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.
Would they transfer Admiral shares to Schwab?
That's a question best put to Schwab. I have been able to transfer Admiral shares of non-index funds to Merrill.
In addition to live accounts at Vanguard, I also have a couple of dead (empty) ones t…
"Our service is terrible ..."
And soon to get worse. One of the changes effective July 1 is:
VBS reserves the right to resolve Non-Trade Inquiries exclusively on its website or other available channels as opposed to providing such information by…
if Marcus offers a different term (not 20 mo) RBCD at a higher rate after one invests in a RBCD, can one still request a bump in rate or does the term of the newer RBCD have to be the same as the RBCD initially invest in?
You wrote: "'Prior to mat…
Not sure where you live but I'm guessing you had to Google that info yourself.
Half right. Yes, I searched for this, but not because I had to. Rather, I searched because I often check data before I post. My recollection is that I was offered…
Currently, only a 20 month rate bump CD is offered. How is the rate increase implemented?
The rate offered on a 20 month bump CD is currently 4.4%. Suppose that come July 2, Marcus changes the rate offered on a new 20 month bump CD to 4.8%. You…
How do we solve / decrease the burden of rising insurance costs through targeted investments? Any ideas and discussion would be great.
OJ wrote: When entire large contiguous communities are at risk because of one single loss situation (especially w…
my question really is, is it possible to have a $50,000-100,000 deductible HO policy with any of the insurance companies available to you?
Clearly someone who has never looked at earthquake insurance (10%-20% deductibles) :-(
https://content.naic.…
Thanks. We already knew the variable rate, the question was whether the fixed rate would change, up or down. Since it didn't go up, it would be (or would have been) better to buy in April.
It may be too late to buy now. A year ago, the Treasu…
It's pretty certain that if an insurance company finds out about a loss it will affect your rates (unless you have accident forgiveness).
Except for the smallest of collisions, an insurance company will find out about an accident even if you don…
This doesn't help explain why M*'s ticker search can't pull up the ETF, but CCOR (Core Alternative ETF) is available on this investor.morningstar.com webpage:
https://investor.morningstar.com/quotes/0P00019XXB (login required)
That page seems to ha…
Funds, even "pure" Treasury funds, have some wiggle room to hold some other assets. As noted in the Boglehead thread (see below), WisdomTree doesn't make it easy to find the numbers. But last year, "only" 99.9868% of the income was state tax exem…
PS - If I remember correctly, The AC zero-coupon funds I played with 2 decades ago terminated at a set dollar price per share. The U.S. backing of Treasuries made such precise forecasting possible. Corporates (zero or not) occupy a different playing…
It's not as though it costs the same amount for each rung of protection - that the first 10% of protection costs $X, the next 10% of protection costs the same amount, and so on. As the risk declines, so does the cost of incremental protection. T…
Taxes (in taxable accounts):
- short term (12 mo or less) zeros are taxed only at maturity, so a 9 month instrument purchased in May 2024 will not be taxed until the 2025 tax year. This goes for T-bills and short term CDs that pay interest at mat…
Volatility reduction tactics can improve long term performance. It depends on how long the term is. As you imply, in the withdrawal stage long term is decidedly shorter. Two quotes come to mind.
Keynes: In the long run we are all dead. Economist…
the Fed continues it's rate reductions
Continues?
I'm not counting on rates dropping soon. Around 70% of the economy is driven by consumer spending, which "grew at a still-solid 2.5% rate, slowing from the [previous quarter's] 3.3% growth pace". …
Good: Fido Screener finds both mutual funds and ETFs.
Bad: Fido Screener only finds funds supported at the Fido platform.
Good: Fido suggests similar funds to a given one and makes it easy to compare
Bad: Selected funds are only funds offered NTF by…
Like rforno, our umbrella (I think that Chubb calls it "excess liability") is part of the home and auto policy. I understand its purpose as relates to extended home and auto liability protection. If someone sues us for reasons not related to our hom…
It seems I am using I bonds differently from several other people. So far, I haven't sold any, though I suggested a "swap" (buy new one with higher rate than an older one I would sell).
I regard them as long term cash, since they only accumula…
T. Rowe Price overhauled its investor benefits a couple of years ago. The newer Summit program provides "Complimentary Morningstar Premium membership" at the Select Services ($250K) level and above. The old program used to provide this perk at $…
You are on the board of your HOA and of course the one knucklehead in your neighborhood doesn't like the decision the board made...and sues....
That's what D&O insurance is for.
NOLO, What HOAs Need to Know About D&O Insurance
If you have…
When entire large contiguous communities are at risk because of one single loss situation (especially weather or fire related) that model simply doesn't work.
ISTM dental insurance is a similar situation - there the insurance operates more like pre…
I don't worry about government m-mkt funds with $1 NAV. Without the fear of gates, retail-prime m-mkt funds with $1 NAV will be fine too.
For the most part, I agree with Yogi. My qualification is that liquidity is somewhat in the mind of the beho…
VUSXX has virtually the same yield as VMFXX (this has been true for several months), and is mostly state tax exempt.
In a moderate (5%) to high (10%) income tax state, the fund can save 20-40 basis points in taxes (assuming the fund is 80% inves…
There was indeed confusion in early-2021 and there were revised versions of IRS Publication 590-B [
As you wrote in the cited link, "So, this new 590-B dated 3/25/21 makes things clear."
Hence the original two year transition waiver through the end…
To be clear here (somewhat ironic choice of words), the IRS is rewarding failure to read the rules by waiving a rule for another year.
Some individuals who are owners of inherited IRAs ... [misunderstood] the new 10-year rule. ... Specifically, […
IIRC he only gets those extra 30m shares if the price is above 17.50 for a certain period of time. Based on recent price action, that floor may be breached in a few weeks. LOL
Not a chance that those shares will not be granted. As @Mark wrote abo…
options/warrants typically have exercise prices ABOVE the current prices
Typically, one expects a stock's price to increase.
Historical prices for DJTWW (warrants).
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/DJTWW/history
The prices seem to be moving in …
I can still recall the Columbia record deal insert from the weekly TV Guide. It was something like "$.01 for 10 records". You later had to buy 1 additional album per month for life at approx. $14 each - that was a lot back then.
What's a "TV G…
Brokerages often have different (usually but not always lower) mins for funds. The Vanguard Treas MMF (VUSXX) has a $3K min (same as at Vanguard) but at ETrade you need only a buck to invest in WMPXX.
https://www.etrade.wallst.com/v1/stocks/snaps…
According to E*Trade's mutual fund screener, there are 103 MMFs of various types available at E*Trade. Under Fund Category, select Money Market, All Categories.
https://www.etrade.wallst.com/research/Screener/MutualFund
The last column displayed …
I wrote that no number provided was wrong, but that they were representing different quantities. When reporting figures, it helps to be clear about what those figures measure. Otherwise it's easy to get tripped up using different metrics (such as …
It has six managers four of whom have Ph.D.s.; the 2.62% ER is kind of justified! Joking aside, I generally do not pay attention to ER if a fund has return history. The ER includes acquired fund fees.
https://funds.aqr.com/funds/alternatives/a…
Generally I don't use margin or pay much attention to it. So my experience with 30 day waits for securities to become marginable is limited.
That said, as I think about it, the last time I purchased additional shares of an ETF those new shares…
That last sentence is NOT new and has been in place, "Please note that ETFs that are supported by their provider through an asset-based fee (and exempt from the service fee) will not be marginable for 30-days after purchase."
The fee schedule you li…
If you're thinking of redemption gates, the SEC is eliminating that. If your concern is liquidity (redemption) fees, the SEC is imposing a mandatory liquidity fee on institutional MMFs (other than government funds) if daily redemptions exceed 5% o…
It doesn't make any sense to include the effect of waivers (which reduce expenses), but not the effect of the expenses themselves. Say a fund has waivers amounting to 0.3%. The effect of those waivers is to boost returns by 0.3%. IOW, but for t…
In a few states (NY, Conn, Calif), if at least 50% of the MMF's assets are not invested in state-exempt Treasuries each quarter, then none of the divs are state exempt. For taxpayers in those states, it's doubly important how much of a Treasury fun…
