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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.
  • Digging into Ark Innovation's Portfolio
    ARKK is not for investors, it is a pure momentum play. Investor will identify a good stock with potential to put money in. Gambler will have to know when to get in and get out. I started getting into ADNPX managed by Cathie woods 8 months ago, made handsome of money. Eventually getting out and completely out yesterday. Tried to be investor with this fund but couldn't make it. I suspect this ARKK thing has lost momentum will be out of fashion for sometime. Will see. Lately, financial sector is in trend. ARKF (fintech ETF) peaked on 2/16/21 at 64.49, future as is of this moment 57.11)
  • Digging into Ark Innovation's Portfolio
    1) There were a lot of could's, possibly's and potential's in this analysis.
    2) ARKK holds less tech stocks than the S&P 500
    3) There is little doubt that the fund and possibly the fund manager are riding a wave. What will happen next is all speculation and guess work.
    4) Weren't growth stocks supposed to be toast 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8 (and maybe more) years running? Maybe this will be the year.
  • IRS tax program updates info
    I had a problem with TT Home & Business. Last year I made a QCD after I turned 70.5, but not 72. There was no way to make the QCD a tax free distribution until I increased my age a few years. I then was able to enter the QCD properly. After finishing, I put my correct birthday back in. That worked. Thanks to the TT forum.
    I hope TT fixes this as this will happen to me this year too, and then others thereafter.
  • Did anybody receive 1099 form for IOFIX?
    Hey all... a bit off topic (sort of)... but I still own PONAX and IOFIX came across my radar and have read a lot of positive comments on this board about it. It's performing just fine or better than fine in 2021... but did anyone here have palpitations in 2020 when the 1 year return was -9.59%? with the ER at 1.68%? I'm not being snarky... just trying to understand the logic of why you believe in it LT. Reviewed FD's chart showing the fund's momentum and it was logical. #IStrugglewithBonds and understanding the ballast / importance if you ignore 2008-which, hard to believe, was 13 years ago.
  • IRS tax program updates info

    Indeed, you might be able to still get 2011 At Home:
    https://www.ebay.com/p/1401002857
    https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/bGgAAOSwhBFeT5hk/s-l640.jpg
    but I probably have my CD in a drawer somewhere, and it would be free :) .
    Way too much history:
    https://www.oldsoftware.com/Macintax.html
  • IRS tax program updates info
    H & R Block entered the personal financial software market in late 1993 with the purchase of MECA Software, which was best known for its "Managing Your Money" program. Block decided, however, to sell MECA in March 1995 for $35,000, while retaining the right to publish tax preparation software under the name TaxCut. By 1998 its subsidiary, Block Financial Corporation, was the second largest publisher of personal financial software, with record sales of Kiplinger TaxCut, as more people were using their computer and the Internet to prepare their own tax returns.
    http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/h-r-block-incorporated-history/
    On October 31, 2011, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia announced its decision to issue a permanent injunction blocking H&R Block's proposed acquisition of the company that markets the TaxACT line of tax-preparation software. The court found that the proposed acquisition would substantially lessen competition. ... [In 2011] H&R Block market[ed] a line of tax-preparation software under the brand name "H&R Block At Home" (formerly known as "TaxCut").
    https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/federal-district-judge-issues-permanent-12068/
    If you used something in 2011 or 2012 called Tax <something> it wasn't Tax Cut. These days, H&R doesn't even seem to have a name for its software. Here's what Tax Cut looked like in the early 2000's when it ran on Windows XP and a Pentium (90MHz, 133MHz preferred).
    image
    Source: https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/480145-REG/H_R_Block_1016600_06_TaxCut_Premium_Federal_and.html/specs
  • 5 ETFs That Are Great For An Emergency Fund
    https://www.thestreet.com/etffocus/.amp/dividend-ideas/5-etfs-great-emergency-fund
    5 ETFs That Are Great For An Emergency Fund
    The COVID pandemic put the importance of having emergency savings squarely in the spotlight.
    Besides perhaps CD or cash Etf US TREASURY
    Anyone thought parking in high grade short term corp bonds like bac? Yields maybe higher
  • College Endowment Returns Plummet in Most Recent Year
    “The study findings, released Friday, portend a long era of muted returns for higher education institutions, which will likely encourage them to have a fresh look at financial and investment strategies in order to meet critical return targets and sustain their mission of providing urgently needed support to students. The new study was based on responses of 705 institutions representing $638 billion in endowment assets, and covers the fiscal year July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020.”
    “Endowments’ average one-year returns were 1.8% as of June 30, compared with 5.3% for the previous fiscal year. The historical target return for endowments has been 7.5%, comprising spending requirements, but in recent years, endowments have been challenged to meet this target, according to the study.”
    Article
    NOTE - Study may be a bit misleading since it measures the one-year returns as of June 30 - shortly after the pandemic induced selloff. However, 1.8% seems like a dismal one-year return. My sense is that both 2019 and 2020 were pretty good years for most investors - despite the March / April pummeling.
  • Anyone having trouble acessing accounts at Schwab ?
    I was having issues as well and called in only to be on hold for 45 mins before hanging up. I assumed it was perhaps issues in Texas? Not sure
  • when is time to bail on junk?
    The yield, listed as per Morningstar, is 5.8%. That might make it worth owning for me. If junk bonds were on my radar. I don't try to time highs and lows in the Market. Distributions are consistently 4-5 cents each month. Barchart rates it a 100% buy.
    https://www.barchart.com/etfs-funds/quotes/ARTFX/opinion
    Morningstar: "...Manager Bryan Krug's investment philosophy is rooted in cash flow-based lending rather than the more traditional asset-based lending. This often leads him to find value in so-called asset-light companies, such as software firms and insurance brokers, which generate strong cash flows but often carry lower ratings from the rating agencies. As a result, the strategy holds hefty doses of CCC rated debt; Krug also runs a concentrated, idiosyncratic portfolio, with the 10 largest issuers accounting for roughly a third of assets..."
  • Musk trashes cash / defends bitcoin purchase. “I’m not an investor, I am an engineer.”
    I hear you loud and clear @sven on valuations and equity P/E... BUT... the stories covering that topic and sending out the alarms have been have been increasing in frequency the last 3 years. Then in March it was an I told you so moment but it ended up not being.
    @derf I’m open to learning the value of bonds. Heck.. I’ve even admitted that I own a bond fund in each of my accounts. I’m trying to be conservative and note- I’m not yet relying on investments for retirement income. I’m not retired. When I do... perhaps I’ll pay even closer attention to them. It’s just for the last 10 plus years... I don’t understand how I benefitted from owning them when just comparing to an S&P 500 Index.
    Still - love the conversation here and learning different perspectives.
  • Wall Street is piling into trading cards as prices soar
    "When fiat [regular] currency has negative real interest, only a fool wouldn't look elsewhere. Bitcoin is almost as BS as fiat money. The key word is 'almost'."
    From a current MFO post: "Musk trashes cash / defends bitcoin purchase"
  • Wall Street is piling into trading cards as prices soar
    OK, so let me see if I understand this correctly. A small piece of cardboard with the picture of a dead baseball player is believed to be worth 215,000 small pieces of green paper with the picture of a dead president. But then a few weeks later it's decided that it's actually worth 738,000 small pieces of green paper with the picture of a dead president.
    At the same time some of us have accumulated a fairly large number of small pieces of green paper with the picture of a dead president, but no one, especially banks, is interested in compensating us to borrow any more of those small pieces of green paper, as they already have so many of those that they don't really want any more.
    However companies of questionable value and dubious future are interested in borrowing more of those small pieces of green paper, possibly because they believe that they will never need to return them anyway. And many people are happy to loan these companies small pieces of green paper, but not to loan them small pieces of cardboard with the picture of a dead baseball player.
    An observer from another planet might reasonably conclude that these small pieces of green paper are actually pretty close to worthless, and that the people of this large North American land mass are evidently delusional, if not insane.
  • Wall Street is piling into trading cards as prices soar
    True, but just like with stocks, its the time and return on investment, not just end value. To get a 343% return on investment on a Jordan card in just a few weeks sounds a bit too much like the Game Stop mania. The Mantle card apparently went from $2.8 million in April of 2018: https://cbssports.com/mlb/news/a-mickey-mantle-baseball-card-sold-for-2-8-million-reportedly-by-a-former-nfl-lineman/ to $5.2 million in January, 2021, a crazy number yes but an investor seeking to profit off mania would've gotten a better return on Jordan.
  • Wall Street is piling into trading cards as prices soar
    Maybe the end of this soon:
    Ken Goldin has sold sports trading cards for four decades. What happened earlier this month still shocked him.
    In early February, a Michael Jordan rookie basketball card in pristine condition sold for a record $738,000 at an auction run by Goldin's company. The kicker? The exact same item went for nearly $215,000 just weeks before.
  • Musk trashes cash / defends bitcoin purchase. “I’m not an investor, I am an engineer.”
    Thanks @hank,
    I can read it using Safari's Private Window (this somewhat works less than 50%). Otherwise I search for the title when it is posted elsewhere.
    The comments below the article reveals various investor views. I tend to agree with this poster.
    What this article is missing is that the stock market starting point is already too high. All the good news mentioned here should already be discounted. The high market level has only one cause: money for nothing and QE galore. Furthermore, the level of indebtedness is such that a moderate interest rate rise will have a huge effect (unlike previous times). Any tightening in financial conditions (higher long-term yields for example) with the Fed margin for maneuver more limited (inflation ticking up) will cause a cataclysm in the markets. The timing is anyone's guess. Therefore advising readers to "stay in equities for a while yet" or worse buying the dips is totally irresponsible, given the current over-inflated stock levels.
  • Health Sector Funds: FSPHX vs FSMEX and others
    Just Fidelity Sector funds, I think. Not sure about round trips though...edit: looked up in the prospectus. They consider a round trip as a buy, then sell, within 30 days. After two round trips within 90 days, your trading is restricted. I was able to sell some sector funds within 30 days of buying in a couple of different accounts (I was surprised I didn’t get the “$49.95 fee” warning on the trade preview screen): in a brokerage link 403(b) account and in a Rollover IRA.
  • Musk trashes cash / defends bitcoin purchase. “I’m not an investor, I am an engineer.”
    Article in the FT today partially addresses the issue. Hard to link to it if no subscription. It’s the top one in the attached search query. Try this
    Article: Should equity investors worry about rising interest rates? - Michael Mackenzie
    Excerpt: “Bullish sentiment remains very high. The latest monthly survey of global fund managers by Bank of America this week highlighted that cash levels in portfolios are being cut to their lowest level in eight years”.