FYI: A monster blizzard is bearing down on the New York City area, but a snow day for the traders is unlikely. The New York Stock Exchange and the Nasdaq will be open for business as usual.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/will-the-east-coast-snow-storm-close-markets-2015-01-26/print
Let It Snow: Frank Sinatra:

@MFO Members: Here is Prudential's take on of the Periodic Tables, and commodities table.
Regards,
Ted
https://investment.prudential.com/util/common/get?file=1D065355D2CC360385257B7D00536F8A
Commodities Table:
http://www.visualcapitalist.com/periodic-table-commodity-returns/

I've done more research and decided that Turbo Tax is no longer for me.
http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20150125/FREE/150129944/turbotax-raises-prices-and-the-tax-prep-software-battle-is-on
How do people like Tax Act?

Hi Guys,
Ted just posted the Callan 2014 Periodic Table of Returns.
The Callan Table is the granddaddy of the many versions of these data that are now published. It’s great stuff. But I prefer an American Century edition. Here is its Link:
https://www.americancentury.com/content/dam/americancentury/ipro/pdfs/flyer/Periodic_Table.pdf
Note that some of the ranking categories and quoted annual returns are slightly different between these two excellent sources.
Best Regards.

The current Dogs: AT&T (ticker: T), Verizon (VZ), Chevron (CVX), McDonald's (MCD), Pfizer (PFE), General Electric (GE), Merck (MRK), Caterpillar (CAT), ExxonMobil (XOM) and Coca-Cola (KO). Average yield: 3.71%.
and you find (safe) yield like that where else?

FYI: (This is a follow-up article)
Vanguard Group surpassed State Street Global Advisors as the second-largest ETF provider, a new milestone following a year that was filled with them.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20150126/FREE/150129942?template=printart

Thanks @Ted.
Noted at the end of the M* article:
"Nontraditional funds are trailing intermediate funds again in 2015, as interest rates continue to fall. Intermediate funds returned an average of 0.9 percent as of Jan. 13, while flexible funds lost 0.1 percent, according to Morningstar.
It still may be too early to make a valid judgment about the flexible funds, said Sarah Bush, a senior analyst at Morningstar.
“They haven’t been around that long,” Bush said in a telephone interview. “We are going to have to see how they perform through a whole cycle.”
>>>Say what? Perhaps the fund type has not been around very long; but hopefully many of the fund managers have, eh? The managers are "unconstrained" by the fund prospectus and happened to get the call wrong on bond prices. Not unlike "calling" any other sector of investing and not unlike what we individual investors face in our "unconstrained" portfolios attempting to stay ahead of the curve with where to "put the money" to obtain a best total return.
Many folks have had problems with bond directions over the past few years, yes?
Regards,
Catch

FYI: The new generation of bond funds just can’t keep up with your parents’ investments.
Unconstrained funds, part of a new breed of mutual funds designed with the flexibility to profit in rising and falling markets, returned an average of 1.2 percent in 2014, compared with 5.2 percent for intermediate-term funds, historically the most popular bond investment. The new funds, the best-selling segment of the fixed-income category in 2014, also trailed in the past three and five years, and are behind again in 2015, according to Morningstar Inc.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2015-01-15/flexible-bond-funds-flop-as-rate-drop-stings-top-sellers.html
M* Unconstrained Bond Fund Returns:
http://news.morningstar.com/fund-category-returns/nontraditional-bond/$FOCA$NT.aspx

Gross: "We brought consumption forward and issued one giant credit card for the past 30 years. Now the bill is coming due. Investors need to get used to low returns, and low growth, inflation, and interest rates for a long time." Very SCARY.
Faber: "Policy makers have created an environment in which a corporation with a lot of cash isn’t going to build a factory or a business. It is going to buy back shares or take over another company. In each takeover, staff is eliminated and there is no capital spending. "
Barrons Roundtable tracker:
Faber, Zulauf, Schafer, and Witmer are top of the pack. I like Witmer's style, just simple company turnarounds with no guesses about economy, etc.
http://blog.pundittracker.com/barrons-roundtable-2013-performance-updated-2002-13-rankings/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=barrons-roundtable-2013-performance-updated-2002-13-rankings

EM reads
http://www.columbian.com/news/2015/jan/17/consider-emerging-markets/
globe and mail ETF eddition
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-investor/funds-and-etfs/etfs/welcome-to-the-globe-and-mails-etf-buyers-guide-2015-edition/article22607701/
energy sector
http://www.wallstreetsectorselector.com/investment-articles/editors-desk/2015/01/energy-sector-enjoys-relief-rally/
Equity ETFs post 3rd straight yrs of gains
http://www.morningstar.com/advisor/t/101013187/equity-etfs-post-third-straight-year-of-plus-side-returns.htm
gold miners new
http://www.nasdaq.com/article/will-gold-miner-etfs-dig-up-solid-returns-in-2015-etf-news-and-commentary-cm434083

FYI MFO Members: (Click On Article Title At Top Of Google Search)
Regards,
Ted
Is It Time to Invest in Energy Stocks?
https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&site=&source=hp&q=Is+It+Time+to+Invest+in+Energy+Stocks?+wsj&oq=Is+It+Time+to+Invest+in+Energy+Stocks?+wsj&gs_l=hp.3...6814.12229.0.12710.5.5.0.0.0.0.73.340.5.5.0.msedr...0...1c.1.61.hp..2.3.205.FgXH4E9HiBY

@MFO Members: RNCOX is a very expensive, 2.22% ER , Fund Of Funds that can't beat the S&P 500. My suggestion , take a pass.
Regards,
Ted
Fact Sheet RNCOX:
http://assets.rivernorth.com/pdf/fact.sheet/2014.q4.rncix.rncox.fact.sheet.cedar.pdf

@Tampabay,
You should write a book. You seem to alway achieve gains in the markets no matter the circumstances. You could name the book "Making Fat Winners in The Stock Market. "
I wonder how you would have fared from 1966 to 1982?

Dittos on Old_Skeet's observation regarding real estate and utilities. They had a very good 2014 and are continuing that trend so far this year. The idea of overweighting sectors is something I also practice. It has been effective for me. Many here are overweighting healthcare for the same reason.

FYI: Bargain hunting can be a thrill, but remember that it can also be dangerous.
Brave investors are picking through energy stocks, looking to buy those pummeled by the plunging price of oil. Billions of dollars flowed into energy stock funds last month, a huge leap from the norm, enticed by prices marked down by 25 percent or more since last summer. But many mutual fund managers and other professional investors have a warning for the bargain hunters: Don’t be surprised if it takes years for the prices of energy stocks to fully recover.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.dallasnews.com/business/personal-finance/headlines/20150119-energy-stocks-buy-low-or-get-out-of-the-way.ece
M* Equity Energy Fund Returns:
http://news.morningstar.com/fund-category-returns/equity-energy/$FOCA$EE.aspx

FYI: Collecting most things — except, say, cobras — is a fun, easy way to spend your time. But one of the hardest things to collect these days is income from your investments.
Regards
Ted
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/01/23/finding-investment-income/22178431/
Dogs Of The Dow Website:
http://www.dogsofthedow.com/

OAKBX may do better when energy recovers. They seem to attempt balancing opposing market elements to a greater degree than many conservative allocation funds do. Energy is one part of that equation and it certainly hasn't paid off recently.
Peer group leader PRWCX (which I also own) has an edge on ER and has outperformed for the past several years. But the two investment approaches are quite different (despite the funds often being lumped together by observors).
OAKBX is a hard fund to categorize in part because of the balancing act they attempt. (When the parts are working well, volatility appears low). Also, the managers vary market exposure according to their read on market valuation. I hold it in my conservative/hybrid sleeve - but there have been periods when it appeared more aggressive,
* Nice chart by Charles. He is correct in the moderate allocation label for OAKBX and that label agrees with both Lipper and M*. Personally (I realize that counts little) I consider OAKBX and PRWCX both to be at the upper (aggressive) end of the conservative allocation spectrum.
(I've owned OAKBX for 8-10 years and PRWCX for about 20)

About OAKBX - I had owned this fund for over 15 years but recently sold it for a couple of reasons. One, as you mentioned it had started to lag it's peer's on a consistent basis and two, I built my own equity income/dividend income fund to do the same job I had been paying the Oakmark managers to do saving myself those management fees. NO, I do not think that I am smarter or more clever than they are but I could choose equally or less riskier stocks then this fund holds and get paid a higher yield to do so. That increased yield was really what I was after. YMMV

Howdy,
Being a grand father and contributor to two 529, this is on first blush, outrageous.
I say this because this country and OUR government is making billions of dollars every year on student loans. This is obscene. For a people to succeed, they need to have universal education. It should be free. For our government to be profiting on the backs of students trying to get ahead is unbelievable. Note that these students, by definition, are the poorest, otherwise, they wouldn't need the loans. Yeah, how elitist is this?
Nopers, higher education should be FREE to anyone able to be admitted and that can maintain good grades.
What I propose is to apply a surcharge tax to all the S&P 500 corporations of 10% each to fully subsidize higher education. I mean, hey, all we hear is how they big corporations create jobs and are always eager for qualified applicants.
Time to pony up.
and so it goes,
peace,
ronp