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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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stayCalm

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stayCalm
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  • I view BLNDX as a commodities long-short fund. Manager provides great monthly commentary on his thinking. I owned it many years back but sold off all my position because I found better candidates for what I was looking for in a LS fund. That said, …
  • Empower Personal Dashboard is a browser app, there is nothing to download to PC or Mac. It also has decent Android and iOS versions (I use both but the mobile apps are not full equivalents of browser) https://www.empower.com/personal-investors/fin…
  • All of Empower dashboard is free. It has quotes and charts (I don't use charts). I have two limited use cases for Empower -- automated aggregation and allocation view. I use the Retirement Planner on occasion but I prefer PV for that.
  • I used M* many years back so my info (and memory) is likely dated. M* does not hold a candle to Empower. You don't need to connect any of your accounts to Empower, it can be 100% manual. I agree with the data breach risk of Empower. Empower is a su…
  • I've used eMoneyAdvisor in the past through a FA but I'm no longer with that FA and eMA isn't offered retail. eMA is the closest probably to Empower but the learning curve is steep and it isn't as user friendly as Empower.
  • On the topic, Empower dashboard has definitely deteriorated from a stability perspective after Personal Capital was sold to Empower. I poked around with a few competitors in order to move on but unfortunately had to return back to Empower because i…
  • Empower is the former Personal Capital. I use their free wealth tracker dashboard, not any of their paid FA services. I tried to do the same with Fidelity's Full View but did not find it convenient or useful. Empower is convenient because it can au…
  • Fair enough. In the manager's own words(in June 2024 letter) BIVIX strategy does not work well when growth and momentum are strong and value is weak. That is what I was attempting to convey in my prior post -- "all boats rising" Also colorfully exp…
  • MRFOX is classified as Equity by Empower. I don't have any fixed allocation targets that I am trying to hit but fwiw, I do use PV to assess every few months if the projected returns of my portfolio will be better than a 60/40 like say VWELX or VBIN…
  • Hey Balu, % allocation per position is a level of detail I'm not comfortable sharing. In broad strokes, here are some allocation metrics. Alts: 46% Includes Real Estate, Long Short, Market Neutral, Private Debt Equity: 33% Includes US, Internatio…
  • LOL. Yes Schwab reps are extremely polite. Responding back to tickets in a timely manner is a different matter though.
  • PV classifies VELIX as Equity which is interesting because it is a LS fund. Personally I would pick QLEIX, QMNIX, VMNIX over VELIX.
    in MRFOX Comment by stayCalm July 24
  • Here's my portfolio, all commentary welcome! Some of the positions are due to 401k limitations. QLEIX, CEDIX, QMNIX, NICHX, CELFX, CCLFX, QRPIX, IMPCX, GENIX, MRFOX, XPEBX, CPIEX, DODGX, DFALX, CPEFX, FPADX, TRAIX, CORFX, CBARX, FTIHX, JAAA, BIVIX,…
  • QLEIX is on fire and I have a large position in it but watching it carefully for signs of hot hands deterioration like BIVIX. On BIVIX, I scaled down quite a bit starting 2024. Made some decent coin but as with all things in hindsight, should have …
  • New/adds: T, KRE, SIL, SPD, BURBY, FMS, JAAA, CORFX, CPEFX
  • Portfoliovisualizer classifies them both as LS Equity but yes I agree with you that BLNDX is more of LS Futures vs. QLEIX which is LS Equity
  • BLNDX certainly doing well this year especially compared to BIVIX (a former hot hands fund that has slipped substantially recently but still has blown out the lights on 3Y performance compared to BLNDX). I'm hoping QLEIX and CPIEX which are also on…
  • 250K was a hypothetical number to illustrate a point. I have Treasuries of varying maturities across multiple accounts -- I dislike having to frequently login to check whether there is idle cash sitting in the account. I'm not going to share the de…
  • @FD1000 We're talking past each other because we don't have the same needs from a brokerage or RIA. - I'm never 100% in the market so cash earning a competitive rate vs. nothing matters to me. - I do not have time to login to my Schwab account dail…
  • @FD1000 Regards your Catch 22 comment -- I could be a card carrying member of the investing Mensa club and determine that I want exposure to PE and private debt interval funds. But I still need a RIA to access them no matter my IQ.
  • @msf Ty for that detailed explanation on there being no difference between Schwab and Fidelity regards interest earned on MMF trades due to settlement day differences That said Fidelity and Vanguard imo are still better imo because one is not force…
  • Interesting that Fidelity does not allow a buy order on unsettled funds. Could it be due to not having a margin facility on the account? I Class entry at low minimums is a nice to have. The primary reason for RIA account is access to Alts which is…
  • @FD1000 "Even if I sell a fund into cash, I buy into MM fund immediately = same day settlement" How is the above possible when you don't know what the sale proceeds will be(or even that the sale will actually go through) or do you do a conservative…
  • @msf With Schwab, if I purchase a new position I have to sell SWVXX the same day because SWVXX will settle next day. With Fidelity(my understanding) is that the MMF will auto trade and settle next day to cover the prior day purchase therefore MMF p…
  • @Balu -- declining rates pressure NII and NIM which impact Schwab
  • Schwab relies very heavily on uninvested cash from customers -- don't know why there is confusion around this. Not offering auto sweeps into a MM fund like Fidelity and Vanguard is not due to Schwab being lazy, it is central to Schwab's strategy. Al…
  • Opened a new position in CPIEX, eliminated TAKNX, scaled down on NICHX and IMPCX, teed up CEDIX for scale down and IMPCX for elimination. Intend to increase CCLFX.
  • More than 90% of my portfolio is with Schwab but I would happily switch to Fido if my RIA supported Fidelity Schwab lacking auto-sweep into a MMF and Schwab MMF settling T+1 vs. Fido MMF same day can get pretty expensive pretty fast if one is not …
  • Innovator and a couple of others were much earlier in this game than Calamos. What's special about Calamos offering defined protection etf's?
  • After a change of roof, premiums will be lower at other insurance firms vs. existing one.
  • - Cash/MM/Treasury/CD: 14% - International Bonds: 4% - US Bonds: 22% - International Stocks: 4% - US Stocks: 10% - Alternatives: 46%
  • One can be surprised at the technical glitches that one encounters. In my Marcus(owned by Goldman Sachs) savings account dashboard, I had a outbound wire (which I had previously cancelled) showing a status of scheduled for more than a year after th…
  • This is a NAV drop not tied to a distribution -- the largest draw down in the history of this fund. It isn't an error.
  • Well then I stand corrected! Tks
  • Not an expert on this but... Brokerages(at least the big ones) generally offer all available classes of a mutual fund because the distribution arrangement is at the fund company level(I.e. AQR Funds) and not at the individual mutual fund class leve…
  • Why is PACLX lucky?
  • No idea about that tool (would be pretty useful if still around though for me 90% of my portfolio is with Schwab, rest with Fido). AQR Funds site has all the available classes and tickers for the two AQR funds I called out. I personally prefer Fi…
  • QLEIX and QRPIX are not interval funds. While these two tickers are the "I" versions of these funds, both of these have non "I" versions that can be bought without an RIA. CEDIX is an interval fund. Where available, I buy the "I" version of mutual …
  • I'm with Schwab and afaik one needs an RIA to access any interval fund. **Not investment advice, buyer beware.
  • QLEIX, QRPIX, CEDIX and Treasuries.