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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.

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Hello

I just wanted to drop in and say hi!. If there are any folks from 2013, they might perhaps remember me.

I will drop by every now and then. I am glad the site is still very active:)

Comments

  • edited February 2019
    hi sir ...good to hear you may return back..glad you are doing well...lots new members @ MFO...politics 1000% more discussed here than FA/lots of angry folks since election (much more than 2012 when we had the best president ever in since 1750s lol)
  • Hi John. Glad to see you! I browsed through the forum and saw a number of familiar usernames like yours. Since I left my mutual fund investments have had few changes. I am happy with most of what I have. I will do a review soon and see if there are some changes I might consider.
  • @Investor: OK, I give, what's your message, I hope your not a troll !
    Regards,
    Ted
  • edited February 2019
    @Ted. Is this the way to welcome me back after almost 6 years absence? No I am not a troll. Just an old friend back after a long hiatus. Oh well...

    I see you keep feeding the board with daily dose of links as ever. Thanks for that anyway.
  • @Investor- A very welcome back! I've often had a thought for you, wondering how you were doing. Glad to see that you're OK. Never mind Ted- he's been a bit grumpier than usual as of late. Rono and Catch22 are still with us, as is Hank, Mark, and a few others.

    OJ
  • I certainly remember you Investor. Welcome back.
  • I certainly remember you as well and valued your posts. Glad to see you back.
  • Glad to see you back. Hope all is well with your family as well as your investment.
  • edited February 2019
    Thanks @Old_Joe @MikeM @msf @Sven.

    I guess I had burnt out so I think after an overseas trip, I gave a break thinking that I was only giving a short break. Well, then I found another hobby (learned Spanish) and changed jobs and then you are 100% focused on the new job trying to make a good impression.

    My mutual fund investments did OK during this time. It actually did not fiddle with my portfolio like I used to all the time. If I did would I get better performance? Maybe, maybe not. Some funds like AKREX did particularly well and I am happy for that. I will be looking at my portfolio and I will eliminate some smaller positions (or make them large enough to be meaningful).

    Anyway, good to see you guys are still around.
  • FWIW, AKRIX is available with a $2500 min in Fidelity IRAs, albeit with a transaction fee. A buy-and-holder might amass a few more pennies by saving 0.27%/year (1.05% vs 1.32% ER) over time, even after paying the fee.
  • @msf. You are right. I am still at Fidelity. I might look into putting a big chunk of AKREX into AKRIX paying the transaction fee. Thanks for the tip!
  • I remember @Investor as being very smart and well informed. More no-nonsense than many of us. My gosh - have to go back 5 years or longer to when you were active. We could use you here if you’d like to step in ... :)
  • hank said:

    I remember @Investor as being very smart and well informed. More no-nonsense than many of us. My gosh - have to go back 5 years or longer to when you were active. We could use you here if you’d like to step in ... :)

    My sentiments exactly!

  • edited February 2019
    @Junkster hi! How are your junk bond investments going? I remember you did very well during the recovery.

    I think at some point we will hit the wall again. It has been more than 10 years since last crash. I firmly believe it will happen again as the lessons are forgotten, protections created for investors are set-aside, fed has been prohibited from using some of the tools it has used last time and definitely we no longer have Ben Bernanke at the helm who had studied previous crashes. I don't think the tariffs and government shutdowns are helping the bottom line of the companies either. So, it will happen. I am absolutely sure of it. But it is very hard to predict when. The music can go on for a long time.

    I think in this environment it is prudent to have some cash handy for opportunities. I have accumulated some in my 401k with contributions. Yes, I have given some of the upside (and some of the December downside) because of this cash.
  • @Hank Thanks for the kind words.
  • Investor said:

    @Junkster hi! How are your junk bond investments going? I remember you did very well during the recovery.

    I think at some point we will hit the wall again. It has been more than 10 years since last crash. I firmly believe it will happen again as the lessons are forgotten, protections created for investors are set-aside, fed has been prohibited from using some of the tools it has used last time and definitely we no longer have Ben Bernanke at the helm who had studied previous crashes. I don't think the tariffs and government shutdowns are helping the bottom line of the companies either. So, it will happen. I am absolutely sure of it. But it is very hard to predict when. The music can go on for a long time.

    I think in this environment it is prudent to have some cash handy for opportunities. I have accumulated some in my 401k with contributions. Yes, I have given some of the upside (and some of the December downside) because of this cash.

    @Investor I wish we would get a severe bear market but it seems the best we can muster are the 20% declines ala late 2015/early16 and the last quarter of 2018. I would have been content to stay in money market for 2019. I can handle 2.50% there. But then a funny thing happened. We got momentum buy signals in very early January the likes of what we have seen but three other times in the past 60 years. The previous one was March 2009. So that forced me back into junk bonds.

  • Hi @Investor: In joining with the others ... Welcome back. Boy, time sure does go by quickly because it does not seem it has been that long (2013). Again, welcome back.
  • Welcome back Investor, you have been missed.
    Derf
  • johnN said:

    (much more than 2012 when we had the best president ever in since 1750s lol)

    Glad to see we all still have a sense of humor.
  • @msf Just curious how you determined the minimum for AKRIX at Fidelity is $2500 for an IRA account. Some general rule or ???
  • Since I have an IRA there, I can attempt a trade with the symbol. When I enter "buy", it tells me the min required. Since I don't have enough free cash in the account (I keep IRAs fully invested), when I preview I get an error message:
    Error:(313012) The Estimated Order Value for this order exceeds your Cash Available to Trade.
    Sometimes a share class may have a low min for an IRA but be unavailable except through an advisor. For example, LSBNX (low cost version of LSBRX) shows a $2500 min for IRAs (as above, set up a "buy" transaction in an IRA account). But when previewed, the error message is:
    Error:(010952) The mutual fund you requested to trade is an Advisor Fund and is not available for retail trading. For more information, contact a Fidelity Representative at 1-800-544-6666.
    So I can reasonably conclude that since I get the first message and not the second for AKRIX, that it is available for a low ($2500) min in IRAs; I just don't have the cash to buy it.
  • johnN said:

    ... lots of angry folks since election (much more than 2012 when we had the best president ever in since 1750s lol)

    George?
  • My history books go back just to the First Continental Congress (1774), presided over by Peyton Randolph (whoever he was). The only George I know going back almost to the 1750s (well, 1760) was George III.

    Like you, I was wondering who it might have been. John Hancock came later (Second Continental Congress).

    http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/related/congress.html
    https://www.history.com/topics/british-history/george-iii
    https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/john-hancock-becomes-president-of-congress
  • @msf Thanks. I have been invested in AKREX at Fidelity in my taxable account since 2013 (didn't want to commit the $250K needed to buy AKRIX!). I jumped through the hoops you described above before posting the question to you. It just hadn't occurred to me to individually check on institutional class investment minimums for funds for my Roth account (the Fidelity info screen for the fund doesn't appear to mention the IRA minimum). Another trick to put in my memory banks! Thanks again.
  • @msf

    II, the German-reared
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