Nov 27th Episode:

Smidcap stocks are on fire. The Russell 2000 RUT, +0.55% is up over 19% this month compared to 10% for the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.24%.
Will it continue? This group has been beaten and battered for so long that many people simply doubt the move. But this is a big mistake. I don’t know about the next few days ahead, but smidcaps will continue to do well over the next year for the following five reasons.

Small and midcap stocks will keep rocketing higher for 5 big reasons

Investors in the U.S. money market are facing a grim year ahead. That’s the vision laid out by JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists, who predict that the supply of investable assets will shrink by about $300 billion while the amount of cash chasing them has nearly doubled to $3 trillion. A key factor on the supply side is that the quantity of Treasury bills is poised to shrink as the U.S. government replaces with longer-term debt much of the short-term borrowing it undertook in 2020 to pay for fiscal stimulus.

U.S. Money-Market Investors Face Multiple Grim Trends in 2021

"PCI(CEF): 8.5%. YTD still at -10.1%"
To be fair, though, this is, I think, just price. It additionally picked up probably 8.5-9% in dividends.

Observations for one month as of 11/27/2020:
November was a great month for stocks and bond and interest rates were up. There were so many good performance monthly funds it was difficult to select just several.
Multi: Several did 2-3%.

Uncontrain/Nontrad: Several did over 2% for the month.
HY Munis: Several did over 2% for the month.
High Rated Bonds: Rates were up but several funds made over 1.5% for the month.
Bank loans: EIFAX +2.4%.
HY+EM: Both (FNMIX,HYG) over 3.5%.
Corp: PIGIX 1.9%.
SP500(SPY): 7.5%. VXUS(international): 11.6 is doing better than SPY for 1-3 months.
PCI(CEF): 8.5%. YTD still at -10.1%

My own portfolio
I started the month with IOFIX+JASVX (both securitized). In the middle of the month sold JASVX and bought NHMAX. The performance was so good in November that securitized fund performance lagged the best. It was another good month for me, I made about 2% and it was one of the strongest month.

@davidmoran, My understanding is a 401K has many attributes that a rollover IRA does not have. That said, a 401K that resides with an old employer can be transferred to a new employer's 401K plan. This may be advantageous if the new employer's plan has great investment choices (tax deductible at any income, employer match, higher contribution amounts, low fees, high rated investment choices, loan provisions). Also, if she were to separate service from the new employer (401K employer) anytime after 55 she could withdraw from her 401K plan penalty free (normally a -10% penalty). 401K plans may have important protections as well (from lawsuits, debtors, etc.)
A 401K can always be rollover over into rollover IRA, but it might worth boning up on the differences before she does.
401(k) vs. IRA: Reading the Difference
difference-between-401k-ira
rollovers-of-retirement-plan-and-ira-distributions
ira-vs-401k/
12-reasons-not-to-roll-your-401k-into-an-ira
legal-protection-401k-vs-ira

yup, she brought me the form, which seemed briefer than the above pdf, and it seems the same standard procedure as other brokerages --- you check rollover and then receiving institution name, and Vanguard does the rest
She has both a 401k and a rollover IRA at Fido the recipient, and asked which would be better, so if anyone has two cents about that, tia.

A little dated 12/2019.
www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/investing/t044-s001-the-10-best-reits-to-buy-for-2020/index.html

The S&P 500 has generated excellent returns over the trailing 10 years.
However, its performance the preceding 10 years (11-27-2000 to 11-26-2010) was subpar.
Small Caps (IWM), REITs (VGSIX), International (VGTSX), Emerging Markets (VEIEX), and Investment-Grade Bonds (VBMFX) vastly outperformed the S&P 500 during this period. Link
The $1M question: How will these asset classes perform in the future?

@FD1000, go back a decade and notice what a difference that decade (2000-2010) made for the S&P 500 where it lost 20% of its total value (inflation adjusted). Then there were the nineties (1990-2000) were the S&P 500 grew 340% (inflation adjusted).
When you get on this roller coaster is as important as how long you ride it.

Unfortunately long term performance was off since 2010. The SP500 did better than the rest (SC=IWM, GLD, international=FSPSX, EM=EEM and REIT=VNQ) + had lower volatility and why I don't pay attention to historical returns and I'm never over diversified.
See 10 year (chart) of the above.

Sorry wxman123 but to me you implied that Dow 30K was some great achievement and all should be happy across the land. You failed to address how that's important to the average person on the street or the world in general. Also neither you, I or anyone else knows how the market would have performed had Hillary gotten elected but history shows that the markets do better under a democratic administration (Google it yourself) and the markets were already on the upswing during the last few years of the Obama administration. Lastly it seems that plenty of people including many world leaders like Mr. Kerry even if you don't. From what I've seen he does a credible job free of corruption and ethical transgressions. I'd settle just for that.

@wxman123: I was a "working man" for fifty years. I am not represented by nor interested in the perverted pretense of Trump and his acolytes to be on anybody's side- other than their own Democracy-be-damned self-interest.
They started with a smelly swamp and turned it into a reeking cesspool of absolute filth.

Christine Benz from Morningstar has also examined asset class correlations.
I believe this is her latest article on the subject.
The PDFs linked below depict historical asset class correlations over various time periods.
1 Yr
3 Yr
5 Yr
10 Yr
15 Yr

wxman123 GOP is the party of the working man while destroying unions and workplace safety provisions! Ok I get it.

Well wxman123, if DOW 30K is what makes life worth living for you then I guess we have vastly different priorities. Tell me, how has that made life any better for the average Joe on the street. How is the world in general any better at all because the of that milestone? The rich got even richer. Whoopie!
I'm also more willing to put Mr. Kerry up in fancy European hotels than any member of the current administration in Trump properties anywhere but that's just me.

I never said nor implied that any level of the DOW made life worth living. What I did imply and stand by is that the country would not be doing any better now had Hilary won...and won't be doing better with Biden's hacks. Does anyone really like John Kerry? I mean, really.

An army of political hatchetmen qualified in nothing other than a nihilistic agenda of Trumpism brought four years of chaos and administrative subversion.
I prefer "hacks" who are well-qualified administrators with experience in their jobs.
A preference for the wealth of the Dow over the health of the United States is, unfortunately, not unique to wxman123. There are plenty more just like him out there.

I would think it rather foolish to be posting regularly on MFO if YOU weren't concerned about making money. And, how exactly is the level of the DOW at odds with the health of the U.S? Capitalism and wealth creation is a big part of what has made America great. When the DOW suffers there's a good chance the country is suffering too. Thank god this elitist crap is on the wane and the GOP is becoming the party of the working man. Even this time Trump would have won by a wide margin had it note been for "mail it in voting." I strongly suspect that many had no idea what Biden's policies would be nor cared.

Thanks David. Munchin wants to handicap the next administration and the unemployed. The day after Christmas the unemployment insurance will end for 12 millions Americans. Nice guy!
https://forbes.com/sites/jenniferbarrett/2020/11/23/unemployment-benefits-may-run-out-for-12-million-americans-right-after-christmas/?sh=36fd7d7d1130

Maybe the following 1 and 3 years performance charts of SPY,AAPL,QQQ,BRK/A,JPM will convince you that Apple IS NOT another "blend—a blue chip stock ". If they don't I give up.