I have no familiarity with Fidelity or Vanguard other than they have some pretty good fund and ETF options. But for the most part you can get any of those options through Schwab if you wanted. Same for TRP funds. But, that probably doesn't stand out as unique to other big brokerages, like Fidelity, Vanguard and TRP.
All my experience is with Charles Schwab where I rolled most of my 401k and pension-lump to an IRA when I left my long time employer. That was about 5 years ago. At the time I wavered keeping everything in my employer's 401k at TRP or transferring everything to an IRA at TRP or transferring to CS. I chose CS for a few reasons:
1- maybe the biggest reason was they had a local office. I much prefer a human, 1 on 1 sit down than phone or computer contact. I ended up being linked to a very nice guy who has gained my trust. He is often just my sounding board for ideas I have. He calls or emails about every 6 months or so to check in and see how things are going. And best of all, I don't pay a dime for the advice, feedback and help! Schwab does offer many different options for paid advisory including a very low cost advisory service linked to their robo portfolio. I do have money in the robo, but at this time I haven't gone the advisor route. They also offer the standard 1% fee where they manage everything in your financial life. Not for me but maybe for some.
2- the product selection, everything from 1000's of funds, ETFs, banking products like MMs, CDs, credit cards, checking and savings accounts, numerous managed portfolio options.
3- the option to have multiple accounts at one place. My mind tends to like "buckets" or separating money for different purposes. A separate 3 year retirement withdrawal account with MM, CDs, treasuries that is linked to my credit union checking account is an example.
4- the online and local learning seminars to just hear new ideas or learn different skills and options (I'm not great at it, but I like to dabble or "play" in stocks and there was plenty of info on that along with a trading platform to manage buys and sells).
Just some personal reasons for where I ended up. At 65 I'm still working full time but will probably go part time or quit altogether soon. Good luck Art.

Sorry
I removed my misquote
From the post:
"Fellowes said the issue isn’t a lack of financial literacy. Indeed, affluent and educated retirees are more likely to make a mistake than are poorer and less-educated ones"
Some lack reality and say SS wont be there if they wait to retire.
It is a personal decision that does not need Monday morning quarterbacking.
I'll leave it at that

Social Security benefits are guaranteed to keep up with inflation and last for life. That’s important when half of all 65-year-old American women can expect to live past age 86, according to Social Security estimates. The average life expectancy for U.S. men who are currently 65 is age 84.

What about the half of women who don’t live that long? The most important number no one can know for sure is his/her life expectancy. If you are not physically healthy and/or longevity doesn’t run in your family taking Social Security early makes sense. Also many people don’t have the retirement savings to time their taking of the benefit perfectly like this story suggests, yet they may still be sick of working and not want to work till age 70 before retiring. In other words, the answer to when to take the benefit is complex and this constant assumption that Americans are stupid and don’t know how to maximize their retirement by the financial services sector is getting pretty old.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/3521/000119312519186064/d749776d497.htm
497 1 d749776d497.htm TAF ALGER SMALL CAP FOCUS FUND
THE ALGER FUNDS
Alger Small Cap Focus Fund
July 1, 2019 Supplement to the Statutory and Summary
Prospectuses dated March 1, 2019, as supplemented to date
The Board of Trustees of The Alger Funds has authorized a partial closing of Alger Small Cap Focus Fund (the “Fund”), effective July 31, 2019.
The Fund’s Class A and C Shares will be available for purchase by existing shareholders of the Fund who maintain open accounts.
The Fund’s Class I and Z Shares will be available for purchase by existing shareholders of the Fund who maintain open accounts and investors who transact with certain broker-dealers identified by Fred Alger & Company, Incorporated, the Fund’s distributor. Please check with your financial advisor regarding the availability of Class I and Z shares of the Fund for purchase at their firm.
In addition, the Funds Class A, C, I and Z shares will be available to new investors that utilize certain retirement record keeping platforms identified by the Fund’s distributor.
The Fund’s Class Y Shares will remain open to all qualifying investors.
The Fund may resume sales to all investors (or further suspend sales) at some future date if the Board of Trustees determines that doing so would be in the best interest of shareholders.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/915802/000139834419011143/fp0043536_497.htm
497 1 fp0043536_497.htm
FINANCIAL INVESTORS TRUST
RiverFront Asset Allocation Income & Growth
RiverFront Asset Allocation Growth
SUPPLEMENT DATED JUNE 25, 2019 TO THE SUMMARY PROSPECTUSES AND PROSPECTUS
DATED FEBRUARY 28, 2019, AS SUPPLEMENTED JUNE 25, 2019, AND STATEMENT OF ADDITIONAL INFORMATION DATED FEBRUARY 28, 2019, AS SUPPLEMENTED FROM TIME TO TIME
At a meeting held on June 11-12, 2019, the Board of Trustees of Financial Investors Trust (the “Trust”) approved Agreements and Plans of Reorganization providing for the reorganization of RiverFront Asset Allocation Income & Growth and RiverFront Asset Allocation Growth, each a series of the Trust (each, a “Target Fund” and collectively, the “Target Funds”) into RiverFront Asset Allocation Moderate and RiverFront Asset Allocation Growth & Income, respectively, each a series of the Trust (each, an “Acquiring Fund”) (each, a “Reorganization” and collectively, the “Reorganizations”).
Shareholders of each Target Fund as of the close of business on July 12, 2019 will receive more information about such Target Fund’s Reorganization in a separate information statement. The Reorganizations do not require shareholder approval and therefore no action is being requested of shareholders. The closing date of the Reorganizations is expected to be on or about August 5, 2019 (the “Closing Date”).
As a result of the Reorganizations, shareholders of each Target Fund will become shareholders of the corresponding Acquiring Fund. Shareholders of each Target Fund will receive shares of the corresponding Acquiring Fund with an aggregate value equal to the aggregate value of their shares of the Target Fund held immediately prior to the Reorganization. After the Reorganizations are complete, the Target Funds will be liquidated and terminated. Each of the Reorganizations is expected to be a tax-free, therefore shareholders should not realize a tax gain or loss as a direct result of the Reorganization. The expenses incurred in connection with the Reorganizations will be paid by ALPS Advisors, Inc.
Purchases with respect to the Target Funds were permitted through the close of business on June 21, 2019.
INVESTORS SHOULD RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE

When you graph PSTKX ($1M minimum; PSPAX is the investor class) vs IVV over periods shorter than the last 8-9y, the added value from the bond sauce sure looks tiny, sometime nonexistent, and also sometimes worsening rather than buffering dips and volatility.
I wonder what its appeal is, really, when one would probably do better holding IVV and PONAX.
Rather than getting deep in the weeds of the magic mechanisms and contents of these funds, I find it easier just to be empirical and look at performance: consistent tracking of SP500, plus sauce. Same as seeing Fido means a share swap is not a buy. Fascinating explanation from Parsec, @msf, thanks --- technically true, but essentially something else. Love it. Editing financial and other lawyers, and their legalese and lay translations of same, has always been among the funner parts of my career work.

IMHO The central banks, notably ECB and the U.S. Federal Reserve, have changed the playing field. We’ve gone in a few short months from a policy of interest rate “normalization” (Fed euphemism for raising rates) to “sustaining the expansion” (Fed speak for flooding the markets with easy money). Sudden shifts like this are uncommon. Many market timers were caught off guard. In my 50 years investing I can’t think of more than a half dozen or so such sudden and consequential changes in the playing field. The tight money policies of Paul Volker were one. The financial collapse of late 2007 was another.
The eventual success of / consequences of the recent shift in policy are uncertain. Short term it seems to have inflated most risk assets. The downside if the policy “succeeds” may well be a weaker dollar and higher prices for goods and services in coming years. The turmoil Wednesday’s policy statement precipitated points, I think, to the importance of staying diversified and sticking to a plan rather than trying to outguess the markets.

Glad I never subscribed to the “Sell in May ... Go Away“ method of investing.
Looks like Ted linked a thread on that topic a month ago. Appears there were no responses from the board. https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/49979/what-to-throw-away-in-may
The article is from Forbes and is titled : “What to Throw Away in May.”
A few snippets from the linked column follow:
- if the first half of May’s decline “gets legs” and is more a beginning than an end, don’t count on finding too many stock market areas that buck the downtrend. Utilities, REITs, and Consumer Staples stocks are typical outperformers when the market’s first knee-jerk reaction occurs. But as declines deepen, these tend to be treated not as conservative ways to still own stocks, but as part of the club…a club that is out of favor.
- Gold and gold stocks, like Utilities and REITs, probably feel good for a little while amid the equity market carnage. But my chart work shows me that the upside is likely limited.
- “Credit” Bonds – to paraphrase a famous movie line…I see dead asset classes. I have written to you for some time about my deep concerns for investors who have been “chasing yield” the past several years, trying to make up for paltry income returns from CDs, T-bills and Money Market Funds. This happens in every cycle, and it is happening again. High Yield Bonds, Convertibles, Bank Loan Funds, Closed-End Bond Funds (which are typically full of leverage) are all flirting with trouble right now.
- U. S. Treasury Securities / This is a tool for traders and investment managers, but I fear that too many investors and financial advisors have shoved long-term bonds into portfolios to boost the yield, but are not considering how much risk they are taking if they view it as a “buy and hold” position.

FYI: Insurer Sun Life Financial has created an independent business, bringing together its affiliated asset management firms and the investment capabilities of its general account under a new brand called SLC Management.
This launch caps off six years of work. In 2012, Sun Life started building an asset management business to offer outside clients the strategies it uses for its own portfolio, such as commercial mortgages, liability-driven investing, and real estate.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b1fx5y3rzwtmp2/Here-Comes-a-New-160-Billion-Asset-Manager

--- Inflation rate
A common measure of inflation in the U.S. is the Consumer Price Index (CPI). From 1925 through 2018 the CPI has a long-term average of 2.9% annually. Over the last 40 years highest CPI recorded was 13.5% in 1980. For 2018, the last full year available, the CPI was 2.2% annually as reported by the Minneapolis Federal Reserve.
--- Rate of return
This is the annually compounded rate of return you expect from your investments before taxes. The actual rate of return is largely dependent on the types of investments you select. The Standard & Poor's 500® (S&P 500®) for the 10 years ending December 31st 2018, had an annual compounded rate of return of 12.1%, including reinvestment of dividends. From January 1, 1970 to December 31st 2018, the average annual compounded rate of return for the S&P 500®, including reinvestment of dividends, was approximately 10.2% (source: www.standardandpoors.com). Since 1970, the highest 12-month return was 61% (June 1982 through June 1983). The lowest 12-month return was -43% (March 2008 to March 2009).
Hi @hank
I don't underestimate or have a blind eye to inflation. B.O.L. CPI is a bit twisted with what is used for calculations.
I don't allow the data in the above 2 displays to cause me to think that things won't change.
Hell, I/we still keep a paper ledger for all expenses by category; a habit I've had since 1970.
As I've stated here numerous times........this time is different. And so it remains, seeking a financial path since the market melt.
Too tired to think or write more tonight.
Good night.
Catch

You're already underfunded. Make money. There is a fiduciary responsibility to the participants. It's immoral to mortgage the future financial well-being of others.

“The results of Bank of America Merrill Lynch's latest fund manager survey (FMS) are "the most bearish" since the financial crisis.During the month of June, the average fund manager flipped from overweight global equities to underweight. Specifically, a net 21% of fund managers were underweight, the lowest level since March 2009. That measure represents a 32-percentage point drop month over month, the second biggest one-month drop since the survey’s inception.”
“ ‘FMS investors have not been this bearish since the Global Financial Crisis, with pessimism driven by trade war and recession concerns,” writes Bank of America's chief investment strategist Michael Hartnett. “The tactical ‘pain trade’ is higher yields and higher stocks, particularly if the Fed cuts rates on Wednesday.’ “
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/fund-managers-most-bearish-since-crisis-112100919.html

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
June 15:
1995: Less than a year-and-a-half after breaking the 800 barrier, the NASDAQ Composite Index closes above 900 for the first time, finishing the day at 902.68.
1979: Fidelity Investments drops the sales charges on many of its largest mutual funds, including Fidelity Fund, Magellan, and Puritan -- giving a huge boost to the direct purchase of no-load funds by retail investors.
Source: Jason Zweig's Blog

Today’s technology companies, and their shares, look nothing like the speculative stocks of that bubblicious era, when tech accounted for more than 30% of the Standard & Poor’s 500 index. Today, it is only 22.5%, albeit well above weightings of about 14% for both financials and health care. Financial stocks have been among the main beneficiaries of funds flowing out of tech.

"Just because the banks are safer doesn’t necessarily mean the financial system is"
Here's a few selected excerpts from davfor's Bloomberg link, just above. The entire article is well worth a read.

Leveraged lending has raised eyebrows partly because of how lightly it’s regulated. Fueled in large part by demand from collateralized loan obligations that offer interest rates that approach 9% on some riskier portions of the debt, the market for leveraged loans has more than doubled since 2012.
One of the ironies of the boom is that much of the risk-taking decried by central banks and regulators is largely of their own making.
Years of ultra-low rates have made it easier than ever for less-creditworthy companies to borrow large sums of money, all while pushing investors toward riskier investments. At the same time, post-crisis bank regulations have fueled the rise of shadow lenders, which helped facilitate the growth of leveraged lending. Then, financial watchdogs appointed by the Trump administration started encouraging Wall Street to dial-up more risk last year by easing guidelines to limit lending to deeply indebted companies, which freed banks to compete more directly with non-bank firms to underwrite the riskiest loans.
• “Whenever you give children toys, you know they’re going to keep playing with them until they break them,” said Phil Milburn, a fund manager at Liontrust Asset Management in Edinburgh, Scotland. “Someone has to come into the room and say put your toys down.”
• Wells Fargo research suggests buyers of CLOs include U.S. banks, insurers and hedge funds, as well as a large number of non-U.S. financial firms.
• Pimco, the world’s largest bond investor, said last month the credit market is “probably the riskiest ever.”
• When the credit cycle finally does turn, UBS estimates investors in junk bonds and leveraged loans could lose almost a half-trillion dollars, more than any downturn since at least 1987.
• Just because the banks are safer doesn’t necessarily mean the financial system is, says Karen Petrou, managing partner at Federal Financial Analytics, a regulatory-analysis firm.

Comment: Well, it certainly won't be this administration that tells anyone to put their toys down.

FYI: Old-school value investing demands both cheapness and a margin of safety against financial distress. But the hundreds of value funds on the market today have largely suffered in the past decade. Growth stocks have outperformed since the financial crisis, but that’s not the only factor that has held back value funds: Most own hundreds of stocks that either aren’t so cheap or are cheap for good reason.
David Green goes beyond the traditional metrics. “Just looking at a screen gives you only a snapshot that won’t tell you what a company will do in the future,” says the manager of Hotchkis & Wiley Value Opportunities fund (ticker: HWAAX). “It won’t tell you what a company’s competitive position is, or if it has some hidden liability. So, each company’s earnings profile is determined by our research team.”
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/this-value-fund-owns-anything-it-wants-51559830489?refsec=funds
M* Snapshot HWAAX:
https://www.morningstar.com/funds/XNAS/HWAAX/quote.html
Lipper Snapshot HWAAX:
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/fund/hwaax
HWAAX Ranks #4 In The (85%+E) Fund Category By U.S. News & World Report:
https://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual-funds/allocation-85-equity/hotchkis-wiley-value-opps-fd/hwaax

https://www.google.com/search?q=what+we've+learned+about+target-date+funds+10+years+later&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-b-1-m
Enter News, Quotes, Companies or Videos
Target-date funds have emerged strongly from the damage of 10 years ago, but some advisers say their one-size-fits-all approach to investing isn’t suitable for every investor. Nicolas Ortega
Journal Reports: Funds/ETFs
What We’ve Learned About Target-Date Funds, 10 Years Later
A decade after target-date funds were damaged during the financial crisis, they have re-emerged bigger than ever as retirement investments. But they still have vulnerabilities.
By Jeff Brown
May 5, 2019 10:09 p.m. ET
Back in 2008, many investors looking ahead to retirement in two years had a shock when “target-date funds” designed for them plummeted in value. Many had assumed those funds, targeted to a 2010 retirement, were safe from large moves that late in the game.
Despite the jolt to investor confidence, target-date funds have flourished in the decade since, becoming a staple in workplace retirement plans such as 401(k)s, as a net $532 billion in investor money poured in during that time, according to data from the Investment Company Institute trade group.
Journal Report
Insights from The Experts
Read more at WSJ.com/FundsETFs
More in Investing in Funds & ETFs
Fund Fees Still Vary Too Much
How Much Cash in Retirement?
U.S.-Stock Funds Rose 3.6% in April
529s or Coverdells for College?
ETFs Dial In to 5G
Whether that is a good thing remains a matter of debate. Some financial experts question the value of target-date funds, saying their one-size-fits-all approach to investing isn’t suitable for every investor. Others say the funds can be a good way to save for both retirement and college—as long as investors pay attention to the products’ risk profile, fees and performance, especially as market conditions change.
Of course, the idea behind target-date funds, or TDFs, is to make investing as simple as possible by gradually adjusting to a more conservative investment mix as a target date approaches. As the default option in many workplace retirement plans, TDFs attract investors who don't want to choose and rebalance their own investments and may not be aware that the funds can still own lots of risky stocks close to and even after the target date arrives.
“There is a common misconception among many target-date holders that the portfolio is completely de-risked at retirement, and that simply isn’t true,” says Robert R. Johnson, professor of finance at Creighton University’s Heider College of Business in Omaha, Neb.
A big factor in that growth was Obama-era legislation that encouraged employers to automatically enroll new employees in retirement plans and use target-date funds as the default for those who don’t choose their own investments. Previously, investors who were inattentive—a notorious problem with workplace retirement plans—simply accumulated cash, which doesn’t provide enough growth to build a nest egg that will last for decades.
“It’s certainly a good thing” to use TDFs as the default, says Dennis Shirshikov, financial analyst at FitSmallBusiness.com, an advice service for small-business owners and managers. “This has brought a great deal of consistency to a retirement portfolio, especially since most investors with a 401(k) do not manage their investment actively.”
Another factor in TDF growth, Morningstar says, is the growing popularity of index investing as most TDFs invest in index funds, rather than actively managed funds. In 2017, 95% of new employee contributions to TDFs went to one relying on index funds, according to Morningstar.
Investors can buy target-date funds for their individual retirement accounts and taxable accounts, as well, and most big fund companies offer them. The biggest player is Vanguard Group with about $381 billion in TDF assets in 2017, 34% of the market, Morningstar says. Fidelity Investments had a 20.5% share, and the third-biggest player, T. Rowe Price , TROW 1.89% had a 14.9% share.
The downsides
Retirement experts have mixed views about TDFs’ value in a portfolio. Most say TDFs are better than not investing at all, or putting retirement savings in cash, but the funds can’t take into account each investor’s unique situation. Two investors the same age would get the same fund, even if they have different needs due to dependents, availability of other assets, life expectancy and risk tolerance.
“In an attempt to simplify planning and saving for retirement—certainly a noble endeavor—the entire concept of target-date funds likely is a bridge too far,” Prof. Johnson says. “Individuals are unique, and one parameter, the anticipated retirement date, cannot and should not dictate the appropriate asset-allocation mix and the change in that mix over time.”
Another concern: The automatic investing strategy ignores changing conditions. Patrick R. McDowell, investment analyst at Arbor Wealth Management in Miramar Beach, Fla., says low bond yields in recent years have reduced TDF income after the target date, and increased the risk of losses on bondholdings if rates rise. (Higher rates hurt bond values because investors favor newer bonds that pay more.)
What’s more, he says, stocks and bonds have often moved in tandem in recent years, reducing the benefit from diversification, which assumes one asset goes up when the other falls.
Know your rights
Retirement savers who are automatically put into TDFs have the right to switch to other funds in their retirement plan as they learn more or conditions change, and Mr. McDowell recommends that investors get more involved as retirement nears. He says he often recommends investors nearing retirement leave the target-date fund and buy a mix of stock and stable-value funds—which contain bonds insured against loss and are designed to preserve capital while generating returns similar to a fixed-income investment—to reduce danger from a potential market plunge.
Advisers urge investors to examine the TDF’s ‘glide path’—its investing policy for shifting from stocks to bonds over time. Photo: iStock
“In that strategy, a big drop in equity and fixed-income prices won’t hurt a soon-to-be retiree in the same way it would in a TDF strategy,” he says. “It also helps investors defend against a rising interest-rate scenario” harmful to bonds.
Experts say TDF investors should keep abreast of performance and not just assume they are on track to a comfortable retirement. Morningstar provides data on average performance by target date, as well as details on individual funds.

FYI: A decade after target-date funds were damaged during the financial crisis, they have re-emerged bigger than ever as retirement investments. But they still have vulnerabilities.
Regards,
Ted

CURTAINS??
In financial stuff??
Who knew?? :(

Call and Liquidity Risk
Municipal issuers often exercise the call option on their high-coupon paying outstanding debt in a low interest rate environment; which essentially means that they can retire their outstanding bonds before maturity by either buying back or refunding it with lower coupon debt.
This poses a significant risk for investors whose debt has been retired by the issuer.

My take on this risk is almost exactly the opposite.
If I buy a bond at a high premium (i.e. richly priced because its coupon is well above market rates), I buy it expecting it to be called. (Regardless, one should always look at yield to worst, not yield to maturity, when buying bonds.) Because the coupon is well above market rate, my expectation that it will be called is reasonable. Even if rates rise a bit by the time the bond is callable, it should still be trading at a premium. That makes it close to certain that the bond will be called.
The risk is not that the bond will be called - that's anticipated - but that it won't. That can happen for at least a couple of reasons. One is that the issuer's financial situation has deteriorated so much that it can't issue new bonds to raise the cash to retire the old bonds. Which means my bonds have become more likely to default.
Another reason the bond might not get called is that we hit a period of high inflation, so even the high coupon I'm getting isn't enough to compensate. In that case, I'm stuck with this longer term fixed income bond in a high inflation environment. Again, not good.