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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.
  • CD
    Another way to see Schwab offerings is, from the top line, to click Research and then Bonds, CDs, Fixed Income. The result is a page showing rates out to 30 years of a wide variety of instruments. I find it interesting that the slope of CD's is not as negative as for Treasuries. Click any item on this page and you get a page of dozens of offerings. Click on any offering and you get a pop-up of offering details. You can buy from the offering page - just be sure you are in your desired account.
    I have a ladder of CDs and Treasuries, and recently had a CD called. Was able to rebuild that rung with a Treasury of shorter duration but higher interest rate than the called CD. This will work only as long as the yield curve is negatively sloped.
  • CD
    @Tarwheel concisely and accurately stated "Nobody knows where longer term rates are headed, despite all of the punditry." I would add that it's also regularly called a fool's game.
    True story: Years ago and for a coupla years, I was diligently (some say "anally") projecting my defined benefit pension plan lump sum payment (one of three defined benefit pension plans in our household) that was largely driven by a coupla factors including the 10-yr rate. During one of those years, one of the most reliable investment houses projected a 3.5% change in the 10-yr in the coming 12 months. And voila! Amazingly they nailed the % move EXACTLY! Well, except for the all important direction of the move, which they said was going to be DOWN, but instead went (Oopsy!) UP.
    The strategy for owning a CP CD ladder as one's fixed income sleeve has been posted about ad nauseum on this forum. I know that's true because I am one of its leading proponents and made a ton of posts about it. Any otherwise reasonably intelligent investor on this forum who still doesn't get it needs to go back and re-read some of the many other threads on the topic over the past year or so. It's pretty simple.
    Basically, what are you hoping for (and I ask that pointedly as IMO, hope is what you're dealing with here) out of your dedicated bond funds over the next 5-yr period. 4%? 5%? 6%? And if your hopes are in that range, why did you NOT (when the option was available - it ain't now) instead take the stress, guessing and hoping out of the equation and guarantee a 5+% APY from an FDIC'd, CP CD 5-yr ladder?
    BTW, the venerable Art Cashin used to routinely remind us, "I learned long ago that hope is not a viable, long-term investment strategy."
    Disclaimer_1: We own a 5-yr CP CD ladder paying 5+% APY as our fixed income sleeve and it now serves as self-insurance for our projected LTC needs. The current 5-yr CP CD rate is still over our % hurdle and we continue to replace rungs as they fall off. This strategy has given us WAY more time to spend on our stock sleeve (IMO, where real money is made) and the extra time and effort afforded us by the ladder has resulted in blowout TRs over the past 1-to-1 1/2 years as we've accurately identified some of the best places to be in that market (that is, US, AI, LCG and Semis).
    Disclaimer_2: I'm tired of posting the same thing over-and-over again and I trust some forum participants are tired of reading it as well. So this will be my last time. For those who still don't get it, maybe try reading it s-l-o-w-l-y one last time?
  • GEV any takers yet?
    If you own GE, then you know own GEHC and GEV. We’ve got GE shares that we’ve own for 40-50 years. It’s finally starting to regain some of the value it lost over the past 20 years. My wife’s grandfather gave her the original shares, and she hasn’t wanted to sell for sentimental reasons. If we do sell, figuring out the cost basis would be a nightmare because we reinvested dividends until the past few years when the yield was cut.
  • CD
    Nobody knows where longer term rates are headed, despite all of the punditry. The so-called experts have wrong repeatedly. I deal with the uncertainty by covering all of the bases. My CD ladders extend out 5 years, and when issues mature, I reinvest where I can get the best yield furthest out. Long term, I assume my intermediate bond funds will eventually start gaining value again, particularly if rates drop.
    My CD ladder in taxable savings is heavy on the short end, with issues maturing every 1-3 months. My IRA ladders have issues maturing about every 6 months.
  • Buy Sell Why: ad infinitum.
    @BenWP, I did not get as far as looking at the portfolio. You are right, the index description does not match with the current holdings. Now that I look at the stock style, only in 1 out of the past 5 years it was in large caps. Since it claims to select factors based on the stage of the economic cycle and given the fund currently is in high value, low quality, small to mid caps, I am guessing the index provider must think we are at the beginning of an economic cycle. I was drawn to its dynamic (not on a preset time line) rebalancing (almost like an active fund). I do invest in the mid cap space but I prefer real active management for that space. The only exception I make is for XMHQ (rebalanced twice a year). I still think OMFL, as a dynamic multi factor fund, can be profitable if the index provider gets economic cycles and market conditions right. Evidently, we are off the norms because of Covid but the index provider is able to stay with or ahead of SPY.
  • Fido ETF Fees
    @msf, thanks for noting the PDF edits.
    I am going by my actual experience with my margin accounts at both Fido and Schwab where the initial purchases of anything (including the m-mkt funds) don't become marginable for 30 days. Then, at the end of the 30-day period, there are routine journal entries that auto-move stuff from cash to margin side.
    So, this 30-day practice (before things become marginable) isn't new, and has been going on for years. The PDF document editors may have put this language in/out places for clarifications. The $100 fee rule to kick in 06/2024 is definitely new.
  • CD
    First, note that all of the "Preferred" CDs shown are new issues. OK, the "Quoted price" simply means that if you wanted to buy $1.00 of a particular CD the cost to you is $1.00 (100%). You will find that there are also older CDs out there, paying rates lower than newer ones.
    Obviously you wouldn't buy those when you could just as easily buy one paying a better rate. So the "Quoted" (asking) price for one of those lower-paying CDs will be something less than 100%, so that the total income at maturity (YTM: Yield to Maturity) will be competitive with the higher-paying ones.
    Similarly you will also find some older CDs paying more than the currently available ones. You can expect the "Quoted" to be higher than 100%. Same reasoning.
    No one is interested in selling you a really small CD- the minimum is typically $1000.
    The default 1-year "Preferred" list is only the tip of the iceberg-
    • If you want a maturity other than the one-year default simply click on the maturity that you want- they go from 1 month to 10 years.
    • If you really want to explore the CD universe use the "Visit Find CDs" link for a detailed CD search. There you can enter any parameter that you want, such as "non-callable" or a different maturity, or a minimum rate that you will accept.
  • A replicating portfolio. Devo's April exercise
    I'm not sure I understand what you're visualizing, but most people probably shouldn't be fiddling with their positions all the time.
    I enjoy the process of replicating a portfolio--as you described it-- because at this stage in my life I have become interested in funds with average, or better, returns, and betas below 1. I am also a fan of Sortino, Treynor, and Martin.
    I wouldn't say it's different this time. But things are different than they were a few years ago. And without looking, I'm not sure the market, as defined by the 500, has been all that kind in the 21st century. So anything approaching, or exceeding, "market" performance with less beta is of interest to me for my IRA at least.
    What I'm wondering about is how far this exercise can be pushed. So far I have only exercised a few funds, sectors, and portfolios; e.g. IYK looks much better than FSUTX. And here is LCORX.
  • Portfolio trackers
    Very interesting discussion on quicken. I don’t use it but my wife does … will try and see if I can download my Schwab accounts into quicken and then set up the account on Morningstar legacy. I’m mainly interested in the portfolio X-ray feature and being able to analyze my holdings by equity style. Years ago I used to do that on Morningstar.
  • CD
    My friend Crash,,,, my horizon is no longer 15 years ,,,, you youngsters can afford to wait.
  • CD
    Yes, gotcha. I am just looking at the 5-year performance. It lands in the top 7% of category, but at +1.89%, it doesn't seem worth the trouble, eh? Of course, the Covid-put is a big piece of that picture. ...Going back FIFTEEN years, it's up by 4.2%, in the top 21 percent of category. That sounds much more worth our time. It does not own junk.
  • CD
    @yugo - The yields on my 5-year CDs are 5.0-5.1%, all non-callable. I bought them when rates peaked in 2023, so they have 4+ years left until maturity. Some of the shorter term CDs will start maturing in May, and I doubt if I’ll be able to buy new 5-years with yields that high. I may buy some federal agency bonds that are still yielding more than 5%, but they are callable. Or I might start investing in intermediate bond funds again if it looks like rates are stabilizing.
  • CD
    I don’t ever buy CDs with automatic rollover. When they mature, I either reinvest in CDs with the highest rates, Treasuries or short-term to intermediate bond funds. I also have set up several CD ladders extending out 5 years, with yields averaging more than 5%. If yields drop, I’ll continue to get good yields from my ladders.
    Look at it this way, I don’t own or track a single bond fund that has returned 5% over the past 10 years. My CD ladders will provide me a guaranteed yield of 5%. What’s not to like about that?
    Could I ask what are the yields on the the 5-year legs of your CD ladders? Are these callable?
  • Big T data leak
    T-Mo was a HORROR SHOW in terms of repeated data breaches over the years. Like they were an annual event sometimes. I finally dumped them and went to T last January and it's been a much better experience ... plus I'm getting better rates/coverage, too.
  • Trump Media
    That is what a SPAC is. It's a blank-check company that raised money first, then has 2 years to look for suitable acquisitions, and if not successful, just return that money to shareholders.
    Even the rich and famous Bill Ackman failed to find a suitable acquisition for its grandiose SPAC - or, he came up with a very twisted and complex ideas that were rejected by the regulators, and then the time ran out.
    There is a popular fund here (manager DS) that bets on many SPACs not succeeding in their acquisition attempts. So, these funds invest in SPACs at some discounts ahead of their termination dates and then get 100%, a safe return from a rather unsafe vehicle.
  • Big T data leak
    I have had credit freezes on al our accounts since we were notified ( years ago) that our data had been hacked three times in one year.
    Blue Cross Blue Shield
    Yale New Haven Hospital (this year got hacked again for third time !)
    and People's Bank. They lost an UNENCRYPTED DATA TAPE in the back seat of a company car. It had not only all the usual but also balances, net worth etc (we had to fill that out to open account) etc.
    I have never had to undo the freeze, although one small card we use would not increase our credit limit unless we did, although we have been customers for three decades. Visa our major card was more than happy to double it when we asked.
    Supposedly you can undo it for a day if you have to apply for credit.
    Since then, we have had our information stolen at least two times a year. This year we have already hit three.
    The only thing the companies who get hacked ever offer is "Credit monitoring", but this will not work if your account is frozen. So to take advantage of their "recompense" you have to undo the best defense against a real hack there is.
  • Fido ETF Fees
    Simplify has $ 4 Billion AUM. Maybe not Vanguard ( or Fidelity ) but they have accumulated this in only a couple of years
    I don't quite understand why FIDO feels the need to do this other than to make $. Is their role in ETFs more involved than buying and selling stocks? Do they participate in the creation and redemption process and thus incur extra costs?
  • CD
    I don’t ever buy CDs with automatic rollover. When they mature, I either reinvest in CDs with the highest rates, Treasuries or short-term to intermediate bond funds. I also have set up several CD ladders extending out 5 years, with yields averaging more than 5%. If yields drop, I’ll continue to get good yields from my ladders.
    Look at it this way, I don’t own or track a single bond fund that has returned 5% over the past 10 years. My CD ladders will provide me a guaranteed yield of 5%. What’s not to like about that?
  • Artisan Developing World Fund (APDYX)
    "Not too long ago I sought out a global allocation fund that invested in all ranges of assets, regardless of region or size."
    Many moons ago I tried for several years to achieve something close to that using various funds of the American Funds company (without loads). I wasn't terribly successful.
  • Artisan Developing World Fund (APDYX)
    You make very good points, @Devo. Several of your arguments could serve to buttress the choice of the "go-anywhere" style of portfolio management. I could be persuaded that an amateur investor ought not choose funds or securities on the basis of asset, size, style, factor, etc., but that he/she should seek out the best bunch of PMs who have totally free rein. I think it was Mike Holland who said many moons ago that all an investor need was a good balanced fund.
    Not too long ago I sought out a global allocation fund that invested in all ranges of assets, regardless of region or size. There seemed to be very few such animals, and even fewer that excelled. Maybe it's too much to expect of a single management team. RPGAX and FPACX are pretty good and FBBAX has had some decent years while MDLOX fails to excite at all. I find that I'm not ready to consolidate my stable of funds and put the whole pie into two or three offerings. It might work for someone else.