OOPS.
http://i1.wp.com/boingboing.net/images/is_it_fucked.png?resize=328,457

Admittedly making some possibly unfounded assumptions, $1.5B x 8.5% = $127.5M cash to lend, while making a few pence on the ETF management. Looks like a pretty good business plan to me, and, if they can only make 4.7% on the cash, they match the .4% management fee the other robos charge. Is this a great country, or what??
They give you the free lunch, but then you gotta drink the Kool-Aid. Darn.....

From the SEC, Microcap Stock: A Guide for Investors (2013):

The term "microcap stock" applies to companies with low or "micro" capitalizations, meaning the total value of the company's stock. A typical definition would be companies with a market capitalization of less than $250 or $300 million.

That's quite a distance from Royce Micro-Cap Opportunity's billion dollar boundary. The portfolio, as currently constructed is about two-thirds microcap and one-third small cap. The portfolio's average cap is $720 million.
The fund's performance is fine (two years in the top 5%, two years in the bottom 5%, strong start to 2015) but its asset base is nonexistent, perhaps a reminder that the world doesn't need two dozen Royce clones. I suppose the remaining is a futile marketing gesture given the Royce also runs Royce Micro-cap and Royce Micro-cap Discovery.
David

For $40,000 in 19 holdings? 71.5% share to self and 28.5% to other fund houses? total=100% crazy

How interesting! I suffer from John's issues as well. My in-head approach to his example is 120 x 10 =1200, less 100 = 1100, less 20 =1080. More than one way to skin el gato.

Although I am just a student, here is my 2 cents.
Human advisers tend to concentrate on the major categories of US Stocks, Foreign Stocks, and Fixed Income. If a portfolio has 10% or more in the "Other" category, it is certainly a robo adviser. If the portfolio has less than 10% in the "Other", I bet that it is a human. This strategy gets 7/8 correct. It looks like there is one robo that is using a simpler, human-like allocation.

Your suspicions would appear to be well-founded. Here is the Schwab robo-portfolio as shown in Ted's MarketWatch Quiz Link, from the "Can You Tell A Human Financial Adviser From A Robot?" posting.
Schwab Robo-Portfolio

@hank, I had lots of issues with explaining my answers. In math for example, I had figured out ways to do the computations in my head using shortcuts. Ex: what is 120x9=? 9x100=900. 9x20=180. Answer is 1080.
The teachers hated it. I was supposed to use their system to figure out the problem which took much more time than the system I had. Perhaps much if this came about because I was in the generation of students that went back and forth between the old math and the new math.
Algebra was very hard for me as you might imagine.

There is now a monthly fact sheet available through the Schooner Funds website:
schoonermutualfunds.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/SHAIX-MARCH-2015.pdf

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/709364/000094937715000154/e34519_ros-supp.htm
497 1 e34519_ros-supp.htm
The Royce Fund
Supplement to the Investment, Service, and Institutional Class Shares Prospectus Dated May 1, 2014
Royce Opportunity Select Fund
On April 22, 2015, the Board of Trustees of The Royce Fund approved name changes and investment policy changes for Royce Opportunity Select Fund. All of these changes will take effect on May 1, 2015. The investment policies and operations of Royce Opportunity Select Fund will not change except as specifically described below.
Royce Opportunity Select Fund will be renamed Royce Micro-Cap Opportunity Fund. The Fund will invest, under normal circumstances, at least 80% of its net assets in equity securities of companies with stock market capitalizations up to $1 billion. In addition, the Fund’s operating policies will prohibit it from engaging in short sale transactions, writing call options, or borrowing money for investment purposes.
April 24, 2015
ROS-042415

@John Chisum: I'm happy, even with the sell-off today in Biotech and Healthcare, my 5 funds are up 10.24% YTD.
Regards,
Ted
QQQ=7.67%
SPY=3.66%
PRHSX=17.12%
FBTCX=19.88%
PFF=2.90%

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
WSJ Slant:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-stock-futures-rise-putting-nasdaq-composite-on-track-for-more-gains-1429878630
Bloomberg Slant:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-24/nasdaq-futures-signal-stocks-to-rise-on-google-amazon-results
Reuters Slant;
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/24/us-markets-stocks-usa-idUSKBN0NF16J20150424
MKarketWatch Slant;
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-google-amazon-poised-to-lead-nasdaq-to-another-record-2015-04-24/print
WSJ Markets At A Glance:
http://markets.wsj.com/us
Sector Tracker:
http://www.sectorspdr.com/sectorspdr/tools/sector-tracker
Current Futures:
http://finviz.com/futures.ashx

There's a new risk parity player you guys might find interesting, www.hedgewise.com. They do individual managed accounts as small as $10k and let you choose your own risk level. Could help fill the gap in the market for smaller accounts.

FYI: Charles Schwab’s (SCHW) automated investment service is adding “hundreds of new accounts every day,” the brokerage’s chief executive said this week.
Schwab’s chief executive officer, Walter Bettinger, unveiled some details about Schwab Intelligent Portfolios in a call with analysts on Thursday. The brokerage rolled out its so-called robo-advisor service in early March, or about six weeks ago.
Regards,
Ted
http://blogs.barrons.com/focusonfunds/2015/04/24/schwabs-robo-service-nets-1-5-billion-in-six-weeks/tab/print/

Yes, since at least the 1970s, surely. The slow erosion of the social contract between management and labor. My own aunt worked as a secretary at Monsanto for 800 years. You NEVER see that kind of loyalty from either management nor labor, today. Labor jumps to get what it can, because labor is increasingly desperate. In so many places, benefits are simply not there, not offered. Globalization has depressed wages, too. All quite deliberate.

Speaking of emerging market debt, here's a recent article that doesn't exactly make you want to run out and buy them. But as one of the reader comments stated, maybe just the opposite. Meaning, when prices are rising amid these type of doom and gloom articles, it's the time to buy.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/investors-grow-wary-of-emerging-market-debt-1429473506

@Tampabay

Tampabay
10:18AM Flag
I think its more of a matter of having too much Cash on hand for profitable companies, and innovative ways to make money with the cash, Why not find ways to give back to Company Owners, the share holders, Bay backs are one (easy) way to do this...

One of my takeaways from the paper's arguments is that the corporate mentality that has driven a significant portion of the buybacks has been too short term in its nature. Investments in labor (including additional technical training and other education for existing workers) and capital may take many years to fully provide a payback....particularly when the economy is struggling. But, if that part of the equation gets short changed in order to goose the stock price in the current quarter, the overall economy including the wages of its workers suffers in the long run. I am inclined to think some of that has been going on in recent years.

Another thought, How many Middle Class people buy Stocks (invest).... last I read it was less than 10%, How many Care or want to?
In fact how many well educated Americans even Know how to go about buying stocks?
Guarantee, myself as a well educated, young successful businessman with plenty of disposal money didn't have a clue....finally after years of fooling around with mutual fund companies and buying IRAs out of tax necessity.. I educated myself....
Middle Class Doesn't do that....buying stocks....so I guess they don't benefit....
all my guessing

"In terms of types of financial wealth, the top one percent of households have 35% of all privately held stock, 64.4% of financial securities, and 62.4% of business equity. The top ten percent have 81% to 94% of stocks, bonds, trust funds, and business equity, and almost 80% of non-home real estate."
http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html
Also:
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100780163
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/19/stock_ownership_who_benefits_partner/

Another thought, How many Middle Class people buy Stocks (invest).... last I read it was less than 10%, How many Care or want to?
In fact how many well educated Americans even Know how to go about buying stocks?
Guarantee, myself as a well educated, young successful businessman with plenty of disposal money didn't have a clue....finally after years of fooling around with mutual fund companies and buying IRAs out of tax necessity.. I educated myself....
Middle Class Doesn't do that....buying stocks....so I guess they don't benefit....
all my guessing