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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.
  • Dodge and Cox to offer an X class in registration
    The $5 charge is for incremental (additional) purchases via automatic investment. An initial investment in a TF fund costs either $49.95 (for most TF funds) or $75 (for Schwab, Vanguard, and D&C funds).
    But there's a way around that, by purchasing an initial position elsewhere and transferring in kind. (Don't cringe - I know we've both had recent problems transferring assets.)
    Generally, funds purchased directly from a fund family can be transferred with no cost to a brokerage. Or one can use a brokerage that charges a low transaction fee and does free transfers such as Merrill Edge ($19.95 to buy, $0 for partial transfer; just leave a little cash in the account) or Vanguard ($20 to buy, $0 to transfer).
    I mention these brokerages because I have experience transferring assets in kind (ACAT) between them and Fidelity in both directions at no cost. (Merrill has been problematic in handling fractional shares even of mutual funds, though they may have improved their system since the last time I transferred assets.)
    Here's a page with a table of brokerages and their ACAT transfer fees.
    https://topratedfirms.com/brokers/fees/brokerage-account-transfer-fees.aspx
    Take it with a grain of salt, and always check with the brokerage directly. For example, the table says that Robinhood does not charge for partial transfers. Robinhood says "There is a $75 fee for partial and full ACATS out of Robinhood."
    https://robinhood.com/us/en/support/articles/transfer-stocks-out-of-your-robinhood-account/
  • Barron's Best Fund Families, 2022
    14th in the ranking? USAA? Really?
    USAA out sources...
    Victory Capital supports USAA members with USAA Mutual Funds
    image
    https://investor.vcm.com/member
    USAA sells out...
    Also, USAA brokerage accounts were sold to Schwab for a handsome profit.
    ($1.8 Billion)
    charles-schwab-to-buy-usaa-assets-in-1point8-billion-deal
    So, my feeling... they should be much lower in the ranking.
  • Cathie Wood Boosts Robinhood Dip Buying With Stock at Record Low
    @wxman123 - Kindly point out where you see “bashing” here.
    "My Lord - she comes across as a carnival barker with an evangelical bent (although she avoided mention of God). I can imagine many vulnerable individuals having been lulled into buying ARKK near its highest valuations."
    +1 Thanks. I guess you’re right. I’ll have no more to say about this CW.
    “When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.”
    There exists of course another (infamous) CW in the world of entertainment.
    https://www.tmz.com/2019/04/30/c-w-moss-michael-j-pollard-bonnie-and-clyde-movie/
  • Where can I find annual mutual fund performance data for 25 years?
    @msf, good points.
    Both Yahoo Finance and Stockcharts use adjusted-prices (ratio-adjusted for distributions). These provide good enough approximations for cumulative or annualized TRs for up to 10 years, in my experience. Beyond 10 yrs, the approximation errors become noticeable, but still OK for most purposes. Yahoo Finance often delays making adjustments, or, some skipped ones are never fixed. As internal details are not visible at Stockcharts, I keep my fingers crossed there.
    It bugs me that Yahoo Finance provides adjusted-prices in tabular form but charts only actual-prices. So, Yahoo Finance charts are mostly useless except for short-term. Why not provide charts for BOTH actual-prices AND adjusted-prices like Stockcharts does (with _TICKER and TICKER, respectively).
    The SEC/Edgar is a great resource. Each fund prospectus and semiannual/annual report has 5-10 years of TR data and one can go back years. This does require lot of patience and hard work that can be repeated manually only for a handful of funds.
  • Parnassus Endeavor Fund
    Just dumped my primecap core and put into on PARWX.

    I was debating if I should add to VHCOX. Any insight you may be able to share about the above trade would be appreciated.
    P.S.: feel free to send a message if that is more convenient - I am not looking to debate!
    I don't know much about VHCOX but is appears better than core, but looking at PV back to 2006 PARWX is considerably better than both Vanguard/Primecap offerings, plus I'm a big fan of Parnassus so tightened up my portfolio a bit.
  • Cathie Wood Boosts Robinhood Dip Buying With Stock at Record Low
    @wxman123 - Kindly point out where you see “bashing” here.
    "My Lord - she comes across as a carnival barker with an evangelical bent (although she avoided mention of God). I can imagine many vulnerable individuals having been lulled into buying ARKK near its highest valuations."
  • Where can I find annual mutual fund performance data for 25 years?
    You can also use M*'s new "Interactive Charts". You'll find them on the home (quote) page for each fund. You need to click on the "Show Interactive Chart" button at the upper left of the graph shown.
    While I prefer M*'s legacy pages for most purposes, the interactive charts have the advantage of showing you the cumulative gain in percentage between the dates you specify. So if you give dates of 12/31/97 and 12/31/98, it will tell you the annual gain for 1998 without your needing to do the long division.
    Yahoo's finance pages also provide figures that one can use to deduce annual returns. Select the historical range of data to cover the years of interest. Then look at the adjusted price on Dec 31 of successive years and divide to get the growth for the selected year. Adjusted prices incorporate the effect of dividends, splits, etc., so it represents total return. You can download the data and let Excel do the division for you.
    https://finance.yahoo.com/
    There are minor differences. For DODGX, the M* interactive chart reports a gain from the end of 2020 (12/31/2020) to the end of 2021 (12/31/2021) of 31.73%. This is also what M* reports in digital form on the fund's performance page, confirming that these are the right endpoints to use.
    M*'s performance page for DODGX
    Yahoo Finance reports adjusted closing prices of 186.20 and 245.26 at the end of 2020 and 2021 respectively, for a gain of 31.72%. Going to the horse's mouth, D&C reports a 2021 return of 31.68%.
    Yahoo Finance, DODGX data
    D&C performance page
    This illustrates why I try to go as far upstream as possible to the data source if accuracy is important. One can find 10 years of performance data in a fund's prospectus, so by looking at a prospectus that's 15 years old one can get the annual returns for years 1997-2006, and by looking at a prospectus that's 5 years old one can get the annual returns for years 2007-2016.
    SEC fund filing search page: https://www.sec.gov/edgar/searchedgar/mutualsearch.html
    For example, for DODGX, here are the bar charts for those 20 years and the prospectuses they come from:
    image image
    Dodge and Cox Prospectus, May 1, 2007        Dodge and Cox Prospectus, May 1, 2017
  • Wealthtrack - Weekly Investment Show
    Ed Yardeni mentioned Exoskeleton Technology...very cool!
    exoskeleton-and-exosuits-in-the-workplace
    eksobionics
    top-10-companies-in-exoskeletons-market
    A fund like FSMEX may be exposed to this type of Technological Innovation.
  • Where can I find annual mutual fund performance data for 25 years?
    You can deduce this type of info from charts.
    M* Charts go quite far back although they are acting up this morning (try later from the following link). https://community.morningstar.com/s/feed/0D53o00005E8h5tCAB
    Portfolio Visualizer data go back tp 1985. PV LINK
  • Growth Funds for Chickens
    GQG Partners has grown quickly accumulating $90.4B in AUM (10/31/2021) in less than 5.5 years.
    Rajiv Jain serves as GQG's chairman and chief investment officer in addition to running several funds.
    Are there any concerns about the firm's rapid growth and the key-person risk associated with Mr. Jain?
  • Growth Funds for Chickens
    Actually, Morningstar categorizes GQG as Large Growth. Your large red arrow should be pointing at the "Category" menu to the left. The "Investment Style" box is usually considered a temporary phenomenon, albeit it is possible if the style stays that way for a while Morningstar will re-classify it as Large Blend. But if you look at the historical style box classification for the fund, it was in Large Growth for 2018, 2019 and 2020, and only more recently shifted to Blend, so Morningstar has maintained its Large Growth categorization.
    PRBLX has better returns than GQEPX, but not better risk ratings--drawdown maximum three-month returns in 2020, beta, standard deviation or Sharpe ratios:
    https://morningstar.com/funds/xnas/gqepx/risk
    https://morningstar.com/funds/xnas/prblx/risk
    Here's another one--AKREX.
  • FOMC formally adopts comprehensive new rules for investment and trading activity
    Regrettably, simply creating restrictions doesn't seem sufficient, with all the scofflaws around.
    57 members of Congress have violated a law designed to stop insider trading and prevent conflicts-of-interest
    That said, I agree that the restrictions look quite solid. Can't find any enforcement provision though. It could be implicit in the FOMC's ability to enforce its rules (self enforcement?).
    One not too surprising curiosity is that they cannot hold a fund concentrated on T bonds and notes. Nor can they hold single state muni bond funds (which are characterized as sector funds), though they can hold national muni bond funds.
  • PIMCO Global Bond Opportunities Fund (Unhedged) to liquidate
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/810893/000119312522046660/d115005d497.htm
    497 1 d115005d497.htm 497
    PIMCO Funds
    Supplement dated February 18, 2022 to the
    International Bond Funds Prospectus dated July 30, 2021,
    as supplemented from time to time (the “Prospectus”);
    and to the Statement of Additional Information dated July 30, 2021,
    as supplemented from time to time (the “SAI”)
    Disclosure Related to the PIMCO Global Bond Opportunities Fund (Unhedged) (the “Fund”)
    The Board of Trustees of PIMCO Funds (the “Trust”) has approved a Plan of Liquidation for the Fund pursuant to which the Fund will be liquidated (the “Liquidation”) on or about June 17, 2022 (“Liquidation Date”). This date may be changed without notice at the discretion of the Trust’s officers.
    Suspension of Sales. Effective May 20, 2022, the Fund will no longer sell shares to new investors or existing shareholders (except through reinvested dividends), including through exchanges into the Fund from other funds of the Trust or funds of PIMCO Equity Series. The Fund may deviate from its investment objective at any time prior to the Liquidation Date.
    Mechanics. In connection with the Liquidation, any shares of the 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 such shares after the Fund has paid or provided for all of its charges, taxes, expenses and liabilities, including certain operational costs of liquidating the Fund. The distribution to shareholders of these Liquidation proceeds will occur as soon as practicable, and will be made to all shareholders of record of the Fund at the time of the Liquidation. Additionally, the Fund must declare and distribute to shareholders any realized capital gains and all net investment income no later than the final Liquidation distribution. Pacific Investment Management Company LLC (“PIMCO”), investment adviser to the Fund, intends to distribute substantially all of the Fund’s net investment income prior to the Liquidation. PIMCO will bear all operational expenses associated with the Liquidation pursuant to the Second Amended and Restated Supervision and Administration Agreement between the Trust and PIMCO.
    Other Alternatives. At any time prior to the Liquidation Date, shareholders of the Fund may redeem their shares of the Fund and receive the net asset value thereof, pursuant to the procedures set forth under “Purchases, Redemptions and Exchanges – Redeeming Shares” in the Prospectus. Shareholders may also exchange their shares of the Fund for shares of the same class of any other fund of the Trust or any fund of PIMCO Equity Series that offers that class, as described in and subject to any restrictions set forth under “Purchases, Redemptions and Exchanges – Exchanging Shares” in the Prospectus.
    U.S. Federal Income Tax Matters. Although the Liquidation is not expected to be a taxable event for the Fund, for taxable shareholders, the automatic redemption of shares of the Fund on the Liquidation Date will generally be treated as any other redemption of shares, i.e., as a sale that may result in a gain or loss for federal income tax purposes. Instead of waiting until the Liquidation Date, a shareholder may voluntarily redeem his or her shares prior to the Liquidation Date to the extent that the shareholder wishes to realize any such gains or losses prior thereto. See “Tax Consequences” in the Prospectus. Shareholders should consult their tax advisers regarding the tax treatment of the Liquidation.
    If you have any questions regarding the Liquidation, please contact the Trust at 1-888-877-4626.
    Investors Should Retain This Supplement For Future Reference
    PIMCO_SUPP1_021822
  • Dodge and Cox to offer an X class in registration
    Why not offer a N or S class that would allow D&C funds to be sold ntf at Fido, Schwab and Vanguard. I for one would tolerate a higher expense ratio to increase my access to these funds.
    Fidelity already provides access to all seven D&C funds, as do Schwab and Vanguard.
    It's not access you're looking for, rather it's access at a lower cost. Fidelity's charge of $5 to buy, $0 to sell seems pretty cheap. Even purchasing in $2,000 or greater chunks comes out at least as cheap as D&C adding a 12b-1 fee, assuming one's average investment period is just a year: $2,000 x 0.25% = $5.
    An extra added bonus is that unlike the way Fidelity handles NTF funds, there's no $49.95 fee if one decides to sell shares within 60 days.
    https://www.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/all-mutual-funds/fees
  • FOMC formally adopts comprehensive new rules for investment and trading activity
    FOMC formally adopts comprehensive new rules for investment and trading activity
    https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/monetary20220218a.htm
    Looks to be some pretty solid (ie, "good") measures, at least on first glance. Now if similar restrictions were in place elsewhere around government to help improve federal ethics practices.
  • Growth Funds for Chickens
    PRBLX is classified as large blend, which I'm assuming doesn't qualify as a growth fund for this thread.
    M* categorizes GQEPX as LB:
    image
  • Dodge and Cox to offer an X class in registration
    It may be hard to beat American Funds with 19 or more classes. http://financials.morningstar.com/fund/purchase-info.html?t=BALFX&region=usa&culture=en-US
    Agreed. I like (and hold several) AFs but having 19 share classes is beyond insane.