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Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
  • Any glaring risks in a fund like LQDH?
    Thanks @Catch - I agree LQD has done much better over time. But look at the 2022 performance of the 2 funds.
    While we can compare performance to other bond funds, I’m mostly interested in how the use of interest rate swaps to hedge rate sensitivity could blow up. Are there hidden dangers in this kind of hedging? On the surface it looks like a simple way to capture the difference between what Treasuries return and what investment grade corporates do. I’ve compared the return over 10 years to money market funds, short term bond funds and ultra-short bond funds. It seems to have done better - and on a reasonably consistent basis.
    hank in Fund Discussions
  • Any glaring risks in a fund like LQDH?
    Looking at M* for the past several months, LQD has outperformed LQDH for each of the monthly periods. One might have expected better from LQDH in anticipation of rate cuts and their swaps, etc. The portfolio indicates 95% of the portfolio is LQD. Am I correct with this and what you see?
    You noted:
    M* shows LQDH returning north of 3% annually over the past 10 years. That’s about double what money market funds achieved.
    MMKT's were paying only about .01% yields for many years. As of April, 2022 the Fido MMKT's were paying .11% yield. This is when the move up to the current yields began. So, comparing to 10 years backwards against a MMKT yield 'is not valid'.
    6 month CHART of the two.
    catch22 catch22 in Fund Discussions
  • Any glaring risks in a fund like LQDH?
    I don't see any direct short Treasury positions.
    Basically, it holds corporate LQD & tons of rate-swaps plus supporting cash. Duration is very low. So, the overall effect is m-mkt like returns out of intermediate-term bonds overlaid with derivatives. But the current yield is well below VMFXX, so, what's the point?
    I’m not sure that’s a fair comparison, With the present inverted yield curve money market funds should yield better than longer dated bonds. Were yield the only factor nobody would invest in longer dated bonds today. Any (perceived) advantage would accrue to someone who wanted to own longer term investment grade bonds for diversification and who thought the inverted curve will return to normal some day.
    * Isn’t the ultra low “effective” duration (0.15 years) really just a reflection of the hedging? Duno. Just trying to learn.
    Here’s a link to Blackrock / LQDH with some performance data. Seems to have outdistanced money market funds in recent years. - M* shows LQDH returning north of 3% annually over the past 10 years. That’s about double what money market funds achieved.
    Appreciate the comments from @yogibearbull
    hank in Fund Discussions
  • US family finances as of 2y ago
    First, it's 3 years, not 2 years.
    Second, looks to me they started in 2019, not showing the peak of 2020. If you look at this chart(https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LES1252881600Q)
    Trump started in Q1/2017 and by Q2/2020, real wages after inflation grew up from 355 to 393. That is 10.7% real growth. Then covid hit, and since Q2/2020, it went from 393 back to 368, this is a decline of 6.4%,
    2 more observations:
    1) From Q4/1099 to Q1/2017 = 18 years, it grew from 335 to 355 = 5.9%
    2) Since 1980, no other president except Trump has achieved above 10% real wage growth.
    FD1000 in Other Investing
  • Latest Memo From Howard Marks
    I agree with FD that Marks makes you think harder. My cup of tea. Like to think. Might stave off dementia a few more years.
    hank in Other Investing
  • The Thrilling 36 Funds
    I stopped paying attention to M* years ago because many of my best risk/reward funds in the past never met the above criteria.
    MFO lists are much better and looking at meaningful criteria. Example: look for Great Owl Funds .
    FD1000 in Fund Discussions
  • The Thrilling 36 Funds
    I think these criteria are too M* centric.
    Do you really care if M* rates a fund's "parent" as sub optimal?
    The culture of the parent firm is very important.
    Has the firm been involved in any scandals?
    Does the firm bring to market numerous funds of limited value just to increase AUM?
    How many of the firm's funds have closed permanently and disappeared over the years?
    Does the firm close funds to new investors when certain AUM thresholds are reached?
    How has the firm dealt with portfolio manager succession?
    What is the portfolio manager tenure/turnover?
    Is there a strong analyst bench?
    What is the analyst tenure/turnover?
    Nor have I ever understood their obsession with fees. This guarantees massive funds.
    Do you really care if a fund charges an above average fee if the track record is excellent?
    Overall, low-fee funds have significantly higher success rates (vs. a suitable index) than high-fee funds.
    Performance may be fleeting but fees tend to be "sticky."
    Some funds with above-average fees have excelled despite higher costs (e.g., ARTKX,SVFAX).
    Observant1 in Fund Discussions
  • Preparing your Portfolio for Rate Cuts
    I don't pay too much attention to sectors, so take the following as questions and observations from someone who knows just enough to be dangerous:
    Do homebuilders like Pulte (a name I do recognize from having lived in suburbs) take out short term loans to purchase building materials? The reason for the question is that interest rates for mortgages don't move in tandem with short term rates. In this industry each rate can have an impact.
    In looking at companies like BLDR, are you thinking about remodeling or new home construction, or both? I believe that the stock of existing homes has been held down by high mortgage rates - people are reluctant to walk away from low rates they locked in years ago. So many have chosen to make improvements rather than move. When (if) mortgage rates drop significantly, this may change and affect who is buying building materials.
    It could also affect the market for new homes, since they'll now be competing with more existing homes than before (acknowledging that there is still an overall housing shortage).
    The construction industry seems (from my 30,000 foot vantage point where I rarely look out the window) to be bad at dealing with market cycles. In good times, they build on spec. Though often by the time the construction is put on the market, demand has cooled.
    I'm guessing that you're referring to this article:
    https://www.barrons.com/articles/buy-dr-horton-stock-price-pick-72f0f4e1
    (Thank you Google and public libraries; I got free access both ways)
    It presents a nice, level headed picture of a well run company. As to the industry prospects, it's looking more than two years out. "Fed governors see short-term rates falling by about roughly two percentage points over the coming couple of years". However, over the next year+, both Fannie Mae and the Mortgage Bankers Association are seeing rates drop by just over 1/2%, from 6.46% (8/22/24 actual) to 5.9% (Q4 2025).
    https://finance.yahoo.com/personal-finance/when-will-mortgage-rates-go-down-164144910.html
    Certainly the prospects for the industry look better now than they have been for awhile (perhaps excepting building materials - lumber prices soared during the pandemic as people spent money on home improvements). How much better, and how much is already priced in, I have no idea.
    msf in Fund Discussions
  • Preparing your Portfolio for Rate Cuts
    Started to dabble in home builder and builder supply stocks. I started buying BLDR, Builders Firstsource, back in April and have added periodically to it. I've owned this stock multiple times over the years and I like it a lot. Started a position in DHI, D R Horton Co, last week after reading good things in Barrons about the stock that made sense to me. Today, I bought a little PHM, Pultegroup Inc.
    Home building "should" take off when interest rates drop. All these stocks started to take off the past couple weeks, so I'm hoping the trend continues. FWIW, individual stocks don't make up a large part of my portfolio. Just what I call my play money.
    MikeM MikeM in Fund Discussions
  • Babe Ruth Jersey Sells For $24.12 Million
    "A New York Yankees jersey worn by Babe Ruth during perhaps the most storied moment
    of the baseball legend’s career has sold for $24.12 million,
    shattering the record for most expensive sports collectible sold at auction."
    "The gray road jersey, sold by Heritage Auctions on Sunday in Dallas, was said to be worn by Ruth
    when he 'called his shot' in Game 3 of the 1932 World Series against the Chicago Cubs."
    https://www.npr.org/2024/08/25/nx-s1-5089222/babe-ruth-jersey-called-shot-auction-record
    That's a lot of dough for a wool flannel jersey over 90 years old!
    Does anyone here invest in the following collectibles:
    antiques, art, automobiles, coins, comic books, sports memorabilia, stamps, or watches?
    If so, what has been your experience?
    Observant1 in Other Investing
  • The Thrilling 36 Funds
    We have owned almost all of those seven American Funds over the many years we were building our pile, varying allocations depending on what was going on in the world economy. Did just fine for us- very stable. I always did like the committee approach to management, but I realize that many of you don't particularly care for that style. Hey, whatever works...
    Old_Joe Old_Joe in Fund Discussions
  • The Thrilling 36 Funds
    Russel Kinnel from M* applies strict screens to narrow down the mutual fund universe to 25 - 50 funds.
    Mr. Kinnel's screens are:
    • Expense ratio in the Morningstar Category’s cheapest quintile
    • Manager investment of more than $1 million in the fund
    • Morningstar Risk rating lower than High
    • Morningstar Medalist Rating of Bronze or higher
    • Parent Pillar rating better than Average
    • Returns greater than the fund’s category benchmark over the manager’s tenure for a minimum of five years
    • Must be accessible to individual investors with a minimum investment no greater than $50,000
    • No funds of funds
    • Funds must be rated by Morningstar analysts
    Six funds were added this year while two funds were removed.
    Vanguard [8], American Funds [7], Fidelity [6], Dodge & Cox [5], and Baird [5] dominate the list.
    https://www.morningstar.com/funds/thrilling-36-2
    Observant1 in Fund Discussions
  • Covered calls - less than meets the eye?
    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.
    yogibearbull yogibearbull in Fund Discussions
  • Vanguard to Bolster Active Fixed Income Lineup with Two Active Municipal ETFs
    I am more focused on the short term fund and I did a little comparing already. Vanguard has three short-ish muni funds: VMLUX, VTES, and VWSUX.
    Vanguard comparison page
    New funds' prospectus (draft)
    VTES is passively managed. VSDM (Short Duration Tax-Exempt ETF) is actively managed.
    VWSUX was until a year ago named Short-Term; it's now Ultra-Short-Term. I haven't checked whether the fund actually changed its portfolio then or just its name. It's a bit higher grade than VDSM. At least 75% in A range, at most 20% Baa and 5% junk. In comparison, VDSM can invest up to 20% in junk. Maturities are different. VWSUX shoots for 1-2 year average. VDSM is longer at 2-7 years. VDSM doesn't yet say what its expected duration will be.
    VMLUX invests the same way as VWSUX (higher quality), just with longer maturities: 2-6 years. So in comparison, VDSM is lower quality and perhaps slightly longer maturities (2-7 years).
    That makes VDSM higher risk, both credit risk and interest rate risk, than existing Vanguard actively managed muni funds. It's also slightly more expensive, with a 0.12% expense ratio compared to 0.09% for the existing funds' Admiral shares and 0.07 to VTES's cost.
    Benefits? That's for you to decide, whether you want to go out a little further on the risk spectrum.
    Likewise VCRM (Core Tax-Exempt ETF) looks to be more junky than existing funds, though its average maturity will be in the 3-10 year range.
    Vanguard comparison page for VTEI, VWIUX
    Same comments apply. VTEI is passively managed, and both existing funds are cheaper than VCRM's 0.12% ER.
    What you get with these new funds is active management in an ETF wrapper. That's new for Vanguard.
    If one wants to go even shorter, Fidelity offers FMNDX with an average maturity of 1 year or less, same quality as Vanguard's existing funds (up to 20% junk), higher ER (0.25%), and no frequent trading restrictions.
    msf in Fund Discussions
  • BONDS The week that was.... December 31, 2024..... Bond NAV's...Most positive. FINAL REPORT 2024
    Happened upon IGIB. Eyeing it as replacement for the bulk of my junk bonds.

    Ha, @Crash, I started buying this ETF a few weeks ago. So far so good, but it is kind of on the volatile side. At least more than my other bond funds.
    Oh, poopies. More volatile than the usual fare? Don't like that. But I'll be bird-dogging it. Appreciate the response. As for the junk, falling rates are supposed to be a GOOD thing for such vehicles, no? I'm always comparing spreads between IG and HY. The talking heads for many moons have already been telling us that the spread does not warrant the extra risk with HY. But I've stuck it out now, for a couple of YEARS, and have had tasty results.
    Crash Crash in Fund Discussions
  • Who are TwitterX's investors? Court ordered the company to disclose them
    Maybe I shouldn't be, but I'm just surprised that 'sophisticated' folks like Fido would go into this investment given the mercurial and moronic impulses of its cosplaying CEO business jenius with MY money, let alone anyone else's.
    Ye reap what ye sow --- just glad those markdowns aren't my problem!
    The only problem is that other sites have played politics very deliberately for years.
    FD1000 in Other Investing
  • Boeing plea.
    IOW, undo the Boeing/McDonnell Douglas merger.
    The European Commission in reviewing the merger considered " potential spillover of benefits from the McDonnell Douglas defense business to the Boeing commercial airplane business"
    https://boeing.mediaroom.com/1997-07-23-Boeing-McDonnell-Douglas-Merger-Gains-a-Positive-Opinion-from-the-European-Commission
    Up through1996, " McDonnell Douglas [had been] the leader in defense aircraft for many years", while "Boeing had not received lead military program contracts for over 40 years."
    " McDonnell Douglas' commercial aircraft division, Douglas Aircraft Company (DAC), no longer exerted a competitive influence in the worldwide market for commercial aircraft. [FTC conclusion regarding merger]"
    https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/56358984.pdf
    You can spin off MD, but can you take 25 years of culture out of BA? It's been pervasive.
    --------------
    From the NPR article: " NASA has decided to reconfigure things so that this capsule has two seats free and available for Williams and Wilmore to catch a ride home."
    What the NPR piece didn't mention was that they'll be sending up spare spacesuits since Starliner's aren't compatible with SpaceX's.
    "NASA and SpaceX currently are working several items before launch, including reconfiguring seats on the Crew-9 Dragon, and adjusting the manifest to carry additional cargo, personal effects, and Dragon-specific spacesuits for Wilmore and Williams."
    https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-decides-to-bring-starliner-spacecraft-back-to-earth-without-crew/
    msf in Other Investing
  • Work stoppages in Canada's RRs next week could screw up our own supply chains.
    It's beautiful country up there. I visited a few years ago.
    Unfortunately, this is what kept running through my mind:
    msf in Other Investing
  • Variable Annuities - Fidelity and TIAA
    I looked into the Monument Annuity years ago. It looked like an interesting idea. Then it was sold to Nationwide and as I recall it became difficult to buy without an advisor. Glad to see one can buy it direct again.
    All in costs are comparable to other low cost VAs. When one invests in DFA or Vanguard funds with Monument, there's an extra 0.35%/year. (look for Low Cost Platform in the prospectus.) The share class of Fidelity funds that are available include a 0.25% 12b-1 fee. For example, here's the Monument page for Fidelity VIP Balanced (0.69% net), and the page for Fidelity VIP Balanced through Fidelity (0.51% net).
    The tickers I gave, despite their cryptic look, work on M*. You can add them to a portfolio. You can use them in a chart (pull up another fund and add the VA fund in the compare box). You can even do a search on these tickers in the "new" Morningstar.
    What you can't do is pull up a page on most of these funds. The search box will find the fund and translate the name to English; it won't give you a link to a fund page.
    msf in Fund Discussions
  • Variable Annuities - Fidelity and TIAA
    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
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