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
Reply to @johnN: You must be one of the fortunate ones (the top 2%) whose adjusted gross income exceeds $250,000. We certainly don't come close to that. Bush tax cut is likely to be extent in some form for lower tax brackets. The Fiscal Cliff is…
Good interview from Mobius on emerging markets and their continuing development.
Why is Templeton Developing Market fund is not one of the better performing EM fund though a market cycle?
Reply to @catch22: Why not consider short duration corporate bonds as the cash equivalent instead? They are much less interest rate sensitive than treasuries. As long as they focus on high quality issues, credit risk is what you are dealing with.…
Catch, if you have a G2 cell phone with voice plan only. G3 smartphones would not add much value to serve your basic uses as a phone only. If you add a data plan (additional $$), you can expand the capabilities: connect to the web, check your emai…
This low yield environment really hurts the retirees who depend on them. It is bad enough the traditional investment vehicles such as CDs and domestic bonds pay low dividend. Those who venture into the riskier asset classes including junk bonds an…
Reply to @catch22: As I recalled TIPs funds provided negative yields over a year ago. We are not facing high inflation today comparing to that of the 80's. There is no compelling reason to own this asset class other than fear itself.
Reply to @Investor: I have been thinking the same thing, but this will be funded from Pimco Total Return.
Lately I have been adding to existing foreign equities through Vanguard FTSE Index, VEU and Wisdom Tree Emerging Markets High Yielding Equit…
Reply to @Heathbob: Wasatch funds tend to close their funds to new investors at low asset level. Sometime they are "hard closing" and existing shareholders cannot invest additional $$. Although WAEMX is closed only to new shareholders, and the b…
Reply to @Investor: Clearly building a team of analyst to cover the global stocks, especially within the micro- and small-cap universes, is a huge task. This side we (investors) do often see easily. Only time will tell how this process evolves as …
Reply to @Investor: Good point on spousal Roth contribution. This is directly from IRS,
http://www.irs.gov/retirement/participant/article/0,,id=211358,00.html
"Spousal IRAs
If you file a joint return, you and your spouse can each make IRA contri…
Reply to @claimui: I totally agree that performance of SFGIX is likely to deviate from MACSX with the investment universe now that it spans beyond Asia. It can also swing both directions depending on whether Mr. Foster has all resource to cover all…
I don't think so. Tax-deferred accounts continue to grow and they are largely invested in mutual funds. Few of them uses ETFs and stocks.
The growth rate maybe match those in the past, but there should be sufficient demand from smaller investor…
Reply to @claimui: YTD performance is too short to draw meaningful conclusion. Over longer term, i.e. 5 years or longer, these two funds will track each other closely unless the strategy deviates.
Nevertheless, this fund should do well by pairi…
Many brokerages impose 3-6 months holding period on mutual funds, at least those which are on no-transaction-fee platform.
Trading stocks, ETFs, and stock options are okay since one pays the transaction fee.
What trouble me is the idea of freq…
And good portion of the 22% yield come from the investor's principal. Funds of this type borderline being fraud.
I sincerely hope income investors are better informed that there is no "free lunches" for bond investing. Sticking to simple and lo…
Reply to @Kenster1_GlobalValue: "And consider that they are investing in micro-cap and small-cap stocks and so they probably don't want to get too concentrated."
For small-and micro-cap stocks, they are thinly traded and often not sufficient liquid…
As China's economy slows, it affects everyone else negatively including Australia and Canada that provide the natural resources needed. I would keep an eye on the situation and trim your position if the sign of "hard landing" is taken place in Chi…
Reply to @msf: I apologize for being harsh on Mutual Series funds. Fact is that the total asset under management of the funds have grown considerably since the sale to Franklin. As you mentioned that investment process and style remained true to t…
Reply to @Investor: "On Friday you could still buy into Service shares at Fidelity with a small minimum ($500)"
Is this new? It appeared that Yacktman funds are not listed neither under Managers nor Yacktman funds in Fidelity.
For now the most…
This is another example of the challenge to time the market consistently over long period of time. Will Danoff does not invest as a "hare". It is the sheer size of asset under his management that does not allow him to take big bets without incurri…
Reply to @MikeM: I share the same concern. Michael Price sold Mutual Series Funds to Franklin while he was on the top. Asset continues to escalate many folds and the funds are lost most of their flexibility they once had.
Question, will there b…
Thank you.
It's refreshing to hear from T. Rowe Price that their investment objectives include, "our focus is on performance, not gathering assets," as they closed their high yield bond fund recently.
Nevertheless the article focuses on the lar…
Mr. Gross managed to outpace his chief rival, Jeff Gundlach of Doubleline Total Return, DBLTX. YTD return is 4.85% as of July 3rd. Mortgage debt is the major holding in both funds while DBLTX has a much larger allocation to it.
For the sake of simplicity, I use a spreadsheet to track performance and allocation changes over time. Perhaps my needs are less demanding than most investors, real-time tracking is not necessary.
Hi Investor,
Sounds like a wonderful trip! Wish we took the tour before our little ones arrive. Few more years we will assume our adventures again. While you were away, the market stabilized and moved upward. The second half of the year will b…
Reply to @tgeno: I totally agree that SC ruling has much impact on recent upswing. Crisis in Eurozone is much bigger and potentially could affect the rest of global markets.
In the worst scenario, Europe falls into recession, follow by US and As…
There is more to the eyes can see...drug stocks went up while insurance stocks declined. In the meantime, the market is moved by positive news in Europe.
"Euro-area leaders agreed to relax conditions on emergency loans for Spanish banks and pos…
Reply to @MikeM: Thanks Mike. I will give it another try...
For such a fine mutual fund house, one would expect they spend decent $$ to keep up with the competition. In the meantime, Schwab and Fidelity are making their web service truly user-f…
Reply to @catch22: The author, who is a financial advisor, merely points out the risk associates with bond funds or bond ETFs with respect to raising interest rate. One can lost value in their principal (decline bond prices) while maintain the yie…
Reply to @BobC: Both Lazard and Wasatch offerings are closed to new investors. I will check out the other options you mentioned.
By the way other than performance metric versus the respective index that you are looking, what other criteria when …
Reply to @msf: The decision would be more apparent after considering the before- and after-tax return. For those in higher tax bracket, munis are viable alternatives to treasury, corporate bonds and foreign bonds. Mind that all bonds have interest …
Reply to @scott: The analysis of the article is incomplete... How can one goes 95% cash while gaining 5% for the year. There has been something more to this long/short strategy.
Reply to @msf: One can also use muni bond funds in taxable account if he/she is in 28% or above tax bracket. If one lives in high income tax states such as New York or California, singe state muni bond funds would be reasonable choices.
