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Thanks, @Observant1.

The threads below include discussions regarding Matthews Asia developments.
Link1
Link2

My wife and I have been converting some of our IRAs into Roths, now we are retired and in lower income brackets, until we have to take RMDs in 3 and 7 years respectively.
This now adds a third type of account besides general taxable vs non-taxable, ie one that while non-taxable will hopefully be available to our heirs.
Any thoughts re
1) best type of assets to put into a Roth?
The typical recommendation for a taxable account is non- dividend paying equity funds and growth stocks as capital gains rates are lower than income tax rates. Qualified dividends also get taxed at capital gains rates.
Whereas investments that throw off cash taxed at income tax rates should be in IRSs etc, as all of the withdrawals will be taxed at those rates, regardless.
Bonds even high yield Bonds while tax free in a Roth, would not seem to have the same prospective rates of returns over decades as Equities. I also want to avoid speculative ideas, as significant capital losses eliminates the advantage that taxes have already been paid on the money.
2) Has anyone found useful calculators or spreadsheets to help determine the tax implications of Roth conversions? Surprisingly, I cannot find anything helpful, other than calculations for the RMD itself.

Thanks @Crash & @carew388
Neither MAINX (+3% 1 year) or MICPX (-1.65% -1 year) appears to have a terrible one year stretch. Most everything related to EM got clocked last year. Not familiar with Matthews funds - but recall some favorable mentions here over the years. Possibly “fickle” investors fleeing, or maybe (more likely) just the trend out of mutual funds and into ETFs.

Sad news. These funds have been killing it this year: MAINX up 9.00% and MICPX up 8.39% YTD. And in the past 3 months, MAINX up 33.43% and MICP up 22.01%. Life has been good in Asian bonds.

Former Vanguard Health Care (VGHAX) manager Ed Owens died on Nov. 27, 2022.
VGHAX had an annualized 16.4% return during his long tenure
compared to a 10.7% return for the S&P 500 index.
Link1
Link2

13 jan, 2023.

Reverse-splits for mutual funds don't make any (rational) sense. They don't trade like stocks, and trading and margin considerations don't apply.

99.9% of the time, I agree with this. There is the oddball exception where there is a sensible rationale for reverse splits.
BTTRX is a zero coupon bond fund. A real zero coupon bond pays no interest (though interest is imputed); it merely appreciates in value until maturity. BTTRX is designed to mimic this behaviour.
From the prospectus:

Reverse Share Splits
When the fund pays its distributions, the board also declares a reverse share split for the fund that exactly offsets the per-share amount of the distribution. If you reinvest your dividends, this reverse share split means that you will hold exactly the same number of shares after a dividend as you did before. This reverse share split makes changes in the fund’s share prices behave like changes in the values of zero-coupon securities.

https://www.americancentury.com/plan/tax-center/reverse-share-split/

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/923184/000119312523008392/d274034d497.htm
497 1 d274034d497.htm FORM 497
MATTHEWS ASIA FUNDS
SUPPLEMENT DATED JANUARY 13, 2023
TO THE PROSPECTUS FOR
THE MATTHEWS ASIA TOTAL RETURN BOND FUND AND
THE MATTHEWS ASIA CREDIT OPPORTUNITIES FUND
DATED APRIL 28, 2022, AS SUPPLEMENTED (THE “PROSPECTUS”)
For all existing and prospective shareholders of the Matthews Asia Total Return Bond Fund and the Matthews Asia Credit Opportunities Fund:
Liquidation
The Board of Trustees of Matthews International Funds (d/b/a Matthews Asia Funds) (the “Trust”) has approved a Plan of Termination, Dissolution and Liquidation for each of the Matthews Asia Total Return Bond Fund and Matthews Asia Credit Opportunities Fund, each a series of the Trust (each, a “Fund” and together, the “Funds”), pursuant to which the Funds will be liquidated (each, a “Liquidation” and together, the “Liquidations”) on or about March 15, 2023 (the “Liquidation Date”). This date may be changed without notice at the discretion of the Trust’s officers.
Suspension of Sales. Effective January 17, 2023, the Funds will no longer sell shares to new investors or existing shareholders, including through exchanges into the Funds from other series of the Trust.
Mechanics. Each Fund will cease investment operations in accordance with the Fund’s investment objective and policies, and the Fund’s assets will be converted into cash and cash equivalents on or before the Liquidation Date. In connection with the Liquidations, any shares of a Fund outstanding on the Liquidation Date will be automatically redeemed as of the close of business on the Liquidation Date. The proceeds of any such redemption will be equal to the net asset value of those shares after the applicable Fund has paid or covered with reserves all of its charges, taxes, expenses and liabilities. For each Fund, the distribution to shareholders of these liquidation proceeds will occur as soon as practicable, and will be made to all shareholders of the Fund of record at the time of the Liquidation. Additionally, each Fund must declare and distribute to shareholders any realized capital gains and all net investment income no later than the final Liquidation distribution. Matthews International Capital Management, LLC (“Matthews”), investment advisor to the Funds, intends to distribute substantially all of each Fund’s net investment income before the applicable Liquidation. Matthews will bear all extra expenses other than any brokerage commissions in connection with the Liquidations to the extent those expenses with respect to a Fund exceed the amount of the Fund’s normal and customary fees and expenses accrued by the Fund through the Liquidation Date, provided that those accrued amounts are first applied to pay for the Fund’s normal and customary fees and expenses.
Other Alternatives. At any time before the Liquidation Date, shareholders of the Funds may redeem their shares of the Funds and receive the net asset value thereof, pursuant to the procedures set forth under “Investing in the Matthews Asia Funds – Selling (Redeeming) Shares” in the Prospectus. Shareholders may also exchange their shares of the Funds for shares of the same class of any other series of the Trust, as described in and subject to any restrictions set forth under “Investing in the Matthews Asia Funds – Exchanging Shares” in the Prospectus.
U.S. Federal Income Tax Matters. For tax purposes, with respect to shares held in a taxable account, the automatic redemption of shares of a Fund on the Liquidation Date will generally be treated as any other redemption of shares (i.e., as a sale that may result in gain or loss for federal income tax purposes). Instead of waiting until the Liquidation Date, a shareholder may voluntarily redeem his or her shares before the Liquidation Date to the extent that the shareholder wishes to realize any such gains or losses before the Liquidation Date. See “Other Shareholder Information – Taxes” in the Prospectus. Shareholders should consult their tax advisors regarding the tax treatment of the Liquidation.
If you have any questions regarding the Liquidations, please contact the Trust at 1-800-789-ASIA (2742).
Please retain this Supplement with your records.

In a taxable account, one would amortize the premium over the life of the bond, so that the net taxable interest would be the same on either bond.
This amortization is optional on taxable bonds, mandatory on muni bonds. This amortization helps reduce annual tax-free income, which in turn reduces MAGI for IRMAA purposes.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/26/1.171-4

Jan 13 edition here.
Some disagreement here: Wells Fargo says inflation is still the leading risk, while the other two think it's the econ slowdown. Interesting to see Peter Tchir (sp?) push back on KG's emphasis on the year-over-year inflation number, saying he's looking at shorter terms like 3m and seeing inflation way down, and some econ storm clouds kicking up.
Again, the guests see the greatest security risk in leveraged loans and very low quality HY. Also talk that earnings reports could drive a big market move in the short term.
P.S. Katie's back to saying she's "in for Jonathon Ferro."

Bloomberg has a great piece by Matt Levine pointing out that the debt ceiling applies only to the principal of the bonds not the interest. So it would be easy to get around the limit by selling bonds with high interest for a premium, which is entirely legal. It is behind a paywall so I will quote the argument here
He points out that there is little difference in selling two $100 one year bonds paying 4.5% ) yields $9 interest) vs selling one $100 bond paying 109% interest. The latter would sell for $200, or a premium of $100 with $9 in interest being the same as that accumulated on two $100 bonds. The 109% interest bond would only raise the debt ceiling by $100, compared to the $200.
I would buy this in a non-taxable account!

I believe this is what you're referring to:
https://www.chron.com/business/enron/article/Enron-executives-may-lose-lawsuits-but-not-all-2070656.php
As far as OJ is concerned,

Collections attorneys who have experience know how to use the Florida Uniform Fraudulent Transfer act and other such actions in Florida to attack transfers by a debtor into exempt assets. Such transfers may be reversible in certain circumstances. Furthermore, transfers to a spouse may also be reversible if done to defraud a creditor.

https://whhlaw.com/oj-simpson-really-moving-florida-debt-collection/
IOW, you'd better have your ducks in a row before there's a judgment against you.
With respect to plaintiffs being constrained by contingency lawyers, submitted for your amusement:

Geico must pay $5.2 million to woman who got HPV from sex in man's insured car, court rules
...The woman — identified in court papers only as "M.O." — said that she "engaged in unprotected sexual activities in Insured's vehicle" in November and December 2017 and that he "negligently caused or contributed to" her catching the human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted infection, court papers said.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/geico-must-pay-52-million-woman-got-hpv-sex-mans-insured-car-court-rul-rcna32831
Of course this is being appealed. Still this is the type of claim (liability for negligence) that umbrella insurance is designed for, and it illustrates that the amounts and types of claims possible are limited only by a plaintiff's imagination.

Currently DCA into Contrarian. I took Divs & CG in cash (Micro Cap Fd) for 2021, maybe time to reinvest these funds ?
Show me a sign, Derf

@Observant1
Several political blogs questioned why Santos's opponents campaign or the national Dems couldn't find stuff that the NYT easily uncovered. I looked into it a bit and found the research paper the Democrats wrote on Santos. ( If anyone is interested I can try to find it again)
95% of it deals with his pro Trump/election denying statements etc, and other than mentioning his education and supposed job history they did not investigate. The one red flag is they did discover he had been evicted for non payment of rent several times, but apparently didn't follow up
My impression was they were so focused on his being a Trumpite ( Thinking it would rile up the Dem base?) , that they failed to make a few phone calls to Citi or Goldman, thus violating what to me would be the first law of politics : Know your opponent.
I shared this info with my uber Democratic cousins and was accused of "always complaining about the Democrats". Tehy refused to believe the campaign was responsible.
I think it demonstrates again, how polarization has so overtaken people's previous good sense and investigative reporting. Even criticism from allies is seen as treacherous

And so the game of chicken has begun. Who blinks first? The mainstream politicians in both parties or the financial terrorists holding the government and our economy hostage?
https://usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/01/13/treasury-department-us-debt-ceiling-republicans/11047076002/

Ditto. Plus headline CPI (CPI-U) is +0.9 for the past six months, or 1.8% annualized. (See the bar graph partway down this page.)
Think how meager the yield of an I-bond priced now would be, even if the fixed portion was bumped up a bit. Per Yogi's thread on I-bonds, it's not likely to be any better when the re-rate comes around again in May.