It would be interesting to know his active share because for the last 10 years he's more or less hugged the S&P 500 the whole way. My guess is he has a reasonably high active share but his returns during the credit crisis were very similar and his upside since then has been the same. I guess we have to give him a decent amount of credit for only trailing the S&P by 24 basis points annually for those 10 years, and the big party he throws has to be worth something (if you're into that) but I think most of his outperformance was during the '90s. Since then I'm not sure he's been anything spectacular amid his ever growing stable of funds that have made him a billionaire.

estimates he has generated $23.5 billion in investment profits since then.
He expects to double that number in the next five or six years.

That depends on on a continuing bull market for the next 5-6 years. I don't think so.

( I need to learn how to cut and paste articles on my I Pad).
Simple!
1) Press down against screen at the beginning or end of the passage to be extracted. Works best with a soft-tipped stylus.
2) A light colored (probably blue) dot appears on your screen at the point you are pressing against and a menu above will appear listing several options. Tap “select.” You’ll see a marker (probably blue) appear.
3) Slide the marker left or right and words will begin to appear within a highlighted zone as you make it longer or shorter.
4) Lift stylus from screen.
5) Watch for the word “copy” or “cut” to appear nearby (usually above) after you lift the stylus. Tap on “copy” or “cut”. That saves the highlighted words to the device’s memory.
6) Now, press your stylus against the screen again at the point where you want to paste the saved words. This can be within the document you are working on or an entirely different document.
7) Lift stylus from screen and watch for the word “paste” to appear. Tap on “paste.” The saved words should appear right where you want them.
Longer passages can be cut or copied by sliding your stylus upwards or downward against the screen.

I've own the Schwab robo for about the same time as this guy. I can't disagree with him. I also believe the complexity of the robo does not, or has not as of yet added total return value. The biggest concern I've had, and he stated, is having gold in the portfolio. I personally think gold is a bad investment over time. Certainly it has been over the time of his comparison.
The other thing I noticed, especially early on when I bought, was the robo seemed to have high international and EM exposure when you summed up equity, bonds and currency. Up until the 2017 that was not the place to be, so at least my robo suffered early on. Currency (like gold) in my mind is another complexity that adds little to no value.
I think I would recommend the robo to those that want absolutely no interaction with their portfolio, though as the author also notes, this can be done with a simple 1-fund retirement fund. I've been 50:50 in the robo and a self-managed portfolio. My plan is not to give up on the robo altogether, but to reduce it's weight in my over-all. Not exactly sure what I want that ratio to be yet.

FYI: Ron Baron started his mutual-fund firm in the 1990s and estimates he has generated $23.5 billion in investment profits since then.
He expects to double that number in the next five or six years. That’s not a market call, because the 74-year-old investor doesn’t make them. He expects to do what he has always done, which has involved beating the market long term at a point when most investors have given up on active management.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.cetusnews.com/business/Ron-Baron-Explains-His-Investing-Strategy--Company-Growth.HJXZ2rwx4G.html

FYI: (Thank God, the Linkster has Dan Ivascyn as his bond fund manager!)
While U.S. stocks are now in an “accelerating phase,” billionaire investor Jeffrey Gundlach is predicting that the S&P 500 will post a negative rate of return in 2018.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-funds-doubleline/doublelines-gundlach-predicts-sp-will-post-negative-return-in-2018-idUSKBN1EY2R2
Gundlach Sees Commodities Outperforming In Late-Cycle Boom:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-10/gundlach-says-commodities-set-to-outperform-in-late-cycle-boom

I still get the paper version also.
Here is a link I found where you can get the various quarterly tables:
http://www.wsj.com/mdc/public/page/2_3024-fundsanalysis.html?mod=topnav_2_3053

@Junkster-noticed that LSFAX is available ntf, load-waived for $100 minimum, with expense ratio 25 basis points higher than LSFYX.

I agree with @Junkster about that solid return number.
Here is a broad based search (below bold, skip the first top box dated July, 2017) related to the recent action of Bank of Japan and their bonds. Pick your story for info.
Are all the big central bankers really trying to back down from QE? Kinda reminds me of an over supply of vehicles and all the major companies are trying to unload and at least break even for their efforts.
Fun times still ahead, eh?
While about 75% equity here, our house still holds the remainder in investment grade bonds. Our portfolio may have entered the "between a rock and a hard place time frame".
https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=ynFVWo6aMMTEjwS28r-ADw&q=bank+of+japan+reducing+bond+buying&oq=Bank+of+Japan+reducing+bon&gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.33i22i29i30k1l9.9520.46395.0.50606.37.25.8.4.4.0.296.2639.12j12j1.25.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.35.2679...0j0i131k1j0i131i46k1j46i131k1j0i22i30k1j33i160k1j33i21k1.0.jbBYQYzEtoE
Have a restful remainder of your evening.
Catch

This quarter's WSJ Investing in Funds & ETFS demonstrates the paper's reduced coverage. "Category Kings in 16 Realms" no longer lists the 10 top performing funds in their categories, only the top 5. Maybe I'm the only traditional subscriber left and the only one who cares. I used to enjoy perusing the top 10 lists, but top 5 lists are meh. Come to think of it, my subscription this year is costing me $20 more than last year. I'm not getting much more than fire starter these days, a role that Barron's used to play in my household.

FYI: By virtually any measure, U.S. stocks are expensive. Under one especially harsh lens, the cyclically adjusted price-earnings ratio popularized by Robert Shiller, equities relative to 10 years of profits are more stretched than any time in a century, save the dot-com era.
But there’s still a methodology that bulls can take comfort in -- price not just to earnings, but to earnings growth. Favored by legendary investor Peter Lynch and known as the PEG ratio, the technique takes the standard valuation snapshot and adds time -- time for a stock to grow into its price.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.fa-mag.com/news/forget-cape-ratio--peter-lynch-tool-has-s-p-500-getting-cheaper-36555.html?print

And the advertising for brokerages is getting up to pre-GFC levels, too. You know, the "trade anywhere, anytime!" commercials telling you that you can "be in control of things" ... we all know how that ended up the last time.
I'm about 95% in equities across my accounts and am not selling anything even if a pullback comes ---- much as I despise my still-idling largeish cash position, I am reassured by its presence for use opportunisitically when things do turn south and these alleged 'in control" folks are dumping their shares "from anywhere, anytime!|

Hi psuche98,
I have PARMX -- it's more conservative. It's one you can count on. Also, FLPSX -- you should get a kick from overseas. Then, my favorite, UMBMX -- it's a runner at times. Just what I have, bro.
God bless
the Pudd
p.s. At Fidelity, $2500 in IRA.

PRDMX is NTF at Fidelity. Not presently open at Fidelity. May be open directly at TRP.
A few other suggested by Fidelity:

https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/779585108?type=sq-NavBar

FYI: With U.S. stocks seeming to hit records by the day, perhaps its no surprise that investors are piling into risk assets in a nearly unprecedented way.
In the latest measure of optimism, TD Ameritrade’s Investor Movement Index rose to 8.59 in December, its second straight monthly record. The index measures the behavior of TD Ameritrade clients, aggregating their positions and activity to measure how they are positioned.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/retail-investor-exposure-to-stock-market-is-at-an-all-time-high-td-ameritrade-2018-01-08/print

FYI: S&P 500 sector weightings are important to monitor. Over the years when weightings have gotten extremely lopsided for one or two sectors, it hasn’t ended well. Below is a table showing S&P 500 sector weightings from the mid-1990s through 2012. In the early 1990s before the Dot Com bubble, the US economy was much more evenly weighted between manufacturing sectors and service sectors. Sector weightings were bunched together between 6% and 14% across the board. In 1990, Tech was tied for the smallest sector of the market at 6.3%, while Industrials was the largest at 14.7%. The spread between the largest and smallest sectors back then was just over 8 percentage points.
The Dot Com bubble completely blew up the balanced economy, and looking back you can clearly see how lopsided things had become. Once the Tech bubble burst, it was the Financial sector that began its charge towards dominance. The Financial sector’s sole purpose is to service the economy, so in our view you never want to see the Financial sector make up the largest portion of the economy. That was the case from 2002 to 2007, though, and we all know how that ended.
Unfortunately we’ve begun to see sector weightings get extremely out of whack once again.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.bespokepremium.com/sector-snapshot/bespoke-sp-500-sector-weightings-report-january-2018/

Wow - Just waded through Grantham’s dissertation. Kudos to him and those who understand all these charts and comparisons to historical (hysterical?) bubbles. Do my fund managers at Oakmark, Dodge & Cox or TRP engage in this type of micro analysis? I rather hope not. And this type of analysis seems far removed from the kind of common sense horse wisdom voiced by the likes of Munger and Buffett over the years.
Remember the OJ trial? “If the glove doesn’t fit, you must acquit.” When pieces of a puzzle no longer fit together it’s time to take a second look and exercise some caution. That’s all I’m getting to. When you’ve got prolonged 2 - 2.5% returns on “safe money” alongside double-digit returns on most everything else, it’s time to take a second look at the big picture. Two more parts of the puzzle - In our part of Michigan there’s “Help Wanted” signs everywhere. Yet wages and wage inflation remain very low. And during the normally slow winter construction season if you want a granite countertop professionally delivered and installed you’re looking at a 2-3 month wait after placing an order because they can’t keep up with demand. Trying to obtain decent skilled labor for renovation work during the hot summer months nearly impossible nowdays, with entire city blocks packed end-to-end with construction vehicles.
Despite the indications of a sizzling economy and years of stock market gains, interest rates at both the short and longer end (AA+) remain stubbornly stuck in the 2-2.5% range and wage inflation low. Couple the low wages with various entitlement curtailments (everything from public education to medical care) and the “average Joe” is worse off today than a decade ago. So, IMHO many pieces of the broader puzzle appear out of whack. I don’t recommend panic selling of investments. I do suggest a bit more caution be exercised, be it through raising cash, diversifying risk assets more broadly, concentrating more on funds known to have weathered financial storms well in the past, paying off debt, or just investing some of the recent gains in your own “infrastructure” (home, transportation, etc.).
I am not a financial advisor.

FYI: Hedge funds grew from a boutique investment area serving wealthy individuals and families to a full-blown institutional phenomenon after Yale and CalPERS gave credence to the category. Cryptocurrencies are on the same path, awaiting that institutional first-mover.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b15yvqk5zz52wp/when-will-yale-buy-bitcoin

@Old_Skeet. I need to understand what you are doing more. I tried doing some sector trading in 2017. I lost a little on many trades, but earned a lot on few trades and was net positive. However, I decided to take a step back and stop. Unfortunately for me my "model" would have had me in XLE from November if I had stuck to it :-(
Frankly, after my recent accident my priorities also changed. BTW, all I turned 50 recently and realized I was 10 pounds overweight. So instead of buying / selling I'm pondering my weight and health right now for a bit.

Hi again @VintageFreak.
Let's go back to the 500 Index compass. It is comprised of the major sector etf's. In portfolio manager I follow these tickers plus EQL which is an equally weighted sector etf and serves as my bogey. If you want to beat the bogey you have to be in the sectors performing above the bogey and out of those that trail it. With this I choose the three that are performing the best for the time period I have chossen (usually the three month time frame for the spiff). These three become my lead pack and within the pack there is a lead etf (hound). This etf becomes the spiff "money" hound so to speak and remains the money hound as long as it can remain a member of the lead pack. Sould it falter and unable to keep pace with the pack then the spiff is closed and a new lead hound is choosen with a new spiff being placed. It's a momenutm strategy. I'll be posting weekly on it for a while anyway. After a while it will beome "old news" and the postings will fade.
So follow along ... Let's see how Old_Skeet did in week one.
Week one results. The current lead 90 day hound XLY as the year began had a starting value of $98.69. Thus far it is up 3.13% and remains a lead 90 day pack member. The other two are XLE (up 3.75%) and XLK (up 3.67%) for the week. EQL the bogey hound is up 1.64%. XLB is closing fast on the lead 90 day pack (with XLI & XLF close behind) and might one or more may soon become a pack member of the current lead hounds being removed and perhaps a new lead hound taking over (spiff hound). We want know this until market close Friday the 12th when the weekly results get tabulated.
Starting week two the lead pack remains the same with XLY the spiff hound.
Can XLY maintain the pace? Will there be a new lead hound? Will there be a new lead pack? Perhaps.
So stay tuned.