Hi Everyone here,
Recently I came across Online 7 twelve portfolios &
got interested due to its Brokers specific Fidelity 7Twelve Portfolio with NTF network funds & Etf's.
They also have Vanguard or Schwab network portfolios.
Have you heard or Used The 7Twelve Portfolio before?
How's Performance & tracking with Fidelity in 2019 to April 2020?
http://www.7twelveportfolio.com/Downloads/7Twelve-Model-Intro.pdf
It's by Craig L. Israelsen www.7TwelvePortfolio.com
and with12 NTF mutual funds, utilized in the 7Twelve design can be index funds or actively managed funds.
You can build the 7Twelve model in an IRA account, 401(k) account, regular investment account.
All 12 funds are equally weighted in the “core” 7Twelve model (each with an allocation of 8.33%).
The equal- weighting is maintained by periodic yearly rebalancing.
'There are also three “Age Based” versions of the 7Twelve model that progressively reduces the risk of the portfolio.
Anyone familiar here or have implemented it using Fidelity's NTF funds?
What Do you think
Thanks.
Majick

This article just provides a warning about what may happen in the intermediate term when the Fed and Congress try to steer things back towards "normal". (The author didn't note this, but much of what he discusses is occurring on a global basis not just in the U.S)....
Fed actions have increased the quantity of money in the U.S. economy at a blistering rate.
By Tim Congdon

The economists Milton Friedman and Anna Jacobson Schwartz demonstrated in “A Monetary History of the United States” that a collapse in the quantity of money was the main cause of the Great Depression. Hoping to avoid a repeat, the Federal Reserve in recent weeks has poured money into the economy at the fastest rate in the past 200 years. Unfortunately, this overreaction could turn out just as poorly; history suggests the U.S. will soon see an inflation boom.
Excluding the years immediately after the Revolutionary War, the past few weeks have seen by far the highest rate of monetary expansion in U.S. history. The Fed might defend itself by saying that its “shock and awe” tactics have given financial markets confidence that the coronavirus won’t cause a long and deep recession. And its massive bond purchases—more than $500 billion between March 11 and April 1—surely won’t continue at the same rate for the rest of the year.
It’s reasonable to assume that by spring 2021 the quantity of money will have increased by 15% and possibly by as much as 20%. That wouldn’t quite match the peak rates of expansion seen during and immediately after the two world wars of the 20th century, but it could surpass peacetime records, outpacing the previous peaks in the inflationary 1970s.
As in wartime, federal expenditures are rising sharply while tax revenues are being hit by the lockdown. Both World War I and World War II—and, indeed, the Vietnam War—were followed by nasty bouts of inflation.
Mr. Congdon CBE is chairman of the Institute of International Monetary Research at the University of Buckingham, England.

I don't subscribe but for some reason the link worked for me.....
https://wsj.com/articles/get-ready-for-the-return-of-inflation-11587659836

CTFAX's M* review states that their methodology was unproven. Last updated in 2019. Will be interesting to read the update. I do recall an article about how Columbia'starget retirement funds did things differently with the equity sleeve.

I took a four year course in that when I was 18. It was called the United States Coast Guard. :)

Hi guys, I keyed all of the ticker symbols that Catch22 used in his graph into my fund analysis & review sleeve with fund performance numbers through 04/23/2020. I looked at each fund for its 1 month return period, a year to date period, a one year period, a three year period, a five year period, and a ten year period. For each period the best performing fund was awarded three points, the second best two points and the third best one point. For this study the best performing fund was PRWCX with a total of nine points. The second best was VLAAX with a total of eight points. And, the third best was CTFAX with a total of seven points. Interesting, there was only one fund that had positive returns for all periods and that fund was CTFAX.

Hi @Bobpa, My portfolio generates more income than I presently need. With this excess I continue to invest it back into my portfolio and grow my investment farm. At one time, I thought I'd reduce my asset allocation to produce just my my current income needs. But, as Lee Iacocca use to say ... "Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way!" So, if you are not growing your principal you are losing to inflation. With this, I looked at what a conservative asset allocation (30% to 50% equity) would produce over time and I came up with somewhere between 4% to 6%. Trade around the edges, as I have done, and perhaps get up to 8%. I use to do a good number of spiffs from time to time. I see you list CTFAX as one of your choices. I like the fund and now, I let CTFAX automatically do some of my spiff positioning, for me. As you can recently see in this stock market volatility it has proved it's metal as it adjust its equity allocation based upon the movement of the S&P 500 Index. I plan to buy more of CTFAX after it makes it's June distribution.
You might also want to look at convertible securities funds. The one I use is FISCX.
In addition, my asset allocation is as important, to me, as the funds that I hold within my portfolio along with my investment strategy. My base line allocation is 20% cash, 40% income and 40% equity. From there I can tweak this up of down + (or -) five percent and generally rebalance at + (or -) two percent from my target allocation. When stocks go on sale why not own more of them? Currently, my temporary asset allocation while I'm playing this stock market pullback is 15% cash, 40% income and 45% equity. I recently let my equity allocation peak at 49% and then booked some profit reducing it to 47%. I'll be booking some more profit soon and I will be trimming equity back to 45%. From here I'll let it again move upward as the stock market recovers and trim again booking some more profit. And, keep on keeping on by repeating the process.
Something to ponder? Yes.
I wish you well with your investing endeavors.
Old_Skeet

Yeah, it's a tough time, and I think going to get tougher, more than is being priced in now.
Since Feb 23, AOK and VWINX are about even, with the former showing bigger dip / recovery. Down over 5%, but only that. Praise the Lord.
AOM is a bit behind them, naturally. Two brutal months.
JABAX, FPURX, VLAAX, VWELX, and now VALIX are all bundled back around about the same point today, down 10% plus or minus, with the last one having the greatest dip and recovery over the last 2mos, the others closely tracking and less of a dip.
Of course all have different allocation proportions, but then almost everything has swung in step during this time.
You could conclude that you were simply going to put everything into some mix of AOK and AOM from now on, as someone recently recalled attention to, heading into a dicy future. But as msf and others have pointed out, you could probably do better with some effort and more than some luck. (Famous last words.)
I did not have the energy tonight to plot all of these allocation funds against my bespoke combo of CAPE, VOOG, and BND, so there.

Fidelity for me and others who like to invest in Instit funds and trade sometimes is a better choice. That's how I invest.

Fidelity?

- Schwab has a better online platform. It’s easier and more intuitive.

What's your metric? Something quantifiable, like time to complete tasks. If it can't be quantified, then the comparison is merely subjective.
For example, something I do often is look up a fund on a brokerage site. Just enter a ticker or fund name in the search box on Fidelity's home page. Easy and intuitive. Do the same search from Schwab's home page and get lots of links to scan through (for a search on fund name) or no results (for a search on fund ticker).
To get to fund data at Schwab: Use the drop down "What We Offer"; find Mutual Funds in the second column, click to next page. Scroll half way down that page for the "Browse Mutual Funds" link. Click to next page. Finally, a fund search box. Easy? Intuitive? Not.
To be fair, getting to Fidelity's fund screener is no more intuitive than getting to Schwab's. Navigation to a screener is lousy on both sites.

- Schwab offer more lower min funds. Examples: 1) All Pimco Instit shares have one million min at Fido but just $100K at Schwab. This means that for every $100K you will save $250 at Schwab per year 2) JMSIX,IISIX are NTF and Schwab but not fidelity. Many Fidelity customers buy these funds at other brokers and transfer.

How do others like you add to those Instit funds, like say, PIMIX, without incurring nearly $50 in fees every time, as opposed to $5 at Fidelity?
You're a numbers guy. Please quantify "more" in "more lower min funds". Otherwise, the comparison even if true, could be statistically meaningless, e.g. if Schwab offered 201 lower min funds while Fidelity offered 200.
What does "lower min funds" mean? Lower than stated in the prospectus? Lower than some fixed threshold? What threshold, $100K?
One can buy most Loomis Sayles Inst funds with a $2500 min at Fidelity, but they have a $100K min at Schwab. (The exceptions are LSFIX which is closed, LSIOX, LSHIX, LSIGX, and LSSAX, not offered.) You say PIMCO, I say Loomis Sayles. Naming individual funds or families doesn't substantiate the claim, let alone show that it's meaningful. Numbers please.
FWIW, All Pimco Instit shares have ... just $100K at Schwab" isn't correct. PCEIX, $1M min.

- Schwab reps will work harder to please you with fees, Fidelity reps are much tighter. In the last several years I got over $3500 cash rewards from Schwab after a transfer money from Fidelity which doesn't pay cash reward, I get free transactions on Istit share (extremely hard at Fidelity). I always ask for stuff and get it most times at

As the saying goes past performance does not guarantee future returns. Fidelity also provided sizeable bonuses in the past. Right now, Schwab isn't offering any promotion that I can find for existing customers.

- Schwab has a global ATM with a true no fees, Fidelity ATM has a 1% foreign transaction fee for other currencies

Not quite. Fidelity only reserves the right to assess the charge. Fidelity doesn't usually charge it. I even tested this a couple of years ago, by withdrawing the same amount using Schwab's card and Fidelity's. Each of the respective accounts was debited the same amount. That's when I decided that Schwab bank wasn't providing me any benefit.
Since you raised the matter of plastic, Fidelity's Visa credit card pays 2% vs 1.5% cash back from Schwab's American Express card. Amex, really?
Foreign transaction fees: After subtracting a 1% fee, Fidelity's card still nets 1% in cash rewards. Schwab's charges 2.7%, netting -1.2%. No wonder you're looking at Schwab's ATM card for foreign spending.

- Schwab target funds and ETF are cheaper than VG and Fidelity and most have just $1 min.

This is a thread about sector funds. So let's look at costs of Schwab sector funds. No tech, just a health care fund (SWHFX, 0.80% ER vs. 3 Fidelity sector funds with ERs between 0.71% and 0.76%), and a global real estate fund (SWASX, 1.05% ER vs. FIREX at 1.02%), not even any domestic real estate funds (Fidelity has two).

- Schwab doesn’t have a good sweep MM but you can just use SWVXX with competitive yield and trade in/out like any other fund and it doesn’t have a minimum. Fidelity makes it harder with several funds and different minimums.

At worst, that's a one time effort to pick the right fund. At Schwab, every time you want to make a security purchase, you have to remember to explicitly sell shares of your MMF. Fidelity takes care of this for you automatically.

Running Fidelity's Mutual Fund comparison tool, RBBAX returns less than VWINX or BACPX but is highly ranked in the 15% to 30% allocation segment.

@FD1000
>> 1) if you sell a fund in your IRA, you can't buy another online, you must call a rep and spend time
So wack. When you write bunk like this which is instantly disprovable, I get nervous reading all of your other seemingly experienced advice, not only the special-case / 'I get special treatment' stuff.

"I can just buy Fidelity® Select Technology Portfolio (FSPTX) with ER=0.72%. And I don't need to wait 3 years to get ER=50%"
That's true. WIth FSPTX you'll need to wait forever to get an ER of 0.50%.
"Can you find another big discount broker that has one million dollar min to buy Pimco Instit shares(example PIMIX)?"
Yes.
Can you find a big discount broker that has a $25K min (or less) to buy Pimco Instit shares (example PIMIX)?
Since you mentioned FSPTX, can you find a big discount brokerage aside from Schwab that has a $2500 min to buy the fund in a taxable account? Can you suggest brokerages where one can buy this fund without a fee?
Schwab apparently meets your needs. I'm happy for you, really. It's a great brokerage. But your needs are not the same as those of others.
You wrote that you "never tell [others] to use [your] style, never, [you] helped them using their style." That makes the blanket marginalization of Fidelity ("lost its way") tantamount to saying that independent of an investor's style, Fidelity is a poor choice.
When Schwab makes additional purchases of share classes like PIMIX available for less than $10/purchase, I'll consider it. When Schwab starts letting me pay bills out of a cash account with a decent yield (not just 0.05%), I'll consider it. Until then, it doesn't meet my needs.

You got it. Fidelity for me and others who like to invest in Instit funds and trade sometimes is a better choice. That's how I invest. If you just buy and hold then VG maybe your choice.
- Schwab has a better online platform. It’s easier and more intuitive.
- Schwab offer more lower min funds. Examples: 1) All Pimco Instit shares have one million min at Fido but just $100K at Schwab. This means that for every $100K you will save $250 at Schwab per year 2) JMSIX,IISIX are NTF and Schwab but not fidelity. Many Fidelity customers buy these funds at other brokers and transfer.
- Fidelity has strict trading rules not found anywhere else and not mandated by agency, SEC or anybody else. Examples:
1) if you sell a fund in your IRA, you can't buy another online, you must call a rep and spend time
2) Even if you sold a fund and call a rep you can only buy at 90% of the proceed. At Schwab it’s easy, you sell your fund and just enter another fund. For bond fund I buy at 99.5% for stock funds I buy at 98-99% because I look at what markets are doing
3) Suppose you own mutual funds in your IRA and you don't have any cash and want to buy a stock/ETF, you can't do it, you must sell your fund and wait one say for settlement. At Schwab, you just buy your ETF, see how much you own and sell your mutual fund to cover it. This is a huge advantage for me. Over the years I'm invested at 99+% but I trade several times annually. That means thousands of dollar which I can't do at Fidelity because I must have it in cash.
4) Schwab doesn't care if you trade their funds, Fidelity will punish you on a roundtrip less than 30 days.
I basically want all the flexibility I need/want.
- Schwab reps will work harder to please you with fees, Fidelity reps are much tighter. In the last several years I got over $3500 cash rewards from Schwab after a transfer money from Fidelity which doesn't pay cash reward, I get free transactions on Istit share (extremely hard at Fidelity). I always ask for stuff and get it most times at
- Schwab was always/mostly the leader for lowering fees vs Fidelity
- Schwab has a global ATM with a true no fees, Fidelity ATM has a 1% foreign transaction fee for other currencies
- Schwab IT is more advanced and faster. Example: Funds dist are placed in your account on the same day at Schwab. It takes Fidelity most times 2 more days. Fidelity FULL VIEW(where they link all accounts from other institutions) was broken for months and still can be off. Schwab has a similar feature and it works better and faster. If you traded funds you will see it at Schwab the same date with all the settlement while it takes Fidelity longer.
- Schwab target funds and ETF are cheaper than VG and Fidelity and most have just $1 min.
- Schwab doesn’t have a good sweep MM but you can just use SWVXX with competitive yield and trade in/out like any other fund and it doesn’t have a minimum. Fidelity makes it harder with several funds and different minimums.
- In the last 2-3 year, Fidelity reps knowledge deteriorated significantly.
- At tax time I have been waiting at Fidelity 15-20 minutes for a rep to answer while I never waited more than 1-2 minutes at Schwab.

Honestly, you are 100% misinformed on Fidelity. If you sell a fund in your IRA, you can’t buy another online? That’s just straight up false.

"I can just buy Fidelity® Select Technology Portfolio (FSPTX) with ER=0.72%. And I don't need to wait 3 years to get ER=50%"
That's true. WIth FSPTX you'll need to wait forever to get an ER of 0.50%.
"Can you find another big discount broker that has one million dollar min to buy Pimco Instit shares(example PIMIX)?"
Yes.
Can you find a big discount broker that has a $25K min (or less) to buy Pimco Instit shares (example PIMIX)?
Since you mentioned FSPTX, can you find a big discount brokerage aside from Schwab that has a $2500 min to buy the fund in a taxable account? Can you suggest brokerages where one can buy this fund without a fee?
Schwab apparently meets your needs. I'm happy for you, really. It's a great brokerage. But your needs are not the same as those of others.
You wrote that you "never tell [others] to use [your] style, never, [you] helped them using their style." That makes the blanket marginalization of Fidelity ("lost its way") tantamount to saying that independent of an investor's style, Fidelity is a poor choice.
When Schwab makes additional purchases of share classes like PIMIX available for less than $10/purchase, I'll consider it. When Schwab starts letting me pay bills out of a cash account with a decent yield (not just 0.05%), I'll consider it. Until then, it doesn't meet my needs.

You got it. Fidelity for me and others who like to invest in Instit funds and trade sometimes is a better choice. That's how I invest. If you just buy and hold then VG maybe your choice.
- Schwab has a better online platform. It’s easier and more intuitive.
- Schwab offer more lower min funds. Examples: 1) All Pimco Instit shares have one million min at Fido but just $100K at Schwab. This means that for every $100K you will save $250 at Schwab per year 2) JMSIX,IISIX are NTF and Schwab but not fidelity. Many Fidelity customers buy these funds at other brokers and transfer.
- Fidelity has strict trading rules not found anywhere else and not mandated by agency, SEC or anybody else. Examples:
1) if you sell a fund in your IRA, you can't buy another online, you must call a rep and spend time
2) Even if you sold a fund and call a rep you can only buy at 90% of the proceed. At Schwab it’s easy, you sell your fund and just enter another fund. For bond fund I buy at 99.5% for stock funds I buy at 98-99% because I look at what markets are doing
3) Suppose you own mutual funds in your IRA and you don't have any cash and want to buy a stock/ETF, you can't do it, you must sell your fund and wait one say for settlement. At Schwab, you just buy your ETF, see how much you own and sell your mutual fund to cover it. This is a huge advantage for me. Over the years I'm invested at 99+% but I trade several times annually. That means thousands of dollar which I can't do at Fidelity because I must have it in cash.
4) Schwab doesn't care if you trade their funds, Fidelity will punish you on a roundtrip less than 30 days.
I basically want all the flexibility I need/want.
- Schwab reps will work harder to please you with fees, Fidelity reps are much tighter. In the last several years I got over $3500 cash rewards from Schwab after a transfer money from Fidelity which doesn't pay cash reward, I get free transactions on Istit share (extremely hard at Fidelity). I always ask for stuff and get it most times at
- Schwab was always/mostly the leader for lowering fees vs Fidelity
- Schwab has a global ATM with a true no fees, Fidelity ATM has a 1% foreign transaction fee for other currencies
- Schwab IT is more advanced and faster. Example: Funds dist are placed in your account on the same day at Schwab. It takes Fidelity most times 2 more days. Fidelity FULL VIEW(where they link all accounts from other institutions) was broken for months and still can be off. Schwab has a similar feature and it works better and faster. If you traded funds you will see it at Schwab the same date with all the settlement while it takes Fidelity longer.
- Schwab target funds and ETF are cheaper than VG and Fidelity and most have just $1 min.
- Schwab doesn’t have a good sweep MM but you can just use SWVXX with competitive yield and trade in/out like any other fund and it doesn’t have a minimum. Fidelity makes it harder with several funds and different minimums.
- In the last 2-3 year, Fidelity reps knowledge deteriorated significantly.
- At tax time I have been waiting at Fidelity 15-20 minutes for a rep to answer while I never waited more than 1-2 minutes at Schwab.

@Bobpa
They're all HERE beginning in 2003 (except CBUZX, which couldn't be identified to chart). They're not twins/same style, some have loads, unless you have a way around that (i.e., your brokerage). There has likely been management changes over the years and as usual, some investments are more in the right place at the right time........so, they won't align in returns every year.
What are you attempting to do???

"I can just buy Fidelity® Select Technology Portfolio (FSPTX) with ER=0.72%. And I don't need to wait 3 years to get ER=50%"
That's true. WIth FSPTX you'll need to wait forever to get an ER of 0.50%.
"Can you find another big discount broker that has one million dollar min to buy Pimco Instit shares(example PIMIX)?"
Yes.
Can you find a big discount broker that has a $25K min (or less) to buy Pimco Instit shares (example PIMIX)?
Since you mentioned FSPTX, can you find a big discount brokerage aside from Schwab that has a $2500 min to buy the fund in a taxable account? Can you suggest brokerages where one can buy this fund without a fee?
Schwab apparently meets your needs. I'm happy for you, really. It's a great brokerage. But your needs are not the same as those of others.
You wrote that you "never tell [others] to use [your] style, never, [you] helped them using their style." That makes the blanket marginalization of Fidelity ("lost its way") tantamount to saying that independent of an investor's style, Fidelity is a poor choice.
When Schwab makes additional purchases of share classes like PIMIX available for less than $10/purchase, I'll consider it. When Schwab starts letting me pay bills out of a cash account with a decent yield (not just 0.05%), I'll consider it. Until then, it doesn't meet my needs.

Plus, from across the pond:

The European Central Bank said on Wednesday it would let banks post collateral that was downgraded to junk during the coronavirus outbreak to prevent a credit squeeze in the euro zone.

https://reuters.com/article/ecb-policy/update-1-ecb-accepts-junk-bonds-as-collateral-to-help-virus-hit-banks-idUSL5N2CA7CV

Inflation? My starting point, from decent definition: Inflation is a measure of the rate of rising prices of goods and services in an economy. Inflation can occur when prices rise due to increases in production costs, such as raw materials and wages. A surge in demand for products and services can cause inflation as consumers are willing to pay more for the product.
Obviously, there are several common areas that may cause broad inflation. Broad inflation, however; may be impacted more from some select sectors and how these sectors affect an individual household, IMHO. Example: While both personal healthcare needs (insurance, meds, etc.) and technology (computers, smart phones) are of great benefit for a household; their inflation paths likely have a bigger bang for the buck, over time. We have supplemental health insurance through United Health....it's expensive, well; until you need it. So, the offset, to pay for the insurance could be to buy United stock or a healthcare fund that has United stock as part of the portfolio. We may think the insurance cost is way out of line, but if this is the case; then holding the stock/fund should be of benefit and effectively the profit will pay for the premiums over time. As for technology and the consumer side, is that one has been able to upgrade, if desired; the ability of the product.......computers, smart phones, flat screen televisions, etc. If one has been investing in technology over the years, the likely profits have more than paid for the tech. upgrades one desires.
Investing in growth should provide, over time; enough to overcome broad inflation. Though a S&P 500 investment product should provide for growth too, as a reflection of the economy; for us, there remain sectors in the S&P 500 which we do not choose to invest, although this investment offers diversification. There are numerous quality growth funds, etf's or sectors within the growth area, to choose. Healthcare and tech. are ,of course; subject to their own problems with performance over time periods.......as in legislation that may affect profits, etc.; or too expensive and the big money takes profits and runs to another sector. Such, is the nature of all investing, eh?
OPPS, ADD: CPI (gov't. only data) 1971- April 10, 2020 = 537.3% AND Jan., 1999 - April 10, 2020 = 54.5%
NOTE: Our investment portfolio is fully tax deferred (IRA's), so we do not have to be concerned with buys/sells or capital gains when moving our investments. Taxable accounts will have other considerations; although long term investing in growth should not be set aside for this reason, IMHO.
My 2 cents worth.
The below chart is a line graph, for an easier view of returns; click the lime green/red icon at the bottom left of the chart screen for a bar graph. You may return to the line graph when clicking the icon adjacent.
This CHART starts at Jan. 4, 1999 comparing FSPHX, FSPTX and the S&P500.
Take care of you and yours,
Catch

So, instead of buying Fidelity Disruptive Technology Fund (FTEKX) with ER=1% I can just buy Fidelity® Select Technology Portfolio (FSPTX) with ER=0.72%
And I don't need to wait 3 years to get ER=50%.
Fidelity lost its way for several years now. Please give me other family funds for lower min and more Inst fund with no fees and please let me sell a fund and buy another online on the same day without calling a rep...or...buy a stock and then sell a mutual fund to cover it when I don't have any cash(doable at Schwab). Can you find another big discount broker that has one million dollar min to buy Pimco Instit shares(example PIMIX)?

This is an interesting look at what the Fed has been doing in recent weeks.

Creating the Zombie Apocalypse. Fed Chair Jerome Powell is doing an admirable job of playing the action hero in “2012 Zombie Apocalypse,” a 2011 film about a fictional virus, VM2, that causes a global pandemic. He is doing whatever it takes to stop the zombies from killing us by ruining our economy and way of life.

blog.yardeni.com/2020/04/fed-trying-to-contain-zombie-apocalypse.html

Inflation... Hmmm... the dollar is ALWAYS smaller, where I live. Things are much more expensive, ALWAYS. People are getting "weeks to the gallon" through this crisis, and they're happy about it, both here and on the Mainland. Gas is down to just above $3 here. I just called the Canadian Pharmacy. Wanna talk about "inflation?" If I ordered my prescription at the local drugstore, my co-pay would be $132. Via the Canadian outfit? (Pay by credit card, of course) it's $26. Is that "inflation" or EXTORTION?

Noooooo, it's not extortion! It's just special interest lobbying by Big Pharma to have 'rich' Americans pay for all their insane drug marketing.....

@Crash,
10,000 Management Consultants
(one of my kids does that for work)