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SSA was also stopping paper checks on 9/30/25 & people cannot call SSA due to DC shutdown if they didn't switch to direct deposit or ran into problems. I read that electronic payments should continue as normal.
There will be no jobs report this…
According to ETF.com, Vanguard did apply for an ETF class for an active fund around 2015, but it was rejected by SEC. Don't know what the reasons were.
"When Vanguard let that patent expire in May 2023, the filings to mimic the unique structure sta…
I took another look at iShares allocation series: AOK (30-70), AOM (40-60), AOR (60-40), AOA (80-20).
It used to have typical allocation names - CA, MA, BA, AA, but actual equity allocations were much lower than common use. Now, it seems that it ha…
AUM under these ETFs may be small, but the point is that Morningstar is gradually becoming a force in credit ratings, advisory services, & now, in indexing.
That's a long way from its beginning in mutual funds.
Many posters may have fond or b…
Barron's RETIREMENT & WELL BEING (online). The SEC panel on including private-equity/credit (p-e/c) within retail funds and retirement 401k/403b has made several recommendation (28-page report): avoid self-standing p-e/c offerings; include p-e/c…
This has also been pointed out by others - Wade Pfau, rtc.
That is, adding guaranteed-income to the fixed-income portion makes retirement income portfolios more stable and less worrisome.
Just don't overdo it (so, partial annuitization to cover b…
Big crypto ETFs have 25 bps ERs.
Bitcoin - IBIT (AUM $84 billion), FBTC ($22 billion)
Ether - ETHA ($15 billion), FETH ($3 billion)
These can be held in regular brokerage a/c.
Comey's daughter Maurene was suddenly fired from SDNY (2014 - 07/2025). She is suing DOJ.
Comey's son-in-law Troy Edwards, EDVA, resigned. Comey had 6 children & Maurene's wiki bio doesn't show relationship with Troy Edwards, but some web link…
Crypto ETFs set to flood U.S. market as regulator streamlines approvals
".....The vote last week by the SEC to adopt new listing standards eliminates the need for individual regulatory review of each crypto ETF application, allowing products that m…
Corporate Notes are still around. They are typically bought from issuing companies, but Fidelity, E*Trade, etc also offers portals.
https://www.fidelity.com/fixed-income-bonds/individual-bonds/corporate-bonds/corporate-notes-program
https://us.etrad…
SECURE 2.0 (2022) - Final IRS rules for Catchups for 401k/403b
From 2026, all catchups above the threshold at a single job must go into Roth 401k. So, below the threshold, catchups can go to 401k or Roth 401k.
Threshold used is for income in the p…
Look at one extreme example of these new income vehicles from YieldMax - NVDY.
https://www.yieldmaxetfs.com/our-etfs/nvdy/
Related to Nvidia/NVDA is call-writing etf NVDY, and the StockCharts shows distribution-adjusted NVDY, actual prices _NVDA a…
M* uses its own indexes for benchmarking funds in its Quote pages, M* Legacy Portfolio, M* Portfolio.
Then, it licenses its indexes to others in US, Europe, Asia.
A quick web search found following ETFs that have Morningstar in their names:
First…
I added more links to OP that I had posted from my phone.
We can only guess details for now.
Would physical facilities move from U Chicago in Hyde Park, Chicago to Morningstar HQ in Downtown Chicago? My guess is those would move to M* Downtown HQ …
@Observant1, thanks for the MSN link.
I have noticed that many subscription links end up as open at MSN. But there must be a delay. When I posted the WSJ link, I also looked for a MSN link but didn't find any. If I search now (title followed by MSN)…
This was posted in Facebook TIAA Group and here was my reply:
"My take - 2 links are at the end.
1. Plan fees are $32/yr plus fund ER (if applicable).
2. TIAA Traditional is RCP (flexible). There is no ER as it's run directly from TIAA General Ac…
"It did happen when the US was in financial crisis..."
In terms of budget deficits, total debt and Fed balance sheet, 2020 may look like ages ago. We have to worry about the next crisis and what could be done then.
Many brokerage trade confirmations now show prices with more than 2 decimals. One day, trade entry screens may also show more digits. Some VAs display prices with 4 decimals - CREF Stock/QCSTIX $1,76.9360 (TIAA website, but not at Yahoo Finance).
Bu…
Fund splits are useless exercises.
For ETFs, I can understand reverse-splits to avoid delisting (need > $1) or attract institutional interest (need > $5). But that isn't applicable to OEFs.
The entire process is screwed up!
First, there is budget fight.
Second, there is appropriations fight.
Third, President can unilaterally block/stop appropriated funds.
Fourth, after the money is spent, there is debt-ceiling fight.
Imagine how a…
Unless you changed Control Settings, PC display & HDD go to sleep at different schedules. So, all isn't running even if you keep it on 24/7.
One problems with older PCs is that they don't always wakeup from sleep & require Shutdown & R…
MFO truncated the long post, so the length limit may have been reached. Here is the rest.
INCOME INVESTING/FUNDS. MULTISECTOR BOND funds are riskier but allow exposure to several types of bonds – sovereign, corporates, HYs, EMs. A mix of core and m…
Both STX and WDC have small but rapidly growing solid-state drive (SSD) businesses. But most drives are still hard disk drives (HDD) because they are cheaper to make (but incredibly complex in how they operate).
WDC in fact offers combo HDD & …
@Derf, the MFO Discussion link was blank, but the MFO Homepage link produced that message.
I use Chrome (on PC), but I tested the outage via Edge (on PC) and phone (Android) browsers.
All the while, MFO Premium (MFOP) was fine - I think that it's …
Before I started the OP, I looked for a recent thread on slow loading of MFO pages or threads. In that thread, reports were mixed - some experienced delays, other didn't.
When I couldn't find that thread, I knew that posts were missing.
My guess …
i thought PPI had been debunked as being not that useful as a leading indicator?
https://www.valueplays.net/2025/09/10/industral-production-continues-to-counter-pmi/
It's easy to get mixed up by the alphabet soup - CPI, PPI, PMI.
Link provided is…
A lot would depend on your tax bracket, age & estimated income in retirement.
If you go for maxing regular 401k, you may gradually convert to Roth IRA in lower income years.
Mixing up may be a good compromise.
And why not start in 2025 - the…
Yield-curve control is something central banks to, not funds.
Most intermediate-term bond funds manage their yield-curve exposure by following strategies such as barbell approaches (i.e. loading up on ST and LT binds but skipping the belly, when ap…
Securitization is a well-defined process that isn't considered among derivatives, but some may do so. Risks of securitization come from tranches of various credit ratings. As the underlying portfolio typically has mid-quality, the traches have ratin…
