(Other firms charge transfer fees, so not a big surprise per se....but probably noteworthy for Vanguard)
Vanguard, the country’s second-largest financial-advisory firm, will start charging brokerage-account holders a slew of new fees starting July 1 — including a $100 processing fee to close an account or transfer assets to another firm. That fee, however, will be waived for customers with at least $5 million in assets.
The account-closure fee is a first for Vanguard, long a provider of low-cost investing options and a pioneer in passively managed index funds.
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In addition to Vanguard’s new account-closure fee, the company will also charge $25 for broker-assisted trades of Vanguard funds (unless the customer holds $1 million or more in Vanguard assets or is enrolled in a Vanguard advisory service); $100 to process the deposit of physical share certificates; a 20% fee on funds recovered from class-action settlements on clients’ behalf; a 1% fee on gross dividends paid on foreign or American depository receipt assets held in U.S. dollars; and a $250 processing fee for research and removal of a restriction on securities in brokerage accounts.
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https://www.marketwatch.com/story/vanguard-the-low-cost-investing-pioneer-will-now-charge-100-to-close-an-account-unless-youre-a-multimillionaire-09ef461c?mod=newsviewer_click

I am pretty certain it was 1992 when I jumped at the chance to buy re-opened low turnover Primecap shares for a taxable account. I felt fairly lucky, except SEQUX caused some fund envy. But of course, that envy disappeared in time. Other than MM holdings, VPMAX became my largest position - now ~13% of PV. Given the mediocre performance for several recent years, I certainly wouldn't mind if it reverted to its historical mean.

Its heyday may be over? Last 5 years 2019-2023 or YTD it hasn't even kept up with the SP500 (VOO) Why pay ER .31 (VPMAX adm) vs ER .03 (VOO). On 200k that's $620 vs $60.

@hank,
There is a lot of froth underneath the surface.
look at the relentless insider sales at HIMS and the relentless retail purchase of the stock.
Since they announced about 2-3 weeks ago about getting into weight loss drugs, there are a lot of C-suite sales, with the Chief Commercial Officer alone making two insider sales for a total of nearly 1M shares. After those sales, he owns 2M shares - so, he sold 1/3rd of his position and during that time the stock has gone up 30+%.
This is not one isolated example. There are a lot of stocks like this below the surface and the narrow 7 or 10 stock bull market narrative is from the (lazy?) media.

VPMCX is the first mutual fund I ever owned back in 1985/86.

Eight or nine years of redemptions probably explains it.
BTW, those consistent redemptions have resulted in years and years of significant capital gains distributions. On an after-tax basis both of these funds have underperformed the S&P 500, by more than 100 bps a year for over a decade.

Trying to figure out if this is the thread where we discussed Schwab platform being behind Fidelity for Treasury and Agency purchases, I noticed that we completely destroyed this thread with off (thread) topics. With apologies, I go one more time.
My Treasury positions at Schwab and Fidelity matured on June 15 (Saturday). Friday evening, Fidelity positions page showed pending credit and first thing Monday AM, Fidelity moved the money to sweep account. Schwab did not show anything last night and added to cash this AM.
I had forgotten about the Schwab position until this AM when I received this email from Schwab "Your fixed income security will be maturing soon." [bold added] I looked into the email details and noticed the maturity date "June 15." Fidelity sent me the reminder a few weeks ago.
Also, I looked at the interest credit. Treasury did not pay me for the extra two days they had my money, and then there was that extra day of interest loss at Schwab (lost interest on $500K made me notice.)
So, on my next Treasury or Agency purchase, I not only have to look at the coupon (buying at par) but also whether the maturity date falls on a weekend / holiday. Also, unlikely to buy at Schwab; the one matured at Schwab was moved from Fidelity.
P.S.: (1) My memory could be faulty but I thought corporate bonds added extra interest upon maturity if the maturity date fell on a weekend / holiday. (Treasury certainly did not do that.) Is my expectation misplaced?
(2) Do I earn interest in my Schwab MM fund from the date when the trade to buy is executed (today) or when the trade settles (Thursday)?

@BaluBalu Around July 15th is when MRFOX updates the website with new info. Updating after quarter-end is the most efficient for them. The PM also writes, "However, I'll kick this to our marketing and ops folks to see if they have thoughts. And then adding, "I would also note that our goal is for investors to take the long view, so if they’re concerned about short term issues, then this might not be the right vehicle for them."
I hope this helps. If you have further thoughts or concerns, you might consider sharing them with their management team yourself. Best.

Thank you, Dennis.
Many funds release information about material fund changes once a month. Some of them are successful long term funds and many of us hold those funds long term. MRFOX have to find a way to communicate about the fund once a month. I am not asking them to write macro or market commentary once a month or ever, which is of no use to me. It takes 5 minutes of an administrative assistant’s time once a month when a process is set up to show material fund changes. If there is a desire to communicate, they will find a way to do so.
I think it is a misplaced view for the management to say to the shareholders “if they are concerned about short term issues, then this might not be the right vehicle for them.” I did not get the thought to perhaps bail from the fund until I read that view.
When we got into the fund, we already knew what is meant by the 90 day short term redemption penalty and so I am a bit surprised by the management reaction to my request for more communication. You can treat your shareholders like partners or simply as a counter party to a transactional arrangement.
Edit: For the management to react the way they did, I am guessing they are overwhelmed (irritated?) with shareholder calls. There is nothing more I can say to them by calling them that I have not said here but thanks for the offer to call them. They can read this forum.

@Tarwheel
Hard to generalize about state pensions. My sister in Texas is in similar shape as you.
But if you had worked in CT you would get traditional 60 to 70% of “high three average” ( go overtime go) with inflation adjustments AND lifetime health insurance for you and ur spouse.
Vests ( including health insurance) After ten years of employment. So work ten years ie 22 to 32 yo and enjoy health insurance till 100!

End of message.

UPDATE: The following information was recently received from the SBA on June 17:

We received your identity theft complaint. After a thorough review of the loan record and the
information you have provided, we have confirmed that you did not apply for this loan nor receive
any benefit from this fraudulent loan application.
As a result of this determination, we are taking action to disassociate this loan from your identity
(or that of your business) and will cease all notices, statements, or other correspondence regarding
this loan. SBA will not take any action to collect this loan from you or your business. It may take
up to 30 (thirty) days for this update to take effect in our system. Please contact us should you
receive any notices, statements or other correspondence from us more than 30 days after the date
of this letter.

I/we must add that the SBA performed in a very professional manner. I/we SALUTE their efficient processing of this fraudulent claim.
Once processing began, we were notified that the original fraudulent claim was in the amount of $13,300. No charges were ever placed against any accounts we have.

@BaluBalu Around July 15th is when MRFOX updates the website with new info. Updating after quarter-end is the most efficient for them. The PM also writes, "However, I'll kick this to our marketing and ops folks to see if they have thoughts. And then adding, "I would also note that our goal is for investors to take the long view, so if they’re concerned about short term issues, then this might not be the right vehicle for them."
I hope this helps. If you have further thoughts or concerns, you might consider sharing them with their management team yourself. Best.

@hank, I used to own fixed income CEFs until sometime in 2021. After that I switched to trading them but not regularly as fixed income volatility has been high. Except for MLP CEFs, the only equity CEFs I ever owned are preferred stock CEFs which I treat as fixed income CEFs, but I have not owned preferred stock CEFs after 2020. Currently, I own the MLP allocation CEF, converting to fixed income CEF, PDX - but it is so small in my portfolio, after selling to buy another fixed income CEF, that it is not worth mentioning either. Now, I have difficulty with fixed income without leverage and so, fixed income CEFs in size would be too distracting for me. My hats off to folks that own levered fixed income CEFs (and MREITs) in an inverted yield curve environment.

I can't imagine any 14% payout without a hefty ROP component. Or maybe a Bernie Madoff component.

I don't own XLK, so that is 0.00% for me.
But I do hold LC-growth and MSFT, NVDA, APPL are top stocks in those funds.
These 3 are also top stocks in SP500 accounting for 20% of SP500.
So, this shift of about $11 billion in the next few days may have a notable effect on LC-growth and/or the market.
Posters are free to skip - XLK is in the title.

Added to PDI for income.

Hey @Mark,
I have never owned a CEF and noticed that PDI has a high distribution ratio, 14.23% per M*. Is this payout ratio the result of leverage employed by the fund and does it also include return of principal?

@hank,
Unless I have a longer view, I do not hold CEFs past the day before the ex-div date. This month I sold some even on ex-div minus 2 days, which is not common for me. I sell mostly on ex-div minus 1 day.
One of the ones I sold, sold off heavily into the close the day before ex date but that was a good buying opportunity if you were willing to hold overnight and have a neutral macro view so you do not wake up next day looking at further price loss.
I have heard many people buy on purpose the day before ex-div date to capture dividends. I never bothered to learn their motivations and incentives, as that would not align for me. I am glad they are there to bid for my stuff.
The above is only for regular divs (not special divs).

The use of free-float in indexes is sensible as that is the float that is publicly available. So, excluded are restricted stock (held by executives, directors, connected entities, etc), closely-held stock (insiders, major holders), Treasury stock (buybacks that aren't cancelled). If total market-cap is used, then funds will try to buy many more shares than are publicly available, and that would create a problem.
Many recent IPOs offer extreme examples (ARM, Saudi ARMCO - in Middle Eastern markets, etc) where only a small % of market-cap is issued.
Most other funds use proportional adjustments when caps are encountered. For example, if 3 stocks are eligible to be counted in 50% limitation, and they have approximately the same free-floats, then 3X = 50, or X = 0.1667, or 16.67% weight for each may be used. But the XLK formula knocks down the smallest (even by the tiniest amount), so 2X + 4.5 = 50, or X = 0.2275, or the weights 22.75%, 22.75%, 4.5%. That is what will cause this massive shift as NVDA used to be #3, but now AAPL is #3.
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/career-map/sell-side/capital-markets/free-float/
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/freefloatmethodology.asp

it's hard to argue that dividends don't matter.
Sigh. Once again, I am not saying that investors should fritter away dividends (dividends don't matter, so don't include them in your total return). Rather, I am saying that whether or not a security pays a dividend does not affect its total return.
I'll return to my PRW2X vs PRWCX example. They start out with the same portfolios. Then at the end of the first quarter, PRW2X distributes divs, while PRWCX retains them (until year end).
Assuming as we do when computing total return that all divs are reinvested, the distribution is on paper only. No money actually leaves the fund. The portfolio of PRW2X, which was identical to PRWCX's the day before the distribution is still identical to PRWCX's on the day of the distribution.
All that happens is that :
- the share price of PRW2X drops,
- investors get more shares (so that <outstanding shares> times <share price> is unchanged), and
- investors get a 1099 showing the payout.
Day by day, even through distributions, the portfolios of the two funds remain identical. So their performance must be identical.
Stocks are only slightly different. The math remains the same. The difference is that dividend payout ratio can be used as a signal of company health (and thus expected performance).
Stocks do not perform well because they pay out dividends, but rather the converse. Better performing companies tend to have div payout ratios within a certain Goldilocks range - not too low and not too high.
https://www.dividend.com/dividend-education/what-is-an-ideal-payout-ratio/