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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.
  • M* Annual Mutual Fund List
    @PRESSmUP,
    From the VTMFX fact sheet (dated June 30, 2025):
    "The fund invests approximately 50% to 55% of its assets in municipal securities
    and the balance in common stocks. The fixed income portion of the fund is concentrated
    in high-quality municipal securities with a dollar-weighted average maturity expected
    to be between 6 and 12 years."
    "The fund’s stock holdings are chosen from the stocks that pay lower dividends
    within the Russell 1000 Index—an index that is made up of stocks of large- and
    mid-capitalization U.S. companies. The fund uses statistical methods to 'sample'
    the index, aiming to minimize taxable dividends while approximating the other
    characteristics of the index."
    https://institutional.vanguard.com/assets/corp/fund_communications/pdf_publish/us-products/fact-sheet/F0103.pdf
    According to M*, the equity sleeve mirrors Vanguard Tax-Managed Capital Appreciation,
    while the muni sleeve is similar to Vanguard Intermediate-Term Tax-Exempt.
    https://www.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/vtmfx/analysis
  • Buy Sell Why: ad infinitum.
    @Hank. I am so impressed that you hung on to PRPFX for nearly 25 years. We haven’t owned anything for 25 years except our house (37 years ) and our last boat, sold recently after almost 25 years.
  • Defense sector funds and Ukraine talks
    @rforno What is your outlook for European defense & aerospace going forward (especially, if we get a ceasefire or some other hostilities reprieve in Ukraine)?
    I think the EU is going to ramp up defense spending going forward b/c 2025 has likely confirmed they can no longer trust/count on US policies, government, technology, or security committments. Germany already announced a HUGE defense spending plan, so .... we'll see.
  • From Schwab on 8/15/2025: oops
    Not directly related, but Schwab's S&P 500 Index fund (SWPPX) dropped -83% today.
    NAV error was missed.
  • Buy Sell Why: ad infinitum.
    @hank,
    Do you consider PRPFX a permanent portfolio hedge?
    For example, it's LT Bonds holdings should appreciate if ST rates are cuts.
    It is ranked #1 in its category YTD, 1 YR, 3 YR, & 5 YR. Impressive.

    Good question @bee
    Yes and no!
    It’s a fund with many different types of assets which do tend to hedge themselves. Over 25 year periods if I had to own just one fund PRPFX would be the one. It’s designed to “endure” many different market cycles. But nearer term the fund is prone to multi-year periods of outperformance and underperformance. Not that you’ll loose a lot of money. You won’t. But as good as it is, I’ve seen periods when investors piled in when the fund was soaring, but became disenchanted a year or two later when it lost a bit and entered the doldrums - and they sold out. Last ones in might even have lost a little.
    Will the fund effectively “hedge” the remainder of your portfolio against big losses? No. I wouldn’t think so. Owned it nearly 25 years. Sold a year ago. No longer fits my needs. Everyone here probably knows a Troy Ounce of gold has doubled in 2 years from around $1600 to $3400.
    I”ve linked the chart on holdings. The fund has caught several strong winds of late. Gold has more than doubled in price over 2 years - maybe a bit longer. Silver’s hot too. The portion in the Swiss franc has benefitted from the weaker dollar this year. And the hold in “Aggressive Growth” (stocks) has benefitted from the likes of NVDA which now comprises 8% of the S&P by weight and is bigger than the entire economies of some countries (like Germany).
    In the following:
    Gold 20%
    Silver 5%
    Swiss Franc 10%
    Real Estate & Nat Resources 15%
    Aggressive Growth 15%
    Dollar Assets (Dollar denominated bonds) 35%
    image
  • From Schwab on 8/15/2025: oops
    "Sell was for 360.107 shares totaling a little less than $3000.
    Cash available $460.65."

    Once in a great while I receive a similar message if there is a delay in the settle date/time for the sale.
  • Defense sector funds and Ukraine talks
    @Crash Really nice jump for Bombardier in July. Alas, I am generally leery of buying individual stocks after a big move. Also, after brief research, it looks like the stock nearly doubled in the runup to / after a major order. But while the order was indeed big at $1.7B, the market cap has gone up $5B+... Is there more to it that I've missed?
  • Buy Sell Why: ad infinitum.
    @hank,
    Do you consider PRPFX a permanent hank portfolio hedge?
    For example, it's LT Bonds holdings should appreciate if ST rates are cuts.
    It is ranked #1 in its category YTD, 1 YR, 3 YR, & 5 YR. Impressive.
  • From Schwab on 8/15/2025: oops
    "Sell was for 360.107 shares totaling a little less than $3000.
    Cash available $460.65."

    I logged into my Schwab account earlier today and didn't notice any anomalies.
    But I didn't try to execute any trades...
  • From Schwab on 8/15/2025: oops
    I think this thread from off-topic should be moved as I just tried to sell a small position in my retirement account & received the same message that Crash is talking about. Sell was for 360.107 shares totaling a little less than $3000. Cash available $460.65.
    OPPS!!!
  • Buy Sell Why: ad infinitum.
    Was on the road when my order for 500 NWN (gas/water ute) got filled today.
  • Court lifts block on Trump’s mass firings at top US consumer watchdog
    Following are excerpts from a current report in The Guardian:
    Judge previously blocked president from laying off 1,500 employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
    A federal appeals court set the stage for the Trump administration to resume firings at the top US consumer watchdog, ruling in a split decision that a lower court lacked jurisdiction in temporarily blocking the mass layoffs.
    The ruling will not take immediate effect, the court said on Friday, to allow lawyers representing workers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and consumer groups to file for a review of the case by the full circuit court of appeals for the District of Columbia.
    The ruling is the latest twist in the legal battle over the fate of the CFPB, as the Trump administration has tried to fire 1,500 of the agency’s 1,700 employees. The agency has returned more than $21bn to US consumers since its founding.
    Russell Vought, director of the office of management and budget and the architect of Project 2025, the rightwing blueprint drawn up ahead of Trump’s re-election, was appointed acting director of the CFPB in February. The Trump administration has yet to nominate a permanent candidate for the director role since withdrawing its previous nominee in May.
    US circuit judges Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao, both Trump appointees, ruled in favor of the administration on Friday. The district court behind the initial decision “lacked jurisdiction to consider the claims predicated on loss of employment”, the majority wrote.
    In a dissent, circuit judge Cornelia Pillard, who was appointed by Barack Obama, said the lower court had acted properly in blocking the Trump administration from eradicating the CFPB entirely as the lawsuit played out. Pillard wrote: “It is emphatically not within the discretion of the President or his appointees to decide that the country would benefit most if there were no Bureau at all.”
    image
    Senator Elizabeth Warren, ranking member of the Senate banking, housing, and urban affairs committee who played a significant role in the creation of the CFPB, said: “Today’s divided panel decision willfully ignores the Trump administration’s unprecedented and lawless attempt to destroy an agency created by Congress that has helped millions of families across the country.”
  • Approaches to placing ETF trade orders?
    "How do people place orders for ETFs: market or limit and if limit, how is that limit chosen?"
    I confirm that an ETF has adequate liquidity before making a purchase.
    Recent intraday highs/lows are checked to gauge an ETF's daily price range.
    Limit orders are always used when buying/selling ETFs (I've only dealt with equity ETFs).
    Trading is avoided during the first/last 45 min. or so that the market is open.
    When purchasing ETFs, my limit order is sometimes priced within the bid/ask spread range
    but it may be below the current bid price at times.
    It may take several days to fill a "low-priced" order—sometimes these orders won't get filled.
  • From Schwab on 8/15/2025: oops
    Date: 08/15/2025
    Category: Important Notification
    Online account information may be inaccurate for some retirement accounts. Please accept our apologies as our teams work to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. For assistance, please call us at 800-435-4000.
    ********
    I suppose a big bunch of us received his message. What CAUSED this is an item they'd better be able to explain to me. I logged-in late last night and I thought I noticed something was wrong...
  • Buy Sell Why: ad infinitum.
    Created a “hedge” position consisting of 10 etfs / CEFs which may not appreciate much in good times but may outperform if or when the new ”permanently higher plateau” gives way. Funded from sale of the 14% TRTY position. For $4.99 monthly Fidelity allows an unlimited number of baskets - up to 50 holdings in each. I’ve been very pleased with the earlier one consisting of 10 CEFs.
    Basket 2 - Equally weighted
    SPDN
    TAIL
    FMY
    DBMF
    GDL
    FXY
    FXF
    FMF
    NOBL
    XLV
    If my calculations are correct the above contains:
    1 inverse S&P fund
    1 tail-risk fund (benefits from higher volatility)
    1 intermediate to long-term bond fund
    1 short-term arbitrage fund
    2 managed futures funds
    2 foreign currency funds
    1 health care fund
    1 high dividend stock fund
    Not static. Will make changes to holdings if / when conditions change. Plus quarterly rebalance.
  • Everyone Says Equities Are Overvalued, So They’re Piling In - from Bloomberg
    My assumption here is that these institutional guys believe hey can exit with some profit. I.e. - market goes up 10% and starts dropping, they get out with a 5% profit, versus only a couple percent in bonds/cash. The little guys stand pat and get walloped as the rug gets pulled out.
  • Approaches to placing ETF trade orders?
    I look at bid-ask spreads that can be 25c-30c for some small ETFs.
    If I want to buy right away, I enter the limit price at ask, or in the middle of the spread.
    If I can wait a while, I would just enter limit price GTC few cents below the bid. Often, it got filled within the week, but sometimes, the price ran away.
  • Fidelity & “Illiquid Securiies”
    IMO, Fido warning was good for a CEF that trades only about 5,000 shares/day and bid-ask spread is 9c (not that bad). Fido probably has a trigger based on low trading volume.
    I haven't run into such situations a lot but I think Schwab did the same few years ago when I wanted to buy a tiny Canada-based CEF.