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.
Thanks, yes, I do not want to deal with small lot nightmares (especially since I am the one doing the taxes at home!)
This is in a a Fidelity brokerage account. Cash goes directly into SPAXX (Fidelity Government Money Market). For me, it is OK if d…
I think we are at the tail end of early adoption phase. I think all major manufacturers will be getting into this thread as supporting side industries emerge. I own a VW Passat and this year VW stopped selling Passat in the US in favor of their new …
I am thinking of utilizing RPHYX for some cash in a taxable brokerage account. I used this fund in retirement account so I did not care much about tax efficiency and cost base accounting. But in a taxable account one needs to be more careful not to …
I think Mutual Funds will continue to be the main mechanism in retirement accounts where once a day trade is just enough. ETFs will be increasingly dominant in taxable accounts. Not all ETFs are now cost and some hide the acquired funds' underlying …
I have a photo with it but I wonder how they managed to get the crowd away. There is no way you can normally take a photo without someone else in it. Actually more than just a few.
Here’s a good article that looks into this topic: https://humbledollar.com/2020/06/farewell-yield/
From the article:” That brings me to an idea advanced in 1989 by the late Peter Bernstein. Instead of the classic balanced portfolio with 60% stocks a…
Buffet's Warning on Owning Bonds:
Can you believe that the income recently available from a 10-year U.S. Treasury bond – the yield was 0.93% at yearend – had fallen 94% from the 15.8% yield available in September 1981? In certain large and importan…
The problem is not just finding reliable and conflict free personal finance advice. It is an extension of finding reliable and conflict free news. There is so much content generated online that is driven by various interested groups that objective, …
This article is too shallow in my humble opinion. Biggest problem are spending habits. When spending is not compatible with income problems start to emerge.
"In other words, the stock market turns on thoughts and feelings that cannot be readily measured, and certainly not predicted in advance."
"So my advice is this: Forget about trying to figure out the market in rational terms. Current trends and mom…
It is very hard to deploy cash in a market that is grossly overvalued. It is not the age of Buffett or Munger that is the problem here. It is their knowledge of the markets that is preventing them putting money in stock with such high multiples. Ber…
I am a bit cautious with the market. For someone with the time horizon of mine I am holding significant cash but as the equity portion grows that part is getting smaller. I have eliminated some marginal funds and kept the proceeds in cash.
Well, raising the gas tax will create incentive for more fuel efficient vehicles and public transport, even some may take bicycling to work. There is nothing wrong. If at some point in the time, most of the vehicles switch to energy sources besides …
It is one of many examples of Republicans saying one thing in opposition and doing completely opposite when it is convenient for them. In addition, we have tried "trickle" down economics several times and it did not work but like a religion they kee…
Perma bears are as dangerous of overly optimistic managers. Yes, when the bear eventually happens they strike gold but look at Hussman for example. It did make money in 2018 but over 3, 5, 10, 15 year horizons HSGFX has lost money. As smart as they …
@msf You are right. Highly compensated employee is defined by IRS as someone that is making more than $120K and are in the top 20% of the company pay scale.
This of course does not take into account cost of living expenses of the locality. Some whi…
@msf Yes, I was primarily talking about the first half. Sorry for the confusion. I am still in the accumulation phase so my focus was in using these funds for accumulation.
Well, it seems like I am one of those in that 13%. There are a lot of people that earn more than me and yet they hardly have any retirement savings. They are spending like there is no tomorrow.
Hi Ron,
Nice to see you are still around since I recently made my way to the site after 5 years of hiatus.
I am not too fixated on the trade deficit. I put it out there especially since president pretending that putting tariffs will help solve thi…
One thing that the study shows (the one in the link) is that there is some momentum effect in periods less than a year. And it is more likely to be momentum of the asset class/sector so those managers that had a larger allocation to that asset class…
Yes, I agree a lot of random luck is interpreted as success or evidence of skill in the case of managers. On the flip side, skilled managers often do not get credit because they are unlucky or they have been given rains of managing money in an asset…
I own a Suzuki Equator truck. This is a rebadged Nissan Frontier. Most Nissan parts fit identically but front bumper headlights and panel are different styling. The problem is that Suzuki has left the US auto market in 2010 closing all dealerships, …
The question is: what's an appropriate glide path?
I will argue that most decreasing glidepaths do a pretty good job. The end result over time tends to be similar.
I am not sure of the increasing equity allocation in retirement though. I have to …
I used to think that Target Date funds were not pretty good investments. But they have improved and costs have come down significantly. I think most investors will do just fine with a low cost target date fund. People have better things to do with t…
That sounds like variable annuity with wrapped mutual funds inside. They give you insurance but costs and the fine print to exercise that insurance makes it an unattractive vehicle for investing. The terms are written in such as way that the annuity…
The fact that money flowing out of FLPSX makes the fund more manageable. I actually welcome it.
While the fund initially looked at companies whose share price was less than $5, over time they redefined it to $35. I think the real deal was small val…
I used to think Life Strategy funds were not really good choice. Over time they have improved, costs have come down significantly. But now I am thinking that they are actually pretty good investments for most people. There are a lot more to do in li…
It is really unbelievable.
Recently, there was another story of a bitcoin investor dying and not leaving the access password to successors but this is exchange. It should not happen here. You expect that this sort of things does not depend on the …
Almost everyone can run a screen that can beet the market looking backwards. Can anyone you tell me how many of them will beat the market in the next 5 years or even 3 years?
Often money managers that had great records with small amounts of money u…
