeks to produce bond-like returns with lower volatility

I vaguely recall Schwab saying years ago that some of its branches (largely west coast?) functioned as banks as well as brokerages. That doesn't seem to be true now - Schwab Bank seems to be a pure internet bank.
Fidelity used to have pseudo ATMs in their branches where you could deposit checks, but not get cash. Those also vanished years ago. I guess the cost of maintaining something that did only one task, did it only marginally faster than the human being at the desk, and was limited to branch hours made no sense. Nice when it worked, though.

@BaluBalu : I've been with BMO for a few years since they bought out my former bank.
I had to open a checking account that pays .o5 % to get my MM account to pay 2.2% .
I just moved money over to Schwab to get a better rate!
This week I received notice that a CD is maturing & that it would rollover at the "new" rate. I don't remember that it was roll-able , but will probably be sending that money elsewhere, unless they can come up with 5%. If my SS & pension checks weren't going there, I'd be gone.
Yes they're friendly bankers, but I wouldn't recommend them to anyone!
Let me add that after I opened the checking account I received 4 starter checks. Wouldn't you think if they were friendly, they would send out a box of 40 or fifty checks ?! No they would order them & then charge the account, as that is what happens with the MM account. Then I stop in at the bank & see if they'll eat the checking printing charge & they do, but why the run around?

I am exploring options to consolidate my banking and brokerage relationships.
Have you guys dealt with BoA banking?
I have been a client of Merrill for more than 10 years and hence I have a BoA checking (minimal activity) and BoA credit cards.
Today, I went into the BoA branch to open a new account (my Merrill contact had set up an appointment with her banking guys). Dealing with them was like dealing with the Government office. Compared to BoA banking, all the complaints I hear about Schwab and other brokerages seem pedestrian.
If anyone here has a self directed BMO brokerage account, please share your experience.
(My family has a small relationship on the banking side (walking distance to my home) and the BMO branch people are always very customer focused and the manager sits in the open for people to go talk to.)

I'm not worried about the fund investing in SPACS at all if that is where DS finds value. I've held SPC for over 2 years in my conservative withdrawal bucket and have found it to be a low volatility, steady eddy, positive trending ETF (5% 1Y return as of 7/31). If Mr. Sherman can find value in using SPACs to enhance return in CBLDX, I'm all for it. I might, though, sell my slug of SPC and add that money to my existing CBLDX position and let David decide on the fund's positions and use of SPACs.

FWIW His " Pre Merger Spac " ETF SPC has been a somewhat low yielding ( 4% last year) steady eddy for over three years now. They aim to buy SPACs that have lots of cash before a merger and if there is no merger before the timeline the cash has to returned
I would have thought most SPACS would have been merged or closed by now but guess not

This section is also new:
...will construct a portfolio for the Fund that the Adviser believes has the potential to generate a high level of current income, while maintaining a fixed income portfolio duration of 2.0 or less.
Here is the old section:
The Fund typically focuses on instruments that have short durations (i.e., have
an expected duration of three years or less from the time of purchase through maturity, call, or corporate action).
https://info.crossingbridgefunds.com/hubfs/Regulatory/CrossingBridge_Prospectus.pdf?v=1723830514184

Those were ultra-SY bond funds around GFC and the category then had lots of ST-HY. Schwab, Fido and others had them. This Category was killed by the GFC.
A new category reemerged a few years later as ultra-ST with inv-grade bonds only. So, the ultra-ST bond funds of today aren't comparable to those around the GFC.

During 2022, the correlation between stocks and bonds approached 1.0 when the FED raised rate. Other time period, the correlation was much smaller. Having said that, one has to look at longer periods, 5 years or more to smooth out the year of 2022.
Another parameter worth to look at is recovery period under MFO Premium. For allocation funds with flexible or tactical mandates, recovery period reveals how the funds perform through the drawdowns.

HOSIX is only 2+ year old. So, it has none of the baggage of HOBIX and much of M* data is NA. It's also mostly structured credit and its average credit quality of BB is lower than that for HOBIX (BBB).
TestFol data with 12-mo rolling periods looks OK. HOSIX-12
The boutique firm Holbrook has only 2 funds - HOBIX (8+ years old) and HOSIX (2+ years old).
https://www.morningstar.com/asset-management-companies/holbrook-holdings-BN00000J2X/funds

@hank Be very leery of those FV ratings on stocks offered up by different sources. My own experience says they don’t know what they’re talking about. I believe in this case they were stuck in some kind of ”time warp”. Because small caps has suffered for many years compared to the S&P they must have allowed that to influence their own perception of value.
Yup. I depend on stats from Stock Rover a lot, as well as checking Morningstar. Seems to me the Stock Rover site offers more, and more conveniently. At your fingertips. Fair Value at S.R. is distinguished from 12-month Target Price. Good to keep in mind. Still, Mr. Market has been known to be unpredictable. I also like to check out the Barron's webpage to investigate specific items, ratings, P/E and P/B and P/S. Short volume, Short percent of float. (Don't like a lotta Shorts in my soup.)

I learned the hard way that those “fair value” ratings are worthless.
Bought 2 very depressed small-cap stocks more or less on intuition + personal knowledge of the companies June 26. (Posted in the B/S thread.) I later checked the ratings at M*, WSJ and Barron’s. All 3 said the stocks were already above fair value when I bought them and that neither warranted higher than an a 3 out of 5 as investment prospects.
A week or two later the Russell blasted off, carrying those 2 holdings along for the ride. I sold in only 10 days time after both had jumped about 8-10% because I trusted those 3 publications over my own instincts. Had I hung on they would have jumped at least another 10% by now. Likely even more.
Be very leery of those FV ratings on stocks offered up by different sources. My own experience says they don’t know what they’re talking about. I believe in this case they were stuck in some kind of ”time warp”. Because small caps has suffered for many years compared to the S&P they must have allowed that to influence their own perception of value.

"Is this a buy and forget fund, as I am looking for one? If this is not a buy and forget fund, what purpose does this fund serve in a portfolio?

I would never buy an OEF (traditional mutual fund) that I didn’t consider a long-term hold (“buy and forget” to use @BaluBalu’s words).
Luthold as a money manager has a great long term record. I believe they were primarily engaged in research / analysis for various big players (and well respected) before launching their own mutual funds. But nothing is guaranteed. The manager turnover is the main reason M* recently downgraded its rating of LCORX to silver from gold. Interestingly, LCOR retains their gold rating.
To tread a bit further out onto the thin ice … The fund replaces DODBX in my 10-segment (equal weight) portfolio. I believe DODBX to be a better moderate risk long term hold. They’ve refined their process in recent years to reduce the potential for losses in bear markets and their fees are much more compelling. Not to argue the merits of each. Just perhaps to address BaluBalu’s question of where it might fit in a portfolio.
Why did I get out of DODBX after a couple decades? I decided about a year ago to consolidate all holdings at Fidelity. While DODBX transferred in OK, it became awkward, to say the least, to rebalance it or increase its weighting without getting hit with a fee. Wasn’t worth the aggravation for me.
I believe funds to an extent are captive to the economic environment of the day. No manager can prepare for every eventuality. While I loath the P-word infiltrating the investment part of the board, I think in about 84 days the economic / financial / social / political backdrop that now seems normal will transition to a much riskier more difficult environment.
My last comment in this thread. Got a couple bucks riding on tonight’s Dodgers / Brewers game. :)

@Hank
I was using VBIAX as an example of a passive 60/40 because it can be bought vs. an abstract index. I have a brokerage account at Vanguard but with no holdings because I abandoned Vanguard many years back. VBIAX is available at Fidelity (for a fee, not NTF). Fidelity equivalents of VBIAX appear to be FBALX, FPURX.
I don't do the fundamental and strategy analysis you do because I don't feel qualified to do so. I rely heavily on Sortino and R-Squared metrics and tilt towards investments with high Sortino and low R-Squared.

Balu, search "Do you need something Permanent in your portfolio?" on the main site. We've mentioned PRPFX about two dozen times over the years but it's never been on my to-do for a profile.

Continuing from my previous post,
In looking at a go anywhere fund, does it make sense to look at its innards at any particular time?
From a quick review, PRFPX @JD_co mentioned in the BSW thread seems to have done better over the past five years, its long term track record notwithstanding. PRPFX stock style in M* changed over the years. Someone with an intimate knowledge of these funds could probably provide a better / scientific comparison. M* does not say PRPFX is a tactical allocation fund and as such i am not sure it is a good comparison.
Is a MFO profile for PRPFX available?

Hi, ship!
Yep. Steve Leuthold (1937-2023) headed off to his cabin in Maine then, as Alzheimer's took its toll, to Carlsbad, California, to be with family. We've written a bit about the changes that followed. My general sense is that the team thought Steve's approach was getting a bit ahead of the data in his latter years, which is a problem for a group of quant investors. In his absence, they recalibrated a bit but maintained the core discipline that they'd been following since the 1990s.
For what that's worth, David

Hi @hank

I subscribe to a newsletter that publishes a “recommended portfolio” consisting of 10 index funds

..... T Rowe Price (like TRRIX) typically invest in 15-25 other funds. What do you know that these managers don’t?

The only thing we know that the 'managers' don't, is what we want to hold in our portfolio at this time.
The TRRIX example that was noted has 27 other funds of funds. Way too many.
As to 10 index funds, the same would apply at this time.
If we had an advisor present such choices; the first input from us would be the 'elimination list'.
---NO International equity or bonds for either developed or emerging markets. NO value funds. NO hedged. NO high yield bonds. NO mid or small cap. NO metals.
We're a Medicare/SS/pension(s) household, and while we enjoy having decent annual returns; we also have capital preservation in mind.
Most of us spend $1,000's each and every year for house and auto insurance, and never file a claim; and the money is gone forever.
We treat our bond fund holdings/MMKT's as 'investment insurance' currently using BAGIX (active managed). We'll not likely outrun inflation and taxes, but maintain the capital.
The AGG bond etf is similar in high quality to BAGIX (ER = .30).
I've watched over the years and charted these two against bond 'index' funds. BAGIX has maintained near 1% annualized above the returns of the other two (etf and index). AGG and bond index funds run very close paths. I'm not trying to sell, but to offer the view.
Our portfolio is 40/60.
---The 40 in equity is split between growth (17%) and conservative equity (23%)(healthcare).
---The 60 is I.G. bond fund (33%) and MMKT (67% @5% yield).
Technically, we have 7 holdings; if one counts the MMKT.
NOTE: We've remained fully U.S. centered with investments since 2008. We have more than enough foreign exposure inside the equities, from their foreign earnings and/or some foreign holdings.
Remain curious,
Catch

"Today's note: "the 21-day correlation between Large Growth and Large Value turned negative for just the fifth time in 33 years. Two previous signals coincided with major rotations into the Value style.""
If two out of five instances produced a specific result, is that a large enough probability to count as a signal?
Looking at the past five years' stock style in M* portfolio, it looks like the fund had been in large blend category in each of those years.
It would be great if some one can compare LCORX against a (or a group of) good value fund(s) for the entire year 2022.
Is this a buy and forget fund, as I am looking for one? If this is not a buy and forget fund, what purpose does this fund serve in a portfolio. I shall read the fund profile @hank posted the link to.
I echo the last two paras in @staycalm last post.