.....Just in general, re: 2022 damage: it's a crazy, volatile year! Nice to see TODAY, but there's a downside coming, always, and it 's seldom been mild, in '22 so far. I'm watching Natgas... Since uncle Vladimir the pus-licker shut off Poland and Bulgaria. Not his biggest markets, of course. He's sending a signal. Maybe it will finally prompt the EU to stop their typical dithering and actually coalesce in order to DECIDE about something, and then (God forbid!) DO it! Creation of the EU is a smart thing, rather than go to war every 20-30 years against each other. But the bureaucracy is insane.

Some analysis from Tuesday’s Wall Street Journal (4/27/22):
“Now he faces fresh challenges. Mr. Musk has hocked roughly $60 billion of his Tesla Inc. stock—about one third of his stake—as collateral for bank loans, tying his personal fortune to Twitter’s. He must come up with $21 billion more in cash, which could mean selling additional shares in Tesla, just as the company is hitting its stride. Tesla shares have lost about 8% since Mr. Musk first disclosed a Twitter stake, suggesting investors are worried he will be distracted or financially stretched. Twitter will be saddled with hundreds of millions of dollars in annual interest payments, a risk for any company but especially in this case, as Mr. Musk has said he doesn’t care whether it makes money—it has had trouble doing so over the years.”
I share all the concerns mentioned in this thread. But I wouldn’t want to bet against this guy. He’s usually 3 steps ahead of everybody else. That said, SpaceX and Tesla came darned close to failing before he turned them around thru grit and perseverance. Worth remembering that Musk was co-founder of what is now PayPal where he made his initial millions - a revolutionary concept at the time. I’m thinking he views Twitter as primarily a launching platform for all kinds of innovative / lucrative ventures into finance and media which we haven’t even begun to comprehend yet. Why does the already wealthiest person on the planet need even more money? Imagine the cost of establishing a permanent human colony on Mars - his ultimate goal.
(Comments posted using Starlink internet service)

TQQQ = 3X leverage QQQ. Some would accept hitting a home run once every 5 years.

@MikeM - Yep. As you know the miners don’t always run in sync with the metal. I’ve held mining fund OPGSX for years and haven’t bought or sold any for about a year. Dead flat in my case. Lipper shows it up about 1% YTD, but down 5% for a full year.
Gold flirted with $2,000 the past month than fell to around $1900 recently. Has been below $1800 during the past 12-15 months. Have a bit in mining company WPM. So, when I want to add or cut exposure to the miners it’s easier to buy or sell WPM than messing with a mutual fund & the restrictions they impose.
Haven’t held bullion, but PRPFX does.

@rforno Capital International Group has a 560M stake and Blackrock a 700M stake in MSTR. MSTR owns almost 1% of all available Bitcoin at a low cost basis. While I'm not a personal fan of leveraging Bitcoin to buy more Bitcoin (as they have recently in a big way), it's being done with full board approval and transparently. I don't like their debt to equity ratio.
It's a software company that generates huge cash flow that instead of placing that cash in a bank and earning negative interest, they buy Bitcoin. So far, that gamble has paid off handsomely. Free cash flow has grown dramatically in the last couple of years. The point I was trying to make is the direct correlation of MSTR to Bitcoin with lower costs.
To MSTR, Bitcoin is just a better store of value. I do own a tiny bit.
@Anna imho my answers are: No, No, Depends if you meant speculative vs. contrarian.

FD1000
+1
Is the Schmeissing just getting started?
Inquiring minds want to know...

I have a special style. You can see it (here). Since 2013, I have been practicing sell to cash at certain conditions (proprietary). Since retirement in 2018, my selling rules are tighter, I never lost more than 1% from any last top. Going to cash depends on big picture analysis + current conditions and why it's different from others. I missed all the big meltdown of Q4/2018, 03/2020 and YTD. I can be wrong, it happened twice since 2013, I was back within 3-4 days.
Remember, it's more important to miss the worse days than the best(link).
I posted several ideas YTD on other sites:
1) Best wide range category so far in 2022 is VALUE(VTV), posted in mid-January. See (chart). In my world, it means most of the stocks would be in value.
2) I'm in cash for weeks because high risk conditions were met. It's the longest I have been in cash since 2013. Based on that, I only allowed to make short-term (hours to 2-3 days) trades.

Happened upon the new quarterly letter which, inter alia, states the rather obvious:
"We’re sure you are well aware that our portfolios have not been immune to this shift in market sentiment; we have delivered the worst relative (to our benchmarks) quarterly performance in our history. We’ll address this in more detail later in this letter, but at the heart of the problem is that for the past 10 years, with the exception of a few short periods in 2015 and 2018, the market has rewarded Growth Assets with ever expanding valuations. By November 2021, valuations for Growth Assets had become extremely stretched across most markets. For most of the Grandeur Peak portfolios, this ballooning of valuation was a key driver of our strong outperformance in 2020 and 2021. But now the pendulum is swinging back the other way. While the corrections in valuations we’re seeing across the portfolios isn’t surprising in hindsight, unfortunately we just didn’t position ourselves very well for it because the fundamentals of our underlying holdings have been so strong."

“Is the Schmeissing just getting started? Inquiring minds want to know...”

Personally, I subscribe to the “tip-toe” school of investing - adding slightly when things are falling and selling slowly when they rise. Today was a good day to lighten up on TAIL which is up and tip-toe into some things that are down.
Yesterday, Bill Fleckenstein, who I enjoy reading, predicted the Fed will keep raising rates “until something breaks”, than will “panic” and cut rates. He’s been wrong a lot on his nearer term projections. (Shorting Tesla 2-3 years ago / owned OSTK recently). But does seem to have a reasonably good grasp of the longer term picture. As to making sense of all the conflicting market analysis:
“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”
- F. Scott Fitzgerald

Thanks Lewis. Pointing to PG&E is another example of whataboutism. And not especially meaningful even so. It's conflating issues of distribution and production.
A bad actor? Sure, nothing new here. Can you say Diablo Canyon? Forty years and still not decommissioned. San Bruno? Bankruptcy shell games? Nothing new here either. In 2001 PG&E Corporation moved assets around so that they could not be reached when its Pacific Gas and Electricity Company subsidiary declared bankruptcy.
None of this makes Berkshire Hathaway any less problematic. S&P reports that Berkshire Hathaway is the largest operator of coal-fired power plants without selective catalytic reduction technology. Further, it will keep operating nearly half of those plants past 2030. It has said that it will retire those plants by 2050, but as you wrote, 2050 commitments are not to be believed.

Future of EVs lies in new battery technologies to enable the EVs. Most of today’s lithium ion batteries have many limitations ranging from safety hazard (fires from accidents and battery failures), raw materials and immature charging infrastructure. Moving away from Li ion battery technologies to something more widely available while maintaining the same energy density would be significant.
For now, electric vehicles make most sense in commercial and fleet vehicles. EVs face similar hurdles than those of fuel cells vehicles 20 years ago. We have to be optimistic that these hurdles can be solved.
Good to see that Rivian is widely own by many growth funds.

Several experienced Wellington managers retired in the last 5 years. But Wellington have deep bench where newer managers typically have more than 5 years severing as co-managers in similar funds. Wellington is also advisors to Hartford funds and you can find the track record of these managers. Google their names and trace their prior track record.
I pick VGWAX since the bond manager has long track record whereas the stock manager has several years experience running two Hartford funds. The oversea exposure is limited to developed market. Through 2020 till now, the downside risk is better than average. Also I want a global allocation fund for lowering the risk.

Companies are increasingly deciding not to have their chief executives serve as chair

Given Warren Buffet’s advanced age, they may have a point to have a second person to assume part of the responsibility. The vice chairman, Charlie Munger, is several years older than WB.

I'm a VWILX ¹ investor and the fund has performed poorly over the past year and YTD.

Same here, but I exchanged most of VWILX to the more value-oriented VGWEX for reducing risk. Growth is out of favor now after it out-performed value for many years. Anderson is retiring this year. Perhaps the Schroeder team will now lead VWILX.

Interest on bonds is conceptually straightfoward, though not simple. Even though the detailed calculations can be a bit of a nightmare.
When one buys a bond from an issuer, one is buying a fixed rate of interest for the life of the bond (until maturity or call). That interest may be paid periodically or when the bond is redeemed (bought at one price and redeemed at a higher price at maturity, like a CD) or a combination of both. Regardless of the form the income takes, it is all interest and for munis, generally all tax-free.
Consider a "vanilla" muni issued with a coupon paying market rate, so the bond is priced at par. If market rates go up, the price of the bond will drop. It drops so that the net return, coupon plus "appreciation" to maturity yields the market rate of interest.
Now, instead of that discount coming from the issuer, it's coming from the market. The buyer is still buying a bond with a fixed rate of interest (combination of coupon and "appreciation"), so all the income is treated as interest, not gain. But since that extra interest comes from the secondary market seller, not from the original municipality issuer, that extra interest is taxable.
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A few numbers may help here. For clarity, I'll work with simple interest and ignore the effects of compounding. Say the market rate on 5 year munis is 4%. A muni might be issued with a 2% coupon and a price of $90.
(2% coupon + 2% price increase/year = 4% yield, give or take.)
After a year, the price has gone up to $92 and the buyer has received 2% in coupon payments. A total of 4%. The adjusted basis of the bond is $92, accounting for the accretion at 2%/year. And the buyer declares 4% in tax-free interest. This goes on for another four years until maturity. The adjusted cost basis is then $100, there is no gain upon redemption, and the buyer has declared 4% tax-free interest each year.
Suppose after a year the rate on the bond increases to 5%. That could be because market rates generally have increased, or because the particular bond had a credit event such as a technical default. It doesn't matter.
The bond is now priced at $88, so that in the four remaining years it pays
($100 - $88) + 4 x 2% coupon = $12 + $8 = $20, or 5%/year.
If the owner sells now, there will be capital loss of $4: $88 sale price - $92 adjusted basis.
The buyer of that bond is getting a bond with $8 remaining OID (adjusted basis is $92) and $4 of market discount. The seller, not the municipality, is paying that extra $4 of income. So, to maturity $8 of accretion is tax-free, $4 is taxable.
Most of these effects are the same whether held by an individual or by a mutual fund, which simply passes through the taxes. (Though as noted before, it can't pass through a capital loss, though it can carry it forward.)
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Take the same example, except instead of the bond yield rising to 5% it falls to 3%. As before, this could be the result of general market rate declines or because the bond issuer is recovering from a credit event. It doesn't matter.
The bond is now priced at $96, so that in the remaining four years it pays
($100 - $96) + 4 x 2% coupon = $4 + $8 = $12, or 3%/year.
The adjusted cost basis after a year is still $92, but the buyer is paying $96. That $4 is called acquisition premium. The buyer is still paying below par; nevertheless, there's a market premium, not a market discount. This is why I was interested in seeing a specific CUSIP. One isn't necessarily buying at a market discount simply because a bond is priced below par.
In summary:

• Market discount, which is relative to the adjusted cost basis, is treated as taxable interest, generally upon sale. (Owner has option to declare annually.)
  
• OID discount is treated as tax-free interest, declared annually, and used to increase adjust cost basis (much as reinvested divs change the cost basis of your mutual fund).
  
• Market premium (price in excess of adjusted cost basis) for munis must be amortized; it reduces the annual amount of tax free interest declared and also reduces the adjusted cost basis.
  
• Sale of a bond may be above or below the adjusted cost basis, resulting in a capital gain or loss.

All the examples above use simple interest. The actual calculations are significantly more complex. I've also disregarded de minimis treatment of market discount.

Good Morning Class,
Any thoughts re SAMT, ETF, Strategas Macro Thematic ETF?
Over the years I've always paid close attn whenever Jason De Sena Trennert is being interviewed for his thoughts re economy, the casino, I mean stock market etc...unlike many other prognosticators, tea leave readers, con men/women, his insights do seem to be spot on when you look back at them several months later.
Per the fact sheet thematic major themes of the ETF right now
Inflation for longer
Economic Re-opening
Cyclical Defensives
Quantitative Tightening
Cash
Seems dialed in to me, no?
I'll be plunking down a sizeable starter investment come Monday morning.
Not a recomendation, keep in mind, full transparency, I do not know anything about anything. Do you own due diligence etc
Best,
Baseball Fan

In Taxable accounts you might look at individual munis bonds too.
High Quality Massachusetts ( GO and Harvard) 1 year bonds pay 1.7% tax free. Two years 2.2%
There are a lot of OID bonds selling for below par, but I have to look at tax consequences a little more.

@BaluBalu, clearly, it is important when the money is taken from the account for Treasury Auctions, whether on the Auction Day or the Settlement Day. We know that for Treasury trades in the secondary market, money will be taken out on trade-settle day (as for most brokerage trades).
Schwab took the money out on the Auction day for online Treasury/TIPS order.
Somebody may know it already for Fido online Treasury Auction orders. You Fido Rep said that for Treasury FRNs that don't allow online orders at Fido for Auctions, you can provide money until the Settlement Day. Confirm this if you do go through with your FRN Auction order. Also, whether there was any broker-assisted-trade fee.
Treasury Direct (TD) says that the money will be taken out by the Settlement Day, but what is the actual experience? I know that for I-Bonds, TD was very aggressive and took the money out on the morning of the next business day (it didn't wait until the end-of-the-day or the next day as I had expected).
I am aware of inflation-"expectations". Individual TIPS held to maturity do capture CPI-U month-to-month changes and those are going gangbusters now. Changes don't have to be high, but just positive AND persistent (for long enough). If there was a shorter-term for TIPS at Auctions, I would go for that, but 5-yr TIPS are the shortest maturities available. TIPS in the secondary market would introduce other market factors. I will know in 5 years how my 5-yr TIPS experiment went - either good or dead money. BTW, next 5-yr TIPS Auction is on June 23, 2022 (I wouldn't mess with 10-yr TIPS, but their Auction is on May 19, 2022).
FRED Inflation-"Expectations" https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=OsmV
FRED CPI-U (Unadjusted) https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=O9Mg
FRED CPI-U (Unadjusted), Month-to-Month changes https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=Osv7

I had an order at Schwab for 5-yr TIPS auction that was today. As I remembered from my prior experience a couple of years ago for buying T-Bills at Schwab, money was taken out from my account TODAY about 1/2 hour past Noon. So, Schwab didn't wait for the Settle day 4/29/22 tomorrow.
If I had some Treasuries maturing this week, I think Schwab would have waited to settle everything tomorrow. All Treasuries maturing or auctioned this week will Settle on Friday.
I bought I-Bond in January in Trust a/c. I could open another individual Treasury Direct a/c, but I decided to use the 2nd best 5-yr TIPS route & also test things out. My TIPS purchase was far far far... smaller than $5 million (-:).

The WaPo is interesting, in that it maintains it's historic "left-leaning" reporting and editorial perspective despite being owned by Jeff Bezos, who is not exactly known for his pro-union left-leaning propensities.

15-20 years ago we achieved the than “miraculous” ability to receive daily copies of WP electronically. Had to leave a cellular enabled device connected to a telephone landline overnight and every morning there was the WP. It was a much better and more objective paper back in those days.
I won’t credit Bezos with the decline, since newspapers generally have succumbed to cost pressures (reducing hard content) and, to an extent, the polarization of society where a publication’s perceived “slant” may attract or discourage readers. I can only say the WP ain’t what it once was. Neither is the WSJ - but it does a better job separating the opinion out into a separate section. It has enough subscribers paying an inflated price that it can still afford good research staffs and journalists.

Templeton Global Bond (TPINX) was one of the premier funds in the World Bond category years ago.
TPINX was different from most World Bond funds due to substantial emerging markets exposure and widespread currency bets. The fund generated top 1% / top 2% category returns for the respective 10 Yr and 15 Yr trailing periods as of 01-31-16. Michael Hasenstab (M* 2010 Fixed-Income Manager of the Year) started co-managing TPINX on 12/31/2001.
Templeton Global Income (GIM) was the CEF version of TPINX.
I purchased GIM in late 2013.
GIM was trading at an attractive discount and it had a lower expense ratio than TPINX.
Unfortunately, the discount widened and Mr. Hasenstab lost his mojo.
I sold the CEF approximately five years later booking a tiny profit.