Post Conference Notes by YBB
Rates were maintained - fed funds 5.25-5.50%, bank reserves rate 5.4%, discount rate 5.5%. Rates may be higher for longer; need more confidence in progress towards inflation goal. No specifics provided for June cut. Current policy is restrictive. Financial conditions are tight.
QT continues at -$60 billion/mo for Treasuries, -$35 billion/mo for MBS; total -$95 billion/mo. Cumulative balance sheet reduction -$1.5 trillion. There was some talk of slowing down QT & being monitored are money-markets, bank reserves and liquidity.
Inflation is still too high; there are some sticky areas. Target is +2% average "over time" (mentioned several times).
Labor market remains tight, wages are going up at a slower pace, unemployment rate is near target. Economy is in good shape also.
Housing contribution to CPI, PCE, etc is via OERs (owners' equivalent rent) & that should be lower in due course.
Fed is studying & keeping up with the developments on digital currencies, CBDC, fin tech, but isn't working on a launch of digital-dollar unless Congress approves first.
Fed transparency is good as-is.
There were new SEP data.
https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/post/1397/thread

According to their web page, a defined benefit plan may be one option to get in should your employer offer it.
https://www.virtus.com/products/kar-small-cap-core#shareclass.A/period.quarterly
Once you are able to purchase the fund in a defined benefit plan, you can probably send a copy of your defined benefit account statement exhibiting fund ownership to the transfer agent so can open an account with them, but you need to confirm this with the transfer agent first.
Excerpt:
Effective July 31, 2018, this Fund is closed to new investors, but remains open to Defined Contribution and Defined Benefit plans. Please see the prospectus for these and other exceptions.
From the January 29, 2024 prospectus:
https://www.virtus.com/products/documents/kar-small-cap-core#Statutory+Prospectus_431
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR INVESTORS
Virtus KAR Small-Cap Core Fund is no longer available for purchase by new investors (except as described below). The fund continues to be available for purchase by existing investors; however, the fund reserves the right to refuse any order that may disrupt the efficient management of the fund.As of the date of this prospectus, only the following investors may make purchases in the Virtus KAR Small-Cap Core Fund
:▪ Current shareholders of the fund, whether they hold their shares directly or through a financial intermediary, may continue to add to their accounts through the purchase of additional shares and through the reinvestment of dividends and capital gains. Financial intermediaries may continue to purchase shares on behalf of existing shareholders only.
▪ Exchanges into the fund may only be made by shareholders with an existing account in the fund.
▪ An investor who has previously entered into a letter of intent with the Distributor prior to the closing date may fulfill the obligation.
▪ Trustees of the fund, trustees/directors of affiliated open- and closed-end funds, and directors, officers and employees of Virtus, its affiliates, and their family members, may continue to open new accounts.
▪ New and additional investments may be made through firm or home office discretionary platform models within mutual fund advisory (WRAP) programs and other fee-based programs established with the Distributor prior to July 31, 2018.
▪ The fund will also remain open to Defined Contribution and Defined Benefit retirement plans and will continue to accept payroll contributions and other types of purchase transactions from both existing and new participants in such plans.
Notwithstanding the above exceptions, the fund may discontinue new and subsequent sales through any financial intermediary at its discretion.The fund and the Distributor reserve the right to modify these exceptions at any time, including on a case-by-case basis

Many discussion board logins stop working when VPNs are used. So, I am not surprised that they cause problems with financial institution login where KYC is the law. I once tried a VPN that routed me via Peru that caused a allow connection, & I was concerned about additional country risks. So, I stopped using it.
Major browsers Chrome, Edge, Firefox do lot of tracking via cookies (soon to go away) or other means. But small browsers like GoDuckGo don't do any tracking; so, every time one tries to login to a financial site, 2FA is required because the browser doesn't remember anything. Don't know about Brave, but it could be similar.

My too big to fail, money center bank did not allow me to login to my account when I used McAfee VPN. They claim if they can not see my IP address, they will not allow access to my account and that VPN usage blocks the IP address. When I was working, I routinely used my work VPN but that did not create any problem for my bank. Does anyone have a problem accessing financial institutions while using VPN?

If you like a good story, I suppose the crash and rebirth of GOODX is an interesting one for a magazine that needs subscribers.
If you're looking for a fund that is darn near 50% financial services, here's your ticket.
I just bought AMAGX for the taxable. They don't own financials. I don't seek financials for the IRA. YMMV.
@David_Snowball says:

Drama. Growth. Evolution. Ten of one, half dozen of the other!
Since our July 2023 profile, GOODX has posted top 10 (of our 300+ peers) performance in both total return and risk-adjusted return.

Have you added it to your portfolio?

The Patriot Act and Financial Institutions.
A long list of choices and information for the ACT. Perhaps there is a perceived violation that is outside of Fidelity's control.
@Crash . Please provide real information regarding under staffing at Fidelity. Thank you.

Wonder what led to this situation if you can share with the board ? We never had experience remotely close to yours.
Only we get are credit card offers with 20% interest and cold calls form their financial consultants who want to do business with us.

In spite of the junk I've experienced, it sounds like I ought to feel lucky that I went to Schwab rather than Fido...?

Wonder what led to this situation if you can share with the board ? We never had experience remotely close to yours.
Only we get are credit card offers with 20% interest and cold calls form their financial consultants who want to do business with us.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1103243/000141304224000172/castlefocussupp.htm
497 1 castlefocussupp.htm
Castle Focus Fund
A series of PFS Funds
Supplement dated March 11, 2024
to the Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information
each dated November 1, 2023
The Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of the PFS Funds (the “Trust”) has approved a Plan of Liquidation (the “Plan”) relating to the Castle Focus Fund (the “Fund”), effective March 7, 2024. Castle Investment Management, LLC, the Fund’s investment adviser (the “Adviser”), has recommended to the Board to approve the Plan based on its representations of its inability to market the Fund and the Adviser’s indication that it does not desire to continue to support the Fund. As a result, the Board has concluded that it is in the best interest of the shareholders to liquidate the Fund.
In connection with the proposed liquidation and dissolution of the Fund called for by the Plan, the Board has directed the Trust’s principal underwriter to cease offering shares of the Fund immediately as of the date of this Supplement. Shareholders may continue to reinvest dividends and distributions in the Fund or redeem their shares until the liquidation. While undergoing an orderly liquidation, the Fund will invest in cash equivalents and will not be pursuing its investment objective.
It is anticipated that the Fund will liquidate on or about March 22, 2024. Any remaining shareholders on the date of liquidation will receive a distribution of their remaining investment value in full liquidation of the Fund. If you have questions or need assistance, please contact your financial advisor directly or the Fund toll-free at 1-877-743-7820 or the Adviser at 703-260-1921.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR RETIREMENT PLAN INVESTORS
If you are a retirement plan investor, you should consult your tax advisor regarding the consequences of any redemption of Fund shares. If you receive a distribution from an Individual Retirement Account or a Simplified Employee Pension (SEP) IRA, you must roll the proceeds into another Individual Retirement Account within sixty (60) days of the date of the distribution in order to avoid having to include the distribution in your taxable income for the year. If you receive a distribution from a 403(b)(7) Custodian Account (Tax-Sheltered account) or a Keogh Account, you must roll the distribution into a similar type of retirement plan within sixty (60) days in order to avoid disqualification of your plan and the severe tax consequences that it can bring. If you are the trustee of a Qualified Retirement Plan, you may reinvest the money in any way permitted by the plan and trust agreement.
This Supplement, and the existing Prospectus dated November 1, 2023, provide relevant information for all shareholders and should be retained for future reference. Both the Prospectus and the Statement of Additional Information dated November 1, 2023 have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, are incorporated by reference, and can be obtained without charge by calling the Fund toll-free at 1-877-743-7820.

Here's a companion reading from JP Morgan:

At this interesting juncture, we are pleased to launch the 2024 edition of J.P. Morgan Asset Management’s Long-Term Capital Market Assumptions (LTCMAs). In our 28th year of producing capital market estimates, we incorporate more than 200 asset and strategy classes; our return assumptions are available in 17 base currencies.
Over the years, many investors and advisors have come to depend on our assumptions to inform their strategic asset allocation, build more resilient portfolios and establish reasonable expectations for risks and returns over a 10- to 15-year time frame. Additionally, with each passing year, we aim to readjust our long-run approximations, incorporating new information presented by markets, policymakers and economic data.
In this edition of our LTCMAs, our economic and asset class forecasts generally hold steady.
While the 60/40 stock-bond portfolio remains at the core, it requires extension, expansion and enhancement. The insights presented here aim to help clients identify the right adaptations for their risk and return objectives as they build smarter portfolios for a world in transition.

Assumptions on Bond Returns:
Fixed Income Return Projections
Outlook for Real Estate:

Despite some well-flagged issues in some segments of U.S. commercial real estate and persistent weakness in China, we believe that the outlook for core real estate is strong. In the wider real assets complex, the return outlook remains resilient, with core transport forecasts rising 20bps to 7.7% and core infrastructure up 50bps to 6.8%. In addition to attractive returns, real assets offer a diversifying potential that is especially welcome, given the greater volatility in inflation that we anticipate over our forecast horizon.

On Cash LT:

While high cash rates appear compelling, investors should remember that sitting in Treasury bills might mean collecting 5% for limited risk today, but it misses
out on compounding of returns over the longer run. In short, extending out of cash is imperative. We estimate that a dollar invested in cash will be worth, in real terms,
USD 1.04 a decade from now, whereas in a simple public market 60/40 it would grow to USD 1.54, and in a 60/40 with 25% alts it would be worth over USD 1.60.
So for investors that have already extended out of cash, the capacity to extend further within their asset opportunity set – factor allocation, international diversification, currency overlays, etc. – is not constrained by higher cash rates. Compared with last year, equity valuations are higher and translate to a modest cyclical headwind for stocks. By contrast, elevated starting
yields are a cyclical tailwind for bonds.

Capital & Active Management:

when capital is provided by asset buyers with a financial stability objective, they buy indiscriminately, but when capital is provided by investors with a return objective, they buy selectively. More selective investment means more differentiated asset performance and greater potential for active styles of investing.

Industrials:

The tax incentives in the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) support greener commercial buildings and more efficient air conditioning units, which will benefit U.S. electrical and air conditioning companies. Electricity providers will also benefit from reshoring supply chain policies, as electric grids need to be strengthened. More broadly, reshoring supply chains will stimulate the use of U.S.-made inputs across the U.S. industrial sector, potentially benefiting U.S. manufacturers relative to their competitors in Europe and China. In addition, reshoring should fuel global spending on factory automation to offset higher domestic production costs, a boon to global suppliers of factory-automation software. Finally, rising geopolitical tension is increasing global spending on combat readiness, a clear benefit to defense companies.

Utilities:

The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) will benefits renewable...most of the largest renewables developers in the U.S. are European.

Semi-Conductors:

Over the near term, expanding chip manufacturing should benefit the tech companies that provide the required equipment, software and design that support chip production. However, chip tech equipment companies may face competition in the longer term as Chinese companies are incentivized to develop their own equipment.

2024 Long-Term Capital Market Assumptions
Asset Allocation Chart:
Robust portfolio optimization

Yes, I see that Schwab and TRP have some sort of affiliation. Dunno how old the arrangement is.

The T. Rowe deal went into effect "on or about Feb. 1" [2022]. ... [The annual fee paid by TRP, anticipated to be around $10M] far surpasses the fees that other firms pay to be part of Schwab's OneSource. ... A T. Rowe Price spokeswoman says ... "Our I Class is now available at no-transaction-fee for RIAs who custody with Schwab. This share class is not currently available commission-free at any other custodian."

RIABiz, April 22, 2022
More generally, Schwab has created a second, cheaper platform (12-19 basis point fee vs. 40 basis points for OneSource) called INTF that 18 families including TRP participate in.
https://advisorservices.schwab.com/institutional-no-transaction-fee
The actual fee that TRP paid in 2022 (partial year) to Schwab was $5.9M. This was in addition to the usual platform fees paid to Schwab for shelf space. What TRP gets from Schwab is promotion of "actively managed T. Rowe Price mutual funds and ETFs to Schwab's clients and the clients of Registered Investment Advisors that custody assets at Schwab, and ... additional mutual fund and ETF marketing support". Schwab acknowledges the arrangement creates a conflict of interest (it benefits from pushing TRP funds).
https://www.schwab.com/legal/financial-and-other-relationships#panel--text-44781

The fees and restrictions are different for each platform, but are expensive.

Unless a fund family is so popular that a brokerage finds value in offering the funds without charging a platform fee. Vanguard, D&C, Fidelity.

Caution: You may be limited to doing such a within-60-days rollover only once every 365 days. It depends on what form of IRA is moving to what form of IRA.
See pub 590a, p. 22. (Pub 590a for tax year 2022.)
A direct fund-to-fund transfer of proceeds from sale of shares is better.

The rule is actually pretty simple now. With the exception of Roth conversions, the one rollover a year limit is for all IRAs combined, regardless of form. Roth conversions are unlimited.

You can make only one rollover from an IRA to another (or the same) IRA in any 1-year period regardless of the number of IRAs you own. The limit will apply by aggregating all of an individual's IRAs, including SEP and SIMPLE IRAs as well as traditional and Roth IRAs, effectively treating them as one IRA for purposes of the limit. However, trustee-to-trustee transfers between IRAs aren’t limited and rollovers from traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs (conversions) aren’t limited

Pub 590a, p. 24

@bee I have ceased to be impressed.
"A trustee-to-trustee transfer is a transfer of assets from one retirement plan or account to another, facilitated by the two financial institutions involved in the transfer. It is the simplest way to transfer an IRA from one institution to another and does not trigger taxes. The transfer can be initiated by opening an IRA account at the new institution and contacting the original and new IRA providers to initiate the transfer."
Is this not the very thing that CAN'T be done, because going to cash is necessary with the Bruce shares?

Quite some time ago one of our MFO stalwarts suggested that "Technology and Unemployment", a paper by Robert M. Solow, might be insightful. I downloaded the paper in pdf format, but the text was so cramped and the format so uninviting that I left it for a rainy day.
Well, it's been raining all weekend here in Northern CA, so I finally reworked the paper into a format that was, for me at least, readable. And in fact the paper proved to be highly readable, and interesting.
In that paper Mr. Solow made an observation that might easily apply to this thread:
"I conclude only that people ought to stiffle the tendency, in matters that they do not understand, to project the last six months into an irreversible trend."
He wasn't discussing the financial markets, but his observation might be valid here as well.

March 2 Episode

In a “Tearing Down the Pink Wall” event, three top women in finance, former super star strategist, now business school professor Abby Joseph Cohen, top ranked equity strategist Savita Subramanian and leading business professor Mila Getmansy Sherman share their journeys to making it to the top in finance.

Podcast
https://wealthtrack.com/abby-joseph-cohen-savita-subramanian-mila-getmansky-sherman-share-powerful-financial-career-advice/

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/889284/000139834424004960/fp0087395-1_497.htm
STERLING CAPITAL FUNDS
SUPPLEMENT DATED FEBRUARY 29, 2024
TO THE
CLASS A AND CLASS C SHARES PROSPECTUS AND THE
INSTITUTIONAL AND CLASS R6 SHARES PROSPECTUS,
EACH DATED FEBRUARY 1, 2024
This Supplement provides new and additional information beyond that contained in the Class A and Class C Shares Prospectus (the “Retail Prospectus”) and the Institutional and Class R6 Shares Prospectus (the “Institutional Prospectus”), each dated February 1, 2024:
On February 2, 2024, Guardian Capital Group Limited (“Guardian”) announced that it had entered into a unit purchase agreement under which Guardian’s wholly owned subsidiary, Guardian Capital LLC, will acquire 100% of the ownership interests of Sterling Capital Management LLC (“Sterling Capital”) from Truist Financial Corporation (“Truist”) (the “Acquisition”). The closing of the Acquisition (the “Closing”) is subject to certain conditions and is expected to take place in the second quarter of 2024.
Guardian has indicated that, following the Closing, it plans to operate Sterling Capital as a standalone entity, led by the current team of management and senior professionals, providing continuity, stability and continued excellence for Sterling clients.
The Acquisition will result in a change of control of Sterling Capital effective as of the Closing. Pursuant to the terms of the current investment advisory agreement between Sterling Capital and Sterling Capital Funds, on behalf of each of its series (the “Funds”), the Acquisition may be deemed an assignment of the investment advisory agreement and result in its automatic termination. In anticipation of the termination of the existing investment advisory agreement, it is expected that the Board will consider a new investment advisory agreement containing substantially similar terms as the current investment advisory agreement with Sterling, including identical advisory fees.
At a special meeting of shareholders of the Funds expected to be held prior to the Closing, shareholders will be asked to consider and approve the new investment advisory agreement. Shareholders of record of each Fund as of the record date will be entitled to vote at the meeting and should expect to receive a proxy statement providing more information about the Acquisition and the new investment advisory agreement.
SHAREHOLDERS SHOULD RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT
WITH THE PROSPECTUS FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.

OK. Now, where was I ...
Latest new features include:
1) screen for specific shareclass, like Inst (adviser request),
2) include etf and best-fit benchmarks with other criteria,
3) screen for better than etf or best-fit benchmark return,
4) set display period to any calendar year back to 2008,
5) screen for apr vs best-fit or etf benchmark values and ratings,
6) screen for up-market deviation values and ratings, in addition to bear market,
7) screen for family metrics at any display period,
8) family metrics are now broken into their own group, separate from mfo designations,
9) reamer ratio and rating now in return metrics, separate from mfo designations,
10) set display period to life of best-fit or etf benchmarks, fund manager and bond maturity tenure (devesh requests), or david's take (since profile published dates),
11) screen for multi-period apr, apr vs best-fit and etf benchmark ratings, for up dot-com bubble (dbc), great financial crisis (gfc) and covid (cv-19) bull and bear markets,
12) screen for batting average vs best-fit benchmark, in addition to batting average vs category average.
c

@Crash - You see, here on MFO, the community opinion on many aspects of financial houses. Have you noticed a whole lot of complaints about the Schwab site? If not, perhaps your opinion may be suspect.
When you log in, go directly to your account summary. Everything you need to know about your current accounts is right there.
If you are looking for information on potential purchases, it is going to take a bit of experience to know where to look, because there is an overwhelming amount of information available.
If you need help in navigation, just ask here on MFO- I'm pretty sure that lots of folks here can answer any questions that you might have.

@Edmond

At least one answer to that question is many of the chemical companies. Depending on their output, natural gas represents THE major input cost to create many of the chemicals which these companies produce/sell. Lower input costs mean fatter profit margins. The chemical industry is very cyclical/volatile. Probably the 'safe choice' here would be Dow Chemical which presently has divd yield just below5%. Value Line assesses Dow's financial strength as "A:".
I have no opinion, nor any direct holding in any chemical company at the present time.

FSCHX might be a consideration, though Dow is not part of its top 10 holdings.

No, Berkshire has no control over PG&E rates, and I surely wasn't implying that they did. I'm simply pointing out that Berkshire's complaints about the "regulatory climate" as being responsible for the financial disaster that is now PG&E are incomplete and misleading.
I would hope that Berkshire has no investment in PG&E, nor should they at this point. But certainly not for the reasons that they have chosen to proclaim. PG&E is in this mess not because of the "regulatory climate", but because of deregulation, and the desire to abandon a regulatory system that worked just fine in favor of a "fast buck" in supposed deregulated profits. At least Berkshire could have been honest about that.

With respect to PG&E, the facts are a bit more complex than the shotgun evaluation from Berkshire. For many years PG&E grew safely and profitably, with a reasonable return mandated by the regulatory environment. As the Berkshire report itself observes, this system worked perfectly well. Because of it's financial stability PG&E was regarded as a "widows and orphans" stock- plodding but safe and dependable- predictable dividends right on schedule.
Then came, from the "conservative" political forces, demands to "free" the utilities from the "artificial regulatory burdens" and allow them to "compete" in a free-for-all environment that would "unlock" their potential for greatly increased profits. The Berkshire report very conveniently "forgets" how PG&E and other utilities were raped by entities like Enron in this new era of "regulatory freedom".
PG&E management, it turned out, were sheep who after years of cozy and protective regulation, were completely unsuited to life in the wild, and were duly herded into the corral and slaughtered. Bankruptcy followed in 2001, with of course, "new management" following.
The new management cut back severely on any equipment purchases or upgrades, and their maintenance forces were left to wither. Their once new and shiny service vehicle fleet became more of a traveling junkyard of faded-paint and obviously over-used equipment. Maintenance support personnel were cut back to the point where even the office support staffs had no resources to document what little construction or repair work was being done.
This resulted in the first of a long line of subsequent safety-failure episodes: in 2010 a massive explosion and eight-alarm fire in a major natural gas line just to the south of San Francisco killed eight and destroyed or severely damaged some forty homes. The US Geological Survey registered the explosion and resulting shock wave as a magnitude 1.1 earthquake.*
PG&E's service resources were so depleted that it took them over an hour just to determine what had happened, and to respond. The fire was only fifty percent contained after four hours, and continued to burn for another 12 hours.* It later was found that that section of gas pipe was fabricated of scrap piping material, incorrectly welded during installation, and incorrectly documented in PG&E records.
This disaster was followed by a long series of major fires caused by faulty or aged PG&E electrical equipment, leading eventually to a second bankruptcy in 2020. We PG&E customers now have the dubious honor of having the highest electrical rates in the entire United States, as PG&E attempts to rebuild what they neglected for so many years.
And Berkshire now has the temerity to complain about "profits". Right.
* per Wickipedia