The young men who committed suicide cannot get a return call. These shops have hardly any customer support let alone having call centers. Slow response and long wait time are mild comparing to these shops.

I read Schwab axed 200 the other day. Hope they weren't from the customer-facing side of things.
The young man who killed himself, it's a shame, yes. I recall hearing the story, but I can't help wondering if he knew what he was getting into and/or doing before he put money into the markets. I've had system hiccups tell me I'm in deep margin-call land and while it freaked me out to see, it got resolved fairly quickly ... but of course, if he could never reach anyone to ask about his account, I totally agree that's also a problem.
I wonder if this chaos will swing the pendulum back toward some type of commission and away from payment-for-order-flow that allows the manias of zero-cost trading. I don't mind paying 5 or 10 bucks for a few hundred share stock trade ... it's far better than the $200 I fork over at a full-service wirehouse! (which is why that account is mostly hands-off for long-term wealth building)

Price was experiencing long wait times last week (15-25 minutes). Web-site was fine. Phone message referenced “higher than normal call volume.” Once they picked up however the service was great. I’ll cut them some slack as imagine many are working at home due to Covid.
Curious if there was anything last week that prompted that high call volume? Tax questions maybe?

Interesting sector correlation of S&P 500 sectors (YTD):
crossingwallstreet.com/archives/2021/02/sp-500-sector-correlations.html

Actually, despite today’s date, the article appears to be addressing yesterday’s close. Gold is erratic. I doubt it will do very well as long as the bitcoin craze continues. Normally the miners get jerked around harder than the metal. But, today the miners are holding up better. At this time the VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF is ahead 1% while gold’s been down anywhere from $5-$15 most of the day.
Story
Miners ETF
I have very little in the miners. Decent exposure to the precious metals, however, through PRPFX and commodity and alternative type funds. PRPFX tends to own the metal rather than the miners. As such, it’s a bit more stable day to day. At around $1800 gold is still elevated compared to 2-3 years ago (but off its recent highs).

Yup. Can't get into the website this afternoon but the mobile app is fine. Used to have this problem once every few weeks.
I've been with them since October ... between emails that go *weeks* before a response and 45 minute hold times, and now an inability to get into the website on a normal day, I'm wondering if I made the right choice moving from TD to Schwab or if I should be starting to look elsewhere. (I do like their internal site, though)

Follow-up article:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bronstein-gewirtz-grossman-llc-notifies-163500375.html
The fund's closure was noted on this board:
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/57518/infinity-q-diversified-alpha-fund-to-close-to-new-investors

Good points, @hank. I do like the deep bench and the research at TRP. RPGAX has done well for me and I am committing more former bond dough to TMSRX. Both funds utilize the managerial skills of a range of strategies, so they are funds-of-funds. I think the wide range of TRP funds with 4 and 5 star ratings affords me a greater level of confidence.

It seems Fidelity limits this benefit to a "higher class" of customers:
https://slickdeals.net/f/14706584-turbotax-premier-free-for-some-fidelity-customers-premium-services-active-traders-private-client-ymmv-2020-tax-year-thread

h,lmgtfy
F1:
https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2020/demo/p25-1146.pdf

Further Notes and Links:
Resources and Further Reading From Mark Miller

Not sure
With heavy Feds support/easing cash flows, monetary fleecing, corp bonds market maybe stabilize until end 2023
https://www.thebalance.com/is-the-federal-reserve-printing-money-3305842
Corporate bonds /US companies may still get infused cash from central banks. Mortgage and real estates may still be stabilize w new monies but the 1.9 trillions dollars question when will it all end

I concur with all of the above responses. As far as TRP goes, with 169 funds (last count) it would seem an injustice to classify them as expert in any single area. Agree with you that they’ve had some fine tech funds over the years. PRMTX has been a standout. What I value (among other things) is their work with allocation funds. Their research is deep and they’re always fine-tuning those allocations looking to achieve an advantage (risk/reward) - though the changes may appear slight. They work hard to provide & operate funds with risk profiles appropriate for different types of investors.
“The company offers investors 169 mutual funds, in terms of unique funds, not share classes. In addition to mutual funds, the company also provides brokerage services, 401K and 529 plans, and active portfolio management. T. Rowe Price has its headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland.”
https://mutualfunds.com/fund-company/t-rowe-price-funds/

Mr Miller covers topics related to retirement, Social Security, Medicare and others.
https://morningstar.com/collections/748/mark-miller-remaking-retirement
C-Span Coverage on Preserving Social Security:
washington-journal-mark-miller-discusses-recent-legislative-efforts-preserve-social-security
Social Security in Retirement Quiz:
social-security-retirement-quiz
Claiming Social Security:
social-security-to-the-max-strategies-for-affluent-households

Related
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/9-stocks-warren-buffett-just-221625228.html
Stocks Warren Buffett just bought:
-- AbbVie (ABBV)
-- Merck (MRK)
-- Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMY)
-- T-Mobile (TMUS)
-- Verizon Communications (VZ)
-- Chevron (CVX)
-- Kroger (KR)
-- Marsh & McLennan (MMC)
-- RH (RH)
Buffett is a beast, masterful at his crafts for 40+years IMHO
Wish I knew him and strategy when first started investing....brk.a was severely expensive before the split and not many folks have $$ to buy

This thread was timely. In the news today...
Negative:
Marketwatch: "A tangled market web of Tesla-bitcoin-ARK Investment could spell trouble for investors, warns strategist" https://www.marketwatch.com/story/a-tangled-market-web-of-tesla-bitcoin-ark-investment-could-spell-trouble-for-investors-warns-strategist-11614081538
Positive:
Investors Business Daily: https://www.investors.com/etfs-and-funds/sectors/cathie-wood-ark-schools-warren-buffett-top-stocks/

It is possible say which fund families is relatively good at certain sectors. Funds performance are heavily rely on concept of fund manager. Unfortunately, mangers come and go, many lasted only 7-10 years. Of course, there are some last and become guru. For now, real estate sector, BREFX is the king in the last 5 years.

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)

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.

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.

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.