FYI: The fund industry's trade publication, Ignites, reports that a startup is providing 401(k) plans with a difference. (No link, paywalled.) Rocket Dollar's offering "enables you to invest beyond traditional stocks and bonds." Rocket Dollar 401(k) plans enable their owners to buy cryptocurrency, rental properties, and venture-capital funds. Perhaps they wish to make small business loans. When it comes to possible investments, "the sky's the limit" for those who board the Rocket Dollar...rocket.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.morningstar.com/articles/871895/should-401k-plans-embrace-alternative-investments.html
Rocket Dollar Website:
https://rocketdollar.com/

FYI: As interest rates rise, investors have scrambled to protect their portfolios. That's the best explanation I can come up with for why assets in the $1.23 billion iShares 0-5 Year Investment Grade Corporate Bond ETF (SLQD) rose a whopping 35% this week, the largest increase any ETF with more than $200 million in assets under management saw in that time period.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.etf.com/sections/features-and-news/etf-week-short-bonds-soar-slqd

In case you ever thought it was about cold hard econ and not the other values stuff:
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-missouri-town-tariff-20180705-story.html

Stuff be heatin' up majorly; I think next week may see a serious US market drop
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/05/opinion/trade-war-trump-business-jobs.html

(Listening to my own blood boil.) Worthless scum, lower than worms, would do a thing like this.

Robin Hood is fiction. But you already know that. However, I would still reserve the choice 4-letter word you used for officials in OK who gave the Oil companies $198MM of tax breaks they didn't need to send their kids to private schools (which they already did), to suffer a $200M shortfall to the public school system, requiring teachers to beg for paper and pen money at the curbside of gas stations.

AGREED.

(Listening to my own blood boil.) Worthless scum, lower than worms, would do a thing like this.

Robin Hood is fiction. But you already know that. However, I would still reserve the choice 4-letter word you used for officials in OK who gave the Oil companies $198MM of tax breaks they didn't need to send their kids to private schools (which they already did), to suffer a $200M shortfall to the public school system, requiring teachers to beg for paper and pen money at the curbside of gas stations.

FYI: 3 Is Company
Three colors: red, white, and blue. Three funds: Vanguard Total Stock Market Index (VTSAX), Vanguard Total International Stock Index (VTIAX), and Vanguard Total Bond Market Index (VBTLX). According to author Taylor Larimore, those are all that an American investor needs.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.morningstar.com/articles/871546/the-3fund-portfolio.html

FYI: While the S&P 500 Index barely kept its head above water over the first six months of the year with a gain of 2.65%, the 10 best-performing domestic equity mutual funds can blast the fireworks in celebration of some really strong performance.
Source: CFRA. Excludes funds with less than $100M in assets and leveraged funds.
Regards,
Ted
1. Alger Small Cap Focus (AGOZX)
2. Lord Abbett Developing Growth (LAGWX)
3. Wasatch Ultra Growth (WAMCX)
4. Driehaus Micro Cap Growth (DMCRX)
5. Morgan Stanley Mid-Cap Growth (MACGX)
6. Virtus KAR Mid-Cap Growth (PHSKX)
7. Touchstone Sands Select Growth (PTSGX)
8. Virtus KAR Small-Cap Growth (PSGAX)
9. Eventide Healthcare & Life Sciences (ETAHX)
10, Baron Opportunity Fund (BIOPX)
https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&ei=tJY8W6HjBIPVjwTY2Ja4Aw&q=10+Mutual+Funds+Worthy+Of+July+Fourth+Fireworks&oq=10+Mutual+Funds+Worthy+Of+July+Fourth+Fireworks&gs_l=psy-ab.3...3640.3640.0.4969.3.2.0.0.0.0.109.109.0j1.2.0....0...1c.2.64.psy-ab..1.1.74.6..35i39k1.74.-Vfz1M-6LWc

FYI: Kenneth Heebner, once America’s top stock-picker, has found the going tougher these days.
Heebner’s $768 million CGM Focus Fund fell 18 percent in the first half of 2018, the biggest drop among more than 900 diversified domestic equity mutual funds with at least $500 million in assets, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The S&P 500 Index returned 2.7 percent, including reinvested dividends.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-07-02/heebner-s-18-first-half-loss-is-worst-among-u-s-stock-pickers
M* Snapshot CGMFX:
https://www.morningstar.com/funds/XNAS/CGMFX/quote.html

FYI: (This is a follow-up article.)
On June 4, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to improve the experience for investors who currently own mutual funds.
This ruling is called 30e-3 and is a new way for mutual fund investment companies to let shareholders access annual and semiannual report information.
Let us go over the implications of the new ruling.
Find out about the most important criteria for selecting a mutual fund here.
Regards,
Ted
http://mutualfunds.com/education/sec-to-let-mutual-funds-go-paperless-in-2021/

FYI: Hackers breached 21 Connecticut Higher Education Trust (CHET) accounts and withdrew $1.4 million, according to Connecticut’s State Treasurer Denise Nappier.
Nappier said her office received word of the breach from the TIAA-CREF Tuition Financing Inc. (TFI), which is CHET Direct’s program manager. CHET Direct is a 529 college savings plan with more than $3.6 billion in assets under management and approximately 150,000 accounts.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.fa-mag.com/news/hackers-take--1-4m-from-connecticut-529-plan-39586.html?print

I do wonder about spending habits and personal debt compared to 50-60 years ago. Back then, it wasn't so easy to get loans, mortgages, buy stuff on Amazon and Wal-Mart, purchase the iPhone and Sony Playstation 4. To me, it seems that it's much easier to spend your money than it was in the 1950s. Everyone ready for Amazon Prime Day coming up in July?

Used to be we took time to save money. now we spend money to save time. I read that a while back.

I do wonder about spending habits and personal debt compared to 50-60 years ago. Back then, it wasn't so easy to get loans, mortgages, buy stuff on Amazon and Wal-Mart, purchase the iPhone and Sony Playstation 4. To me, it seems that it's much easier to spend your money than it was in the 1950s. Everyone ready for Amazon Prime Day coming up in July?

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/07/03/cashin-investors-distracted-by-tariff-and-trade-talks.html?play=1

FYI: Both are based on emotion, which rarely leads to better returns.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-07-02/religion-and-politics-don-t-mix-with-investing

POGRX I own and like. PRDGX is decent but I don't own it.
I would add BRLIX to that list. A .15 ER for a healthy mega-cap cross section of companies -- a great EQUAL WEIGHTED choice for someone that doesn't want to just own the market-capped index. I only wish it paid out quarterly versus annually.

and nsaids and nonsedarting antihistamines too!
I don't think that's what they mean --- more how long are you going to be able to support yourself... .

@Davidmoran: It’s a good topic for discussion as you have phrased it (also one that’s frequently discussed on the board). But please note the summary @Ted posted. Now, you decide if he wishes to direct the discussion in the direction you have just advanced? Doesn’t look that way to me. Here’s how Ted summarized the article:
“FYI Most Americans believe it takes $2.4 million in personal net worth, or nearly 30 times the actual median net worth of U.S. households to be considered wealthy, according to the Modern Wealth Index, a June 2017 study by Charles Schwab and Koski Research, a market research company in San Francisco.”
What strikes me is the phrase “Most Americans believe ... ”. My response (which you apparently chose to dismiss) was to question whether those expectations are unreasonably high based on the way we lived only a half century ago.
Question (for David or anyone): Please explain how it is mathematically possible for all Americans (or all Canadians, all Mexicans, etc.) to be “rich” in relation to their peers? It’s a completely illogical proposition, right out of Alice in Wonderland - unless you believe we’ve reached the point where being truly “rich” in comparison to all others is a necessary requisite for supporting oneself over a lifetime. In that case, we’re all in trouble.

https://investorplace.com/2018/07/7-low-cost-mutual-funds-to-love/
Low-cost mutual funds are not too hard to find, but these are among the best to buy

“Why Aren’t Most Americans Rich?“
Duh - A silly question deserves a silly answer. That’s not to diminish the very qualitative thoughts on the subject by several respondents. (They’ve shown you really can make lemmonaid out of lemons.)
My own take would be that most Americans are indeed rich when compared to the way we lived during my childhood. (They just don’t realize it.) Even the most affluent back in the 50s likely had only black & white TVs in their homes, telephones anchored to their wall with something known as a “phone cord”, and cars that were a struggle to drive lacking power steering and, for the most part, automatic transmissions. Add to all that: A math problem that today can be quickly solved with a $2-3 calculator that fits in your pocket took hours to calculate by hand back than. (The simplest of these weren't on consumer store shelves until about 1970 and sold for around $200.)
So in one sense Americans today are richer beyond the dreams or hopes of Americans 50 years ago.

wtf are you talking about? That hardworking buckeye's wealth is the opposite of obscene, and of course in the grand plutocratic scheme is a mere large drop.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/luisakroll/2016/12/12/americas-richest-entrepreneurs-under-40-2016/#457a0c2d67c3
That list is from 18mos ago; note the point where it goes below a billion. Study up.