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.
FWIW, DBRS (also an NRSRO) confirmed its AAA rating of United States debt on July 28th.
https://www.dbrsmorningstar.com/issuers/12866
All NRSRO ratings of the United States (has not been updated to reflect Fitch downgrade).
https://tradingeconomics…
It used to be that munis had less credit risk than taxable bonds with equivalent credit ratings. That is, a BBB muni was as safe an A-rated taxable bond. This all changed a dozen years ago when muni ratings were "recalibrated". Now, the risk of…
these middlemen / brokers have been buying up the insurance companies that cover prescription drugs. One they bought is Optum RX
The corporate structure is a bit more muddled than that. The major presecription benefit managers (PBMs) are owned by…
All you see on TV nowadays are commercials about drugs.
The US and New Zealand are the only two countries that permit prescription drugs to be advertised on TV.
For how this all started, here's a 2021 Planet Money piece, "This Is Your Brain On D…
Has VUSXX been less state tax exempt than VMFXX in recent memory?
What matters is whether VUSXX returns more, after tax, than VMFXX.
Typically it yields less than VMFXX on a pre-tax basis. In a tax sheltered account, that's all that matters. …
Notable, sure ---- but how long did he have to hold the position to see that gain? IIRC that's been a dog stock for well over a decade and I suspect he's been underwater for most of it as their largest shareholder.
As a result of these promising de…
VUSXX is yielding higher than VMFXX and is 100% state tax exempt.
One third of its portfolio is currently (June 30th) in repurchase agreements. Those are not state tax exempt. The fund has owned even more than a third at times this year. 2023 …
But not the whole truth. The first quote continues: "This can be seen in its five-year alpha calculated relative to the category." The second quote continues: "lagging both the category benchmark and average peer over the past 10-year period."
O…
You're looking for Table II. That is in Pub 590B here:
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p590b#en_US_2022_publink100090290
Table I (which you can find by scrolling up from Table ii) is used for inherited IRAs. Table III (scroll down from Table II…
"You can’t avoid the S&P completely if you’re in domestic equity funds."
Seek and ye shall find: VEXAX / VXF invests in the S&P 500 Completion Index. Whether completely avoiding stocks in the S&P 500 is a good idea or not is a differe…
Every fund and every broker handles these things differently.
I once owned a BlackRock fund, service class shares, at Fidelity. That was the lowest ER noload share class I could buy. Once the (slightly cheaper) A shares were offered NTF, I ask…
Ask Fidelity to convert the GLFOX shares GLFIX. Assuming that Lazard will allow it, the transaction should go through without a transaction fee since you're not buying shares, just converting them. (I've done this type of transaction a couple of …
GLIFX - $10K min in Fido IRAs, $100K min in taxable accounts.
At Schwab, the min is $2,500, but you don't have Fidelity's trick of paying $5 for additional shares. (OTOH, some people claim to have gotten Schwab to waive its TFs.)
At Vanguard, min…
Stuff happens.
Cellphone towers can get overwhelmed during disasters, whether natural or manmade. Landline service is designed to prioritize emergency calls, drop inbound calls if they can't be completed, and queue dial tone so that one can still…
I tried it a few moments ago and it flipped back to the M* home page, but when I tried it again it worked. Seems more like M*'s general ineptitude running a website than a termination of this feature.
The P/E on the ones I saw (traditional style, highly regulated) were way too rich.
Hawaiian Electric here is not an independent company; it's owned by American Savings Bank. That's just weird
You may have the hierarchy upside down. HE owns Amer…
Hank is right in drawing a distinction between the years up to the mid 90s and the time since then. Though I would say that the key difference between then and now is regulation.
Utilities were heavily regulated, vertically integrated companies. …
I heard that line late one night. or early one morning, at the Marina Safeway towards the end of the 90's. One stocker talking to another: "If they start to go down, you just sell."I have a friend who used to live a block from there. Gave me a nic…
These may be the first ETFs to wrap this sort of strategy, but vehicles using it have been around "forever". See, e.g. principal protected notes, market linked CDs, indexed annuities, etc.
The particular strategy you described (provide protectio…
Unfortunately M* has been off for years about PIMIX. I downloaded the last PIMCO+Bond+Stats+2023+06.xlsx from Pimco.
M* uses all the SEC filing information to present exposure by asset class. PIMCO mechanically sums market value figures, disregard…
It's not all that unusual for new funds to be closed from the start "subject to certain exceptions" (quoting the preliminary TRP prospectus). Often it is to restrict those funds to internal use.
Vanguard was a little clearer when it launched its …
Hedging in the classical sense means protecting against (major) losses - think insurance.
The "protective put" mentioned above is a good example and can be analogized to collision insurance. You pay for collision insurance (a stock put). Withou…
let mfopremium free quicksearch be your friend here ! Quicksearch is great at finding funds that aren’t available for purchase by mere mortals.
Uh, https://www.statefarm.com/finances/mutual-funds
Dig slightly deeper: https://www.statefarm.com/financ…
@msf- OK, just to display my complete ignorance, what exactly is an "AA fund" that Crash is looking for?
Thanks/OJ
Short answer: Asset Allocation.
Slightly longer answer was given in this thread by @LewisBraham, who noted that AA can be static (th…
Firstrade is definitely good at providing access to share classes that are not available elsewhere. Such as T. Rowe Price class I shares (including closed funds). Access to oddball/institutional share classes is the reason why I've used Firstrad…
PRWCX is NOT closed. I purchased TRAIX which is the institutional form of prwcx last week at Firstrade which has a minimum of $ 100. to purchase. Sorry ,but not a myth! If you have an account with them you would have to look it up in your account. I…
PRWCX is closed to new investors, so I don’t know why people keep recommending it.
A few reasons:
1. It serves as a benchmark
2. It may be open to investors in 401(k) or other employer-sponsored plans that include it as an option
3. It is open t…
Does TRP treat "regular" 401(k)s differently from solo 401(k)s? I can't say.
I guess you mean you were the only one covered in the 401k? I had the same sort of 403b with TRP. Then, yes, I was able to roll it over into an IRA, when I wanted to do so…
If one has $250K or more invested at T. Rowe Price, one can invest in PRWCX. To help meet that threshold one can include the amount planned for PRWCX by first moving cash into a TRP MMF.
There is a commonly held perception that if one transfers a …
Gosh, this is a stodgy old board!
Not at all. Several people on this site have suggested 100% (or near 100%) equity portfolios for young people. But those recommendations came with the proviso that the person had an emergency fund, or perhaps t…
The article talks about people lowering their standard of living, canceling gym membership, eating out less, ect. That's how to reduce inflation? By pricing a different basket of goods and services?
That's the way supply and demand works - reduce …
My 2009 Toyota pickup will just have to make it to the end. $42,000 repair- how long does anyone think that insurance companies are going to put up with that kind of stuff?
Others have stated that $42K repair is an outlier. As to the question of …
From the EXPLAINER piece:
A special rebalancing, which is part of Nasdaq 100's methodology to maintain compliance with a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule on fund diversification ...
The special rebalancing may be conducted at any time i…
I've never contributed to Wikipedia, so I haven't tried straightening out the page(s).
It is possible to parse the original wording in a way that makes sense, so I would call what was written poor wording in part. That is, the index rose a lot …
If you gain 800% and then lose 740% of that gain, then you're still way below zero. Impossible.
Starting with $N, you gain 800% ($8N), so you have $9N.
You can't give back more than $9N or 112.5% (i.e. 9/8) of the $8N gain.
740%? No way. Unl…
[snip]
”The automated essays "analyzing" those funds where the "Q" is used is utterly comical.”
Yes - They sound computer written. There’s an uncomfortable “sameness” to the composition. They seem to rely a lot on total years of experience of a fun…
"740% drop in the NASDAQ from its earlier high"
Don'tcha just love Wikipedia? A long-only portfolio cannot drop more than 100%. What it means to say is that in 2½ years (March 2000 - October 2002) the NASDAQ composite gave back 92.5% of the gain…
You could save the trouble and buy just about any CEF if you enjoy the volatility. Down 30% and than up 40% not uncommon. And the manager does all the buying and selling for you … typically for a 3% cut - give or take.
You may be thinking of th…
