@Charles, Safari has served me well over the years just as IE, Chrome and Firefox on the Windows OS. So far Portfolio tool has been very useful while in exploring less correlated asset classes and lowering the overall risk over time.
The Recovery time of each fund is another insightful parameter to consider during portfolio construction with respect to the drawdown. Vanguard Total International Stock Index has one of the longest recovery time - 114 months or 9.5 years after 2007 recession.
Once again, thank you for making this tool available to MFO Premium members. I look forward to the next phase of development.

"The Federal Reserve should get our rates down to zero or less".............

POTUS tweet early this morning.
Well, folks; this should boost your bond returns for a tiny bit, once it happens.

@johnN You noted: "Equities maybe still too high imho"
From a technical view, and only one view type; as technical folks have their own favorite views of the numbers and what they mean, I offer two charts. These charts are set for 5 years of pricing data. One theory is that Relative Strength below 30 is oversold (buy, buy, buy) and over 70 is overbought (handle with caution). This RSI is shown near the top of the chart, and should appear as TEAL in color when over 70. BAGIX (a plain intermediate bond fund), in theory; should be sold, and at the least, not purchased at this point. BUT, what the heck do I/we know. The RSI is merely a gauge of buys and sells to obtain a price point over time. Obviously, the bond types in this fund have had folks buying for awhile, yes?
As to ITOT (U.S. market etf), which is a twin of Vanguard's VTI for returns; one does not find at this time a RSI that suggests this market area is overbought (not too hot too handle at this time).
I need to leave this as is for now..... other time commitments; but wanted to offer a view regarding your above statement.
BAGIX , 5 year chart
ITOT , 5 year chart

Hi guys, I'm not liking what I seeing in checking the naked short volumes for the S&P 500 Index for the past rolling week. About 62% of the total trading volume has been by the naked shorts. With this, I'd say good caution is now warranted. And, I did cash out of my equity spiff position yesterday with a 3.4% profit for which I held for a little better than 30 days. Seems some investors might now be betting against the anticipated FOMC rate cut.
For now, I continue to ride with about a 5% overweight in equities with the overweight being invested mostly in good dividend paying equity income funds which were not part of the spiff. It will be interesting to see how bond yields move over the next couple of days, perhaps even a few weeks.
Seems, of late, bond yields have been rising as some investors have sold bonds and moved towards risk on type assets. It also seems there has been good money flow into the Index over the past week. Let's see if this sticks? Interesting? Yes.

Sounds like Catch has a case of Analysis Paralysis,

Hi sir catch22... Good post... If you buy bonds what would you buy??... Equities maybe still too high imho.. If retirement already you need st least ~50s% in your portfolio otherwise loose too much w another crash

WELL.......
Negative rates are supposed to stimulate the economy, incentivising investment by making it less attractive to hold cash and spurring demand by making credit cheaper. But evidence of the theory working in practice is far from conclusive. Certainly Europe’s bankers are squealing, as they feel margins squeezed by low rates on lending and a reluctance to pass on negative rates to depositors.

Why did Europe promote negative interest rates?
Our Federal Reserve system and Treasury may operate within boundaries that are not available to the ECB (European Central Bank) functions, as the euro area's fiscal and financial rules are not similar. I will not expand this difference here. One may readily discover facts of their choice.
Suffice to note that the U.S. moved to Quantitative Easing, while the Euro Zone remained with a policy of austerity after the market melt in 2008. Many here will recall the rough times in Europe for several years following the melt.

As to investment grade bonds today. IMHO, one can not (yet) invest in bond funds that will allow for the steady eddy yield and pricing from the days of yesteryear; to take one's investment into the future without a care and the feeling of protection against the nasty's. Keeping in mind, that as long as there are buyers, don't be concerned with the yield; as your pricing/capital appreciation will out perform the yield expected.
My own question(s) to these type of bonds, is how long will purchases remain in place; IF the yields continue to trend to the negative zone??? Purchasers being the big investment houses, hedge funds, pension funds, insurance companies, sovereign wealth funds and individuals, etc.
With some of this in mind, this house has not been inclined to purchase investment grade bond fund(s) for any sake of yield; as this is third place in thought. First and second place belong to a cushion against the current political strains globally and what this may also bring for global equity(s). Yes, a protective place generating some yield and more so; since the mini melt in December of 2018, decent price appreciation. Early 2018 found a U.S. equity blip in February and a few rough patches until the mini melt in December. Early equity market tremors? I won't begin to suggest this knowledge; but money continues to run to IG bonds.
IF U.S. yields continue downward for whatever reason(s), what are the impacts?
--- CD's.....the folks who do not and/or will not invest in the markets, and maintain monies in CD's
--- financial institutions.....will they be able to maintain a proper spread (deposits/loans) to obtain a profit?
--- consumer loans.....mortgage, auto, etc.; would consumers take on too much cheap debt?
--- corporate bond issuance..... more or too much debt, and for what purpose?
--- private pension funding
--- insurance company(s) products, including annuities
and more.
I remain with the thought, as from 2009; This Time Is Different, at least for my investing period.
Your thoughts please.
Thank you for allowing my self therapy. :)
Catch

FYI: Major U.S. stock indexes swung between small gains and losses Monday as investors looked ahead to meetings later this month where central bankers are expected to cut interest rates.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 38 points, or 0.4%. The S&P 500 was down 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.19%.
Monday’s move puts a pause on major indexes’ advance after two consecutive weeks of gains for stocks. Analysts said there was little new information to drive shares Monday.
Last week’s weaker-than-expected August jobs report reinforced expectations that the Fed would cut interest rates by at least a quarter of a percentage point next week. Lower interest rates tend to spur investors to buy riskier assets, such as stocks, over bonds, gold and other havens. This time is no different, with expectations of looser monetary policy contributing to most of the stock market’s gains this year, analysts have said.
Still, there is disagreement over how much the Fed should cut rates, leaving the stock market potentially vulnerable if the Fed fails to enact a more aggressive pace of rate cuts.
Treasury yields pared some of their gains after the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Monday that inflation expectations a year and three years from now fell in August.
Rising yields helped lift the S&P 500’s financials sector, which was one of the biggest gainers Monday, rising 1.4%.
Beyond Monday’s broad gains, some individual stocks outpaced the broader market. Shares of AT&T jumped 2.7% after the activist investor Elliott Management disclosed a $3.2 billion stake in the company and released a letter to the board laying out a series of potential changes that it said could boost the stock.
Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 slipped 0.3%. Data released Monday showed German exports unexpectedly rose in July, a bright spot following a string of negative economic data from Europe’s biggest economy, though analysts said concerns remained that U.S.-China trade tensions could affect the German economy.
In commodities, Brent crude oil rose about 1.8% to $62.64 a barrel after Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman appointed Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, an experienced oil official and son of the country’s king, as head of the powerful energy ministry. Prince Abdulaziz is expected to continue OPEC’s efforts to bolster energy prices by cutting production.
Regards,
Ted
Bloomberg Evening Briefing:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-09/your-evening-briefing
MarketWatch:
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/stock-futures-point-higher-as-investors-look-to-central-banks-for-stimulus-2019-09-09/print
WSJ:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/global-stocks-tick-higher-on-china-stimulus-11568016549
Bloomberg:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-09-08/asian-stocks-set-for-muted-start-to-the-week-markets-wrap?srnd=premium
IBD:
https://www.investors.com/market-trend/stock-market-today/dow-jones-extends-win-streak-5-big-stocks-rally/
CNBC:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/09/dow-futures-move-higher-investors-wake-to-new-chinese-exports-data.html
Reuters:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/us-usa-stocks/stimulus-hopes-buoy-wall-street-financials-lead-gains-idUSKCN1VU17Y
U.K:
https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-stocks/uk-bluechips-give-up-gains-as-sterling-strengthens-idUKKCN1VU0KU
Europe:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-europe-stocks/european-stocks-close-down-as-london-lags-banks-shine-idUSKCN1VU0L6
Asia:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/09/asia-markets-september-9-us-china-trade-china-economy-currencies.html
Bonds:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/09/us-treasury-yields-higher-ahead-of-new-data.html
Currencies:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/06/forex-markets-us-economic-data-in-focus.html
Oil:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/09/oil-markets-saudi-arabia-in-focus.html
Gold:
https://www.cnbc.com/2019/09/09/gold-markets-monetary-policy-in-focus.html
WSJ: Markets At A Glance:
https://markets.wsj.com/us
Major ETFs % Change:
https://www.barchart.com/etfs-funds/etf-monitor
SPDR's Sector Tracker:
http://www.sectorspdr.com/sectorspdr/tools/sector-tracker
SPDR's Bloomberg Sector Performance Pie Chart:
https://www.bloomberg.com/markets/sectors
Current Futures:
https://finviz.com/futures.ashx

Any chance that D&C will offer a money market fund?

Don’t hold your breath waiting. Have seen no indication.
On that question, not sure what their gig is. Seemingly, being the savvy investors they are, they’d rather folks park cash in DODIX. That bothers me a bit. However, DODIX is quite conservatively run - probably out only about 3 years on the maturity curve at present. I don’t doubt that it will beat any money market fund hands-down over 5 and 10 year periods. But shorter term, has the potential for a couple lousy (negative) years.

I was thinking you were going to say T Rowe Price. They are great!

No argument from me on that!
I’m probably rare in that I’ve never owned a Vanguard fund. Our workplace offered (initially) load-based Templeton and than later TRP as 403B options. Since the 90s TRP has managed about 50% of my funds.
Using custodian-to-custodian transfers some money was moved to others. D&C has about 25% - another highly respected house. The remainder is divided between Invesco ($$ formerly with Oppenheimer) and Permanent Portfolio. Re Oppenheimer / Invesco - I’ll grade them C overall based mostly on higher fees. But they offer some niche funds I use that Price doesn’t.
Price has always run a first-rate shop. Their problem today, IMHO, is too many funds. Obviously they’re fighting for market share. Geez - 25 years ago I might have named every fund in their stable and told you how it invested. Today that’s hopeless.

I also like to buy new hot funds and I don't care about the ER that much. I bought EIXIX earlier this year but sold after a few months when performance was going nowhere. I have talked with the manager and one of their directors and EIXIX invests mostly in RMBS of 2008 and prior + ST floaters interest MBS that do well when rates are going up. The managers are trying to balance out rates going down+up. I noticed the fund is doing well when rates are going up (which is unique for most bond funds) and not well when they are going down and why EIXIX has done very little in the last several months.
My biggest category YTD used to be HY Munis but I sold a big portion a few weeks ago when momo got weaker and rates started to rebound after a huge rapid decline. I prefer Munis over higher-rated bond funds because they do better in rising rates. Fidelity doesn't let you buy muni funds in IRA but Schwab does. I used to have ORNAX in taxable + IRA but now only in taxable.
YTD chart(link) of Multi(EIXIX,JMSIX) Higher-rated (USIBX) HY Muni(ORNAX)

Nice try Ted. But where's your link to the raw data?
Why would I open a thread highlighting a link to a Barron's article that I can't read without a subscription? (A mouse over of the thread is all that's needed to reveal this.) You're right, I don't read current mutual fund threads that have no value to me.
Besides, you posted a thread months ago that claimed that D&C was already the top family with 100% of its funds having 4 stars or 5 stars. (That was a statistical fluke, because most of the time DODFX is sitting at 3 stars, as it is now.)
The thread you're referencing is just a followup and does not appear to offer anything new.

@msf: I already linked this as part of the " Is Any Mutual Fund Company Better Than Vanguard? 1 Comes Close" just a few links below yours! Looks to me like you don't read current mutual funds articles on the board.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/52690/is-any-mutual-fund-company-better-than-vanguard-1-comes-close#latest

Twice a year, Morningstar publishes the Fund Family 150 report, an update on the 150 largest U.S. fund families. Of the 777 fund families in the U.S., these fund families account for 99% of the $19.3 trillion invested in U.S. funds and ETFs.

150 pages of reports (a page per family), plus various rankings of families (inflows, largest number of medalist winners, largest percentage of AUM in 4 and 5 star funds). Methodology description.
https://morningstardirect.morningstar.com/clientcomm/DueDiligenceReports/FundFamily150.pdf
Also contains a link to a data spreadsheet so that you can play around with the numbers yourself.
https://morningstardirect.morningstar.com/clientcomm/DueDiligenceReports/FundFamily150_2019_Q2.xlsm
That is important, as you may disagree with how M* applies its data to come up with family ratings. For example, DoubleLine has the highest percentage (89%) of AUM in 4 and 5 star funds (concentrated in two funds). But the family as a whole is given a neutral rating.

Just another article about how index funds must be better than actively managed funds. He does not appear to have a real interest in looking at Fidelity's date funds:
"As I was reviewing the list of investment options in a reader’s 401(k) plan, I realized that Fidelity offers two different versions of its target-date funds."
Must have been an intensive review, because he missed three other series of Fidelity target date funds: Managed Payout, Simplicity RMD, and its newest series, Freedom Blend funds (more on that below).
Fidelity 2020 Target date funds (five series)
"Here are two mutual funds managed by the same company, with identical goals. The only apparent difference is active vs. passive management."
Apparently, a 1-2% difference in allocations between the two sets of funds wasn't apparent to him. Here are M*'s reports on the two Freedom series he discusses. The first row of numbers under the glide path figure in each report are the equity percentages held by the series for each target year.
M* Freedom Target-Date Fund Series Report (12/31/2018)
M* Freedom Index Target-Date Fund series Report (12/31/2018)
From the Index series report:

Despite the notable cost advantage, each Freedom Index fund lagged its Freedom series counterpart since the Freedom Index series' late-2009 launch through December 2018; the funds underperformed by 15-73 basis points annualized. The absence of active management and certain subasset classes, like high-yield bonds, from Freedom Index contributed to these re-
sults.

Whoops. At least Merriman's column is labeled "Opinion".
Regarding the Freedom Blend Funds (from Barron's, no subscription needed for the article):

Actively managed funds will comprise a bigger slice of the pie in areas where the markets are less efficient and active managers can add more value, says Andrew Dierdorf, co-manager of the Freedom Funds. That will primarily be in small-caps, high-yield bonds, floating-rate loans, and emerging markets. The funds’ underlying exposure to large-cap equities and government fixed income will be more index-oriented, he says.

https://www.barrons.com/articles/fidelitys-latest-gambit-for-your-retirement-savings-1536247498

I have owned IOFIX twice for several months. IOFIX is the only fund in my watch list with much higher volatility than the category every several months with no apparent reason which scars me.
See YTD chart of IOFIX+JMSIX. Look at 02/2019 where IOFIX was down -0.4...on 04/2019 down -0,8%...08/2019 up more than 2%. A bond fund that can go up more than 2% in just 2 weeks can also go down.
PV shows that IOFIX has an amazing risk/reward long term (link) for 3 year performance but YTD not so much.
Portfolio CAGR Stdev Best Year Worst Year Max. Drawdown Sharpe Ratio Sortino Ratio
PIMIX 5.34% 1.91% 8.60% 0.58% -1.11% 1.95 4.01
PUCZX 6.89% 2.24% 9.22% 1.75% -1.13% 2.38 6.63
PDIIX 5.99% 3.45% 11.10% -0.99% -2.23% 1.31 2.8
IOFIX 10.44% 2.69% 14.04% 3.49% -0.87% 3.16 13.47

I'm 46 and probably 90% of my investment holdings over two significant portfolios are quality dividend-paying, good-moat (in my view) equities. I've got a big pile of cash to be deployed, but I'm not selling stuff these days - I'm looking to buy into crisis - and no, I don't consider my cash to be an investment position per se.

Hi folks..if you were 20 30 yrs younger (around 30 or 40s yo) what would your portfolio looking like now.. 75-80%equities?!,,, vs if you are 65s yo (? 40s%equities?!) ..
thx have good Sunday

FYI: It’s tough to beat Vanguard. But if anyone can do it, it might be Dodge & Cox.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/dodge-cox-mutual-funds-vanguard-51567794631?refsec=funds
M* Fund Rankings:
https://morningstardirect.morningstar.com/clientcomm/DueDiligenceReports/FundFamily150.pdf
M* Dodge & Cox Family Of Funds:
http://quicktake.morningstar.com/fundfamily/dodge-cox/0C00001MX8/fund-list.aspx

I can appreciate your interest in buying a fund at Merrill or Fidelity (those being the two brokerages at which you have accounts). Still, giving up 40 basis points for convenience (PDIIX has an ER that's 1/3 lower than PDVAX's, 0.79% vs. 1.19%) seems like a lot.
http://financials.morningstar.com/fund/purchase-info.html?t=PDIIX&region=usa&culture=en-US
Not quite sure what "it" is that AGG and FADMX do not do. Nor what "ongoing strength" you see in FSIFX, which has underperformed its multisector peers in every calendar year of its existence, starting in 2014.
Disregarding the particular types of bonds PONAX holds, given its sub ½ year duration it faces a relative headwind when interest rates are dropping. And this year rates have fallen like a stone.
So a question is: do you expect rates to continue to plummet? If so, then sure, swap horses. If you don't expect a severe decline to continue, then it's more a matter of how the portfolio is invested (i.e. the yield it gets on its holdings after accounting for defaults). And if you expect a rate reversal (rates rising again), that would seem to lend it a tailwind.
If what you're looking for is an NTF multisector fund (inferred from your mentions of FSIFX, PDVAX, and FADMX) that has outperformed PDVAX, there's LBNDX. Same duration, better performance YTD, 3 year, 5 year (roughly the period since a major management overhaul for LBNDX). And same ER as PDIIX (with an insignificantly higher SEC yield). And it does it without leverage (Diversifed Income's bond exposure is 162% of AUM).
Of course this is all based on each fund's aggregate figures and doesn't consider what's inside the funds.

Hi folks..if you were 20 30 yrs younger (around 30 or 40s yo) what would your portfolio looking like now.. 75-80%equities?!,,, vs if you are 65s yo (? 40s%equities?!) ..
thx have good Sunday