That's driving the costs of managing the actual money lower, though it's not clear the benefits are always being passed to investors.

I get irked each time I pass an Edward Jones store front. Each time I see an Edward Jones commercial on MLB TV.
So, they charge you 1.5% each year to manage your life savings. Will sell you American's front-loaded funds, which takes 5.75% off the top (and Edward Jones pockets)... and will put you in a new front-loaded funds each year for the rest of your natural life.
A fear I have ...

I think this might be the list Ted intended to link to:
http://dailyalts.com/list-of-new-liquid-alternative-funds-launched-in-2015/
If not I'm sure he will correct me.
FWIW, none of these funds appeal me in the least but I would love to collect all the fees they charge.

FYI: (Build It And They Will Come)
The following table provides a list of new liquid alternative mutual funds, ETFs, ETNs and closed-end funds that have been launched in 2015.
Regards,
Ted

FYI: How’s your macro?
Not too good? Terrible? Unsure what that even means?
Let’s start here: Macro refers to the large geopolitical moments, and the natural and man-made disasters, that some investors track as potential market moving events. Large economic trends or reversals, diplomatic breakthroughs, political crises and even war are all macro events.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/get-there/the-travels-and-travails-of-the-macro-tourist/2015/07/16/31eeaf64-2b2d-11e5-a5ea-cf74396e59ec_story.html
When Hawks Pray On Bulls:
http://www.allaboutfunds.com/other/tragedy_special2.html

Yikes - After holding up very well earlier in the year, SGGDX appears to have entered a nose-dive. Down 12% YTD and 32% over 1 year. The other gold fund I track, OPPGX, is doing even worse.
I'm agnostic on gold. We've gone round and round on this one in the past. Nothing to add here that I haven't previously said. However, having been burned myself a few years ago in OPGSX, I'd rather track these things than own them. Just a very tough way to make a living.

For the next 10 years, which of the 2 would you choose......QUAL or VLUE ?

@hank - I think that's really a very good, rational response. Instead of using rigid rules of thumb like 4% annual drawdowns, the better advice is to be more flexible and to adjust as conditions change. It sounds like that's what you are doing. While there may be some lean times, in general this should enable you to spend more ("splurge", if you will) over time.
Regarding SS and DB (I think that's what you meant) pensions, I'd be more concerned with the latter, as companies providing pensions planned on good market returns that did not materialize. SS is more a matter of demographics (since it's largely pay-as-you-go). Worst case with SS appears to be a drop to 75% of benefits around 2033, if nothing is done.
Latest SS Status Report (2014)

My fear or lack of fear in spending varies with the conditions. If the markets are raging ahead and my IRA has been increasing at 7-10% annually, I'm inclined to splurge more (on vacations, home improvements, etc.). The past couple years the IRA's been stuck in a rut. That's partially due to some longer-term speculative plays that haven't yet worked out, but also due to slower growth in the major equity and bond indexes. So the IRA hasn't grown much the past year or so. As a consequence, I'm less likely to spend.
Another concern is the intense political rhetoric about curtailing SS which seems to ebb and flow. We're also dependent on a couple DB pensions, so the speculation re SS and pension solvency both have an impact on our thinking. While I can control our investing and spending, I have no control over what the politicians and courts do in regard to those other two matters. Probably a dumb response - but there's an emotional component to all this that's hard to escape.
I was probably 45+ when we finally got down to hard-tacks and paid off all our revolving credit and instituted an annual written budget. It was than that savings really increased. The first few years were excruciatingly difficult for us. Drove worn out vehicles and curtailed discretionary travel among other things. In retrospect, it was the smartest thing we ever did.

Wow linter and all. We couldn't be more opposite. If I want something I buy it. If my wallet doesn't have money in it I stop at an ATM. I hate being cold so I turn the heat up in the winter. I would never waste my time clipping coupons. I'll buy the more expensive beer because it taste better. If I'm in the mood for a lobster tail I go to the store and buy a couple (my wife likes them too). My wife loves gardening. Every spring she probably spends well over $500 on plants and the other stuff that goes into beautiful gardens. How do you argue with that. It makes her happy.
I understand everyone trying to save a dollar here or there, but denying myself life's small luxeries to save $200, $500 or even a thousand a year doesn't make sense to me. Life is to short and unexpected things happen.
So I guess I'm the guy who is afraid to go into debt but not afraid to spend the money we worked for all our lives... and at 61, still working. I much prefer this way then having to clip coupons in "early retirement".

Who in SD country board made these poor decisions?

The City of San Diego simplified its pension plans. It barred the use of leverage; it now favors a low-risk, asset-allocation approach. As we discussed last year, it is reaping the rewards. The city’s fund has outperformed the county’s, earning 13.6 percent a year versus Salient Partners returns of 9.7 percent a year. That’s before fees; the city’s net returns with its much lower cost-basis, look even better after fees.
By contrast, San Diego County spent $103.7 million in investment and administrative fees in 2013. The $10 billion pension fund is one of the highest-cost plans in the country as a percentage of assets.

let's see. i stopped smoking not for health reasons but just because ciggies got too damn expensive. gave up drinking for other reasons -- sigh -- but doing that gave me an excuse to no longer go to bars, so i'm saving a ton of money that way. no more liquor store expenses either. constitutionally, i don't like going out to eat, so i bet that saves me some money right there. just got rid of my cable TV service, moving over to the Kodi home theater thing (which is giving me fits).
my town is small, so i bought an electric bicycle to do all my errands with. haven't started my car for short hops in a few months. bought and modified a bike cart so i could take my dog to the park and elsewhere w/ me.
several years ago, before leaving town for several months, i hid $4k somewhere in the house and have been unable to find it. i've spent hours searching, to no avail. it's driving me crazy.
similarly, during y2k, i took $10k in small bills and hid it in a strong box. then i forgot about it, until 8 years later, when i saw the strong box and wondered to myself, hey, i wonder what's in there. lo and behold ....
but i digress.
i will wait until i'm sweating bullets in the heat and my dog is nearly comatose before i turn on the stupid, electricity-sucking air conditioners.
often being pound wise and penny foolish, i will spend hours on slickdeals looking to save a few cents. most recent ***big*** find: norizal anti-dandruff shampoo, which dropped from $10 for 7 oz to $8.07 with amazon subscribe and save. yeah, man!
refuse to buy organic meat a/ because it costs so much more and b/ because deep down i believe the organic label is just another ploy and/or marketing scheme.
love thursdays, when the weekly supermarket circulars arrive. i grab em, hop in bed, and begin looking for what's on sale that i normally buy. 75% of what i get is from these circulars.
and on it goes, much to the dismay of my loved ones ...

FYI: Gold is supposed to be a haven amid hard times and soft money. So why, even as Greece has defaulted, the euro has sunk against the dollar, and the Chinese stock market has stumbled, has gold been sitting there like a pet rock?
Regards,
Ted
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/07/17/lets-be-honest-about-gold-its-a-pet-rock/tab/print/
M* Snapshot GLD: http://www.morningstar.com/etfs/ARCX/GLD/quote.html

FYI: Firm has raised $8.1 billion for its seven funds this year as it moves money from its fee-based platform into Bridge Builder products.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20150716/FREE/150719935?template=printart
Bridge Builder Website;
http://www.bridgebuildermutualfunds.com/index.html

@Ted Oh, damn it, I actually did scan down the list, thinking it was the kind of article that would be something you would have already posted. I must have scrolled right past it. With other things needing to get done, and an unexpected dead battery problem (maybe, maybe not?); and several buzz saws revving outside the house on a 150' half-dead poplar (after begging housing development manager for a year to take it out, he hires a crew and sends them out today without the courtesy of a heads-up)....... I had a few extra distractions. :)
But I too thought it worthy of posting. Interesting that the smart money ain't buying the hype no more while it appears that "data-free" retailers are continuing to come to another Jesus for financial salvation (sigh...same as it ever was).

Finally sold it today. I bought it at the end of 2013 when they had an advisor class of
share. I have to see what I can replace it with. I also sold MACSX and Trow Price Real Asset funds this Week. I already have SFGIX, that is why sold MACSX. Trow Price one is a meek attempt at buying energy sector. I think I would rather buy a pure play, so it is out.
Invested my wife's Roth allocation into VMVFX. Money was sitting in MM fund since April. I already have VMVFX in IRAs, moved into it as an exchange for VHGEX at the end of last year, making it the largest fund in portfolio. Still at 13% of Cash in the retirement accounts.

Probably worth repeating that Mr. Redleaf believes the “path to victory” for the fund’s current “intelligent value” strategy is one of two ways: 1) a significant correction from current valuations, or 2) a fully recovered economy with genuine top-line growth.

@MikeM - I didn't say I was being smart. It is "unconscious bias". I'm thinking "at least the guy is not an ass****". So I own him in my "alternative" slot. Him donating to charity is not reason to buy him. However, that prevents him from being my first candidate to sell when taking a tax loss. I would put John Montgomery in the same category, Thankfully have had much better luck with my Bridgeway holdings.
Hindsight is always 20/20. I haven't owned HSGFX for 10 years. I have actually owned HSTRX for that time though. I thought I bought HSGFX about the time he could start being "right" again. Morningstar had summarily dissed him. Seemed to be good time. I was thinking lot of people would dump the fund based on M* comments. So I started creeping in.
Obviously I was wrong. So as I said, I keep rectifying my mistake a bit at a time. I could try rectifying it all at once but with my luck it will go up 20% the day I sell all my shares.
As I keep telling people. "Hurry up slowly".
Now, I'm not sure we should call these funds "market timing" funds. They do seem to have some plan at work. The one irony in WBMAX Q1 report is this. They make a point about not being simply short given their negative view of the markets. The fact of the matter is, if they done exactly that, the fund would have performed better. Right now it is performing like a 2X short fund compared to the S&P 500.

This one hurts.
I'm crazy about many things this fund offers ... Whitebox does a lot right by shareholders, especially compared to say houses like AQR.
But markets have simply not supported their hedges. In fact, like mentioned above, getting hurt on both sides lately.
Still a younger fund ... time will tell if it ever lives up to the all-weather fund I had hoped it would be.
Losing a percent a month is always painful, but especially during bull markets ... would not mind so much if it just stayed even during such times.
Here are links to previous write-ups on the fund:
http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2015/03/whitebox-tactical-opportunities-4q14-conference-call/
Might note chart about getting of the bus early. (BTW Dr. Hussman never gets on.)
http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2013/10/whitebox-tactical-opportunities-conference-call/
c

"Morningstar and Barron's ninth annual survey of perceptions and usage of alternative investments sheds some much-needed light on decisions taking place at advisory firms and intuitions. (The survey was conducted in the spring of 2015 and covered the 2014 period.) '
"The survey highlights some astonishing trends at a time when alternative flows are starting to moderate. While organic growth rates for liquid alternative mutual funds during 2014 are still larger than any other broad Morningstar Category, they were the slowest on record since 2008, at 12%. But the survey shows that advisors aren’t all doom and gloom and may be looking to allocate more into alternatives over the next couple of years. But the pace at which institutions appear to be withdrawing from alternatives does raise an eyebrow."
http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=691385&SR=Yahoo

VF, if donations to charity were a reason for sticking with Hussman, and I've seen you state that before, wouldn't it be more effective to just donate directly to those charities yourself while investing with a winning manager? Then at least 100% of your donation, or expenses, goes to a good cause instead of 66% and 34% into his pocket.
From what you stated, you seem to be happy paying for no-BS and a charitable individuals expenses. When in actuality, everything he has said for the last 10 years has turned out to be BS in investment sense. You don't mention how or why this fits your investment plan.
You are right about the silence on Whitebox though. Much like all the ballyhoo about Marketfield just a year or so ago. Which makes me feel even more strongly that none of these market timing funds are worth a hoot. They will look good until they're not.