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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Sven
Lynn,
Thank you so much. I am planning on a 3-year ladder since I am a year away from retirement. Lots of spreadsheet work to calculate the income replacement needed. This ladder will create a steady income stream. So thank you for all your help.
I moved back to high quality bond funds this year. Some of which you covered in the SA article. For now, I will stay with agency bonds to the bond ladder. I will pick active managers for corporate bonds.
Sven
@MIkeW, While TSP is great with its rock bottom fee index funds, you should think about opening a Roth IRA so that you can diversify in other asset classes.
@heezsafe, thanks for the video. Will watch it later. Here is my take on OSTIX. Osterweis is a conservative firm who invest much of the old money in the Bay area for a long time. OSTIX has the flexibility to invest in many bond sectors. Kaufma…
There are decent cash like choices to cover short term uses without dipping into bond and equity buckets. Cash Money market short term CD are reasonable choices as others on this board have noted on another discussion.
Many 401k plans have a stab…
@Catch, music is a wonderful way to learn the concept of preservence and delay gradification - something that is important in higher learning in both school and life. My daughter plays violin since she was six and now she performs in orchestra on a…
The expense ratio at 1.18% is a drag on the 2.85% 30 day yield. Also it holds 25% in cash. In this low yield environment, there are really few viable choices.
Hey VF, if what you said is true, I better invest in Pb (lead the .223 round) and lots of them. But my spouse may object.
My personal opinion is there will be World War in 2025 and then it does not matter what I invest in.
If one pick the appropriate asset allocation (i.e. risk tolerance), this downturn is not nearly as bad as it appears. It is when emotion and fear strike and the investors bail out at the bottom and lock in the realloss. We have seen this before du…
@johnC, Apple reported that China's demand on iPhone has not softened despite the market downturn. Same cannot be said for Samsung and HTC - both are sustaining decline on the high and low ends of their product lines.
In the longer term, AAPL w…
@catch, I am in a position to hire, train, and work with the millennial generation. Other than few gems I found, majority of them unfortunately are no different than the 10th graders you described above. Question is what have they learned in a fo…
Don't think FMIJX will see sizable outflow. They are conservative investors that hedge currency exposure similar to Tweedy Browne. The leveraged ETFs will take the biggest hits. Next are the ones with sizable emerging market exposure.
If I wou…
@mrc70, thanks for the reminder. I did read Tower's paper in DieHard's discussion forum (several times since then). But I am not fully convinced with his conclusion yet. Only time will tell.
Strange, it is not listed on Vanguard's website.
According to M*, the initial purchase is $250K (investor share). Hate to ask for the Admiral and Instiitute Shares. The ER is 0.40.
Conservative funds focusing on downside protection. Some made unpopular choices including large cash position (First Eagle and Tweedy Browne) and consumer staples stocks (Yacktman).
The funds on the list all go into the category "hold your nose a…
@Old_Skeet, I would pass on Rob Arnott funds. There is really nothing special about his approach. There are much better moderate allocation funds out there. Vanguard Wellington and Wellsleye, for example.
Chris Davis funds (Selected American, Clipper, and New York Venture) consistently overweigh financial sector and they often performed poorly in down market than his peers.
My small emerging market allocation through Wasatch Emerging Small Cap and…
Not picking on M* or something. Contra fund is a growth-oriented fund and S&P 500 is not its benchmark. The second comparison to the large cap growth fund is okay though.
Contrafund's 7.71 percent total return is three times more than the S&…
@hank, I agree that PRWCX is an outlier among the moderate asset allocation fund. Consistency year after year has been one trait that other AA funds lack, including DODBX. I understand they use different approach, but the results are quite differe…
@JohnChisum, Concur with your assessment on China. Greatly reduced my EM allocation since January and now mainly through Seafare G&I, SFGIX. Lately there has been considerable discussion on how China's low labor cost advantage is disappearing…
@scott, it has been roller coaster reporting so far. Think WFM are heading headwind going forward as other large grocer chains including Costco and Albertson are offering organic foods but at much better price points. Read earlier that WFM is pla…
@catch, agree with what you said on Ed's statement.
Again, balanced or even balanced index funds are great place to start for many novice investors. That is why target date funds is a reasonable choices providing the expense ratio is low.
@hank, can you explain your statement below? Thanks
(on balanced funds) "... I am increasingly concerned that the three usual asset classes of equities, fixed income, and cash, will not necessarily work in a complementary manner to reduce risk."
@Lewis, I believe there are plenty of concern. Censorship is what limiting China's free flow of information reaching to the rest of the world. Same goes for their market information from the local sources.
topics.nytimes.com/top/news/interna…
Thank you. This is one of the informative article on Berkshire Hathaway. Not sure I come to the same conclusion with the author when Buffett steps down in the future.
@PRESSmUP and heezsafe,
For now credit risk in VWITX is low comparing to Oppenheimer exposure to PR bonds. Since rates are will definitely be higher in the future, duration risk still persist in higher rate environment, but it is still manageable …
