FYI: Bond investor Tom Atteberry, who runs the FPA New Income fund, explains how he protects investors from the threat of rising rates.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.barrons.com/video/how-to-invest-in-a-bond-market-gone-crazy/048141A4-D100-468F-A5E5-F91F0A6D3654.html

Bonuses on brokerage transfers seem to be this decade's version of the 1990's checks for switching long distance companies (MCI->Sprint->AT&T->MCI->...)
Here's a third party page that points you at various Fidelity promotions (like the cable company, Fidelity doesn't seem to want to make its "best price" easy to get):
https://investorjunkie.com/11001/fidelity-promotions/
The link to a Fidelity cash offer points here: https://rewards.fidelity.com/offers/friendsandfamilyoffer1
The highest lump sum cash offer I've seen from any brokerage (for under $250K transferred) is $1K, so I too am curious about a $3K+ offer.
@DavidV - TDAmeritrade seems to offer various different terms depending on whom you work through. In my case, my account is an HSA with a credit union having a brokerage option. I found that even with HSAs, the TDA terms vary depending on the HSA provider. I suspect they have also different arrangements with different 401k plans that offer brokerage windows.

@Junkster - can you tell me how Fidelity is providing $3,750 to your account? I'm currently in the process of transferring a rollover IRA to them and transferring a taxable account to them as well.
I know there offer commission free trades (but no discount for TF mutual fund purchases).
I would like to know more and speak with them again.

I have been at Scottrade since around 2003/4. I thought they were top notch and especially my local branch manager. But was on the line today with various reps from Fidelity. I will be transferring my IRA Monday and then later my taxable. It's not like I have some huge account but as a bonus they will be are adding $3750 to my account. Brokerage transfer bonuses are something I was naive about. Apparently some play this game on an annual basis back and forth between a few firms out there to reap these bonuses.

A diversified mutual fund (let alone a non-diversified fund) is allowed to own up to 10% of a company (so long as that doesn't constitute more than 5% of the fund's assets).
Chipotle has nearly 30M shares outstanding, so Contra's 2M at the end of 2015 was under 7% of the company. And with over $100B in AUM, those shares worth under $1B at the time (less now) represented less than 1% of the fund.
The numbers seem so large only because Contra is such a huge fund.
Chili's is classified as casual dining. In this group, it strikes me as near the bottom of the pile, similar to TGIF in atmosphere, portions (big) and quality (greasy). It's okay, I'll eat there in a pinch. But there are better ones in the category. For Tex Mex, I'd take Chevy's over it any day.
Chipotle is in a lower "class" of restaurants - fast casual. I find the food much better (and cheaper), and while IMHO it is one of the better ones in its class, it has solid competition from places like Panera and Cosi.

Hi Davidrmoran,
Indeed"The Bell Cirve" unleashed a firestorm of controversy when released. Actually, that was expected and one of the reasons why my wife and I purchased the book. It did not disappoint. It is still hotly debated, and Murray still vigorously defends it. Here is a Link to a relatively recent interview:
http://www.aei.org/publication/bell-curve-20-years-later-qa-charles-murray/
Controversy is not bad. When the subject matter discusses white/black performance scores, one should anticipate controversy-squared.
I haven't opened the book since 1995 so I dusted it off. It is a heavy weight study with an extensive Bibliography and 7 appendixes. My copy is a serious 845 pages long. I'm sure I didn't agree with all its findings or its methodology but I do remember being impressed with the work it reflected.
When I was in the military, I was assigned to score standard tests given to all recruits. It is not an overstatement to reflect that many answers from both whites and blacks were ridiculous. That's a sorry reflection of our educational system. Now that's a "glittering generality".
I don't plan to visit the tome again. There are more updated assessments of the topic if it attracts your interest.
Best Wishes.

Murray's Bell Curve sources were not reputable, when not thoroughgoing bigots.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/02/02/the-bell-curve-and-its-sources-1/
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1994/12/01/the-tainted-sources-of-the-bell-curve/
(paywalled, alas)
http://www.slate.com/articles/briefing/articles/1997/01/the_bell_curve_flattened.html
https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/charles-murray

Hi Guys,
I don't have much to contribute to this current exchange because I have not devoted much time or thought to UBI (Universal Basic Income). I perceived it as an idea well ahead of its time for anything approaching adoption in one of its many potential formats. It has had and will continue to have a challenging uphill climb. It was recently convincingly defeated in a Swiss referendum. Here is a Link that reports on the Swiss vote:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/06/world/europe/switzerland-swiss-vote-basic-income.html
One of its early and persistent advocates is prolific author Charles Murray. I was most impressed with his coauthored book "The Bell Curve". He developes his arguments with great care and much data. Here is a Link to a recent article by him that was published in the WSJ.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-guaranteed-income-for-every-american-1464969586
It's a rather lengthy article but a worthwhile examination of the pros and cons of the UBI controversy. All UBI plans are complex. That must be so when redistributing national wealth. The issue is so complex that any implementations of UBI are likely to be in the distant future. I choose to not invest much time examining the many options since they will most assuredly and dramatically change with compromise a key element. Enjoy.
Best Wishes.

On the Matthews-Seafarer question, the chart shows MAPIX (AF's old fund) still outpointing SFGIX* since SFGIX's inception, +41.8% to +30.5%.
Yes, they're different animals, but generally I've thought Foster appears to be good manager who's made a mistake with his long-running underweight to Asia (and at one point, before I stopped following the fund closely, some not-so-hot security selection in Latin America). The Asia underweight may seem slight, but over time, it's had to have some effect.
Just another view ...
* If the chart shows only Seafarer, as I think a direct link sometimes does, just add MAPIX to the chart to see the pattern.

Yeah, what to do with the supposedly (usually mythical) undeserving, when life is still claimed to be Aesop-like.
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/03/15/return-of-the-undeserving-poor/
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/20/opinion/krugman-the-undeserving-rich.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/10/opinion/krugman-the-war-over-poverty.html
Let us count the ways things would improve nationally with UBI, for starters.

So I have one fund BPRRX at Scottrade that I will lose since it is closed to new investors.

You could do an ACAT transfer of your BPRRX shares to another brokerage before closing out your Scottrade account. It appears that transferring out part of your account is free at Scottrade, but they'll charge you $75 if you transfer out virtually your whole account (i.e. if you leave less than their $2500 min).
See footnote 9 in Scottrade's fee schedule:
https://www.scottrade.com/documents/alt/CommissionsandFees.pdf
More generally, various brokerages' outgoing transfer fees:
http://www.brokerage-review.com/findbroker/acat-account-transfer-fees.aspx

Like I said above, I already have Schwab. I also asked if I can open another account at Schwab. Now that was a bad question.
The reason I have multiple brokerage accounts is to spread my risks. I am a very paranoid person. Imagine if I only had account with Wellstrade.
I have portfolios at Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab, Merrill and Scottrade at this time. That's why I own close to 50 funds. I guess I could own 40 funds. The point is not to own 50 funds with two accounts at 1 brokerage.
TRP brokerage NTF offerings are scarce and I use it for managing inlaws money so don't want to mix things. I do have IRA at TRP and Scottrade. I could transfer IRA to Schwab.
TradeKing sucks I just found out.
So I have one fund BPRRX at Scottrade that I will lose since it is closed to new investors. Others I could either sell, or maybe some of them include in other portfolios if I really need.
Scottrade was so good to me. Is there any chance Scottrade will stay as a unit of TDA? Or maybe Scottrade brand has better name and TDA will assimilate into Scottrade and the latter's back-end systems (sic) are retained. Freakin' headache!!!

Whenever I hear him speak or listen to an interview, I walk away thinking, What a smart guy, his fund's gotta turn up sooner or later. Then it bombs another year. Rinse and repeat... I'm still holding FAAFX (about 7% of my portfolio, though it would be more if it had grown at the same rate as the rest) only because I'm sure that the year after I sell it, it will pop 50%.

Fidelity Automatic Investment Program lets you schedule periodic purchases.
https://www.fidelity.com/cash-management/automatic-investments
See footnote: "After the initial investment, a $5 fee is charged per automatic investment into a FundsNetwork transaction fee fund."
You have to schedule at least two purchases, but the system allows you to cancel at any time, so you can cancel after you've made one purchase.
https://www.fidelity.com/customer-service/automatic-investments-faqs
http://socialize.morningstar.com/NewSocialize/forums/t/346014.aspx

I have most of my accounts at E*TRADE as a legacy BrownCo customer and have been pretty happy with the collection of NTF funds they have. Customer service seems to be the main issue. For years I dealt with a guy who was great. He got things done, he went to bat for me when I needed or wanted something like making Grandeur Peak Emerging Markets fund available quickly after launch, and he always followed up on questions I had.
More recently it's the opposite and I find customer service much more stressful because not only are more of the answers bad answers for me, which has to be expected sometimes, but I have to chase after them more for answers. Sometimes they've provided answers that seem more like they just want to be done with my question and move on to the next one rather than actually trying to make the customer experience better- even if the answer isn't what I might hope for.

Though I would go elsewhere for TF funds (e.g. Scottrade $17, E*Trade $20, or Fidelity with $5 to add shares to an existing position).

@msf, is your comment about Fido pricing when adding to an existing position their general approach? I can't find that anywhere on their website or in my account documents. I have a small account at Fido and have always avoided TF funds because I mostly like to add to positions over time, but if the $50 fee was just on the first purchase and each additional purchase was only $5 I might reconsider in some cases.

VF - not sure if you're reading this correctly. Years ago, TDA had no NTF funds, plus a high transaction fee; the combo meant I didn't even take a look at them.
But that was years ago. These days, it's got a very respectable stable of NTF funds. Though I would go elsewhere for TF funds (e.g. Scottrade $17, E*Trade $20, or Fidelity with $5 to add shares to an existing position).

DavidV is correct on fees for vanilla TDA accounts. Here's the pricing page; click on Mutual Funds tab: https://www.tdameritrade.com/pricing.page
"Please note: No-transaction fee (NTF) funds (except ProFunds and Rydex) held 180 days or less are subject to a Short-Term Redemption fee, which is a flat fee of $49.99."
I disagree that 180 day holding period is an impediment to a fund investor. In addition, TDA has one of the largest lists of NTF ETFs (30 day holding period).
TDAmeritrade also has special accounts with different terms. For instance, here are my terms (90 day holding period, $25 TF funds):
https://www.tdameritrade.com/retail-en_us/resources/pdf/SDPS1009.pdf

That's not the case for all funds they offer. Some funds have a long holding time or TF, but having the range of funds/classes available in this supermarket is well-worth it, imho.

TDA is not a good brokerage for MF investors. Minimum holding time for NTF 6 month, and TF charge $50 twice, when you buy and sell them.

TDA is not a good brokerage for MF investors. Minimum holding time for NTF 6 month, and TF charge $50 twice, when you buy and sell them.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1444822/000119312516723525/d253834d485apos.htm
AQR Large Cap Relaxed Constraint Equity Fund
AQR Small Cap Relaxed Constraint Equity Fund
AQR International Relaxed Constraint Equity Fund
AQR Emerging Relaxed Constraint Equity Fund