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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.
  • Quicken adds 19 Customized Asset Classes
    FINALLY
    Just know Quicken added ability to make 10 customized Asset classes in addition to old standard Asset Classes. "Investing goals " and "security type" are unchanged
    Will help but no way to make sub classes ( ie Munis under Bonds) nor to breakdown % within classes or within other descriptions. ie run a report of Bonds broken down by type or duration, equities by type etc. You can jury rig this by only searching on one asset type or security type at a time but cumbersome
  • Is Berkshire more like a Mutual Fund than a stock?
    image@Sven, I re-entered the link above...see if that works for you.
  • Is Berkshire more like a Mutual Fund than a stock?
    Some of those subsidiaries--Geico, Duracell, See's Candies--
    Just as Berkshire owns and controls entire businesses, so does See's in turn:
    See's Candies owns and operates all of our own retail shops. We do not sell franchises, but we do offer a Licensee Program that allows businesses who meet our selling profile to offer See's products in their stores.
    https://www.sees.com/help/faqs/
    There's one exception to that. A See's retail shop opened three years ago in Greenwich Village in NY. Unlike all its other stores, this is a joint venture between Buffett and the NY owner.
    https://www.villagevoice.com/2017/03/21/sample-ready-sees-candies-finally-arrives-in-nyc/
    A bit of trivia on this trivia: I believe the corner that the store is near is the corner Joni Mitchell wrote about in her song "For Free". I caught an old video where Ms. Mitchell said it happened at 6th and 8th. There is no 6th St and 8th Ave intersection, so it must have been 8th St and 6th Ave.
  • ETF.com: DFA Rolls Out 2 ETFs, Will Convert Several Mutual Funds to ETFs
    As The Shadow has previously noted on this board, DFA is rolling out new ETFs.
    However, Heather Bell @ ETF.com observes that there is a newish wrinkle to DFA's announcement. [emphasis added]
    Don’t expect DFAU [US Core Equity] and DFAI [International Core Equity] to be the only DFA ETFs for very long, however. The firm just filed with the SEC to convert six of its tax-managed mutual funds into ETFs. That has never been done before, but at least one other firm, Guinness Atkinson, is attempting a similar conversion with one of its mutual funds.
    Earlier this month, David provided an update on the G/A conversion, which he originally discussed in his June 2020 MFO article.
  • on sunk costs
    The idea of sunk costs applies as much to liquid assets like fund shares as to less liquid assets like the real estate mentioned in the article.
    Once you invest $1K in a fund, that cash is gone; what you have is N shares. Aside from tax implications, there's no reason to continue holding shares until you break even. Whether you are up 20% or down 10% doesn't matter, because that calculation is based on a sunk cost that you can't do anything about. What matters is whether the fund is something you would buy today.
    The same holds true for individual bonds. Again disregard tax and transaction costs for simplicity. If you hold to maturity, you won't "lose money". But whatever you paid for the bond is gone. What you have today is a bond with a given coupon and a given maturity (or call) date and a current market price. The question is not whether you have lost money to date, but rather would you buy that same bond today at its current price? If not, if you could do better elsewhere, then why continue holding the bond?
    Of course transaction costs and tax implications shouldn't be ignored. They add friction, so that it's not enough to say you could do something better with the value of the asset. A change has to make enough of an improvement to overcome that friction. Hence instead of two choices, buy or sell, there are three options, buy, sell, or hold.
  • Seeking Yield With Safety
    @FD1000. Control. Less bullshit.
    Please let me know where is the BS, be specific.
    ============
    Fred495: That's all well and good, FD, but why do you keep bringing up PRWCX when it is closed to new investors
    First, I have posted about VLAIX several times and said it was a good fund. See one (example)
    Second, many investors I know own PRWCX and why I still mention it.
  • Is Berkshire more like a Mutual Fund than a stock?
    Lots going on in Berkshire portfolio this year and lots of other topics:

  • Cold Storage Delivery Systems & The Vaccine = FedEx
    Airlines are scrambling to prepare ultra-cold shipping and storage facilities to transport COVID-19 vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna, whose doses, which require deep freezing, are likely to be among the first to be distributed.
    What companies are in a great position to participate?
    https://reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-airlines-freight-a/airlines-scramble-to-prepare-for-ultra-cold-covid-19-vaccine-distribution-idUSKBN27Y0NN
    FedEx delivers much of the COVID test samples and maybe now the vacciine:
    fedex-set-deliver-covid-19-vaccines-worldwide
    Top Holder's of FDX:
    FDX Top 10 Mutual Fund Holders
  • Perpetual Buy/Sell/Why Thread
    Winter will be grim but the pandemic's end is in sight, and all sorts of economic data is looking promising (housing starts, car sales, plus lots of money in savings accounts). I've been steadily buying and am now up to 80% equities. I mostly bought VDIGX and GPRIX, but that has to do with gaps in my portfolio than with any bets on what part of the market will do best.
    Lots can go wrong, and the market can always drop 10-15% for no particular reason, but I think a bad winter is the base assumption now, already priced in.
    Then again, I'm also at least hopefully 15 years from retirement and just got a raise, so I can sock away about a third of my salary going forward. If I were retired, as many posters here are, I would be more conservative.
  • Did you go to school in 2020 ?!
    I'd been mostly in stocks and some funds since a kid in the '80s. I wanted to get into futures to learn about them as a potential second income stream (active trading). It was an interesting time to be in the markets, as I both 'won' a lot, and lost a lot .... I should add that was just as algos were really taking off and I decided it wasn't worth playing against them regularly or spending the time to develop & code my own trading systems. Not to mention, in 2010 I left consulting & landed my (current) faculty position and priorities shifted. :) But I still monitor the equity index futures and will dabble with them now and then, since they trade 24x5 compared to stocks.
    Back during the GFC I was sitting on a huge pile of cash that I was managing for an aging parent's immediate needs and was wishing we'd see 6, 8, 10% rates on CDs and bonds at some point ... I saw what that did for my grandparents decades ago and it made for a very comfortable retirement for them. If that ever happened again, I'd probably sell down 50% of my portfolios and throw it into government fixed income. :)
    @rforno, you are way ahead of me with investing at that time period. I managed to invest few dollars in CDs that paid over 6% in the 80's.
  • Perpetual Buy/Sell/Why Thread
    Do know that thermofisher. TMO. Mfgs fridges that can store vaccines at low temps
    ThermoFisher has been a long time holding in PRWCX. A nuts and bolts approach to gain exposure to health care sector.
    Trimmed equity a bit and increase cash position. COVID-19 situation has worsen in US while Europe is several weeks ahead with curfews imposed. Now is a critical time as holidays season is here until people would avoid large gatherings. I can see we will retest past March situation again.
  • AQR Emerging Defensive Style Fund to be liquidated
    I had the good fortune to buy AUENX for my 2 Fidelity retirement accounts, when the IRA minimum was $2500, while a 1 million minimum for taxable accounts. Needless to say, AQR a short time later increased the retirement minimum to 1 million also!
  • Perpetual Buy/Sell/Why Thread
    I made two partial exchanges today to tamp down a bit of risk.
    My domestic/foreign stock allocation did not change materially.
    Roth IRA
    VWILX >>> VDIGX
    401k
    S&P 500 CIT >>> MIEIX
  • AQR Emerging Defensive Style Fund to be liquidated
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1444822/000119312520295680/d27997d497.htm
    497 1 d27997d497.htm AQR FUNDS
    AQR FUNDS
    Supplement dated November 17, 2020 (“Supplement”)
    to the Class I Shares and Class N Shares Summary Prospectus
    and Prospectus, the Class R6 Shares
    Summary Prospectus and Prospectus,
    and the Statement of Additional Information, each dated January 29,
    2020, as amended, of the AQR Emerging Defensive Style Fund (the
    “Fund”)
    This Supplement updates certain information contained in the Summary Prospectuses, Prospectuses and Statement of Additional Information. Please review this important information carefully. You may obtain copies of the Fund’s Summary Prospectuses, Prospectuses and Statement of Additional Information free of charge, upon request, by calling (866) 290-2688, or by writing to AQR Funds, P.O. Box 2248, Denver, CO 80201-2248.
    At a meeting held on November 16, 2020, the Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of AQR Funds (the “Trust”) approved a proposal to liquidate the Fund. Among other things, the Fund was not viable on an ongoing basis. Accordingly, effective 4:00 P.M. (Eastern time) on November 30, 2020, the Fund will no longer accept orders from new investors or existing shareholders to purchase Fund shares.
    On or about November 30, 2020, AQR Capital Management, LLC, the Fund’s investment adviser, intends to begin liquidating the Fund’s assets in an orderly manner in advance of the Liquidation Date (as defined below). Proceeds from the liquidation of a Fund’s assets will be held in cash and similar instruments pending distribution to shareholders. As a result, the Fund may deviate from its investment strategies and policies and cease to pursue its investment objective. The Fund may incur transaction costs from liquidating portfolio holdings and performance may be adversely affected from holding cash and similar instruments.
    The Fund will declare a dividend to all holders of record on December 14, 2020 (the “Record Date”) consisting of any undistributed income and capital gains (net of available capital loss carryovers). On or about December 18, 2020 (the “Liquidation Date”), the Fund will make a liquidating distribution of its remaining assets proportionately to any shareholders holding shares on the Liquidation Date. The Fund will then be terminated as series of the Trust. Shareholders may redeem their Fund shares or exchange their shares into shares of another series of AQR Funds, subject to any restrictions in the Fund’s Prospectuses, at any time prior to the Liquidation Date.
    The liquidation of the Fund is expected to have tax consequences for a taxable shareholder. Any final capital gain dividend will be treated as long-term capital gain, and any final income dividend will be taxable as ordinary income, or as qualified dividend income to the extent of the Fund’s income that so qualifies (which is taxed at the same preferential tax rate as long- term capital gain). The Fund’s final liquidating distribution will result in capital gain or loss to the receiving shareholder. Shareholders should consult their tax advisors concerning their tax situation and the impact of the liquidation and/or exchanging to a different fund has on their tax situation.
    We appreciate your investment in the AQR Funds. For more information, please contact the Trust at (866) 290-2688.
    PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR YOUR FUTURE REFERENCE
  • Did you go to school in 2020 ?!
    [1] Back when I was still daytrading futures during grad school

    Bad idea. Seldom this type of behavior ends well financially or academically.
    Actually it paid for a good chunk of my doctoral work (not in finance) plus some extra spending money, so I'm not complaining. But if you don't know what you're doing, as many people do, absolutely it is a risk.