I'll step forward, again, and restart the thread as we open September. Some may remember this thread was started by Scott who left the board three years ago, or so; and, I kept it going with his blessing. In the meantime the below link will take you to my last reported thinking.
https://mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/42056/old-skeet-s-market-barometer-and-report-june-july-recaps#latest

@Junkster et al.
IOFIX, 3 year chart.
In many years of charts, I've not seen this relative to the top portion of the chart for RSI. This fund has generally maintained an above 70 RSI (daily or weekly chart) and is currently at 93.5. Above 70, for the technical aspect, is a "watch this", as this investment has entered an "overbought" area. To maintain in the 80-90 range is very unusual. Most technical folks would be yelling, sell. One may also see the price spikes near the end of calendar months as noted by @Junkster, including a most similar pattern from August of 1 year ago.
@Junkster , have you an opinion as to whether the technical aspect is worth regard.
@Tony , if you still receive notifications from MFO; take a look and please offer your technical view opinion.
This link provides a basic description of ABS, relative to some IOFIX exposure. To the right edge of the page is a list of defined aspects of ABS.
Asset backed securities
Whatever management has figured out at this time in the investment area(s) is surely working.
Regards,
Catch

This is such a great thread ... It would be nice if someone would start hosting it again. I did it for a couple of years and felt ... Well, it was time to pass it on to another ... Wonder what happened to @pudnhead?

@Old_Skeet,
Re The Pudd - Don’t know - But I like to think he got it right with one of his typical “long shots” and won a ton of money. I’d guess he’s out relaxing somewhere on the sun-deck of his 200-foot yacht mid-Atlantic and out of reach of any communications. Or, he might be reading the board somewhere and laughing at those of us still striving to make the perfect call.
Of course, anyone is free to post their recent trades at any time, regardless of the BOS thread. I’ll say I do enjoy reading your normally very thorough weekly commentaries, although my approach is far less complex - perhaps because I hold maybe a quarter the number of funds you do. Was wondering whether you posted this weekend? Perhaps I missed seeing it?
Personally, I’m in the distance out from retirement phase (I guess similar to an Apollo flight out on the far side of the moon) and so don’t take much risk. I’m also leary of this long term bull and geopolitical environment and rising rate scenario. Still sitting with a stable Core weighting just over 75%; about 19.8% in short-term near cash-equivalency funds; and a little over 5% in an equity fund. That’s not as Draconian as it sounds, since within that Core are some moderate risk funds like DODBX, RPGAX, OAKBX, PRPFX - along with a slice of mining, real estate and global infrastructure.
Last week I switched my real estate holding from Oppenheimer (OREAX) to Price (TRREX) for no good reason except that my accounts are held directly through the fund companies. While the performances are near identical, it had the effect of burning some excess cash at Price and building a bit at Oppenheimer which might be put to good use there should market valuations drop. Oppenheimer has a slightly more aggressive near cash equivalancy fund in OUSGX which might yield a percent better longer term than TRBUX which I use at Price. And the transaction gave me a chance to toss a few more dollars into my depressed gold fund, OPGSX - literally pennies, because I consider gold too volatile to speculate on - though continue to like it longer term. Except for that minor rearranging of deck chairs, nothing cooking.

Hello,
This is such a great thread ... It would be nice if someone would start hosting it again. I did it for a couple of years and felt ... Well, it was time to pass it on to another ... Wonder what happened to @pudnhead?
It looks as @Crash started this one. Perhaps, he knows something?

Thank you Junkster.
I have considered DPFNX, but will look closer. I remember feeling a bit uncomfortable about the advisor in 2017, which was not helped when I saw this earlier this year ...
Deer Park SEC Probe
Here's side-by-side comparison of IOFIX and DPFNX this past year (99 peers):
Risk & Return Metrics ...

And looking back 3 years:
Period Performance ...

Batting Averages ...

I'll try briefly beating a dead horse one more time :-)
TDA charges a "regular" (not grandfathered) customer $49.99 to by a TF fund, and $49.99 to sell that same fund, regardless of whether the sale is after 1 day, 180 days, or 10 years. (See, e.g. this 2012 Forbes article saying that that TDA charges fees on both buys and sells of TF funds.)
It's charging nothing extra to sell that TF fund in under 180 days. That's why I view it as charging no special short term trading fee on TF funds. You won't save money by waiting 180 days to sell.

Exactly, So basically $100 total to buy and sell a transaction fee fund. I simply said I was paying $17 to sell and $17 to buy and then you said I was getting the short end of the stick. I couldn’t understand your logic of how I was getting the short end of the stick.

I'll try briefly beating a dead horse one more time :-)
TDA charges a "regular" (not grandfathered) customer $49.99 to by a TF fund, and $49.99 to sell that same fund, regardless of whether the sale is after 1 day, 180 days, or 10 years. (See, e.g. this 2012 Forbes article saying that that TDA charges fees on both buys and sells of TF funds.)
It's charging nothing extra to sell that TF fund in under 180 days. That's why I view it as charging no special short term trading fee on TF funds. You won't save money by waiting 180 days to sell.

As you can see, I edited my response while you were writing yours. I did try rereading your post until I could see what you were getting at.
I hope you'll read my last (updated) paragraph to see that one can pull off $5 round trips at Fidelity, with the proviso that one leaves a small amount in the TF fund for the next round trip. I have done this, but my round trips unlike yours last years.

I think we have different views on short term trading fees vs what you call routine trading fees. All I know is that TD will charge its regular customers 49.99 to buy a TF fund and 49.99 to sell if sold within 180 days. That is among the most onerous in the business and why I was about to transfer my account to Fidelity where they charge you 49.95 to purchase a TF fund and 0 to sell. But when I found I was only paying 17 to buy and 17 to sell on my short term trades I gladly stayed with TD.

As you can see, I edited my response while you were writing yours. I did try rereading your post until I could see what you were getting at.
I hope you'll read my last (updated) paragraph to see that one can pull off $5 round trips at Fidelity, with the proviso that one leaves a small amount in the TF fund for the next round trip. I have done this, but my round trips unlike yours last years.

TRP had a 90 day holding period with a 2% 'early trade' penalty and TDA has a 180-day holding period for a $50 'early sale' penalty. I just dumped a TRP at Day 90 to avoid the 2% ... .

T. Rowe began imposing early redemption fees on select funds around the time of the frequent trading scandles involving Dick Strong and other insiders (late 90’s or early 2000s). T. Rowe was not involved. But there were rumors that some of their international funds were being successfully “gamed” by schrewd investors taking advantage of the time disparity between international markets and the U.S. Around that time, SEC began allowing fair value pricing on international funds (another topic) which Price also adapted.
Initially, only a handful of Price’s funds were affected. The list has grown over the years and now extends to some domestic funds as well. Occasionally I’ll forget to check and get tripped-up by one of these fees. To their credit, Price is endeavoring to achieve a fairer playing field for all. Investors who successfully game a fund on a regular basis can/do lower the returns for everyone else. Price rolls these fees back into the affected funds for the benefit of long-term holders.
Price uses “first in / first out” for computation. So you might add to a fund in August and than sell the same amount in September. No fee is applied as long as the amount sold doesn’t exceed the amount you’ve held in the fund for the required period. While 90 days and 2% seems to be the norm, a few funds, like real estate and high yield bond, have only 1% fees. And, one fund (noted below) has a 365-day holding period. This information is published in the Prospectus of each and every T. Rowe Price fund (whether affected or not). Here’s the list of affected funds as near as I can get.
Africa & Middle East
Asia Opportunities
Credit Opportunities
Emerging Europe
Emerging Markets Bond
Emerging Markets Corporate Bond
Emerging Markets Local Currency Bond
Emerging Markets Stock
Emerging Markets Value Stock
Equity Index 500
European Stock
Extended Equity Market Index
Floating Rate
Global Growth Stock
Global High Income Bond
Global Real Estate
Global Stock
High Yield
Intermediate Tax-Free High Yield
International Bond
International Bond Fund (USD Hedged)
International Concentrated Equity
International Discovery
International Equity Index
International Stock
International Value Equity
Japan
Latin America
New Asia
Overseas Stock
QM Global Equity
QM U.S. Small & Mid-Cap Core Equity
QM U.S. Small-Cap Growth Equity
Real Assets
Real Estate
Small-Cap Value
Spectrum International
*Tax-Efficient Equity (365 days)
Tax-Free High Yield
Total Equity Market Index
U.S. Bond Enhanced Index
U.S. High Yield

fundalarm and others,
I only mentioned the K-1 because it was issued by an MLP....and preferreds issued by publicly-traded partnerships that issue K-1s, issue K-1s. Non-partnerships do not. And since NSS is a debt instrument, it doesn't issue a K-1 so it should be safe to hold in any account (but it is NOT QDI so probably better to hold in an IRA or other tax qualified account.

i've been buying those for clients. only the QDI paying - equity preferreds that are fixed for a few years and then either get called or start floating with the 3 mo LIBOR and a nice spread. the equity preferreds dont produce K1.

@Ted for a little “higher on the risk spectrum” floating rate preferred (actually a note...it’s debt, not a preferred stock, so no K-1 issues to deal with) to add to something like ALLY-A, maybe look at NSS (NuStar Logistics 7.625% fixed-to-floating subordinated note). It’s yielding approx 9%. Holding about 2% position and not looking to add, but would if it was smaller or I didn’t own it.

i've been buying those for clients. only the QDI paying - equity preferreds that are fixed for a few years and then either get called or start floating with the 3 mo LIBOR and a nice spread. the equity preferreds dont produce K1.

@Ted for a little “higher on the risk spectrum” floating rate preferred (actually a note...it’s debt, not a preferred stock, so no K-1 issues to deal with) to add to something like ALLY-A, maybe look at NSS (NuStar Logistics 7.625% fixed-to-floating subordinated note). It’s yielding approx 9%. Holding about 2% position and not looking to add, but would if it was smaller or I didn’t own it.

Something I don't understand is why any investment (aside from cash equivalents) should be considered acceptable for short term needs:
"If you're selling out of an active MF within 6 months, then you have no business investing in it. Just buy a bunch of index ETFs or a target date fund"
Active bad, passive good?
"These are long term investment products unlike individual securities or ETFs."
It's okay to use any investment so long as it has low/no commissions?
We can dismiss the impact to the fund itself - that's taken care of by the fund's own redemption fee (which goes back into the fund to compensate it for trading costs/market movement). Here we're talking about brokerage fees, not fund redemption fees.
So the question is, from the investor (as opposed to fund) perspective, does it ever make sense to count on index ETFs or target date funds, or individual securities or any (active or index) ETFs, as a place to keep short term (under 6 month) money?
IMHO, the answer is no, with the possible exception of individual securities, if you're buying them because you (think you) see an obvious mispricing that you want to take advantage of and flip quickly.
Actively managed funds (whether open end or ETF) may be more unpredictable in the short term than indexes, but that doesn't mean one can count on an index fund not taking a dive in the next few months.
Target date funds, especially in the short run, are basically just hybrid funds (glide path significantly affects allocations only over years). With roughly zero correlation between stocks and bonds, sometimes the components will move in opposite directions, sometimes not. You don't know if this time, this month, they're both going to drop.
https://www.ft.com/content/7914a096-48a9-11e8-8ee8-cae73aab7ccb
"in case something comes up and you need to sell"
I read that as an unexpected, large expense (roof blew off, car suddenly died, etc.). If one's six month plus emergency fund isn't enough to handle the rare, unexpected expense, then sure, one will need to sell some longer term investment.
I wouldn't expect a need like that to occur more than once every several years. It's not worth picking a brokerage on the possibility of incurring a $50 fee every few years. It seems better to focus on routine costs/fees, service, accessibility, etc.

@Ted - just one example:
"The new preferred from ARES is non-cumulative and redeemable in 5 years which is typical for preferred issues. What is not typical is that these shares will generate a K-1 at tax time instead of the more typical 1099. This is because ARES is a limited partnership. We are aware that many investors shy away from issues that generate K-1’s and if you are one of those people this is not the issue for you."
From:
https://www.dividendinvestor.com/limited-partnership-ares-management-sells-a-preferred-issue/

https://www.thewealthadvisor.com/article/how-invest-mutual-fund-closed-new-investors
August 15, 2018
Two weeks ago I published a list of 17 mutual funds whose managers have been at the helm for 10 years, outperforming the S&P 500's 10 year return of 10.61% and their category benchmark by enough of a margin to make a difference to investors.

I'm looking at RYT for my long-long term portfolio, actually. For that conservative account I like the equal-weighted feature of that fund!

Very enlightening comparisons among these funds. While it does not have the long-term record of the cubes, RYT has been my choice in technology. For the last three years it has been a winner.

Very enlightening comparisons among these funds. While it does not have the long-term record of the cubes, RYT has been my choice in technology. For the last three years it has been a winner.

@rforno: Beg to differ with you on PRGTX being a great fund. It's perfromance over the last fifteen years doesn't match what I consider to be a great fund. You are right on QQQ's sector allocation only 56% technology, about 25% in Consumer Staples/Discretionary and 9% in Healthcare, that's what makes it a great fund.
Regards,
Ted :)
PRGTX:
15yrs. 1st Percentile
10yrs. 4th Percentile
5yrs. 7th Percentile
3yrs. 46th Percentile
1yr. 89th Percentile
YTD: 91st Percentile
QQQ:
15yrs. 2nd Percentile
10yrs. 1st Percentile
5yrs. 1st Percentile
3yrs. 2nd Percentile
1yr. 19th Percentile
YTD: 13th Percentile

@willmatt72: I'd give Spencer until the end of the year to see if there is an improvement in returns, if not move on. The Linkster has always been a big fan of the Q's that has had an superior annual return record over the last fifteen years.
Regards,
Ted
QQQ Annual Perfromance:
http://performance.morningstar.com/funds/etf/total-returns.action?t=QQQ&region=USA&culture=en_US

Now I've heard everything "modernize" a "rule".
Reminds me of a ... I met once who didn't understand when I told him I'd set up a "file server" in my house for the past 20 years. His blank stare turned to englightenment when I said I have a "private cloud".
On another note, isn't someone publishing an article on this topic every other week? I really don't understand why anyone has to be obsessing about 4% or 7%. You live in retirement based on how much money you have saved up and you withdraw based on how much you are required to because of RMD.