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.
Reply to @clacy:
And I too was a bit snippish.
I don't blame either party - Clinton created a lot of this mess, particularly with Wall St.
Indeed, auto industry peaked in Michigan in 1973. That's a huge part of the issue at hand - how do we e…
Reply to @clacy:
My feelings don't get hurt easily. It was your tone that I considered to be uncivil and probably mine as well in response.
That said, I fail to see why it is our concern about how other folks govern themselves. I don't believ…
Hi John,
I don't know that I'd bail out but I would advise everyone to be a bit more cautious. Rebalance or take some profits or simply tone things down a tad. You don't want to fight the Fed, but this is an asset bubble and everyone knows it an…
Howdy folks,
I think Anna has a solid point in connecting the finanicial services industry with rising college costs. The tie is student loans that are not subject to bankruptcy relief.
I've seen a chart over time of rising tuition vs. increas…
Reply to @clacy:
In spite of your tone, I'm going to respond to you one time and see if you can be civil.
I doubt there is anyone on this board that thinks that wealth should be distributed equally, certainly not me. I believe that hard work sho…
Howdy Mark,
Ignore the fudgies. Yeppers, this is one of the issues that will destory this country if allowed to persist. I don't believe a country can thrive and prosper without a viable middle class. This is related to why we're still in this d…
Howdy all,
Bob's got a good strategy for a fixed allocation. Indeed, that's pretty much most folks will ever need - some fixed percentage of their wealth in physical bullion. Note that I said physical bullion and not paper bullion. Paper bullion…
Howdy all,
Wouldn't surprise me either way. I feel, however, that it is inevitable. The mayor and city council do NOT get along and most of the unions are not willing to make the changes needed to start to correct the problem. Pensions are killi…
Howdy,
1. In or out of retirement only matters to the degree the taxes do on any gains (see #2).
2. As Scott said, you'll need to handle the K1 and all that.
feh. I don't really see any of these funds suitable for trading the pm market, howe…
Howdy guys,
This happened a few years back and a combination of market reactions took place in the physical market. The supply became tight for some specific types of bullion and the premiums increased. Now think back to Econ 101 and supply/deman…
Reply to @STB65:
Thanks for the response. You're obviously in the field and sharing some great insights.
Obamacare was a start but alas, the pressure from the insurance companies and hospitals and drug companies gutted it quite badly.
I con…
Hi Ted,
Hope you're doing well. Nice article.
We need a one pay system because our current health care model results in a a death spiral of continually increasing costs. You have the patient, the provider and the insurer in a three ring circu…
Hi Hank,
Yeah, from listening to various department heads this will be worse than the Y2K meltdown and probably worse than the EOTWAWKI.
All I can say is rubbish because this is a moderated board. One of them was whining that they'd have to giv…
Hi Phil,
Good point, but as you noted, both MACSX and MPACX are pan-Asian and this is important to me at this point in time. Most of the older 'asian' funds are ex-Japan due to their meltdown and lost decade. Any more, this is a bit out-of-date f…
Howdy all,
I too have been trying to figure out how to play this space and am still gear hunting. I recall when most every winter, the ute play was a winner. I tried this past year to ride the basic funds GASFX and UNG and didn't do that well. …
Howdy,
On the tube, the talking heads were saying that all the apple investors were cheering and glad someone finally spoke up. I have no idea, personally.
peace,
rono
Howdy folks,
I agree with most that has been said and Investor summed it up nicely. Congress has set them up to fail in order to boost UPS, FEDEX, and all the other parcel services. That said, they're woefully behind the curve technologically AND…
Hi skeeter,
Hope you're doing well. You're probably playing this as well as anyone. It's a toughy. The economy still sucks but with QE . . . nth and no place to go - market is going great. Gotta play it and ride it but still, when the music sto…
Howdy,
It's great if you're invested. The 'retail' investors are still absent as reflected in the volumes.
And alas and alack, I fear most of these gains are due to due to the massive amounts of liquidity pumped in by the Fed coupled with the on…
Hey buddy,
You want some housing numbers?? Well, do ya?
http://www.gold-eagle.com/editorials_12/nielson012913.html
Actually, this mirrors what we're seening around these parts. We're off the lows but it's like Gnossos saying 'been down so long …
Howdy folks,
Below is the primer I wrote some years back about investing in precious metals. There are more ETF selections today but otherwise, it's pretty current. As a disclaimer, I own CEF, SIL, GDXJ in a deferred account, TGLDX taxable. PRPF…
Reply to @tgeno:
Howdy old friend,
Hope you're doing well. I agree with you and think your timing is spot on. Way back Harry Dent predicted this downturn would last until 2023 but that there would be a brief respite in the 2013-14 period. And …
Howdy folks,
Good article Mark, but hardly surprising. I've said for years that the official figures are designed to spin the data to the gov'ts advantage. shadowstats.com
With housing, the issue has been and is the overhang of housing being hel…
Howdy,
In addtion to those holding back like Old Joe mentions, the banks did a lot of buying of distressed mortgages and in addition are holding back bunches of 'foreclosed' properties. The overhang is of housing is bloody enormous and until it fi…
Howdy folks,
I've been a fan of the House of Matthews for going on 20 years. I still feel they're the best way to play Asia. They've got very conservative pan-Asian funds that include Japan MAINX Strategic Income, MACSX Growth & Income (bou…
Hi Mark,
This might be a repostie or the throttle monster is eating mine.
I concur with Andy. Get a nice pan-asian including Japan fund and call it good. Japan and China are the current lead dogs, but India had a good year. feh. It's a multi…
Howdy,
I concur with the others. Fido is one of the top 3 families (price and vg) and very easy to deal with. Fill out and sign their papers making them the custodian and let them go get the monies. Keeps it clean. I moved wifey's Roth there an…
Hi Mona,
Apparently, Snyder has given them more time. Also, he's still reeling from signing the Right To Work bill so he's being nice to folks right now. Bing is a top shelf mayor but he has a city council that's very militant and unable to see …
Hi Mark,
I like the analysis of risk management. Huge issue and so important. So many folks don't even think about it. It's not only the probabilities of various outcomes but the results of each of those outcomes.
So many folks ignore the antic…
Howdy folks,
Nice article, Dan. Thanks. Mona, you've got a good point. We live in the days of instant gratification and full blown conspicuous consumption. How many TV programs show you all the stuff you couldn't possibly afford . . . unless yo…
Howdy Mark/all,
Whelp, I think most everything you noted is true. Without a doubt, the equity market is being inflated by all the QE$ - here and abroad. The CBs are dropping money from helicopters and there's not really any other place for it to …
Reply to @wsanders:
Yeah, the bond space is a vast wasteland. For that portion of our stuff, I'm staying away from anything from gov'ts other than extremely short term and Inflation protected. Intermediate Corps are fairly decent and you know wh…
mornin' Professor,
Hope you're having great holidays and that 2013 is the best ever.
As for your kind words, thanks, but it just goes to prove that occasionally, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn.
Actually, it goes back to Gary Smith and his…
Howdy all,
Whelp, they only raised the tax rate to 20%. At 39%, the world as we know it would have changed. In this case, I'm still all over good dividends.
As mentioned by Scott, everyone is chasing yield and where else are you going to find…
Reply to @Mark:
Thanks, mi amigo,
I've been morphing into this approach over the past few years but inadvertantly and without rhyme or reason. This will help.
BTW, they only pushed the tax rate to 20% instead of 39.
take care,
peace,
rono
Hi Mo,
Happy New Year. You're probably correct, but we've got other tax issues next year and need this particular help this year. They started taxing our pensions here this year and that confused things.
Take care,
rono
Hi bee,
Hope your holidays are great.
Thanks for the postie and you're spot on. The two issues are the reliability and validity of your metric (i.e. US$) and in this case, they both leave something to be desired. Who made the ruler and are why…
