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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.
  • IRS tax program updates info
    File Your Federal Taxes Online for Free:
    Free File is now open!
    Welcome to Free File, where you can prepare and file your federal individual income tax return for free using tax-preparation-and-filing software. Let Free File do the hard work for you with brand-name software.
    free-file-do-your-federal-taxes-for-free
    Also, if you are itemizing this is the IRS State Sales Tax Calculator:
    Tips and Guidance for Determining Sales Tax Deduction
  • IRS tax program updates info
    Thanks. Not sure whether it was TaxAct orTaxCut. I think the last time I used tax software other than TurboTax was 2011 or 2012.
  • IRS tax program updates info
    This note is only related to H & R Block tax software. I will presume this information also applies to other tax programs.
    The update status has been pending since installation and the program was updated, as of Feb. 18. Another update is now indicated for March 3.
    I don't which areas of tax code(s) are affected by these updates, and will not begin to process our return until I see that further updates are not pending.
    Regards,
    Catch
  • U.S. economy may have its best chance in years to break from era of subpar growth
    'As increasingly widespread covid-19 vaccinations signal a possible return to normal life, the United States is moving toward an unusual experiment that could produce an economy many Americans will not recognize — for better or for worse.
    Factories are humming and consumers are spending again, signs that the United States could emerge from the current health crisis with its strongest growth in decades. Goldman Sachs expects the economy to expand this year at an annual rate of 7 percent, the fastest pace since President Ronald Reagan proclaimed “morning again in America” in 1984.
    The question is whether that fast-paced rebound can be made to last, freeing the nation from the low-growth rut it has plowed for most of the past 20 years, or will instead ignite the sort of inflation that has not been seen since the 1970s. Prominent economists such as former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers already are warning that potential overheating could end in a new recession."
    WaPo Article by David Lynch
  • Wealthtrack - Weekly Investment Show - with Consuelo Mack
    @bee, thank you for posting of the 2nd Sebastien Page interview. Very informative on the 2021 investment situation and beyond. Bank loan funds or floating rate funds are an attractive asset class in bonds.
  • Did anybody receive 1099 form for IOFIX?
    I invested in IOFIX in April 2020 in my taxable accounts. I have no immediate plans to sell it. There is a difference between paying taxes for ordinary dividends now, or for long term capital gains in the future, e.g. any time after April 2021, in my case. But if one frequently trades in and out, then of course there should not be much difference.
  • Bridgewater Shakes Up Leadership After a Loosing Year
    “Bridgewater Associates is shuffling its management ranks after one of the most challenging years in the hedge-fund giant’s history ... Bridgewater is also creating an investment committee ‘to broaden the decision making’ ... “
    “After posting its worst monthly loss in history in March, Bridgewater’s flagship fund, Pure Alpha, ended the year down 7.6%. A more leveraged version of the fund lost 12.6%. The performance suffered in comparison to banner years by other prominent macroeconomic investors. Rokos Capital Management and Caxton Associates, for example, notched returns of 44% and 42.2% for the year in their master and flagship funds, respective.”

    Article
  • Health Sector Funds: FSPHX vs FSMEX and others
    Fund has been around for years but has had a lackluster performance. Fund changed its investment style from domestic micro cap fund to predominately health/biotech micro/small cap fund.
    Website states that management would close the fund when it gathers $100m in assets.
    http://www.perkinsfund.com/performance.html
  • College Endowment Returns Plummet in Most Recent Year
    “The study findings, released Friday, portend a long era of muted returns for higher education institutions, which will likely encourage them to have a fresh look at financial and investment strategies in order to meet critical return targets and sustain their mission of providing urgently needed support to students. The new study was based on responses of 705 institutions representing $638 billion in endowment assets, and covers the fiscal year July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020.”
    “Endowments’ average one-year returns were 1.8% as of June 30, compared with 5.3% for the previous fiscal year. The historical target return for endowments has been 7.5%, comprising spending requirements, but in recent years, endowments have been challenged to meet this target, according to the study.”
    Article
    NOTE - Study may be a bit misleading since it measures the one-year returns as of June 30 - shortly after the pandemic induced selloff. However, 1.8% seems like a dismal one-year return. My sense is that both 2019 and 2020 were pretty good years for most investors - despite the March / April pummeling.
  • Did anybody receive 1099 form for IOFIX?
    I have owned IOFIX for several years but also traded it several times at Fidelity and Schwab. I checked my 1099-DIV for 2018,2019 Nondividend Distributions and they were at zero. To tell you the truth, I really don't care, I just copy all these numbers to my tax software annually.
  • when is time to bail on junk?
    The yield, listed as per Morningstar, is 5.8%. That might make it worth owning for me. If junk bonds were on my radar. I don't try to time highs and lows in the Market. Distributions are consistently 4-5 cents each month. Barchart rates it a 100% buy.
    https://www.barchart.com/etfs-funds/quotes/ARTFX/opinion
    Morningstar: "...Manager Bryan Krug's investment philosophy is rooted in cash flow-based lending rather than the more traditional asset-based lending. This often leads him to find value in so-called asset-light companies, such as software firms and insurance brokers, which generate strong cash flows but often carry lower ratings from the rating agencies. As a result, the strategy holds hefty doses of CCC rated debt; Krug also runs a concentrated, idiosyncratic portfolio, with the 10 largest issuers accounting for roughly a third of assets..."
  • Did anybody receive 1099 form for IOFIX?
    Please pay attention to the accuracy of their reporting in this notice (which covered only December 2020). They write:
    "The Fund will send you a Form 1099-DIV in early 2022 for the 2021 calendar year that will tell you how to report these distributions."
  • Musk trashes cash / defends bitcoin purchase. “I’m not an investor, I am an engineer.”
    I hear you loud and clear @sven on valuations and equity P/E... BUT... the stories covering that topic and sending out the alarms have been have been increasing in frequency the last 3 years. Then in March it was an I told you so moment but it ended up not being.
    @derf I’m open to learning the value of bonds. Heck.. I’ve even admitted that I own a bond fund in each of my accounts. I’m trying to be conservative and note- I’m not yet relying on investments for retirement income. I’m not retired. When I do... perhaps I’ll pay even closer attention to them. It’s just for the last 10 plus years... I don’t understand how I benefitted from owning them when just comparing to an S&P 500 Index.
    Still - love the conversation here and learning different perspectives.
  • Musk trashes cash / defends bitcoin purchase. “I’m not an investor, I am an engineer.”
    "
    Also related ... Another bump up for the 10 year treasury yield today. 1.34% at last glance. Seem low? Consider around 0.60% less than a year ago.
    Question What rate on short term debt or cash would entice you to unload some of your equity holdings (if any) ?
    I don't know. But I did sell all the bond funds in my IRA to lock in the profit I made over the past year or so.
  • Health Sector Funds: FSPHX vs FSMEX and others
    Thanks catch. I will indeed call Fidelity this coming week to confirm the 10k threshold. Thanks again.
  • Health Sector Funds: FSPHX vs FSMEX and others
    @Graust and @carew388 et al
    As time allowed today, I reviewed the prospectus for FSMEX (a select fund), as well as FBALX and FPURX; more traditional mutual funds.
    The Excessive Trading Policy link I posted previous and dated Sept. 2020 and the language within is not described within the full prospectus for the 3 funds in this write.
    FSMEX prospectus is dated April, 2020 and both FBALX and FPURX are dated Oct. 2020.
    While at the Fido site (no login required) one should search for fund "x". Once open/displayed, select the prospectus TAB; which will pull up the summary prospectus. Select the "prospectus" tab from this new window. With this open, select " Additional Information about the Purchase and Sale of Shares" found along the left edge.
    There is a conflict of information about what constitutes a possible problem with round trip transactions and time frames; RELATIVE to the Sept. 2020 link I posted 2 sections back. A phone call will be needed to clarify what/which is true.
    Note: We're not frequently money movers, but our transactions would be more than $10k.
    Now.........how many call centers/at home staff are being overrun from having to re-route calls due to weather or volume problems?
    Anyhoo, I needed to clarify what I had posted previous; as I don't want anyone to be misdirected with information. The question/thought provided a needed exercise in due diligence; and to always read a prospectus, or sections thereof.
  • Wall Street is piling into trading cards as prices soar
    OK, so let me see if I understand this correctly. A small piece of cardboard with the picture of a dead baseball player is believed to be worth 215,000 small pieces of green paper with the picture of a dead president. But then a few weeks later it's decided that it's actually worth 738,000 small pieces of green paper with the picture of a dead president.
    At the same time some of us have accumulated a fairly large number of small pieces of green paper with the picture of a dead president, but no one, especially banks, is interested in compensating us to borrow any more of those small pieces of green paper, as they already have so many of those that they don't really want any more.
    However companies of questionable value and dubious future are interested in borrowing more of those small pieces of green paper, possibly because they believe that they will never need to return them anyway. And many people are happy to loan these companies small pieces of green paper, but not to loan them small pieces of cardboard with the picture of a dead baseball player.
    An observer from another planet might reasonably conclude that these small pieces of green paper are actually pretty close to worthless, and that the people of this large North American land mass are evidently delusional, if not insane.
  • Health Sector Funds: FSPHX vs FSMEX and others
    catch22 +1 TYVM for this info. I rarely make mutual fund trades of $10k. This will help me with many of my trades: buying and selling FBALX or FPURX instead of using AOK , for instance. It also means that if a new Fidelity purchase goes south, I can sell quickly to minimize losses. Thanks again!