* Today, there was a series of comments on this thread, and a series of related comments on the thread entitled, "moderated" status of board members. Because of those comments, and what I experienced yesterday, I feel compelled to make a few additional statements.
When I joined MFO a couple of months ago, I did that with the intention of determining if my approach to starting threads, would successfully fit into the MFO Discussion Site. I decided the best way of evaluating that, would be to start a thread, that was very similar to some very popular threads I started at M*. After 2 months, and a lot of positive support on MFO from other posters and over 10,000 views, I thought I was getting a pretty good idea of what that is like. However, yesterday David Snowball, on the thread mentioned above, completely surprised me, by announcing he was closing my thread because of "spats" on my thread (later determined unfounded), and because my thread had become too long, unwieldy, and was difficult to navigate. After a long day of challenging that decision, David Snowball decided to restore my thread. I was very pleased with that decision, but after a night of thinking about what I had just experienced, and then reading a whole bunch of additional posts today, I decided it was time to pause and evaluate my 2 month experience.
I was feeling very positive about my MFO experience until yesterday, but after yesterday's experience, and today's additional posts by others, I am having second thoughts. I need to take a few days to sort through my thoughts.
Where To Get Income In A Low-Yield World
ostrx fund For cash, I would look at SEMMX or DHEAX/DHEIX. SEMMX has lower rating bonds and better performance than DHEAX (Investment grade > 80%). I call these funds "cash sub" for investors who are willing to take a calculated risk.
See PorVis(
link)
I hardly ever hold cash/MM/CD but that's what I do and what suites my goals.
ostrx fund M* is more correct. Look at their (
site).
Investment-grade, U.S. dollar-based, absolute return-oriented strategy
Ability to manage and hedge duration based on market conditions
Portfolio construction and rebalancing are driven by investment decisions, not benchmark changesI highlight above several keywords.
Now, do I want to invest in OSTRX?
I would compare it to SEMMX,IISIX see PorVis(
link)
SEMMX,IISIX have better performance, SD=voltility, Sharpe, Sortino and higher income too.
* Anyone who wants to see 'only' those discussions with comments merely needs to click on the "Discussions +" category in the far left column upon logging into the Discussion Board. This negates those discussions that have had no comments since posting which may or may not be indicative of overall general interest. It also reduces the amount of scrolling needed to find a particular post. I might add that the 'Search' box also provides that capability. Readers that also want to follow a particular post can bookmark it and retrieve it quickly as well.
One other thing - if you think that posts of interest get scrolled off of the main page to quickly for your liking you should have been a poster here back in the days of Ted who almost regularly posted conservatively 15-20 new discussions per day. If anything that is probably an understatement.
To be honest what I really believe I am hearing you say is that you want this discussion board to operate the way you want it to or you will not participate. Obviously that's your choice but everyone else try's to play by the rules realizing that they may not be exactly what we think they should be. In my experience this is by far the friendliest discussion board you are likely to encounter IMHO.
BUY - SELL - OR PONDER February 2020 Like PRESSmUP, I also had a CD mature last week. Since CD rates are not much better than a MM right now I decided to put 1/2 the money into NHMAX (new holding for me) and leave 1/2 in the MM... for now.
This is a warning to others that hold NHMAX. My purchases have been known to stop up-trends dead in their tracks :)
Are High-Yield Municipal Bonds “High Yield” or “Junk”? @_FD1000 yes sir indeed..gots lots divs came in from one bond called and other misc-Divs...will convert them into vgstx vppcx and vtivx (2045) since still overweight in bonds
Fidelity offers ETF trades in dollars (instead of shares)
questions for Brian Yacktman, YCG Enhanced (YCGEX) One of the first things I do when considering a new (to me) fund is to examine the portfolio, particularly the sector makeup and top holdings. Discovering a 43% allocation to the financial sector, close to 11X the allocation to the tech sector was quite the surprise. I'd be curious as to what brought them there. Interesting.
Rebalancing Your Portfolio Ignore gold shills.
Rebalancing is not too hard. Don't be afraid of capital gains taxes, they are at historic lows if you have little or no earned income.
I am wary of bond funds. As I shave off my stock index fund gains little by little, I've actually been buying individual bonds of 1 to 2 year duration until recently. The offerings really dried up in January, though, and even money markets are paying more than 1-2 year near-junk-grade stuff. Once rates hit zero (and I think they will) what will happen to valuations? I dunno.
My calculations say I can live for a few years off my for-now 3% bond ladder yield so I am buying my time. 15% cash as well, shooting for higher.
Don't forget that I-series savings bonds pay over 2% if you are willing to hold them a long time.
Franklin Resources Nears All-Cash Deal to Buy Legg Mason A later headline -
Franklin Buys Legg Mason in Effort to Survive Passive Erahttps://finance.yahoo.com/news/franklin-resources-nears-cash-deal-071816557.htmlGood luck to the affected investors. I remember when my workplace 403-B withTempleton became part of the Franklin group. IMHO - the former Templeton funds lost something in the process. One benefit, however, was that Franklin picked up Mutual Shares around the same time and it did open up additional interesting opportunities.
More recently, my small stake in Oppenheimer (started in the 90s) became part of Invesco. Both have / had higher fees, but my sense is that Invesco’s are a bit more moderate. Not a pleasant experience to go through, as at least 2 of the Oppenheimer funds I’d used previously are being merged into Invesco funds or eliminated: OUSGX, OQGAX.
Franklin Resources Nears All-Cash Deal to Buy Legg Mason Look like a done deal. Got an email this morning:
"Legg Mason, the majority owner of Royce Investment Partners, to be acquired by Franklin Templeton
"Transaction Structured to Ensure Continued Autonomy of Royce Organization
New York, NY February 18, 2020 – Royce Investment Partners, a small-cap equity specialist for more than 45 years, announced that its parent company, Legg Mason, is being acquired by Franklin Templeton, a global investment management organization. Royce Investment Partners will continue to operate as an independent investment organization with its own brand to reinforce the distinctiveness of Royce’s investment culture and processes. There are no changes planned to the management of the organization or investment teams as a result of this transaction."
Well, I've had a good nearly-20-year run with RYPNX. It was a good performer if not particularly tax efficient, and their shareholder communications were always interesting.
I was a reluctant participant in an employer's overpriced underperforming Franklin 401k once and Franklin's on my list of hated fund companies. But I'm not tempted to bail out right away as long as their fees don't go any higher, and current management sticks around.
Franklin Resources Nears All-Cash Deal to Buy Legg Mason
Fund Spy: Fund Ideas for the New Decade Hi
@MarkAt this time, I don't share the views in the M* write; but thank you for the link.
Our portfolio has it's equity side in the large cap growth area with technology and the side sauce being healthcare and medical technology equity. The technology areas continue to travel the hot path. Our continued concern is what will become of the COVID
19 virus and its impact on supply chain for various sectors. Tech. in particular could be an overwhelming favorite for profit taking.
***30 year bond yield dropped below 2%
Side note: Much reduced Chinese tours globally is going to cause many local problems; although not directly related to most investment areas. But, money not spent; may become a problem for consumers who rely on tourism.
Maintaining a clear and mindful eye globally.
I mostly agree with this short
write regarding potential problem areas and the continued spending by American on just about everything, apparently. Most of the restaurants in our greater metro area remain busy, even on days I thought they wouldn't.
Folks are spending the money they have or pushing it forward with a credit card. This, in spite of what I consider being a fairly expensive market place; especially for a family dinner.
Still sleeping without problems.
Catch
Rebalancing Your Portfolio Rebalancing is a pretty easy task for me. Since I am not using distributions yet for expenses, I generally will put them where I want to build a position. Right now all goes into my favorite bond OEF.
+
1. Brilliant. Why didn't I think of that? :)
The Benefits of the Premium Version of Morningstar compared to regular version. The cost of the Premium version of Morningstar is $169. The regular version is free.
What specifically as a mutual fund and ETF investor benefits me with the premium version?
Umm . . . You won't be bothered with their advertising to become a member?
I think they're aiming past the retail investor market these days. They stopped covering closed end funds, closed comments on their articles, disrupted their online community, then hid them far away; then they decimated the data they delivered, all while claiming it was for your own good.
Their IT operation is so dysfunctional that it's not at all surprising they have left ways to get to the old data pages you used to get. But by the end, I wasn't sure I could trust it. It's just not worth the hassle.
Use up all the free information before you start paying for what you feel you are missing.
For starters, pick the symbols for the top five funds in any category you are considering from your broker and enter them in the free search this site offers here:
dinky linky.
Weekly market watch reads - Keep politics out of your stock portfolio — plus other top investing tip
Typically good advice not to follow the front page when drawing up your investment plans.
I'm not sure I see the value in discussing my investment ideas with people just because they disagree with me about politics. Most people don't study on the subject enough to have anything to add to the conversation besides opinions.
But, I will say, the current resident of the White House has been good for my small allocation to gold.
Weekly market watch reads - Keep politics out of your stock portfolio — plus other top investing tip
Warren had a tough year — how might explain it? Feb 14, 2020 , Reuters Feb 14 (Reuters) - Berkshire Hathaway:
* BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY TAKES SHARE STAKE OF 18.9 MILLION SHARES IN KROGER- SEC FILING
* BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY UPS SHARE STAKE IN GENERAL MOTORS CO BY 3.8% TO 75.0 MILLION SHARES - SEC FILING
* BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY UPS SHARE STAKE IN RH BY 41.4% TO 1.7 MILLION SHARES
* BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY UPS SHARE STAKE IN OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM CORP BY 153.5% TO 18.9 MILLION SHARES
* BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC - CHANGE IN HOLDINGS ARE AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2019
