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Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
  • Rising Auto & Home Insurance Costs
    Not sure where you live but I'm guessing you had to Google that info yourself.
    Half right. Yes, I searched for this, but not because I had to. Rather, I searched because I often check data before I post. My recollection is that I was offered a policy with a 25% deductible. But that was long enough ago that I wasn't sure about the figure and I don't have records going back that far.
    The deductibles in California are generally 15%, 20%, and 25%.
    https://www.earthquakeauthority.com/california-earthquake-insurance-policies/homeowners/coverages-and-deductibles
    They don't depend on risk. You get to choose. "For the best choice of CEA earthquake home insurance policies, select deductibles from 5%-25%."
    https://www.earthquakeauthority.com/california-earthquake-insurance-policies/how-to-buy-earthquake-insurance-california
  • Buy Sell Why: ad infinitum.
    @BaluBalu, minimum is $10,000
    CUSIP: 3130B13H8
    Security Type: Government Agencies
    Issuer Name: Federal Home Loan Bks
    Maturity Date: 05/03/2029
    Coupon Rate: 6.250%
    Thanks. I was going to buy it at Fidelity. The first settlement for this is May 14. It is not in the new issue inventory, which means the issuer is done accepting offers (bids) from Fidelity. I could not find it in the secondary list either but I was able to pull it up by the CUSIP # but it shows no bids and asks. Agencies bought in secondary market attract transaction fees (0.1% or $100 fees for 100K face amount?).
    When and at which brokerage did you buy it?
  • Buy Sell Why: ad infinitum.
    @BaluBalu, minimum is $10,000
    CUSIP: 3130B13H8
    Security Type: Government Agencies
    Issuer Name: Federal Home Loan Bks
    Maturity Date: 05/03/2029
    Coupon Rate: 6.250%
  • MINT etf versus CD's versus MMK'Ts
    Currently, only a 20 month rate bump CD is offered. How is the rate increase implemented?
    The rate offered on a 20 month bump CD is currently 4.4%. Suppose that come July 2, Marcus changes the rate offered on a new 20 month bump CD to 4.8%. You could request a bump up on that day and receive 4.8% for the remainder of your term.
    This is the way virtually all bump CDs work.
    For example, if you have a two-year CD with a 1% annual percentage yield, or APY, and one year later, the bank pushes rates on new two-year CDs up to 3% APY, you can request the higher rate for the second half of your CD’s term.
    https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/banking/bump-up-cd-step-up-cd
  • Rising Auto & Home Insurance Costs
    Clearly someone who has never looked at earthquake insurance (10%-20% deductibles)
    Well @msf, obviously living in upstate NY, I don't look very often at earthquake insurance policies. Okay, well, actually never, but thanks for the insight. Not sure where you live but I'm guessing you had to Google that info yourself.
    I also believe insurance coverage is based on rebuild replacement cost, not property value. Building materials can't be that much more in California than the rest of the country. My guess is the 10-20% earthquake deductible you Googled is likely based on claim-probability more so that property cost.
  • Another nice little perk at Schwab: after-hours
    Appreciate the input, all. Now I have homework to do on "Trailing Stop." @MikeM.
    Another I'm watching closely is TS. It was on fire and rising. Lately, it's falling like a stone. What I read says there is heightened competition in North America. Some companies--- including TS--- have not yet reported for the 1st Q. of 2024. It's coming soon in May. I'm still holding a SMALL profit in the stock. I had intended this one to be a long-term holding. Maybe it's time to BUY, again?
    OOPS, wrong again. 1st Q. results:
    https://www.morningstar.com/news/globe-newswire/9106305/tenaris-announces-2024-first-quarter-results
    Net Income is down by -35%. Gulp.
  • Stable-Value (SV) Rates, 5/1/24
    Stable-Value (SV) Rates, 5/1/24
    TIAA Traditional Annuity (Accumulation) Rates
    All up +25 bps.
    Restricted RC 5.75%, RA 5.50%
    Flexible RCP 5.00%, SRA 4.75%, Newer IRAs 5.00%
    (TIAA Declaration Year 3/1 - 2/28)
    TSP G Fund hasn't updated yet (previous 4.25%).
    Options outside of workplace retirement plans include m-mkt funds, bank m-mkt accounts (FDIC insured), T-Bills, short-term brokered CDs.
    #StableValue #401k #403b #TIAA #TSP
    https://ybbpersonalfinance.proboards.com/post/1454/thread
  • Serious bright RED/down at 1:30 EST in many sectors
    @junkster,
    Two years ago, I would not have expected floating rate stuff to do well for this long. JBBB and JAAA are green today.
    Most of my monies is in CLOs (floating rate) and my complacency there worries me. Even Barron’s is extolling the virtues of CLOs. - never a good sign.
    Maybe Powell will ignite another long duration rally tomorrow ala November 1.
    CLOs / CDOs / CDS / etc always give me the queasies. The GFC was caused by their systemic risk and not long after the crisis ended, they were back under a different name as I recall. Bottom line, I avoid any investment I can't understand or has too much complexity.
  • Serious bright RED/down at 1:30 EST in many sectors
    @junkster,
    Two years ago, I would not have expected floating rate stuff to do well for this long. JBBB and JAAA are green today.
    Most of my monies is in CLOs (floating rate) and my complacency there worries me. Even Barron’s is extolling the virtues of CLOs. - never a good sign.
    Maybe Powell will ignite another long duration rally tomorrow ala November 1.
  • Rising Auto & Home Insurance Costs
    my question really is, is it possible to have a $50,000-100,000 deductible HO policy with any of the insurance companies available to you?
    Clearly someone who has never looked at earthquake insurance (10%-20% deductibles) :-(
    https://content.naic.org/article/what-are-earthquake-deductibles
    That's $100K-$200K on a $1M tear down in California.
    Headline: What does $1M get you in the Bay Area? It's official: A burned down home.
    https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/bay-area-burned-home-sells-1-million-real-estate-16398674.php
    image
  • Serious bright RED/down at 1:30 EST in many sectors
    This may/will change by the time you view, but right now; this is a bit unusual.
    Strictly for your market observations.
    https://finviz.com/futures.ashx
    Remain curious,
    Catch
  • Rising Auto & Home Insurance Costs
    @MikeM, deductible limits may depend on insurance co. Liberty Mutual has them as $100-5,000 or 1-10% of home value. Don't know if they will make exceptions on request.
    https://www.libertymutual.com/insurance-resources/property/home-insurance-deductibles-faqs
  • Rising Auto & Home Insurance Costs
    @Old_Joe, my question really is, is it possible to have a $50,000-100,000 deductible HO policy with any of the insurance companies available to you? Basically self-insuring for anything other than total loss of your home burning in a wild-fire storm or wiped out by mud slides or whatever other calamities make insurance in California so expensive or even prohibitive.
  • I Bonds - buy, wait for May and buy, or hold
    Early announcement on 4/30/24 for I-Bond rates 5/1/24 - 10/31/24.
    Fixed/base rate 1.30% (same)
    Variable rate (semiannual) 1.48%
    Composite rate = [0.0130 + (2 x 0.0148) + (0.0130 x 0.0148)] = 4.28%
  • Buy Sell Why: ad infinitum.
    Just a heads-up … GDX (gold miners index) is down near 4% on the day. Gold is off $50 to just above $2300 after peaking over $2400 2 weeks ago. Is it a good buy? I don’t know. If I had some spare cash lying around, I’d take a small position (but I don’t). Have pretty much side-stepped the metals this year because of the combined volatility + age issues. I do keep 10% of portfolio in PRPFX, and have for about 20 years. It maintains a 30-35% exposure to metals + miners.
    FWIW - While most observers think the miners are underpriced relative to the metal, investing in the miners is a lot more risky. For a conservative small play, I’d stick with something tied to the price of the metal itself rather than going out on a limb with the miners. Lots of such funds. I’ve used precious metals (mix) GLTR before. But there are cheaper ones.
  • Rising Auto & Home Insurance Costs
    In one of my first posts in this thread, I reported approaching my insurance co re increasing deductible by 2,500 to $7,500. The premium would go down by $80 on a $1,800 renewal which was not much of a decrease. The choices I have are stay with current Co. which does not feature among the best companies for customer satisfaction and the alternative I could find (because not too many are writing new policies) is Mercury at $1500 with below average customer satisfaction.
    One of my family members has been with the same insurance company for 30 years. When he bought a 4 unit rental 5 years ago, his agent’s quote was materially higher than another agent’s quote for the same insurance company. His original agent could not match the second agent’s quote. So he has all his policies with the same insurance co. but through two different agencies. That is how strange insurance market is.
  • Rising Auto & Home Insurance Costs
    It's pretty certain that if an insurance company finds out about a loss it will affect your rates (unless you have accident forgiveness).
    Except for the smallest of collisions, an insurance company will find out about an accident even if you don't inform the insurer directly. Assuming you obey the law. Insurers check police reports and most if not all states require you to report a collision if the estimated damage exceeds a certain threshold. For example, that is $500 in Florida:
    Section 316.065, Florida Statutes, requires the driver of a vehicle involved in a crash involving injury or death to a person, or at least $500 estimated vehicle or property damage to immediately contact local law enforcement.
    https://www.flhsmv.gov/insurance/involved-in-a-crash
    There's some wiggle room there (that dent to the fender sure didn't look like it would cost $500 to fix). Still, if you are following the law, the insurer will find out.
    It's different for comprehensive and for home insurance. AFAIK, there's no obligation to inform the insurer. (Though one should check one's policy terms to be sure.)
  • Rising Auto & Home Insurance Costs
    @Old_Joe, I'm curious. Deductibles seem to be a big lever for insurance companies. If you were to ask for say a $50k or even a $100k deductible, would they do that with lower premiums? Obviously this would only be for catastrophic occurrences, but that's how I see HO insurance anyway.
  • Another nice little perk at Schwab: after-hours
    Schwab GTC used to be 60 days only, but now it's 6 months. Day-order (expires at the end of the day) is also an option. One thing nice is that if, say, you have 500# GTC order, and only 200# get filled on some day, then the rest 300# will remain GTC but you can cancel that. Most trading is commission-free, but in old days, single commission applied to the entire GTC order.
    The first time you try to use pre/after-hour trading, you may have to go through 10-15 approval process. They have to read a scripted text before approving this feature. You may want to get this out of the way if you will be trading pre/after-market hours. Otherwise, there may be a delay. These are illiquid markets, and easily manipulated. You must use limit-orders. Orders from market hours doesn't carry over to pre/after-market hours, or vice-versa.
    Similar at Fido and other major brokers.
  • New Stock ETFs Offering ‘100%’ Downside Protection Are Coming
    PIMIX outperformance was largely due to MBS acquistions in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis.
    Messrs. Ivascyn and Murata backed up the proverbial truck. Kudos to them!
    This may have been a once-in-a-generation opportunity.
    PIMIX returns have generally been decent the past five calendar years but they pale compared to the past.
    The fund's 5 Yr and 10 Yr trailing returns were in the top 1% of the Multisector Bond category as of 10/31/2017.
    PIMIX returned 6.87% and 9.33% during these periods which exceeded the BBgBarc US Universal
    benchmark's return by 4.38% and 4.85% respectively.