Passive ETFs require daily holding disclosures
A common conception but the rule is actually the opposite. Based on the premise that investors already have a very good if not exact idea of what's in a fund that passively tracks an index, disclosure of such a fund's daily holdings is generally not required.
From NASDAQ, under passive ETF listing requirements is this requirement, applicable only to leveraged ETFs. "Regular" passive ETFs need not comply.

Passive ETFs which seek a return based upon a multiple (positive or inverse) of the underlying index performance, must disclose the following information regarding the portfolio on their website daily:
• The identity and number of shares held of each specific equity security
• The identity and amount held for each specific fixed income security
• The specific types of financial instruments and characteristics of such financial instruments
• Cash equivalents and the amount of cash held in the portfolio

https://listingcenter.nasdaq.com/assets/ETP_Listing_Guide.pdf
It's true that the vast majority of passively managed non-leveraged ETFs disclose portfolios daily. Vanguard is the notorious exception that proves the rule.
While it discloses daily the holdings of its standalone ETFs, it discloses only monthly holdings of those ETFs that are share classes of its OEFs. For example, VYM (a share class of VHYAX) currently shows holdings as of July 31.

Each Vanguard fund relying on Rule 6c-11 under the 1940 Act (e.g., standalone ETFs) generally will seek to disclose complete portfolio holdings, including other investment positions, at the beginning of each business day. These portfolio holdings, including other investment positions, will be disclosed online at vanguard.com. ... Each Vanguard index fund, other than those Vanguard index funds relying on Rule 6c-11 under the 1940 Act (e.g., standalone ETFs), generally will seek to disclose the fund’s complete portfolio holdings as of the end of the most recent month online at vanguard.com, 15 calendar days after the end of the month.

Vanguard SAI supplement, July 19, 2024

Quite frankly, while the overall government's policy may affect the financial condition of the country, this notion that the President in office is responsible for everything that happens is a real stretch. As someone who appreciates logic, it's appalling to me to see its absence in the 'thoughts' of so many around me!

From the article,
"In years where stocks declined, eg the global financial crisis in 2008 or the bear market in 2022, the call options expired worthless but did provide investors with additional income that reduced the drawdowns*."
*(YBB Note) By tiny amounts. Basically, covered calls didn't provide downside protection unless some puts were bought using the covered call income.

I will do this on positions with large gains that I wish to protect (ideally a zero-cost 'collar'), such as large dividend payers. I don't do it very often, but it can work well in that scenario. But CCs alone are rarely worth doing unless it's on a stock that doesn't really move very much -- which also means the premium you might get for the call makes it more trouble than it's worth.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1437249/000158064224004810/mdp_497.htm
497 1 mdp_497.htm 497
MDP LOW VOLATILITY FUND
Class A Shares - MDPMX
Class I Shares – MDPLX
Supplement dated August 26, 2024 to Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information dated May 31, 2024
The Board of Trustees of Valued Advisers Trust (the “Board”) authorized an orderly liquidation of the MDP Low Volatility Fund (the “Fund”), a series of Valued Advisers Trust. The Board determined on August 23, 2024 that closing and liquidating the Fund was in the best interests of the Fund and the Fund’s shareholders.
The Fund’s investment adviser informed the Board of its view that it no longer is economically feasible to continue managing the Fund because of the Fund’s small size and the difficulty encountered in attracting assets.
The Fund is no longer accepting purchase orders for its shares, and it will close effective as of September 24, 2024 (“Closing Date”). Shareholders may redeem Fund shares at any time prior to this Closing Date. Procedures for redeeming your account, including reinvested distributions, are contained in the section “How to Redeem Shares” in the Fund’s Prospectus. Any shareholders that have not redeemed their shares of the Fund prior to the Closing Date will have their shares automatically redeemed as of that date, with proceeds being sent to the address of record. If your Fund shares were purchased through a broker-dealer or other financial intermediary and are held in a brokerage or other investment account, redemption proceeds may be forwarded by the Fund directly to the broker-dealer or other financial intermediary for deposit into your brokerage or other investment account.
The Fund is no longer pursuing its investment objective. All holdings in the Fund’s portfolio are being liquidated, and the proceeds will be invested in money market instruments or held in cash. Shareholders may continue to reinvest dividends and distributions in the Fund or redeem their shares until the Closing Date. Any capital gains will be distributed as soon as practicable to shareholders and reinvested in additional Fund shares, unless you have requested payment in cash.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR RETIREMENT PLAN INVESTORS
If you are a retirement plan investor, you should consult your tax adviser regarding the consequences of a redemption of Fund shares. If you receive a distribution from an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) or a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) IRA, you must roll the proceeds into another IRA within 60 days of the date of the distribution to avoid having to include the distribution in your taxable income for the year. If you are the trustee of a qualified retirement plan or the custodian of a 403(b)(7) custodian account (tax-sheltered account) or a Keogh account, you may reinvest the proceeds in any way permitted by its governing instrument.
For additional information regarding the liquidation, shareholders of the Fund may call (833) 914-3344.
You should read this Supplement in conjunction with the Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information, each dated May 31, 2024, which provide information that you should know before investing in the Fund and should be retained for future reference. These documents are available upon request and without charge by calling the Fund at (833) 914-3344.
PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE

From the article,
"In years where stocks declined, eg the global financial crisis in 2008 or the bear market in 2022, the call options expired worthless but did provide investors with additional income that reduced the drawdowns*."
*(YBB Note) By tiny amounts. Basically, covered calls didn't provide downside protection unless some puts were bought using the covered call income.

These are two of the least expensive and most flexible VAs around. Fidelity charges 0.25% and 0.10% for over $1M in the VA. TIAA charges anywhere from 0.50% (under $100K) to 0.35% (up to $500K) and 0.25% (over $500K). But all those go down to 0.10% independent of value after ten years.
Fidelity tends to include the second cheapest share class of VA portfolios (think "retail") while TIAA tends to include the cheapest share class (think "institutional"). All in, the two have similar costs for the first ten years, then TIAA becomes much cheaper.
The real question, though, is how their underlying portfolios perform. I've looked up (via Financial Times search) all the portfolios open to new investors. Below is the table I built for myself (slightly edited for formatting here). Note: the M* ratings are for the portfolios themselves.
On the VAs' websites you'll find different ratings. That's because what you're seeing are there the ratings of the funds including the annuity fees. Since the annuity fees of both of these VAs are so low, those star ratings tend to be mostly 4s and 5s. The ratings of the funds themselves, included here, give a better picture of the funds' performance.
Since there are so many funds, I've split the table into two posts - broad equity in the first, sectors and fixed income in the second.

Fund					Class	ER	Ticker		M* 	Lipper	Annuity
Allocation Portfolios
Conservative Allocation
Fidelity VIP FundsManager 20		Inv.	0.55%	0P00003EYS	4	3/2/5/5	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP FundsManager 30		Inv.	0.57%	0P0001Q617	-	-	Fidelity
Moderately Conservative Allocation
Fidelity VIP FundsManager 40		Inv.	0.62%	0P0001Q618	-	-	Fidelity
Franklin Income VIP			Cl 1	0.46%	0P00003BNK	5	4/3/4/5	TIAA
Nuveen Life Funds Balanced			0.51%	TLBAX		5	4/4/4/5	TIAA
Vanguard VIF Conservative Alloc.		0.13%	0P0000TNLX	4	5/5/5/5	TIAA
Moderate Allocation
Fidelity VIP Asset Manager		Inv.	0.61%	0P00003ESQ	2	3/3/4/4	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Balanced			Inv.	0.51%	0P00003ESS	5	5/5/2/5	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP FundsManager 50		Inv.	0.70%	0P00003EYT	3	4/3/4/4	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP FundsManager 60		Inv.	0.71%	0P00008YBH	3	2/2/3/4	Fidelity
Vanguard VIF Balanced Portfolio			0.21%	0P00003BRZ	4	5/5/3/5	TIAA
Vanguard VIF Moderate Alloc.			0.13%	0P0000TNLY	3	4/4/3/5	TIAA
Moderately Aggressive Allocation
Fidelity VIP Asset Manager: Growth	Inv.	0.72%	0P00003ESP	3	3/3/2/4	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP FundsManager 70		Inv.	0.74%	0P00003EYU	3	4/4/2/4	Fidelity
Aggressive Allocation
Fidelity VIP FundsManager 85		Inv.	0.78%	0P00003EYW	4	4/4/1/4	Fidelity
Target Date
Fidelity VIP Investor Freedom 2010		0.44%	0P00003ET2	3	x/x/5/x	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Investor Freedom 2015		0.48%	0P00003ET4	4	x/x/5/x	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Investor Freedom 2020		0.51%	0P00003ET3	5	4/4/4/4	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Investor Freedom 2025		0.54%	0P00003ET5	5	5/5/3/4	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Investor Freedom 2030		0.58%	0P00003ET6	5	5/5/2/4	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Investor Freedom 2035		0.63%	0P0001OWHR	-	-	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Investor Freedom 2040		0.68%	0P0001OWHT	-	-	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Investor Freedom 2045		0.69%	0P0001OWHU	-	-	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Investor Freedom 2050		0.69%	0P0001OWHV	-	-	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Investor Freedom Inc.		0.40%	0P00003ET8	3	2/2/5/5	Fidelity
Tactical Allocation
Morgan Stanley VIF Global Strat.	Cl. I	0.90%	MIMPX		3	2/2/2/3	Fidelity
PIMCO VIT All Asset Portfolio		Inst.	2.04%	0P00003EXR	3	3/4/4/1	TIAA
Global Allocation
BlackRock Global Allocation VI 		Cl. 2	0.92%	0P00003E89	4	3/3/3/3	Fidelity
DFA VA Global Moderate Allocation	Inst.	0.28%	0P0000XY87	5	5/5/4/5	TIAA
US Equity Portfolios
Large Cap Blend					
ClearBridge Variable Growth Port.	Cl. I	0.85%	QLMGOX		1	1/2/2/3	TIAA
DFA Equity Allocation			Inst.	0.32%	0P00019RXP	2	5/5/4/5	TIAA
Fidelity VIP Growth & Income		Inv.	0.57%	0P00003ES4	4	5/5/5/4	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Index 500			Init.	0.09%	0P00003BWH	4	5/5/5/5	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Total Market Index		Init.	0.11%	FVIDX		3	4/4/4/5	Fidelity
Nuveen Life Core Equity Fund			0.52%	TLGWX		4	5/5/4/5	TIAA
Nuveen Life Large Cap Resp. Equity		0.22%	TLCHX		3	3/3/4/5	TIAA
Nuveen Life Stock Index Fund			0.08%	TLSTX		3	4/5/4/5	TIAA
Vanguard VIF Capital Growth Port.		0.34%	0P00003DVM	4	4/4/5/5	TIAA
Vanguard VIF Equity Index			0.14%	0P00003BS4	4	5/5/5/5	TIAA
Vanguard VIF Total Stock Mkt Index		0.13%	0P00003DVK	3	4/4/4/5	TIAA
Large Cap Growth
Fidelity VIP Contrafund			Inv.	0.64%	0P00003ESR	4	4/4/4/4	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Dynamic Cap Apprec.	Inv.	0.70%	0P00003ESX	4	4/4/4/4	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Growth			Inv.	0.65%	0P00003ES7	5	5/5/4/5	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Growth Opportunities	Inv.	0.67%	0P00003ES3	4	5/5/1/5	Fidelity
Janus Henderson VIT Forty Port.		Inst.	0.55%	JACAX		3	3/4/3/5	TIAA
MFS VIT Mass. Inv. Growth Stock Port.	Init.	0.73%	0P00003CPY	3	3/3/4/4	TIAA
Nuveen Life Growth Equity Fund			0.52%	TLGQX		3	2/3/3/5	TIAA
PSF PGIM Jennison Blend Portfolio	Cl. II	0.86%	0P00003CBD	3	2/1/4/2	TIAA
Large Cap Value
DFA VA Large Value Portfolio		Inst.	0.21%	0P00003CUU	2	2/2/3/5	TIAA
Fidelity VIP Equity-Income		Inv.	0.55%	0P00003ESO	4	4/5/5/5	Fidelity
Franklin Mutual Shares VIP		Cl. 1	0.68%	0P00003CBB	1	1/1/4/4	TIAA
Nuveen Life Large Cap Value Fund		0.52%	TLLVX		4	4/4/4/5	TIAA
PSF PGIM Jennison Value Portfolio	Cl. II	0.82%	0P00003DP6	3	3/4/5/2	TIAA
PVC Equity Income Account		Cl. 1	0.49%	0P00003CN9	3	3/2/4/5	TIAA
Mid Cap Blend
Fidelity VIP Mid Cap			Inv.	0.65%	0P00003ESF	4	5/5/3/5	Fidelity
Vanguard VIF Mid-Cap Index			0.17%	0P00003C89	3	3/2/3/5	TIAA
Mid Cap Growth
Franklin Small-Mid Cap Growth VIP	Cl. 1	0.83%	0P00003DB4	3	2/3/1/4	TIAA
PVC MidCap Account			Cl. 1	0.55%	0P00003BO4	5	5/3/3/5	TIAA
Wanger Acorn					0.95%	WUSAX		2	1/1/1/3	TIAA
Mid Cap Value
Fidelity VIP Value			Inv.	0.68%	0P00003ESN	4	5/5/3/4	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Value Strategies		Inv.	0.67%	0P00003ESM	4	5/5/2/4	Fidelity
Janus Henderson VIT Mid-Cap Value	Inst.	0.68%	JAMVX		3	3/2/4/5	TIAA
Matson Money U.S. Equity VI Port.		0.98%	FMVUX		4	4/4/3/1	TIAA
N-B AMT Mid Cap Intrinsic Value		Cl. I	1.02%	0P00003CPW	1	1/1/2/3	TIAA
Small Cap Blend
Fidelity VIP Disciplined  Small Cap 	Inv.	0.40%	0P00003EWG	3	5/5/2/5	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Extended Market Index	Init.	0.12%	FVIJX		3	3/3/1/5	Fidelity
Nuveen Life Small Cap Equity Fund		0.53%	TLEQX		4	5/5/2/5	TIAA
Small Cap Growth
ClearBridge Variable Small Cap Gr	Cl. I	0.80%	QLMSIX		2	1/1/1/5	TIAA
Small Cap Value
DFA VA U.S. Targeted Value Port.	Inst.	0.29%	0P00003D0Y	4	5/5/1/5	TIAA
Macquarie VIP Small Cap Value Ser.	Std.	0.78%	0P00003C1W	3	3/2/1/4	TIAA
Royce Capital Fund - Sm Cap Port.	Inv.	1.15%	RCPFX		3	3/3/1/1	TIAA
International Equity
Diversified Emerging Markets						
Fidelity VIP Emerging Markets		Inv.	0.97%	0P0000A9FS	4	5/5/2/4	Fidelity
John Hancock Emerg Mkts Val Trust	NAV	1.03%	JHVTX		3	4/4/4/4	TIAA
Lazard Retir. Emerging Markets Port.	Inv.	1.15%	0P00005XR9	3	4/2/3/3	Fidelity
Morgan Stanley VIF Emerg. Mkts Eq.	Cl. I	1.25%	MEMEX		3	4/4/2/2	Fidelity
Templeton Developing Mkts VIP Fund	Cl. 1	1.10%	0P00003CRI	3	4/4/2/3	TIAA
Foreign Large Blend	
Fidelity VIP International Index	Init.	0.16%	FVIGX		3	3/4/4/5	Fidelity
Nuveen Life International Equity		0.60%	TLINX		3	4/3/3/4	TIAA
Vanguard VIF Total Intl Stk Mkt Indx		0.11%	0P0001ANO3	3	3/3/4/5	TIAA
Foreign Large Growth
Fidelity VIP International Cap Ap	Inv.	0.86%	0P00003ESC	5	5/5/3/3	Fidelity
Fidelity VIP Overseas			Inv.	0.81%	0P00003ESH	4	5/5/3/5	Fidelity
Vanguard VIF International Port.		0.33%	0P00003CRA	3	4/2/1/5	TIAA
Foreign Large Value
DFA VA International Value Port.	Inst.	0.27%	0P00003CY8	4	5/5/3/5	TIAA
Foreign Small/Mid Blend
DFA VA International Small Port.	Inst.	0.40%	0P00003CN3	4	x/x/2/x	TIAA
Foreign Small/Mid Growth
Wanger International				1.14%	WSCAX		2	x/x/1/x	TIAA
Foreign Small/Mid Value
Matson Money Int'l Equity VI Port.		1.14%	FMVIX		3	3/3/3/1	TIAA
Global Large Cap Blend
Invesco V.I. Global Core Equity		Ser. I	0.98%	0P00003CZL	2	2/2/3/2	Fidelity
MFS VIT Global Equities Series		Init.	0.92%	0P00003D4V	2	2/2/3/3	TIAA

Finominal (2017- ) is a UK-based fintech committed to independent and free financial information (don't they all start that way?).
https://finominal.com/AboutUs?country=US

...also interesting that no one has mentioned bitcoin...are we just a bunch of older dudes fighting the last war or are we going to open our minds and skate to where the puck is headed not where it is and has been?
Looking forward for this exercise, I am considering "continuity of fund managers", what are their ages and what is the bench strength and financial soundness of the fund company?

What is this "bitcoin" you speak of?
As regards fund managers, I keep looking at AQR funds. They stunk it up a few years back, and then changed out a bunch of their managers. Since then, they have been performing very well. Can they be trusted?
HMEZX - a super steady merger-arb fund, but the Fund Manager (Dondero) has a checkered past. Is there hidden risk there?

I noticed nobody has proposed for consideration a portfolio solely made up of ETFs...kind of surprising as there are many model portfolio's like that floating out there..."The Lazy Portfolio", the three ETF portfolio, etc...
Also find it interesting that some are looking at past results as a comparison...last 15 years relatively low inflation until recently...also tremendous fiscal and monetary stimulus. Who knows that the future holds...some of you might remember a few years ago when I mentioned high grade rubies, you can fit a million dollar of them in your sock and no one would know..also interesting that no one has mentioned bitcoin...are we just a bunch of older dudes fighting the last war or are we going to open our minds and skate to where the puck is headed not where it is and has been?
Looking forward for this exercise, I am considering "continuity of fund managers", what are their ages and what is the bench strength and financial soundness of the fund company? Maybe need some international exposure as what if dollar weakens substantially?
What other inputs are folks pondering that maybe haven't been discussed yet?

Just as we were extolling the services of credit unions, I received an email today informing me (see the quoted text below) that my information was compromised. I closed the account a couple of years ago and that was the last of the small financial institution relationship I had.
"What Information Was Involved?
The information in the accessed databases included first and last name with Social Security number, Driver’s License number, date of birth, and/or email address. Not every data element was present for every individual."
That is an extensive breach which makes me think their data segregation was not proper.
"[W]e contained the threat by proactively disabling all unauthorized access to our network, restoring all data, and immediately commencing a prompt and thorough investigation. We also notified law enforcement. As part of our investigation, we worked very closely with external cybersecurity professionals experienced in handling these types of incidents. The investigation revealed that an unauthorized party gained access to our network on May 23, 2024, leading to access to the databases on June 29, 2024. Following the investigation and a thorough review of the data involved, we confirmed on August 14, 2024, that the accessed databases contained your personal information."
Patelco does not say if they paid the attackers but they say they restored all the data. I think in most cases the Ransomware attackers delete the information accessed if they are paid. How can I find out if they paid the Ransomware attackers?
"What You Can Do
To help protect your information, we are offering a complimentary two-year membership of Experian IdentityWorksSM Credit 3B. This product helps detect possible misuse of your personal information and provides you with identity protection services focused on immediate identification and resolution of identity theft."
I already have credit frozen at all three credit unions (Experian calls it "security freeze"). Experian had said that they send you an alert every time someone tries to access your credit file. I recently opened a B0A account and evidently BoA checks your credit file but I have not received any alert.
Does anyone have experience with "Experian IdentityWorksSM Credit 3B"? Any negatives in signing up for this service?
Thanks.

Apologies @bee. Will stop screwing around. ”Preparing for Rate Cuts”
- Well, the conventional wisdom is to lengthen out maturity bit. If I wanted to put a lot of $$ into bonds I’d aim for around 3 years maturity. Farther out is a gamble if inflation reignites.
- Two short term ETFs: I use LSST for a short term bond fund. There are lower fee options if that’s critical to you. On my radar is TDTT which adds an inflation-protection component - also about 3 years maturity. Very low fees.
- For more conservative folks an ultra-short might get you a bit extra as rates fall. TBUX looks excellent in that category.
- I’d say keep your inflation hedges up. Lower rates may eventually push it higher.
- There’s an old expression: “Buy the rumor. Sell the news”. The presumption is that stocks will go even higher if the Fed cuts rates. Maybe yes. Maybe no.
- The financial world may look much different following the November election. Enjoy the fun for now. Hope it lasts a couple more months. But don’t get too giddy.

We still have a safe deposit box at another bank that we kept for transition to BoA. My desire to consolidate financial institution relationships down to two (or at best three) is not going so great.
I would be ashamed to work at an institution that has a customer satisfaction rating of 1.6 out 5. May be the new crop of American workers are all Buddhas!
Any way, part of my reason to post about BoA is to let the forum members know that however bad our brokerage experiences are, judging by banking experience, brokerages appear to be quite good. It seems there are worse companies in America for customer experience. Banking experience impacts wider society than us brokerage customers.

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.)

BMO is the Bank of Montreal (I checked up on this awhile ago when I was considering BMO Alto for an online savings account):

The Bank of Montreal was founded in 1817, making it Canada’s oldest incorporated bank. ... Today, the various components of the Bank of Montreal are collectively known as BMO Financial Group.

https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/bank-of-montreal
While the bank has a US operation, even with a branch near you, its self-directed brokerage appears limited to Canadian residents:

Opening a BMO InvestorLine Self-Directed account is easy. Here’s what you’ll need:

• to be a Canadian resident (you live or have eligible ties to property, family or social services in Canada)
  
• a valid Social Insurance Number (SIN)
  
• to be at least the age of majority in your province or territory

Maybe it's that they don't charge transaction fees on mutual funds that caught your attention?
https://www.bmoinvestorline.com/selfDirected/pdfs/SDFeeSchedule_E.pdf
That's offset by their charging $9.95 (Cdn) for stock and ETF trades, except for 95 NTF Canadian ETFs.

My post delete and your response crossed. Sorry. Your input though is appreciated, They made a bad bet with the preferred of Riley Financial and were called out on it months ago by noted short seller Marc Cohodes, This week the chickens came home to roost, Hopefully the same management team doesn’t someday make a similar bad bet in their other five star rated bond fund HOSIX.

It is always an eye brow raising event when you see a five star rated short term bond fund lose over 2.70% in four trading days. Morningstar shows a one week loss of 2.58% as daily accumulated dividends are included. Apparently this loss is due to their holding of the preferred shares of Riley Financial. Riley Financial is in a world of hurt as their common shares have lost 75% this month. Noted short seller Marc Cohodes for the past many months on X (Twitter) has been on a rampage against Holbrook Holdings and their management warning of dire consequences for holding Riley Financial. Chalk one up for Marc.
While I don’t hold HOBIX my concern is with HOSIX. HOSIX is a newer bond fund at Holbrook, also five star rated, and has been the “It” fund since its inception of the bond crowd due to its amazing persistency of trend. It is primarily a CLO fund and CLOs have been the latest rage in Bondland. While HOBIX and HOSIX are not similar they do share the same management team. HOSIX has seen a huge surge in AUM this year. My fear is the management team in their haste to employ new money will make a similar mistake as they did with Riley Financial in HOBIX.

"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. :)

@Derf, You’ve referenced one of the true greats from both at FA and MFO. For those who don’t know, BobC was a professional financial adviser somewhere in Ohio. As I recall, he transitioned out of active involvement at MFO sometime after retiring.
Note - The date Derf provides is Dec ‘09. If that’s accurate the comments cited were made about 9 months after the end of the ‘07-‘09 bear market.

Y'all need to consider that many quote smart prognosticators we're thinking the market was going to get cut in half again from the low in 08, 09'. And Gartner and the ex Goldman sachs guy, I forget his name held an emergency weekend meeting in attempt to negate a complete collapse of our financial system.
I seem to recall that guy had a three page document that stated he would have complete control of all decisions..what an attempt to circumvate... luckily that didn't happen but oh so close
Ya in hindsight why say screw around with cost averaging in, should have just pushed all the chips in...
I do distinctly remember Grantham saying hold your nose and average DOWN with 10% of your money in chunks....he was correct...

@Derf. Thanks for pulling up a FA excerpt from February 25, 2009. The bear market ended just 2 weeks after that post. Yet, all sounds calm.
I really like this line …
”Your mix of ETFs should match your investment time table, your age, your level of risk acceptance, your income needs, and any other financial considerations.”
That was standard mantra for many years in discussing investment choices. It wasn’t about making the most money but rather about matching investments to your own needs and risk tolerance. You don’t hear that much (or as much) anymore.

Nah, I am logged in & checking things most every day, and that's fine. But I don't fixate on inter-day performance, so at least for my mindset, it's no big deal. By contrast, I'm sure for most retail investors, they shouldn't check every day b/c they may not have the mindset/discipline/knowledge to know that 'doing nothing' often is the best course of action.

I check fund performance via M* Portfolio Manager almost daily.There is no good reason for me to do this since I seldom trade. Bad habits are sometimes difficult to break!

Same here. It’s so damn easy to tap an icon on whatever hand-held device I’m already on - and up pops everything. This habit (of looking during the day) has helped occasionally, as when some more speculative hold enjoys a big intraday bump and I can quickly trim some off. But watching is largely a waste of time.
Were I to look only every 3 months I’d probably pull back the risk profile in advance. Add more cash / short term bonds. Carrying less risk would make it easier not to look, but would also impact performance negatively I think.

FROM FUNDALARM
by WhiteSoxWinner on February 25, 2009 at 09:38:09:
In Reply to: Ping WhiteSox Winner posted by Dave on February 25, 2009 at 07:54:22:
Hi Dave,
I think you're making the right move by switching to ETFs.
You might think about a core and explore approach, where index ETFs are the core of your portfolio and the explore part is reserved for active funds or other strategies.
It's important to remember there's no accurate way to hedge an active fund or even an index mutual fund. With the ETF, one can buy insurance via put options -- which would offset any losses in your long ETF positions. To me, it's not gambling, anymore than buying insurance on your automobile or home is gambling. Why not protect your portfolio or at least have that flexibility? ETFs give you that choice. Even if you don't use it, it's still there for you.
I don't own the Fairholme Fund, but I'm a fan of Bruce Berkowitz. He recently sold Berkshire Hathaway, which tells me he's got more guts and backbone than all of America's portfolio managers combined. If you're going to bet on fund managers, stick with the radical kooks that don't hug their benchmarks.
Maybe Investor or one of the other FundAlarmers can provide some research links, but there's no academic or statistical proof that active mutual funds perform any better during bear markets than straight index funds. Such views are rooted in marketing propaganda and mischievious myth. The active funds that do "protect" their shareholders during a bear market, often end up underperforming during bull markets because of their cash drag and mis-timing. A tiny percentage of active funds may protect their investors during a bear market, but knowing them in advance is impossible.
Regarding your asset allocation, just ask any one of us for an opinion on your ETF mix. Most FundAlarmers will be delighted to give you their opinion. Your mix of ETFs should match your investment time table, your age, your level of risk acceptance, your income needs, and any other financial considerations.
I own XLU, which is a Utility Sector ETF. Sector Funds are OK, but for you, it's probably best to use a core and explore method. You would make broad index ETFs like VTI, BND, CWI, TIP, RWR the portfolio's foundation, then you could add explore or satellite positions in sector ETFs around that.
Most of the major ETF Provider Websites like iShares.com, SPDR.com, and Vanguard.com/etf are good resources and have valuable information/tools on portfolio construction with ETFs. I also like to read ETFGuide.com and they have a portfolio service too.
Good investing to you, friend.
WSW