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
Catch & Bee,
Like many people who are caregivers for their aging parents, managing their retirement expense is a daunting task. My sister help out with the day-to-day stuff while I oversee the bigger picture. The biggest expense we face is …
Reply to @CathyG: In my humble opinion, munis are doing fine despite default fear spread by Meredith Whitney. 2011 proved that her prediction was way off.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-01/whitney-municipal-bond-apocalypse-is-short-on-defa…
Reply to @johnN: I used H&R Block in the past, and walked away quickly... They gave bad advice which I would have pay TWICE on my stock option. A local CFA set the matter straight and I will never use these large tax preparation shops.
Reply to @mclaugh: All insurance agents will share the same bias - sale commission. A better choice would be a fee-based advisor to sort out the pros and cons of annunity, most of which already discussed here.
Reply to @Investor: FSICX covers several asset classes which is easier to manage. High yield and dollar-based EM bonds are also highly correlated. Local currency EM bonds are less correlated and is also one approach to hedge against USD decline. …
Rebalanced in late March from equity to cash . Will let cash sits until better entry points become apparent. Will evaluate "alternate" funds for capital preservation.
That is the reason that Pimco Total Return is experiencing new inflow - $1.7 billion.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-02/pimco-s-total-return-fund-attracts-1-7-billion-in-first-quarter.html
Increase your cash/bond position if one feels uncomfortable with the market. It does not have to one way or the other. A balanced approach makes a lot sense.
Reply to @catch22: Thank you again. Additional articles by Mary Beth Franklin are also informative to read.
http://www.investmentnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/personalia?ID=MBFranklin
Enjoy.
Please scroll down to bottom to locate the top mutual fund holders. Do you have any of the funds in your portfilio?
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/mh?s=GRPN+Major+Holders
Under-funding defined pension plan is wide spreaded in both public as well as private sectors. IBM was reported to fund their pension plan only 20%. Someday this will affect the older retirees, and those who use their 401(K) plan are better off. …
Sorry, here is the link.
https://news.fidelity.com/news/article.jhtml?guid=/FidelityFeeds/pages/junk-bond-etfs-use-caution&topic=investing-etfs&print=true
These are ETFs from Vanguard:
developed market - MSCI EAFE index ETF, VEA
emerging market - MSCI emerging market ETF, VWO
global real estate - Global ex-US real estate, VNQI & US real estate, VNQ
iShares, State Street and others have equivalen…
Reply to @BobC: Goldman's fund you mentioned is not available for many retail investors without an advisor. Would you please suggest other no-load alternatives?
Reply to @MaxBialystock: MAINX and SFGIX belong to two different asset classes - one being largely an Asia focused bond fund while the other is a global allocation fund. As much respect I have for Andrew Foster, I don't want to take on another fund…
Yes, I have been following both Templeton Global funds. It appeared that Hassenstab were early in certain countries, Japan and Poland. This year he is bounding back strongly.
Reply to @catch22: In the past I had invested in Fido FNMIX until we found Pimco fund.
Currently we are using Pimco Emerging Local bond, PELBX, with Asia exposure less than 20%. Pimco uses derivatives to hedge against duration and certain curre…
It appears to be an all-cap global fund. Not sure how this differs from several other global funds already existing.
https://www.manning-napier.com/Portals/0/FundsDocs/fact-sheets/FS_inflation.pdf
Dividend paying stocks, REITs and etc should NOT be considered as substitutes for bonds/bond funds since their risk profiles are not the same. For example, during 2008 credit crisis Vanguard Dividend Appreciation Index fund (VDAIX) lost 26.6% while…
Reply to @scott: "it is rather curious that they aren't using the money to buy anything"
Recent new Apple business including iTune, smartphone (iPhone), and tablet (iPad) are developed internally rather than through acquisition. And each are …
