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 @hank: Hi Hank, nice to be back with the group and hear from you again (I missed seeing your response when you posted it). This group almost always manages to give me a smile to start my day... even during the worst economic times.
Reply to @scott: Unfortunately, the key is finding the right advisor - and the catch is that you have to know enough about investing to know whether the advisor's portfolio investments - and subsequent returns - are reasonable. Finding one who also…
Reply to @BobC: Hi Bob! Nice to hear from you again. Your response gave me nice smile to start my day.
After reading comments here, and other reports, I politely told the advisor yesterday that we would not be investing with them. I think the …
Reply to @msf: I'm so glad you gave me this link - either is a different one than previous or my video/screen drivers liked this one better as all the fees and expenses are shown here. (I must try to get new drivers as frequently MFO just blacks ou…
Reply to @msf: Thanks so much, mfs, for your follow-up. I have always been constantly amazed at how generous the people like you here in this forum are with taking so much of your time to help others.
The end result for me after reading all the li…
Reply to @catch22: Reply to @catch22: Thank you so much, Catch, for your very extensive follow-up and link. I really appreciate the time it must have taken you to give me such a comprehensive response!
I checked out your link -wish I had known how…
Thanks for your response, Mark. I've just finished reading the Annuity link mentioned above.... almost all sounds really dismal, and way too complicated to figure out exactly what you are getting with these. With apparent "fat" commissions, makes …
Reply to @msf: Thanks so much, MSF, for taking the time to send me such a great, comprehensive response! I will check out your links on Raymond James. Would you mind taking a quick look at the link I found below... and let me know if the awful com…
Reply to @catch22: Thanks, Catch, I really missed this group! Much less stress now, thank heavens.
I've got your link on another tab and will check it out. I definitely want to remain my own investor for the majority of my assets, unless the ma…
Reply to @scott: Thanks, Scott... it's so nice to be able to join in again. I've never been comfortable with the Arbitrage-type funds... my short term THOPX, and even more conservative WEFIX seems to regularly outperform (or at least keep up) with …
Reply to @kevindow: Thanks, Kevin - Muni's are especially nice tax-wise, as long as they don't default. I had that on my watch list (along with FLTRX). I currently have -6% in BCITX (Interm Calif muni) and -4% in NCB and CXA). I'm just concerned …
Hi Skeeter,
My question is.... where do you put the money removed from equities? MM and cd rates so ridiculously low, and lots of warnings about end of 30-year bull bond market. Cathy
Reply to @Accipiter: Thanks for the follow-up... I didn't have this link logged yet. This really was a simple problem I knew how to calculate easily before. It was just one of those nights where I was so tired that I couldn't think straight. I'v…
Reply to @Accipiter: THANKS SO MUCH, Accipiter! This was driving me crazy
I had the 467.847 shares mentioned above, so am glad ST's figures are correct. I wonder what happened to M*s figures? They do show the $156.73 added as a SEPARATE entry o…
Reply to @Investor: Thanks for the follow-up, Investor. Sounds worth checking out next year, when this year's trusts, etc. are all finished tax-wise. Quicken and GainsKeeper also at least worth my looking at.... guess I haven't before because I wa…
Reply to @AndyJ: Thahks for the follow-up, Andy. I'll have to check out the M* data set you mentioned... I haven't added any of those to my Portfolio views.
Reply to @AndyJ: Just a note to thank you again for mentioning the Yahoo site to set up Portfolios. I added one there... nice and quick, easy to use, with quite a bit of info not in M* options. It's too bad Yahoo does not allow for auto updating …
Reply to @Accipiter: Thanks for the clarifications, Accipiter... I enjoyed your descriptions of the design ideas.
Re US News... I was confused, and then I realized you were thinking I accessed this site from FE or Navigator. I didn't... I accesse…
Reply to @Anonymous: Thanks for your input, Jim! RNDLX is on my Buy list this morning. I hope someone here can link to his 2012 outlook when it arrives in case I forget to Google search it.
P.S. I didn't see your response in MY tab area, so al…
I've been having CPA do all our tax filings since I had enough trouble just learning about investing. So I don't know anything about these tax programs. Does TurboTax (or similar) actually calculate gains/losses that they obtain from the actual si…
Reply to @Accipiter:
Good to know that was fixed - thanks (I used an actual ETF in my search, not "ETF"). I haven't compared Falcoln Eye with Navigator. They seem very similar so not sure how much difference, but I really like that FE shows which…
Reply to @AndyJ: Thanks, AJ. I had forgotten when I responded to Investor that, in each case where M* Portfolio fund NAV was not updated in Portfolios, it WAS updated on their M* quote page, so I was just about to add P.S. to Investor's comments on…
Reply to @Anonymous: Thanks for your input, Ed. But I'm still enough in the learning stage that I find that M*s extensive analyst reports of funds available only through Premium has been a big help to me in evaluating funds. I've also found their…
Reply to @Investor: I never can remember Cramer's name - or what station he is on. Seems to me that other awful guy who CNBC(?) allows to put ads on who seems like a real scammer (the one who says how many millions he made in the last crash) give…
Reply to @catch22: You're right, Catch, I rarely get any financial news from the tv, so CNN was the first non-MSNBC channel I thought of.
Zack's/The Street/M*/S&P++ ratings are on the U.S. News site (example http://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual…
Thanks, Mark. I never thought to look at M* profile for this info. Will be interesting to see what funds are showing for some of these if they've been updated.
Reply to @chip: Thanks, Chip! I've been opening discussions in own window.... the new way above much better.
Thanks for the answer re the pictures.... I always thought of David as being a young kid (in relation to me, anyway), so it's nice to not…
Reply to @scott: Thanks, Scott. Scottrade has been pretty good about having most of the more seasoned funds available.... but most everything else about it definitely fair- to poor. Still.... unless another brokerage seems significantly better, a …
Reply to @msf: Thanks so much, msf, for your clarification. I certainly don't want to spend any time reviewing potential funds in sites that have no real validity to their ratings. I do consider the Lipper ratings as helpful in my evaluations, as…
Reply to @Investor: Thanks, Investor! I've complained about this to M* several times. All they had to do was explain that it was the companies who were late in reporting the NAVs like you did and I wouldn't have continued complaining. Great ide…
Reply to @chip: Well, there you go.... one of the reasons I love this site - THANK YOU! A wealth of information in the Commentary - including the exact answers I was looking for, by amazing coincidence. Re The Street... if I had known it was that …
Reply to @catch22: Thanks, Catch. I agree completely. There seems to be 3 ways this market has been moving. The "reality" of the values seems to be the least mover, with the "perceived" value and the "market manipulation" being the major moving f…
Hi Scott. I'm amazed Sears lasted this long as they have done nothing to update their stores/service to become more competitive. K-Mart is not far behind, which is a shame as I liked the local K-Mart store before it closed a few years ago.
Reply to @catch22: Thanks, Catch! I always appreciate your responses... especially in the bond market areas like these. I do have a general concept of MBS, CMO, etc. - just didn't know how much safer they are now than they were in 2008 should ano…
Reply to @Anonymous: Thanks, Ron. I've had MWTRX in my "watch" portfolio for quite some time... it just hasn't made it to the final buys so far. I'll recheck all again.