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.
It sounds like the original question concerned paid advisory services, but the responses and OP followup seem to be adding sales reps ("local FA") to the mix.
From Schwab:
When we recommend that you buy, sell, or hold securities; pursue a particula…
If one thinks like an economist, then one makes the absurdly simplifying assumption that people act rationally. Add in the assumption (belief?) that stocks are more risky than bonds, and one must conclude that over a long enough time (whatever tha…
they [TRP] do not treat it [PRWCX] as an allocation fund, notwithstanding how M* classifies it and how I view it.
Notwithstanding how Lipper similarly classifies PRWCX as a mixed asset, target allocation growth fund (like TRSGX), TRP includes PRWC…
A company with a good reputation can rally public support when dealing with regulators. That's a major reason why monopolies advertise.
Just last month, Boeing asked the FAA to waive a safety regulation through May 2026 so that it could deliver MA…
It's not the number of planes directly affected. It's Boeing's reputation that is at risk, and with that, future orders.
Boeing's goodwill and intangible assets (don't have a breakdown) have been in a steady albeit slow decline since June 2019,…
I responded to a comment about finding allocation funds that performed at least as well as JHQAX with lower volatility.
One can start with equity and attempt to reduce volatility in various ways. One can use options, as JHQAX does. One can add…
Not all investors will hold to maturity; not all notes and bonds mature at the same time within that year; and then there are the potential defaults (corporates of course). The portfolio would need to continue buying additional corporate notes/bond…
With all the releases and submodels, it's hard to keep up with this plane. Almost as bad as American Funds's share classes: A, C, F1, F2, F3, T, 529-A, 529-C, 529-F1, 529-F2, 529-F3, 529-T, ABLE-1, ABLE-2, R1, R2, R3, R3E, R4, R5, R5E, R6. And t…
So T-bills are in special category different from regular stock and fund sales.
T-bills are in a special category different from regular and muni bond sales. Bonds have their own rules dealing with appreciation. Unless bond appreciation is de m…
The tax deferral of T-bills depends not only on the fact that interest isn't paid until maturity but also that they mature in not more than 12 months.
People are generally aware that if they buy zero coupon bonds, interest is imputed and taxes owed…
I guess the question is why?
The usual reasons to buy a bond fund instead of an individual bond are: issuer diversification, individual security credit risk, maturity/duration diversification, and liquidity. With Treasury funds, you don't get …
Thanks Charles. I'd be glad to chat with you about some thoughts, though I just got down this rabbit hole responding to a comment that using raw data might not be circumventing a screener. Your post now addresses that in crystal clear terms:
We a…
MFO's MultiSearch is a great tool with an extremely extensive database underlying it, including a lot of MFO-defined metrics. In no way was I trying to disparage it.
That said, I'm more interested in the underlying data than in the tool. You l…
One can download the entire MFO dataset, or as you seem to suggest, download a view that includes only a subset of columns (AUM and a whole lot of other, but not all, fields). And one can program a spreadsheet to sort and search based on various c…
Most fund families allow an investor to open up a new account in a closed fund if they do it by moving shares rather than funding it with dollars. Here, that new account is in a Roth, but it could have been, e.g. a T-IRA funded with 401(k) rollove…
MFO's Basic Screener (aka QuickSearch) is still free!Yes it is, and it is a fine engine with several post-analysis criteria available (Great Owl, MFO risk,etc.). But just as with M*'s "new and degraded" premium investor screener,only post-analysis …
As I wrote above, even taking state income taxes into account, T-bills purchased a year ago didn't beat RPHYX, let alone RPHIX, after taxes. Though the numbers do work out differently if you're in the 32% or higher federal bracket.
There is anothe…
I'm guessing many folks left RPHYX (I am also currently a shareholder) because one could do better in treasuries over the past year or so.
Ah, there was a lot of talk about that, but it didn't happen. I believe RPHYX outperformed treasuries - agai…
I was trying to illustrate what M*'s basic fund screener couldn't find because it wasn't being maintained and so didn't recognize new (often replacement) categories. As a fund screener, it wouldn't have found any ETFs even if M* had continued to ma…
- @msf said, ”For example, it lists "market neutral". That hasn't been around since April 2021”
I tried to dig up a list of market neutral equity funds (across the internet) the other day to look over. Darned hard to find any. Maybe they’ve gone o…
ML has lots screeners for customers (of course) but easy enough for BoA clients
Same problem - try finding VTMSX with a screener. Merrill Edge doesn't carry it, so it doesn't show up (Lipper category - small cap core, verified on MFO).
This still works but not enough criteria(https://screen.morningstar.com/fundselectoraol.html)
Thanks!
Worth noting is that M* hasn't maintained its basic screener (its "official" one as well as this one) for years. This can be seen in its selecti…
A couple of somewhat obvious questions come to mind:
- What defines a "plan" (for the 15 year rule requirement)? "It is unclear whether this 15-year period restarts when there is a beneficiary change", according to one site. Another suggests that…
Why use M* screener at all when Fidelity is a robust one, includes ETFs, and free?
Because Fidelity's excludes funds that Fidelity doesn't carry.
For example, in the global small/mid M* category, the Fidelity screener returns 74 OEFs (including clo…
The Sept 2023 portfolio has 35.9% in fixed income and cash. That breaks down into:
2.6% a STRIPS maturing in 2036 (12 year duration),
1.0% a STRIPS maturing in 2041 (17 year duration),
1.1% a STRIPS maturing in 2049 (25 year duration),
2.8% h…
I also tend to hold funds for quite some time, because funds have their own cycles and often when one fund underperforms another for some time, the pattern subsequently reverses.
Looking at the calendar year percentile rankings, one could say that …
If I recall correctly, the last calendar year in which foreign stocks outperformed US stocks, FBALX still outperformed TRPBX.
Last year (2022) FBALX lost 18.19%, while TRPBX lost "only" 17.08%. Data from M*.
Foreign vs. domestic in 2022: VFUS (VTI…
TRP certainly didn’t market or describe TRPBX as a global allocation fund when I started investing in it
I don't know when that was, but the 2019 prospectus, in describing the fund's benchmark, says: Combined Index Portfolio is a blended benchmark …
I agree with hank about the declining service at T. Rowe Price. Performance of their allocation funds merits a closer look, however.
TRPBX is a global allocation (60/40) fund, with about 1/3 of stocks and 1/3 of bonds invested outside the US. F…
Don't look to M* for insight. Its brilliant quantitative analysis suggests that in light of the recent management change you noted the fund could do more to retain its portfolio managers. What exactly does M*'s crackerjack computer have in "mind…
I-bonds are an option especially for people in high tax states, who don't need the cash flow and are looking for a 4% CD (taxable) yield. Assuming a long term inflation rate of 2.5% and assuming a state income tax rate of 5%, the current I-bonds (1…
From what I’ve read, it’s running neck and neck with a Fidelity Blue Chip ETF for top honors this year. (ARK lost 67% in 2022.)
ARKK (73.69% YTD through Dec 27, per M*) is behind its OEF clone, ADNYX (available w/$2.5K min @ Schwab) (73.80% YTD), l…
It would be interesting to see the total return of investing in MDY or SPY two days before vs the day of distribution (i.e., payment date) for each distribution date since the inception for MDY or SPY.
Their dividends are effectively quarantined (un…
SPY operates on the same schedule as MDY, discussed above. Around six weeks between ex date and pay date. Compared with that, the two days (soon to be 1 day) between ex and record dates is noise. Not interested.
Almost surely a more importa…
The page yogi cited contains this image of a book:
That image says 2023 Edition. It also has a link embedded taking you to more information about the book including: "2023 edition published May 2023". So the cited page most likely dates from Ma…
A popular misconception is that the stock market goes up most (~70%) of the time.
That's correct on an annual basis. And the odds get even better over longer periods of time.
Source: https://www.capitalgroup.com/individual/planning/investing-f…
Fairmark (Kaye Thomas) is at the top of my go to list for secondary sources. He's clearer than official pubs and IMHO at least as accurate as any other source.
He provides information and clear explanation not only on the exception for short sale…
It's way worse than that. Is the NAV or the market price used? Is it a single price or an average of prices? Is it in a single day, and which day, or an average over multiple days?
From the SPDR S&P 400 ETF (MDY) prospectus:
The total re…
Some funds do not reinvest capital gains (I think both short and long-term) but reinvest dividends.
Example? Perhaps you're thinking of ETFs structured as UITs (e.g. SPY, QQQ). What UITs cannot reinvest are dividends from underlying equities and …