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.
Hi Dex,
I did not follow your analyses in any detail, but I believe you are being far too pessimistic. A 30-year projected retirement is doable with less funds than your analyses suggest.
How do I know this? I did a few calculations using the Mo…
Hi Ted,
Like you, I would not take issue with an increase in the Federal gasoline tax. It has been unchanged since the early 1990s without inflation adjustments. And the Feds now do spend the fuel funds that go into the Trust on interstate highwa…
Hi Guys,
Wow!
When I first started thinking in terms of an early retirement, I was approaching 60. Thinking and planning for a mid-50s retirement was never in my playbook. Congratulations if you want and can execute that major league feat.
Ever…
Hi Scott,
Thank you for carrying the heavy water to bring the discussion back on topic.
As always, I look forward to your informed submittals. You have a highly focused work ethic. I share many of the views that you so eloquently expressed in yo…
Hi Hank,
Thank you for replying.
Reading your agitated response clearly demonstrates that I was not too far off base when I commented that I was “Sorry if I touched a tender spot”. Again, based on your reply, I not only touched a tender, soft spo…
Hi Hank,
Thank you for reading my post.
I can be succinct in response. I never claimed that any of your comments are "incorrect". You simply identified your agreement or disagreement with Jaffe's opinions with your own opinions.
I consistently …
Hi Hank,
The consensus wisdom from successful football coaches is that wins are generated by superior defense. A ton of expert investing professions are similarly persuaded. That’s why so many financial advisors talk about playing defense. That’s…
Hi Guys,
Thank you all for your enthusiastic replies. I appreciate all of them for their prospective and for their civility.
I believe we all invest with constraints; with some self-imposed set of rules that act as speed governors to control pot…
Hi Catch,
Thank you for your detailed post.
I really liked your parsing of its various elements. You stated what components you liked and those that you took issue with. You replied within your own blind spots and personal constraints. That's r…
Hi LLJB,
Thank you for contributing.
Since you asked, allow me to offer a very simpleminded answer. Making a decision and then doing the opposite is just contrary to human nature and will not be implemented by most folks. It will never happen.
…
Hi Crash,
The Hazlitt work has sold over a million copies, has been reissued several times, and has been translated into several foreign languages. These are great measures of some success. Keynes also has similar success. In the stock market, t…
Hi David,
Thank you for commenting.
Krugman and Hazlitt are at polar opposite extremes of the economics spectrum. The former is a Keynesian and the latter subscribes to the Austrian school. They likely agree on almost nothing. For brevity, I di…
Dear Old Joe,
Well, there you go again with your one-dimensional, lonely rants directed at me. They are lonely because I don’t initiate them and I try to ignore them, mostly unsuccessfully. I find them tiresome; perhaps others at MFO share that f…
Hi Catch,
I am consolidating more of my portfolio in Vanguard products, but I plan to retain two active Fidelity positions. I will invest most of the transfers in Index funds, but some in actively managed Balanced funds,
My reasons are very conve…
Hi Guys,
It is hard to imagine a more poorly conceived and executed article. It fails in so many dimensions that it makes a logical critique difficult. Shame on Slate. Where to start?
Admittedly, I merely scanned the article. It really doesn’t…
Hi msf,
Thank you so much for your informative comments.
Until today, I considered Vanguard the nearly perfect Indexer. I fully understand that they offer a mix of both actively and passively managed mutual fund products to capture market share.…
Hi Guys,
I didn't need to reach very far to open the long standing active-passive debate. Given the Fidelity and the Vanguard corporate cultures, that is a natural development.
As I mentioned, I don't own any Target Date fund products so I'm not …
Hi Guys,
The Merriman article is yet another devastating indictment of the futility and failures of active fund management.
Once again, passively managed funds bury equivalent actively managed funds in the annual returns dust; not always, but perh…
Hi Guys,
I am very apolitical. I consider that a saving attribute; it allows me to keep composed and logical when others jump from high cliffs without much water below them. Denials aside, based on their postings, quite a few MFOers do not share …
Hi Guys,
A defining characteristic of the MFO Posting Board is its adaptability to change and the freedom to exercise that adaptability. But civility is also important.
As John Maynard Keynes remarked: “When the facts change, I change my mind. Wh…
Hi Tampabay,
Thank you for reading, reflecting, and responding to my submittal.
Although I've been investing since the mid-1950s, I still am in the learning mode. Presently, I use a multi-criteria list to sort candidate fund options. Based on a …
Hi Heathkit,
Congratulations on your superior performance. You have made some wise and highly profitable mutual fund investment decisions. Indeed, the very bottom-line is how much you get to keep over the long haul. The lowest cost fund provide…
Hi Guys,
I’m a huge Jason Zweig fan. I remember him from a few years ago at the Las Vegas MoneyShow. He was one of the few (maybe the only) presenter who scored his previous years recommendations against their subsequent performance, and rated hi…
Hi Guys,
Old Joe, a self-anointed judge and jury, continues to heap targeted antagonism directed towards me since Fund Alarm days. His antagonism has a long and tortured history. That history is documented on both Fund Alarm and MFO by the pletho…
Hi Old Joe,
“There you go again”.
I purposely started my reply with the Ronald Reagan phrase from the 1980 presidential debates with Jimmy Carter to capture your attention. Knowing your political preferences, I’m confident that I succeeded.
I st…
Hi Catch,
Thank you for reading my post.
I am somewhat surprised by how exercised you are about it. I thought it is a rather innocuous piece.
Perhaps I came across too strongly with my blanket censure of all business news programming. There is …
Hi AKAFlack and MFOers,
Welcome back AKAFlack, it’s been way too, too long. I have missed your moving average posts. Do you still teach that market entry/exit technique? I worry for your students. They may not have the discipline that you do. …
Hi Catch22,
Thank you for your participation.
You often explore a subtle and sometimes nuanced perspective of the subject matter. Your post on this exchange is no exception. It greatly expands the scope of my very focused submittal.
My post was…
Hi Guys,
Thank you all for your replies.
Given these replies, I presume you, on balance, favor actively managed mutual funds for at least a portion of your portfolios. So do I.
When I initially morphed into a mutual fund portfolio, I exclusively…
Hi Guys,
The referenced article is utter nonsense; it is a waste of time and space.
At best, it is a circular argument. It suggests that the passive/active decision is itself an active investor decision. From my perspective, the designation betw…
Hi Scott,
Serious stuff! Very serious macroeconomic stuff indeed. My original post was intended as relief from the worrisome economic situation, but I really appreciate your post that transports us back into the trenches. Your posts are always t…
Hi Mark,
You're absolutely right! Thanks for the correction. Springsteen truly does rock. His songs often tell stories that teach valuable lessons.
Sorry for the error. Yet another example of faulty memory.
Best Wishes.
Hi Guys,
From my perspective, John Bogle is an investment folk hero of legendary size.
He did not make some minor adjustments to an industry; he transformed it. Vanguard is now the largest mutual fund entity in the US, and Bogle founded it 4 deca…
Hi Crash,
You questioned my terms “integrated wealth of the poor” and “underworld” in my last submittal. You requested some clarification.
I did not originate these descriptions myself. Rather I lifted them from the writings of Hernando De Soto …
Hi Guys,
I too want to acknowledge and salute Sheldon Jacobs for his contributions to the investment industry writ large, but more importantly to me, for the impact that he had on my investment philosophy.
I exchanged thoughts with him at several …
Hi Guys,
Yes, closure of this topic is overdue. For me, that became evident about midway through the postings when they headed south. They became very personal and vindictive. Beyond that point, little of substance was added. MFO prospers very …
Hi Scott,
Thank you for the reference; I don’t usually access Guggenheim Partners’ articles.
Notwithstanding the articles conclusion, I’m much more sanguine about our long-term growth rate prospects than the author is. From earlier posts, you kn…
Hi Guys,
I’m with Mark on this issue. He is on-target. Color presentation does influence the human decision process.
Like Mark, I’m not a marketing expert and have never been in that business. But the advertising specialists have been, and they…
Hi Guys,
The SPIVA reports have been issued for over a decade now, and the primary conclusions have remained constant during this entire period. Although percentages change depending on the market environment, less than half active mutual fund man…
