@YBB, tyvm for that info --- not surprising, don't know why I didn't think of it or investigate. One of my kids works in that space.
Sila obviously give much attention to service and professionalism and prompt responsiveness and transparency, it is really something. Reassuring confidence. Precision prep and cleanup.
We do have other local plumber groups which somehow have seemed iffier the times I have had to use them, although as I say I rely on my local regular for most things. (He has a boat and a place on the Cape, as well as residence down the road. Everyone knows the joke where the plumber fixes the neurosurgeon's undersink emergency and after 23 hard minutes says 'All set, that'll be $1841.' The neurosurgeon says 'Man, I don't think I can make $1841 in 23 minutes.' And the plumber replies, 'Neither could I when I was a neurosurgeon.')
Sila employees are on staff and the four I have talked to by now, senior and junior, have been with the outfit for many years, 5-9 iirc. Big rigs deployed that they park at home and are fully monitored and insured and so on by the company.
Backbreaking work some plumbing is.
Backyard excavation starts next week.
@Derf, septic tank and cesspool and leachout were and are fine, thanks, and did not even need the $440 inspection and pumping that Sila insisted on.
I feel fortunate as always to be able to afford any of this, though it shoots savings and treat setasides for this and much of next year. Whatever. Not like there was a choice.

Harbor is also liquidating its ETF clone INNO:
Supplement to Prospectus, Summary Prospectus, and Statement of Additional Information, each dated March 1, 2024

Harbor ETF Trust’s Board of Trustees has determined to liquidate and dissolve Harbor Disruptive Innovation ETF (the “Fund”). After the close of business on December 13, 2024, subject to applicable law, the Fund will no longer accept creation orders. Trading in the Fund will be halted prior to market open on December 16, 2024. The Fund is currently scheduled to liquidate at the close of business on or about December 19, 2024 (the “Liquidation Date”).

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1860434/000119312524264329/d833326d497.htm
The management structure is something I hadn't seen before (perhaps I just wasn't paying attention). Usually when a firm contracts out subadvisors, the firm exercises oversight and the day-to-day management is executed by the subadvisors. Here, Harbor retained day-to-day management responsibilities and contracted five outside firms on a non-discretionary basis (not allowed to make trades on their own).

Each of the Subadvisors [] provides a model portfolio to the Advisor, which the Advisor implements at its discretion with respect to a portion of the assets of the Fund. The Advisor is responsible for the day-to-day investment decision making

Two of the subadvising firms (4BIO Capital and Tekne Capital Mgmt) quit earlier this year.
Harbor's ETF lineup makes it look like Harbor is a company flailing, trying to figure out how to fit in with the newer ETF world. Most of its ETFs (all but two) were launched in 2021 or later and many are what I would call gimmicky: 3 Human Capital Factor ETFs (happy employees), 3 AlphaEdge ETFs, 2 Scientific Alpha, and so on.
The poster child for disruptor innovation investing is ARKK, turning in a bottom 5% performance for this year. Unlike the Harbor funds, it retains $6.5B AUM.
Other funds with "disrupt" in their names include:
AB Disruptors ETF FWD (average 2023 part year performance, hot 2024)
ALPS Disruptive Technologies ETF DTEC 2*
Fidelity Disruptors ETF FDIF 1*
Fidelity Disruptive Automation ETF FBOT 2*
Fidelity Disruptive Communications ETF FDCF 3*
Fidelity Disruptive Finance ETF FDFF 3*
Fidelity Disruptive Medicine ETF FMED 2*
Fidelity Disruptive Technology ETF FDTX 2*
Franklin Disruptive Commerce ETF 1*
Global X Disruptive Materials ETF DMAT(-33% cumulative over its nearly 3 years)
GraniteShares Nasdaq Sel Disruptors ETF DRUP 3*
Neuberger Berman Disrupters ETF NBDS (underperforming annually since Apr 2022 start)

I've been doing to same @Level5 for much of this year, buying higher yielding long term callable bonds where you can still get at least 5.5+% until called. I just put an order in for a 10 year from DEUTSCHE BK yielding 5.75% at call. The next call isn't for 2 years, 11/29/2026.

CUSIP please as @Level5 did. thanks

I've been doing to same @Level5 for much of this year, buying higher yielding long term callable bonds where you can still get at least 5.5+% until called. I just put an order in for a 10 year from DEUTSCHE BK yielding 5.75% at call. The next call isn't for 2 years, 11/29/2026.

I am not sure if M* can be considered a crappy company because we individual investors,
who supported them for years now are being dismissed as not worth the trouble.
What we don't know is the response institutional and advisor customers are getting.
I suspect it is a lot better than what we get, because they pay more money.
[snip]

I agree.

I am not sure if M* can be considered a crappy company because we individual investors, who supported them for years now are being dismissed as not worth the trouble.
What we don't know is the response institutional and advisor customers are getting. I suspect it is a lot better than what we get, because they pay more money.
What bothers me is, ignoring the AI generated reports that replaced live human beings, is Portfolio manger worked fine and probably did not require much support or cash to maintain, but they can't be bothered

OK, here's the postings from the similar thread initiated by "NumbersGal"

NumbersGal
1:05AM (in Other Investing)
• Is anyone else having trouble with this? It's been down all weekend.
Crash
3:35AM
• Yup. There's a separate thread I started about this very thing. It's all very stinky poopy.
hank
8:38PM | edited 8:43PM
• I don’t use ”legacy portfolio”, whatever it is. I assume it’s a free portfolio tracker? To each his / her own. I much prefer a couple of different (Ad free) tracker apps from Apple at a nominal monthly cost. Albeit, they are a hassle to understand at first. I remember M* X-Ray. Was good at one time. Wouldn’t work for me even with a paid subscription. I subscribe to M* primarily for the added availability of their fund analyses which are sometimes useful and may at least point me in the direction of further inquiry.
MarketWatch carries Lipper data and some analysis. Used to be my “go to” research site. But I now have trouble using it regularly for some reason. MW seems to figure out if it becomes repeated use and blocks queries in an effort to get me to pay. If the garbage presented under MW’s banner wasn’t so terrible I might subscribe,
Fidelity provides lots of data, but for much of it you need to be logged in. One exception is the comparison tool which anyone can access. I’ve been running a lot of comparisons on that lately. Just be sure the first fund you look up is OEF (traditional mutual fund). After that it allows you to add etfs if you want. Set it for 1, 3, 5, 10 years. If there’s a way to set it to 9 years (to match the inception date of one of my funds) I haven’t figured it out.
hank
8:53PM

Crash said:
Yup. There's a separate thread I started about this very thing. It's all very stinky poopy.

• It would be great if there were some way to merge two similar threads. Perhaps MFO will have AI someday which I’m sure could find a way to do that.

I don’t use ”legacy portfolio”, whatever it is. I assume it’s a free portfolio tracker? To each his / her own. I much prefer a couple of different (Ad free) tracker apps from Apple at a nominal monthly cost. Albeit, they are a hassle to understand at first. I remember M* X-Ray. Was good at one time. Wouldn’t work for me even with a paid subscription. I subscribe to M* primarily for the added availability of their fund analyses which are sometimes useful and may at least point me in the direction of further inquiry.
MarketWatch carries Lipper data and some analysis. Used to be my “go to” research site. But I now have trouble using it regularly for some reason. MW seems to figure out if it becomes repeated use and blocks queries in an effort to get me to pay. If the garbage presented under MW’s banner wasn’t so terrible I might subscribe,
Fidelity provides lots of data, but for much of it you need to be logged in. One exception is the comparison tool which anyone can access. I’ve been running a lot of comparisons on that lately. Just be sure the first fund you look up is OEF (traditional mutual fund). After that it allows you to add etfs if you want. Set it for 1, 3, 5, 10 years. If there’s a way to set it to 9 years (to match the inception date of one of my funds) I haven’t figured it out.

I found this article interesting and thought it fit nicely into this thread:

When a company is getting ready to pay a dividend, it announces in advance the date that it will be paid. That’s called the “payable date.” For logistical reasons, it sets an earlier date as a cutoff for eligibility to receive that dividend. That earlier date is the ex-dividend date, or ex-date. The idea is that shareholders who own the stock on or before the ex-date will receive the upcoming dividend, while those who purchase the stock after the ex-date won’t...
This dynamic is more pronounced and more relevant when it comes to mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). By law, mutual funds and ETFs are required to distribute the bulk of their income to shareholders on a pro-rata basis. A fund owning stocks, for example, is required to distribute all of the dividends generated by the fund’s stocks. Similarly, a fund owning bonds is required to distribute all the interest paid by its bonds. In this way, from a tax perspective, owning a fund isn’t too different from owning the individual investments in the fund.
Fund investors, however, face another category of taxes—one that holders of individual stocks and bonds don’t have to contend with. Fund shareholders also share in the capital gains generated within the fund. If the fund’s manager decides that he wants to sell one stock to buy another, and he sells the first stock at a gain, each shareholder in the fund will have to share in the resulting tax bill. And if that trade results in a short-term gain—taxable at a much higher rate—each shareholder will bear some of that cost.
As I described a few years back, these capital-gains distributions can have a surprisingly large—and adverse—impact. Because shareholders don’t know a fund’s trading plans, this tax bill is also generally unpredictable.

https://humbledollar.com/2024/11/danger-taxes-ahead/

NOTE:

My intention, at this time; is to present the data for the selected bond sectors, as listed; through the end of the year (2024). This 'end date' will take us through the U.S. elections period, pending actions/legislation dependent upon the election results, pending Federal Reserve actions and market movers trying to 'guess' future directions of the U.S. economy. As important during this period, are any number of global circumstances that may take a path that is not expected; and/or 'new' circumstances. In the 'cooking pot' we currently have the big ingredients of the middle east and also, how much damage Ukraine may inflict upon Russia and the response.

FIRST: We're in a 'Never-Never Land' (events you never imagined) of potential large impacts upon various economic functions emanating from a central government in the coming months and years. What comes next for the investing world of bonds is not yet known or fully understood, except for those have a better guessing system than I. I can only watch and listen a little bit and let the numbers try to bring forth meaningful directions.
W/E November 15 , 2024..... Bond investing and herding cats is challenging, going forward
--- 'Course, all the bond sectors in the list find their reasons for price movements, and we find 'DOWN' for this week's pricing. Many bond sectors where 'every which way' for most of the week, with price recovery for a few sessions. Short and long duration bonds took turns with up and down pricing on various days. So, depending on where you're 'hanging' your bond market monies, the pricing this week, was erratic . The MINT etf, to the best of my recall, has maintained a positive price for the year, each and every week; and this remains for this week.
A few numbers for your viewing pleasure.
NEXT:
*** UST yields chart, 6 month - 30 year. This chart is active and will display a 6 month time frame going forward to a future date. Place/hover the mouse pointer anywhere on a line to display the date and yield for that date. The percent to the right side is the percentage change in the yield from the chart beginning date for a particular item. You may also 'right click' on the 126 days at the chart bottom to change a 'time frame' from a drop down menu. Hopefully, the line graph also lets you view the 'yield curve' in a different fashion, for the longer duration issues, at this time. Save the page to your own device for future reference. NOTE: take a peek at the right side of this graph to find the yield swings of the past week, and for the current yields for the last business day.
For the WEEK/YTD, NAV price changes, November 11 - November 15, 2024
***** This week (Friday), FZDXX, MM yield continues to move with Fed funds/repo/SOFR rates; and ended the week at 4.45% yield. Fidelity's MM's continue to maintain decent yields, as is presumed with other vendors similar MM's. Theoretically, a new yield bottom is in place, until the next FED action. SO, one is still obtaining a decent MM yield. MOST MM's found a few hundreds basis drop in yield for the week. MM's yields were down LARGE at .11 - .15 basis points for the week.................
--- AGG = -.85% / +1.45% (I-Shares Core bond), a benchmark, (AAA-BBB holdings)
--- MINT = +.08% / +5.23% (PIMCO Enhanced short maturity, AAA-BBB rated)
--- SHY = -.06% / +3.28 % (UST 1-3 yr bills)
--- IEI = -.41% / +1.53% (UST 3-7 yr notes/bonds)
--- IEF = -.93% / -.34% (UST 7-10 yr bonds)
--- TIP = -1.03% / +2.18% (UST Tips, 3-10 yrs duration, some 20+ yr duration)
--- VTIP = -.18% / +4.42% (Vanguard Short-Term Infl-Prot Secs ETF)
--- STPZ = -.27% / +4.09% (UST, short duration TIPs bonds, PIMCO)
--- LTPZ = -3.09% / -2.22 % (UST, long duration TIPs bonds, PIMCO)
--- TLT = -2.61% / -5.86% (I Shares 20+ Yr UST Bond
--- EDV = -3.83% / -9.88% (UST Vanguard extended duration bonds)
--- ZROZ = -4.42% / -12.51% (UST., AAA, long duration zero coupon bonds, PIMCO
--- TBT = +5.40% / +20.89% (ProShares UltraShort 20+ Year Treasury (about 23 holdings)
--- TMF = -7.85 % / -29.77% (Direxion Daily 20+ Yr Trsy Bull 3X ETF (about a 2x version of EDV etf)
*** Additional important bond sectors, for reference:
--- BAGIX = -.92% / +1.91% Baird Aggregate Bond Fund (active managed, plain vanilla, high quality bond fund)
--- USFR = +.10% / +4.79% (WisdomTree Floating Rate Treasury)
--- LQD = -1.45% / +1.48% (I Shares IG, corp. bonds)
--- MBB = -.98% / +1.21% (I-Shares Mortgage Backed Bonds)
--- BKLN = +.09% / +7.43% (Invesco Senior Loan, Corp. rated BB & lower)
--- HYG = -.71% / +7.71 % (High Yield bonds, proxy ETF)
--- HYD = +.17%/+5.03% (VanEck HY Muni)
--- MUB = -.02% /+1.58% (I Shares, National Muni Bond)
--- EMB = -1.51%/+5.85% (I Shares, USD, Emerging Markets Bond)
--- CWB = -.22% / +10.68% (SPDR Bloomberg Convertible Securities)
--- PFF = -2.12% / +9.99% (I Shares, Preferred & Income Securities)
--- FZDXX = 4.45% yield (7 day), Fidelity Premium MM fund
*** FZDXX yield was .11%, April,2022. (For reference to current date)
Comments and corrections, please.
Remain curious,
Catch

@Anna - I remember 25 cent/gallon gasoline. Whew! Talk about the *wayback* machine.

You rang? :)

I have to chime in. I recall gas at 19 cents.

There were “gas wars” in the 70s in the Detroit area - including outlying suburbs. All the various filling stations participated. I assume this went on elsewhere in the country as well. It was a trick filling up at just the right time after prices had fallen by 20-30 cents a gallon over a couple weeks. Prices would suddenly shoot back up overnight by the full amount they had fallen only to begin slowly falling again. 19-cents sounds about right (but for a day or two only). ISTM I saw 15 cents one time.
For years we were told the world was running out of petro. Well intended? I don’t know. We now know the earth is filthy with carbon based fuels / petroleum. The trick of course is getting to it (can be miles under the ocean) as well as extracting it from deep underground.

I have owned GRID DLDRX GRHAX/GRHIX CCJ etc for several years.
I believe the way to "play" the climate change issues is industrial stocks needed for the grid.
Even "Climate change is bunk" people agree our Grid is a disaster. More storm and fires will only make it worse.

Almost 4 years of no activity on this thread. As good a contrarian signal as any! I'm considering a small starter position because I believe energy is a good long term play. Also going to look for CEF's

So, do I need an etf made up of US Enterprises that construct and maintain pipelines, reserve storage tanks, and other things that provide capicity to accomodate the flow problems associated with oversupplies or will the rest of the world save their supplies for tomorrow and just use our cheap supplies until they are gone? I guess I should, after more than 40 years, just sell my little bit of Chevron before gasoline falls to 25 cents again. ( As a teen I could take my mom's car, go places other than I said, and refill the tank for a quarter a gallon before going home.)

Crypto-scammer.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/14/bitfinex-hacker-sentenced-to-five-years-in-prison-for-bitcoin-money-laundering-scheme.html

@stayCalm. Thanks for your thoughts.
Those data centers aren't going to run on petroleum products pumped out of the ground. If Trump wants to drill baby drill, he's pushing string. We're already the largest oil producer in the world; gas is cheap, Israeli attacks on Iran barely move the needle, and refineries are being converted to bio-fuels, or being closed. Energy independence is here.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2023/05/02/us-energy-independence-soars-to-highest-levels-in-over-70-years/
https://www.newsweek.com/us-energy-independence-first-time-40-years-1878729
As for the rest of your thoughts, that's why I started small positions in PAVE, GRID, and AIRR in the taxable. I think they're going to have a hard time killing the IRA, well, except maybe for sticking it to Elon when they cancel the tax incentive for EV's.

The central cause was the pandemic itself — and the nearly unprecedented supply-side shock it caused, which extended beyond the crisis itself.
That's like blaming us for being human. It is what it is. What happened, happened.
Orszag goes on to assert that it was the supply-chain shock which is the real culprit.
...supply-chain variables directly accounted for 79 percent of the rise in underlying inflation in 2021...
I won't say he's wrong. But this thing does read as if he had a presupposition, and is bent on proving it to be correct. so the over-stimulus provided by the Biden Admin. was a minor part of the picture. Would he say, "negligible?" Sounds like he would not disagree.
Given the fact of the pandemic, the supply-side shock, with longer delivery times, etc. was inevitable. Demand did not go away, of course, because people are people. They want or need shit. Consuming is never going to be reduced in a functioning---though pandemic-hobbled economy.
With regard to the election result and the emphasis on prices and the economy being so much higher during the Biden years: I'd say it's because, as Noam Chomsky has said: "The general population doesn't know what's going on, and they don't even know that they don't know what's going on." And so, they are susceptible to any argument which gives them a chance to inflict what they think is a comeuppance to that OTHER (Blue) Party. That's all. No thought. No critical thinking. Just grievance, and wanting to turn back the clock. So, they elect a despicable Orange criminal who will never be brought to justice. Just the opposite. He is elevated to a position which insulates him from any of that. If he were to die in office, Vance will simply continue to be the two-faced lying opportunist that he is, right now. No compass. No backbone.

@BaluBalu ...I've owned this for over 8 years, so it's certainly not a Trump trade. It's a play when FNMA exits from conservatorship where they were incorrectly/illegally positioned many years ago. If I remember correctly, it was the one thing in Bruce Berkowitz's FAIRX portfolio which was worth considering, so I sold FAIRX and bought FNMA.
But...it's a wager....a flier, which most find inappropriate.

Duration is 0.83 years (excellent) and coupon is 7.66%

WABAC and Racqueteer
Below are my thoughts with the disclaimer that I ain't no geopolitical expert (but I am a voracious reader)
Energy demand in the USA will skyrocket over the coming years due to themes of AI/data centers/EV/energy independence. EV might look like odd man here but all those EV's getting charged in garages still need a lot of energy...a significant portion of which is still coming from fossil fuels.
Zooming out though, the big demand driver is energy independence. I agree with most of Peter Zeihan's analysis on this topic -- while the US (waaaay) over extended itself in blood and treasury over Afghanistan and Iran, the grip on the GOP of the big defense spending Republicans is waning (of which Dick Cheney was a key leader) and what is emerging gradually (over both Democratic and Republican admins) is a US that is withdrawing from it's role of global cop. I'll stop here because I don't want to veer too far off into the weeds of geopolitics. Short story is that I expect US energy demand (and drilling) to increase as a natural side effect of US wanting to rely less on Middle East. Canada and Mexico might still do fine but I fully expect Trump to extract concessions for being a continued buyer of energy from our neighbors.
Obviously I (and all the experts I follow) could be all wrong but the general theme amongst several PE folks I follow is that energy is a long term play atm.
Also important clarification: While I do believe "drill baby drill" will be a theme, the broader theme I am looking to capitalize on is global energy demand increasing (not just fossil fuel). So that includes green, transmission, battery, transport, storage, etc.. There's several PE pitches out there but to the extent possible I'm looking to invest in a public instrument.