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.
As MSF points out, capital gains is really not a big deal. What matters is your tax bracket and when do you take your second RMD?
If you wait to take the second half of this first RMD in 2019 AND you take your second RMD in 2019, it might increase …
The way Morningstar phrases these factors:
"The Canadian banks are also more geographically diverse on average than, for example, most U.S. regional banks, which are often concentrated within states or local economies. This diversifies credit risk, …
Pay careful attention to the price you pay and the commission you pay. Just making up numbers here, but it might be the case that you pay $1050 for a bond which will pay you $1000 on 2/1/2020 (so you have a capital loss of $50).
Even though the cou…
It seems that many of these type of bankruptcies happen after somebody takes over and assumes an impossible debt load, while taking money out of the company and selling off assets (Craftsman tools and Kenmore appliances, for instance).
I don't know…
Most significantly
"Gundlach told Reuters he was still forecasting 6 percent on the 10-year yield by the next presidential election or a year after."
That will be bad for stocks, funds and the economy.
David
The author of the article says "A new study nevertheless finds that early claiming leads to a significant increase in the number of retirees living in poverty."
But the study itself says "upon taking all income sources into account, they found that…
The only thing more frustrating than waiting for days as a hurricane creeps toward you is waiting for days with such uncertainty -- Florence was scheduled to hit land tonight and now nobody quite knows where/when it will do damage. We have a condo o…
Excellent article and reminder of that crucial period.
Especially note Paulson's two-pronged warning at the end: "it is important to begin to address a fiscal deficit that threatens our long-term economic security ...... income disparity, driven by…
I would add Commandment #11 -- Exercise.
Perhaps that should be #1.
(I'll grant that the focus of the article's "comfortable" retirement was financial issues. But not much else matters without good health.)
David
The author seems to have a different notion of risk aversion than I would, especially when he equates financial decisions with sports choices, or draws any conclusion about a $10 gain/loss.
What I'd consider as risk aversion, he dismisses as rationa…
A postscript.
Like many on this board, my parents were of the Greatest Generation. They grew up in the Depression, raised a family, lived full lives. My grandmother, who immigrated from Scotland at age 8, was a firm believer in education (and in t…
I believe that my folks had a plain vanilla living trust, revocable up to the moment she died (I had encouraged my Dad to revoke it). Her half of their assets received the step-up basis then. But they grew and that step-up had been used up.
Perhap…
I have had no problems with Morningstar. Maybe it depends upon the browser -- I use Safari and Firefox on my Mac. No problems accessing or navigating.
Let me throw in a good word about Morningstar.
A few months ago, they redid their front page, p…
Personal example (and an argument against establishing a living trust).
My parents established a living trust and transferred all of their assets into it (pain!!). My Mom passed away first. Half of those assets then went into "Trust B" (all in a br…
Interesting -- Number 11 INVESTMENT-GRADE YIELDS has been well above 2% since 2009 (except for a recent brief dip below). That's a long time to be indicating a recession which still doesn't seem to be imminent.
David
It's not really germane to the point of the story, but SCANA is a regulated electric utility and natural gas company based in South Carolina. (The "SC" is pretty much a dead giveaway.)
How did the Fortune authors get it wrong? The second author, an…
I've used Fidelity for decades and have only been in a physical office one time (when I was on vacation, just to actually to see what it was like). Fidelity is so professional, knowledgeable and helpful and offers many services (many of which I neve…
The etf.com article is the best explanation I've seen of what AMZA does.
That's a very scary yield. If it's doable without the chance that I'll lose my shirt tomorrow, why aren't others also doing it? And why doesn't the price per share rise to mak…
Art Cashin is still talking about "testing the lows" . In fact, he seems to be bemoaning that we haven't done that. It looks more likely that we'll retest those January highs. The NASDAQ has already recouped its losses. I think the Dow has 900 point…
While I was at the Abbott and Costello place on You Tube, I watched their "Who's on First" skit once again. I'm still laughing. I should've gone there the day the Dow dropped a thousand points: "I don't care". "Third base."
@msf Thanks for the information. Sad to say, the representative I talked to on the phone didn't seem to know much, or wouldn't commit to much.
You're probably right about collecting fees to the last second. And charging the liquidation expenses to …
I'd have thought that tech companies would benefit a lot from the tax bill provisions. Some companies were paying way below 35% already, but I thought tech actually was up there.
Which mutual funds suffer disproportionately when tech suffers?
David
I guess the author of this WSJ article didn't have much time before his deadline -- it's brief and doesn't say much.
I think Morningstar had more information recently, comparing donor-advised funds from different investment firms. Their focus was …
Thanks, Ted and Bee and msf, for the link and the info.
It seems to me that having the step-up in basis at death is important for two reasons:
(1) the heirs don't owe tax on the the appreciated gain (duh)
(2) the heirs don't have the huge hassle an…
Two points.
Vanguard might actually pay you some incentive to move assets from other firms.
Dividend reinvestment might not count as a "trade" at Vanguard; it doesn't at Fidelity.
Even worse than the list of states is the list of countries, presented in alphabetical order, with USA at or near the bottom. My mouse or finger controls often slip off the list before I make it all the way to the bottom. Then I'm very careful the s…
A couple of points:
(1) the excess Medicare premiums (i.e. taxes) are based on your Adjusted Gross Income a year previous. The penalties apply to Part B and Part D, for husband and wife. Can be stiff. So anything you can do to reduce that line on Fo…
If the cash from ML is that much of an incentive, talk to Fidelity. They'll probably give you cash or some free trades to stay (speaking from experience).
There's the tax advantage of a 529 fund -- the gains are not taxed (as long as the withdrawals are used for college education).
I opened an account for each grandchild -- two of them with T Rowe Price (Alaska state plan) and three with Nebraska stat…
Every candidate mentioned has had a good bit written about them.
Is it possible that there are some very good investors out there that very people know about?
Of course, if one were very good (and had a track record to prove it), there is that tem…
Nice. How is it possible to move his hands that way, seemingly independently! Thanks for posting.
Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" is the first music video I remember seeing. Eventually MTV evolved away from music videos; different business model, I…
Some state 529 plans allow you to pick your own funds (from a collection they offer), while some only offer the age-based packages. I have some of each (five grandchildren) and I've done better where I can choose.
Much of the impetus driving markets and the economy is psychological – how good or bad do people – investors, consumers, entrepreneurs – feel about life, their situations and the future. For the past eight years, the Republicans (the Party of NO) ha…
