Background: Earlier, I had said: "Money-market funds use their capital to make relatively short-term loans, and, in the old days, their so-called "dividends" were really just a cut of the interest that the MF company obtained while lending those funds. While they also had disclaimers... it was generally believed to be with "a wink and a nod", as the MF companies tried very hard to maintain the $1.00 NAV, and generally succeeded."
And heezsafe replied: "Old_Joe your thinking about MMkt funds is incorrect (both pre-crisis and certainly post-crisis); but if I can find a good synopsis to go with other things I've found (hey, I realized I needed a refresher on this, too!), then I'll have a "package" of interesting things I'll post for you in the next few days."
••••••••••
@heezsafe- Hello there. I'll admit I just ran that off from memory, but your note inspired me to check Wickipedia for more info, and it seems to me to be pretty close to what I was saying:

"A money market fund (also called a money market mutual fund) is an open-ended mutual fund that invests in short-term debt securities such as US Treasury bills and commercial paper. Money market funds are widely (though not necessarily accurately) regarded as being as safe as bank deposits yet providing a higher yield."
"[M]oney market funds are important providers of liquidity to financial intermediaries."
"The portfolio must maintain a weighted average maturity of 60 days or less and not invest more than 5% in any one issuer, except for government securities and repurchase agreements."
"Unlike most other financial instruments, money market funds seek to maintain a stable value of $1 per share. Funds are able to pay dividends to investors."
Investing in "short-term debt securities" is equivalent to making short term loans, yes?
In any case, this has been an interesting thread, and I'll look forward to your "package" of interesting things".
Regards- OJ

"The trouble with financial markets is that long cycles end, and begin, unceremoniously. No welcoming party greets the new trend. No reception is held. And no bunting is hung to mark the inflection point. Rather, the significance of important events that punctuate them is usually only revealed in retrospect."
Are you sure? Aren't down trends started a few( % )points at a time, How come you can't get off the elevator anytime you want? Retain any % of profits you want....just asking..
Retrospect starts today...check your returns and discount all this "stuff"

FYI: It has been a long—and many would say—well-earned period of outperformance for US assets. Since the global financial crisis, U.S. equities have soared on the twin tail winds of rising corporate profits and an easy Fed.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.etf.com/sections/etf-strategist-corner/3-reasons?nopaging=1

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/105563/000093247115005798/ps21_022013.htm
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Well, if you're a fund manager who holds a lot of cash, or a long-short manager who's mostly short, then if the markets go up you risk underperforming the market and your benchmark. I think that's what guys like Ritholz who manage other people's money mean by upside risk. Then financial journalists parrot it.

"The Dodd-Frank financial-regulatory law of 2010 required the SEC to study the issue but didn’t mandate a particular conclusion."
2015: study-in-progress.......... is not a study in progress.

"With a flock of ‘fallen angels’ from Russia and Latin America re-shaping the euro-denominated high yield bond market, investors are scratching their heads about whether they are a blessing or a curse. [...] With every Russian corporate bond issued in euros now rated as junk by both S&P and Moody’s, BofA Merrill Lynch anticipates that in a few weeks the Russia corporate market will be 100 per cent HY. [...] The new arrivals are shifting the composition of the European HY market, traditionally shaped around telecoms – the largest sector with 23 per cent – plus metals and manufacturing, towards financial and commodity-based business."
"A bigger problem is that bond managers may be prevented from buying many of the new Russian names. Russian banks already feature on the restricted list issued by European regulators, meaning bond managers can buy existing bonds but can’t buy new issues."
"Alongside the $333bn European (ie euro-denominated) HY sector, which includes many emerging market bonds, the EM HY sector is now more than 40 per cent of the size of the $1.6trn US HY market."
http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2015/03/18/fallen-angels-changing-the-face-of-high-yield-bond-market/

@Tampabay: Once again sir you show your propensity to pontificate from a base of ignorance. Contrary to your juvenile world view, I was born with a pretty fair amount of luck: reasonable intelligence, good health, caring parents, and in the USA. I used those assets to develop skills which resulted in an earning ability allowing me to retire at a reasonable age, and which, with respect to financial assets, quite allows me to hold my own in the MFO environment. Unlike yourself, I also used those skills for the benefit of our general community by serving in the Coast Guard for four years and in Public Safety for many more. I thank you for your suggestions as to how I should have run my life, but I assure you that they are unnecessary.
You seem to have had similar benefits. If in fact you were able to arrange the good fortune of your birth environment due to your own cunning, skill, and really hard work, then you are really quite unique, but somehow I doubt all of that very much.
Your ignorance is pathetic; your lack of compassion for others not as lucky as ourselves is simply contemptible. Yes, I said pathetic, contemptible, and lucky, and I mean exactly that. Your type: a dime a dozen.

@Lawlar and TPA
No, don't kill the messenger. As Flack recently pointed out, most of us here have a better grasp of the financial issues than the journalists who get paid to crank out something "fresh" every 24 hours. Also, read a variety of sources. Don't rely on NYT or anyone else for all your news.

Hi Ted. I glanced at that in the NY Times whose headline stories I receive daily on Kindle.
I've never had a lot of confidence in their financial reporting - though same goes for many other publications. What struck me is they seem to be basing these conclusions on the period immediately following the 08-09 market meltdown. I do recall that during the "roaring 90s" index investing became very popular and the S&P 500 was greatly run up. It than suffered and lagged for several years following that hot stretch. So, I'd expect a rebound following the 08-09 market wash-out. This probably helps account for the great run it's had in recent years.
None of this is intended to dispute the advantages of holding index funds for the very long haul. I'd agree on that. But to draw conclusions on just a 6-year stretch strikes me as a lot of journalistic hoopla.

@Joe
Hi Joe,
I am not by any means saying what I do is the right thing for everybody that reads this to follow. But, it is what I do.
Commodities fall in the broad sectors of materials and energy within the S&P 500 Index. It seems that you wish, like me, to target at least five percent of your asset allocation to the materials area. First, I did an Instant Xray analysis of my portfolio to see just how much I hold in the materials sector. Then if I am short I use a commodity or precious metal fund to supplement. The two funds that I currently use to do this are JCRAX and SGGDX. You might wish to do an Instant Xray on each fund to see how they are comprised. Currently, I hold about six percent in the materials sector with JCRAX and SGGDX combined accounting for about only one percent. So, if I sold them off I’d be back to about the five percent targeted base line in materials. I see gold and silver currently as a good long term buy since they are now selling for around, and back of, their all in cost to mine.
Since, materials are now out of favor with most in the investment community this, by my thinking, is an area of long range opportunity. So with this, I continue to target at least five percent to the materials sector and, at times, even more. Hopefully, over the next year, or so, the worm will turn and assets I bought that were out of favor will have appreciated. Know to, it can go the other way. So, I moderate and don’t try to make it all, so to speak, a one position bet on the “come line.” With this, I am also looking at other sectors for opportunity too.
For me there are four minor sectors within the S&P 500 Index. They are materials, real estate, communication services, and utilities. I strive at keeping at least a five percent allocation to each of these sectors. This leaves the seven others as major sectors in which I strive to keep at least a nine percent allocation to each of these. They are consumer cyclical, financial services, energy, industrials, technology, consumer defensive, and healthcare. When done, this leaves about seventeen percent of the allocation that can be positioned based upon how I am reading the markets and wish to position based upon a sector allocation out look.
Currently, I am one percent (overweight) in materials. I am about nine percent in energy and not carrying an overweight at this time. While in healthcare, technology, consumer cyclical, and financials I am three precent overweight in each. In utilities and communication services I am two percent overweight in each.
I hope this has provided you with some helpful insight as to how I position and to my thinking.
I wish you … “Good Investing.”
Old_Skeet

FYI: We all recognize “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” as not just a popular game show, but also a ridiculous question.
The obvious answer to the show’s title is, yes, everyone wants to be a millionaire, but few contestants or audience members can answer the requisite questions to achieve fast, televised wealth.
A recent study by Fidelity Investments focused on what it takes to become a millionaire without the help of a game show, and found that many people have the ability to accrue tremendous wealth, but that their windows for such financial success are closing, often before they ever really take steps toward becoming rich.
Fidelity’s seventh “Millionaire Outlook” study looked at the potential investors have for moving up toward millionaire status. The key group in the study was the “emerging affluent,” which would be the people who seem to have both the resources and the interest/ability to live out their seven-figure dream
Regards,
Ted
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/6-factors-determine-who-gets-to-be-a-millionaire-2015-03-14/print
Fidelity Study:
https://fidelityinstitutional.fidelity.com/app/literature/view?itemCode=9863829&renditionType=pdf&pos=SR

GMO just released their February 2015 projection of asset class returns over the next 5-7 years. It may be the glummest, if not the grimmest, I've seen. At this point, they project negative real returns for nine of the 12 asset groups they track.
(3.5%) Int'l bonds (currency hedged)
(3.4%) US small cap
(2.4%) US large cap
(1.0%) US bonds
(0.5%) TIPs
(0.3%) Cash
(0.2%) Int'l small cap
(0.1%) US high quality
0.0% Int'l large cap
2.6% EM bonds
2.9% EM equity
5.4% Managed timber
Three notes: (1) short-term events can dramatically change these medium-range projections, a 25% correction in April or a 20% upswing through June would each make big differences in these numbers, (2) they assume 2.2% long-term inflation so 2.2% nominal is 0.0% real. (2) their method uses a fairly simple regression to the mean for two factors: profits and prices. That is, they assume that aggregate corporate profitability in the future will be about equal to aggregate corporate profitability in the past and that investors in the future are willing to pay about as much for $1 of profits (earnings) as investors in the past did.
If you assume that things are different this time (because of the internet, the Chinese, emerging markets consumers, fracking or benign uses of financial engineering) and that we're reached a "permanently high plateau" in corporate profitability and investor comfort, then their projections would obviously be reduced to readings from a Ouija board.
It does, I think, feed the ongoing discussions here about the future of 60/40 portfolios as safe havens and how to think about positioning your portfolio.
For what interest it holds,
David

I don't trust any of them.

I'll agree with you on that. I own Scotiabank (BNS) and largely from the standpoint of valuation (it's gotten obliterated since last Fall along with the Canadian currency) history, yield and other factors (Canada's most international bank, it's a bullion bank, etc.) It's admittedly not my most comfortable or favorite investment (and certainly not the largest), but I'm getting paid a nice yield in the meantime.
As for the difference with currency, BNS shares in Canada vs the US shares over the last year. Interesting look at the same company local shares vs US shares.
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=BNS+Interactive#{"range":"1y","scale":"linear","comparisons":{"BNS.TO":{"color":"#cc0000","weight":1}}}
I still like FIS as an alternate play on banks as it provides financial tech, but that company is expensive fundamentally.

Hi Hank,
Thank you for reading my post. Sorry it is so negative with respect to your earlier submittal, but I believe some of your comments are prompted by your unfamiliarity with the annual DALBAR Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior (QAIB) report.
Keep in mind that DALBAR is just one investment agency that has examined the issue of individual investor shortfalls relative to the mutual funds that they own. Morningstar, Vanguard, and Academia have completed similar studies with roughly comparable conclusions. Investor shortfalls have been pervasive for decades, mostly associated with poor timing and wealth destruction crowd herding behaviors.
The DALBAR report is designed for consumption by financial advisors. They have been publishing it for 30 or so years. It has improved over these decades. Here is a Link to the 2014 edition:
http://grandwealth.com/files/DALBAR QAIB 2014.pdf
I don’t read it each year since the findings seem to be fairly repeatable and predictable. The report does address your first two questions directly, and I’ll summarize them here. I’ll also address your third question from my general interpretation of their data collection and processing methods.
Your 1. The DALBAR methodology incorporates dollar weighting with its monthly measurements of fund inflows and outflows. From an engineering perspective, it’s comparable to a mass balancing assessment.
Your 2. Quoting from the referenced report: “QAIB 2014 examines real investor returns in equity, fixed income and asset allocation funds.” DALBAR makes the requisite adjustments to correctly judge investor performance relative to proper investment categories.
Your 3. DALBAR merely manipulates numbers. It makes zero distinctions with respect to an investor’s motivations or investment proclivities. Its data sets do not and can not contain that very personal information which is illusive and likely not stable for any investor. Most investors probably can’t reliably recall their specific trading reasons. That’s okay; it would be scary otherwise.
I’m answering your questions without much updated research. Please access the referenced DALBAR document. Reviewing a primary report is always better than a secondhand source.
I hope this satisfies your curiosity. I really don’t have a test for accuracy, but the distinction between climate and weather is substantial and should be understood and respected. Regardless if individual investors are sophisticated or clueless, they are at a disadvantage when competing against resource rich professionals. Most investors are not especially sophisticated.
Best Wishes.

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1006783/000110465915018505/a15-6522_1497.htm
497 1 a15-6522_1497.htm 497
TURNER FUNDS
TURNER TITAN FUND
Supplement dated March 10, 2015
to the Prospectus dated January 31, 2015
THIS SUPPLEMENT PROVIDES NEW AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BEYOND THAT CONTAINED IN THE PROSPECTUS. THIS SUPPLEMENT SHOULD BE READ IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE PROSPECTUS.
On February 27, 2015, the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of the Turner Funds determined to close and liquidate the Turner Titan Fund (the “Fund”), effective on or about April 30, 2015. The Fund had previously been scheduled to close and liquidate on or about March 13, 2015. In connection with the pending liquidation, the Fund discontinued accepting orders for the purchase of Fund shares or exchanges into the Fund from other Turner Funds after the close of business on January 30, 2015.
On or around the close of business on April 30, 2015, the Fund will distribute pro rata all of its assets in cash to its shareholders, and all outstanding shares will be redeemed and cancelled. Prior to that time, the proceeds from the liquidation of portfolio securities will be invested in cash equivalent securities or held in cash. During this time, the Fund may hold more cash, cash equivalents or other short-term investments than normal, which may prevent the Fund from meeting its stated investment objective.
BECAUSE THE FUND WILL BE CLOSED AND LIQUIDATED ON OR ABOUT April 30, 2015, WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU CONSIDER SELLING OR EXCHANGING YOUR SHARES PRIOR TO THAT DATE. You may exchange shares of the Fund for any other Turner Fund open to new investors. You may sell or exchange shares on any business day by contacting us directly by mail, telephone (1-800-224-6312) or via our website (www.turnerinvestments.com). If you invest through a financial institution, you should contact the financial institution for more information on how to sell or exchange your shares. If you still hold shares of the Fund on or about April 30, 2015, we will automatically redeem your shares for cash and remit the proceeds to you (via check or wire) based on the instructions listed on your account.
The sale, exchange or liquidation of your shares will generally be a taxable event. You should consult your personal tax advisor concerning your particular tax situation.
Please contact the Turner Funds’ Investors Services team at 1-800-224-6312 for more information.
PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.
(TUR-FS-30-06)

Hi Davidrmoran,
The need to report the mean or the median of any data set depends to a large degree on the asymmetry in the data distribution. The greater the asymmetry, the greater is the need to include both statistical measures.
Being a numbers nut, I like the most complete summary report that includes both measures as well as the data set's standard deviation. When reporting financial data that's not an unrealistic request. Good luck on that happening.
You know that I'm a big fan of using famous quotes. Here's one from Lord Kelvin that might be marginally applicable: "If you can't measure it, you can't improve it". Statistics aid in the understanding of those measurements.
Best Wishes regardless of any height shortfalls.

@Old_Skeet & Crash: Lead, follow, or get out of the way. Since your not willing to call any financial media to put the spotlight on M*, I can assume we won't have to deal with anymore M* update threads. I don't use M* for fund quotes, I use either MarketeWatch or Yahoo. Case closed !
Regards,
Ted

@davidrmoran Agree. The dip seemed right, and I put $1K into ARTFX simply because I wanted to commit to Bryan Krug a.s.a.p. But I've not added to any HY for over 2 years, and I'll probably turn off the AIP into ARTFX soon. The recovery has been too fast and rather confused. I don't get it. "Going naked" with HY is now, once again. too pricey.
@msf I couldn't agree more. For each of the past 3 years, I've refocused on this short space and crunched the numbers, believing if I just tried harder I could come up with something. I can't make the digits work. Last Fall, I had to really torture the numbers just to make them only as senseless as the previous year. Low duration/"ultra-short" have such high turnover and higher e.r.'s that when one adds in the invisible trading costs it is no wonder their returns are uninspiring. As @Edmond noted in a long comment recently, the short end is a very crowded trade; with so many on that side of the boat, and given how long the financial repression has continued, I think the short end may be spring-loaded and could pop up a little more than people expect, at the first tightening. And I certainly don't want to be there (and esp. not in an ETF) if that were to happen.

Agree - sometimes it just feels better to pack-up and move on. Good therapy - as long as you don't end up shooting yourself in the foot in the process.
Did that recently with a local bank that had "dis'ed" us. I mean - free checking is free checking. Right? Took but 30 minutes to drive down the street and open a new account somewhere else. Even gave us year's worth of free checks.
Not limited to financial institutions. Service is falling everywhere. We find hotels falling over backwards to enroll us in their "super-duper", "premium", "platinum", "rewards members", "privileged" and "first-class" programs at check-in. Than we enter the room and discover burned-out light bulbs and somebody else's left over coffee grounds in the coffee maker. Yuk.
This diminishing of service generally would make a great thread - but pretty off topic. :)