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.
I looked at the loan agreement and think it says ( I am not an accountant or lawyer) that is TSLA drops 35% from the price at which loan starts ( I don't think they pony up money until deal closes) Musk has to put up more cash ( not more shares)
Be…
@msf
The OID were all listed as "OID " in the title of the bond, so they were original issue.
There are not many bonds listed today ( Saturday) so I can't check if there were any OID bonds on Vanguard and Schwab for short term, but I think not. M…
In Taxable accounts you might look at individual munis bonds too.
High Quality Massachusetts ( GO and Harvard) 1 year bonds pay 1.7% tax free. Two years 2.2%
There are a lot of OID bonds selling for below par, but I have to look at tax consequen…
I have always bought the CD version , not really trusting TT online, and my tax situation is fairly complicated.
But my son used the online version last year, as it was cheaper or free( ?) He found he couldn't print a copy of his return.
Rather th…
Not just simple DUI. Original charge was felony resisting arrest with violence.
It shows up in SEC because he apparently lied about it on disclosure forms for SEC and Florida regulators
It is a difficult year, especially and the "bond ballast" has sunk.
My wife and my retirement accounts are up about 2.4% as we are overwieght energy and commodities, but still only 30% in equity positions. Recent Value focus helps too
Non-retirem…
I dont think it is unique to Fido. Vanguard is awful most of the time, made worse by incompetent backroom technology. While Schwab assigns me to a (usually) long tenured ep, who is a nice guy, he frequently turfs questions like those to the general…
A short term ladder starting at 3 mos will still pay more than cash
Apple bond due 9/12/2022 is 1.1 YTM 0.91 YTW
2% coupon but unlikely to be called I would think
1.1 beats negative 2%
Schwab still lists RCTIX as $2500 minimum but with $50 fee if anybody is interested.
But I think I am out as well, when the manger disappears
But there are so few alternatives that are not under lots of water.
Anybody else a bit concerned that RP…
I can't see inflation is controlled. Supply chain to China in worse mess than last year, due to Covid. Ukraine production of commodities will be hit bad, and will take time to trickle through the markets, although the recent spikes are likely an o…
@hank
I think it reflects the "market's view" that the fed is way behind inflation which will continue to soar, so people want much higher short term rates
but it is likely that a recession will start and long term rates will come down
Apparent…
@Charles
More info on ETF bond ladders here
https://www.invesco.com/us/en/insights/how-to-build-a-bond-ladder.html
https://www.ishares.com/us/resources/tools/ibonds
Detailed analysis of redemptions and returns of ishares ibonds going back to 201…
Federal funds rates do not reflect the real interest rates changes his year. Treasury yields have gone up much more in the shorter maturities than longer.
Last three month changes
6 mo treasury up 0.78%
1 year 1.2%
2 year …
@JD_co
I think it more likely reflects peoples' continuing belief that stocks will always go up, but they find it hard to see how a bond paying 2% will go up when interest rates are going to 4% and beyond
I wonder how many investors in this mark…
@msf
I was referring to VTMFX, but it has the same info as VMINX; supposedly $74.95 fee to purchase.
But when I put in a dummy trade, without completing it, the transaction fee is listed as $0.00.
I could have started a chat with Schwab but got …
You can go all in on the interest rate trade and short treasuries with an inverse fund TBF or TBX.
If interest rates continue to rise, PFIX will continue to do well.
Or look at funds that have not crashed so far this year. RCTIX ICMUX RPHIX are d…
@PRESSmUP
That is good news. You are correct that even as late as last fall Schwab said not available.
It looks like there is no purchase fee but $75 short term redemption fee. I have emailed Schwab to confirm.
But given above info, not sure I …
Thanks for the link. Looks like IWB + ITM beat the others with a little higher volatility than VTMFX.
This is even more interesting because of the higher expense ratio in the ETF (0.24 and 0.15% vs 0.09% for VTMFX)
Interesting after all the fuss V…
I kept my Vanguard account basically for VTMFX. This is harder to duplicate that VWINX ( or if you have $50,000 VWIAX.
VTMFX has er of 0.09% and is 50% VWIUX and 50% VTCLX, although the % apparently vary a bit. Unfortunately there is no ETF versi…
I put some money into GASFX decades ago when I was convinced nat gas was the wave of the future. I was obviously right, but 20 years early.
I would be cautious with GASFX, if you want to invest in natural gas, as it is essentially a utility (80%) f…
It is a bad year for Munis. I sold what I could without taking large gains in VWIUX ( Down 4% YTD) and kept overall duration low with VWSUX ( down 1%) and VMLUX ( Down 2%).
I bought NVHAX, figuring the good economy would keep the default rate in l…
My parents bought LTC insurance that reimbursed my mother about $45,000 for the last year in Assisted living ( not a nursing home or SNF) at a max $108 a day out of a total allowable benefit of $130,000.
I don't know when they purchased the polic…
So sad to read of his passing. I also want to send my deepest heart felt condolences to his family.
He died way too soon, at only 70.
I too bought Mutual Shares as my first mutual fund in 1989 ( or before, but that is as far back as my available r…
Romick also runs FPACX which is a sorta go anywhere moderate allocation fund that used to have stellar results with low risk. ( I think David has a chunk in his IRA, but I could be wrong. At one point it was closed although Schwab had special shares…
@Mark I would like to take credit for that epidemiologist but I don't think it was me. That is a great site !
@Hank
KWEB which is all China internet is up 30% today since yest close. The pop in DODEX depends on what % is Chinese tech, I think.
Y…
Another thing to look at is where the Ukraine and Russian wheat and agg products go. Most of it is to Emerging Markets Egypt India etc. While Russia is likely to continue this trade, I doubt there will be much Ukraine wheat etc leaving Ukraine for …
#3
I think the Chinese recognize ( but will not admit) that their vaccine is only 50% effective against delta; it may be even worse against Omicron.
While we all think Omicron is milder, I do not have data on it's relative virulence vs delta in u…
I apologize to anyone who feels this thread is not investment related, and I don't know what category it was started in, but as this is a much more reasonable audience to have this discussion with ( compared to Twitter or FB) I would appreciate it …
We live on Cape Cod where unless you can run your internet off your phone ( hard to do with movies etc) yo have one choice Comcast.
The recently jacked up prices $30 a month just because they could. We have the basic package for $ 120 ( Little spo…
COM recommended by @lynnbolin2021 is an interesting idea. I am partial to actively managed funds here, and two of my choices SPCAX and GRHAX have better 1 year records. However, a quick analysis shows COM did have much less MAX DD 3/2020.
It has b…
There seem to be two takes on Pootin. 1) he is a genius who aims to restore Mother Russia and just miscalculated how hard Ukraine would fight, having assumed his heavy weapons etc could take them out before his conscript army fell apart. He assumed…
Investech is a pretty good analysis of overall market, with a great track record of avoiding large downdrafts.
However, Stack's model portfolio is all in equity ETFs, not true commodity funds. Currently he has 4% in XLE( energy), 4% in XLB( Basic …
M* has a new analysis of why several "rated" commodity funds have not beaten the index this year, mostly due to holding longer term contracts than the ones that are going parabolic this year.
OF course having tempted you, I read it this morning on…
I understand tthat shale oil producers learned a hard lessonthe last time they over committed capital to drill wells that only produce a year away, but $89 a barrell is adequate for them to make a profit, especially since they can lock that price in…
