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If Vanguard hires a single subadvisor for, say, 0.50%, and that subadvisor has its own branded funds that it charges 1% for, what is the motivation for investors to buy any of the subadvisor's higher-cost branded funds? A single sub-advisor Vanguard…
A fund's board is responsible for hiring the fund's advisor(s). It may be a distinction without a difference, but at Harbor, a board hires the fund's advisor, which in turn hires the subadvisors. In contrast, at Vanguard a board hires multiple a…
All the bonds will gradually converge on their face value at maturity. So the 0.625% bonds, with a current price below face value, will continue to gain value as you said.
The 4.25% bonds are currently priced slightly above par. So their market …
Crocker Bank - for which Paul Williams and Roger Nichols wrote We've Only Just Begun.
https://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/bank-commercial-inspired-the-carpenters-weve-only-just-begun.html/
The Crocker commercial, performed by Paul Williams:
…
@MikeM If you're thinking about doing a full transfer of an account to Fidelity, it would be better to wait until the account is officially a Schwab account. TDA charges $75 for a full transfer, Schwab "only" $50. At Fidelity full transfers are …
That ability of a fund to request information is a direct result of the market trading scandal:
The market timing and late trading issues of the mid 2000’s were caused, in certain cases, by the lack of transparency regarding beneficial mutual fund o…
Even with no change in market rates, bond prices change. This is most obvious with zero coupon bonds. They are sold at a discount and one gets yield from price appreciation.
As bonds get closer to maturity, their prices gradually converge to pa…
"Although usually forbidden if you're buying directly from a fund company, an existing shareholder of a closed fund at an outside broker can transfer a share to you without the fund company knowing about it. Once in, you can add to your position."
…
PIMIX hasn't had a cap gains distribution since 2015, so all else being equal, a similar fund with an ETF structure does not seem likely to be more tax efficient.
[Because of the way tax efficiency is calculated, if you have two funds with equal gr…
Vanguard is testing out two different cash programs. One is a bank sweep option for brokerage settlement accounts (Vanguard Cash Deposit). The other (Vanguard Cash Plus Account) provides enables bill payment but only via ACH pull (no checkwritin…
The way brokerages service cash accounts (variously called "transaction accounts", "core accounts", etc.) is confusing by design. Sweeps happen automagically (pay no attention to the man behind the curtain), and investors are not supposed to conce…
Thanks for reading. I'd wondered if anyone would slog through that.
WIth the Treasuries, remember that they are state tax exempt. That could mean a lot (around half a percent of net yield) in a high tax state.
As far as the banking sector go…
The 2019 ProPublica piece is out of date. The IRS announced significant changes Monday [Dec 30, 2019] to its deal with the tax prep software industry. Now companies are barred from hiding their free products from search engines [as reported in the …
s-l-o-w-l-y try to explain why an investor, going forward, should invest in either taxable or municipal bond funds in their portfolio's fixed income sleeve instead of say, 5-yr, 4.50%, non-callable CDs.
But please leave out the widely understood…
Fidelity Flex® funds are a lineup of Fidelity mutual funds that have zero expense ratios, and include proprietary active and passive funds. Flex funds are currently available only to certain fee-based accounts offered by Fidelity, like Fidelity Go®.…
It used to be (until 2015 or so?) that Vanguard would provide Voyager Select and Flagship customers with a free financial plan. After reviewing the basic survey that a customer filled out, a CFP would discuss the customer's situation over the phon…
No personal experience. I suggested Vanguard to a couple of people who are using it now, so I get a bit of feedback that way. They are primarily using it for asset and cash flow management. I don't know how much in the way of general financial …
Look at Chicago, getting choked by the pension costs and debt service....just like virtually all democratic run cities in the USA.
There's no question that Chicago's pensions are way underfunded - its four unions have funding ratios ranging from ju…
No other country has a concept of debt ceiling as far as I know.
Live and learn. The EU's concept of a debt ceiling (that's 27 countries) is "enshrined in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and the 'Fiscal Compact' [Treaty…
At least early in the history of callable CDs, banks were pretty quick to pull the trigger as rates fell:
When banks and brokerages began hawking callable CDs in the mid-1990s, interest rates were generally headed down, which meant that many issuing…
I think we can all agree that this problem was created by Congress legislating an amount of spending that exceeded the amount of revenue legislated (taxes, etc.) plus the amount of borrowing legislated.
It used to be that Congress, via its power to…
Delays [on First Republic brokered CDs] may be because only the broker has customer details & Cede may be involved as an intermediary.
That doesn't seem to differ from any other brokered CDs: "CDs ... are evidenced by a Master Certificate of…
Here's that post by a reader on depositaccounts.com:
https://www.depositaccounts.com/banks/first-republic-bank.html#promo52225
Vanguard and Fidelity and probably many others charge $1/$1,000 face value commission for CDs and bonds traded on the sec…
Professor Tribe makes a nice case for disregarding the debt ceiling, but he is not making the argument that the 1917 debt ceiling law is unconstitutional.
As the Treasury writes:
The authority to borrow on the full faith and credit of the United …
ESG investors tend to reward companies with good ESG scores (like green-energy companies) and penalize companies with bad ESG scores (like oil companies).
IMHO most investors just look for an ESG label slapped onto a company or fund. Many rating…
I was addressing WABAC's comment on SS only. Underlying the speculation that the Treasury would not pay off bonds is the expectation that the Treasury will not have cash on hand (including inflows from general tax revenues). That's a very reasona…
With just a quick search, I haven't found much on how Social Security could be handled if the debt ceiling is reached and extraordinary measures are exhausted. Here's one page that came up, referencing a 1996 law giving temporary authority for SS…
Likely short sellers are hard at work here
Reuters: U.S. officials assessing possible 'manipulation' on banking shares
Increased short-selling activity and volatility in shares have drawn increasing scrutiny by federal and state officials and regu…
May 3, 2023
PACIFIC WESTERN BANK ISSUES UPDATE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
...
The bank has not experienced out-of-the-ordinary deposit flows following the sale of First Republic Bank and other news. Core customer deposits have increased since March 31…
I've been following this as a customer. Our HOA fees are processed by Pacific Western Bank.
We were supposed to have moved to a better (whatever that means) bank months ago. I don't know what the holdup has been; I'm just glad to have quit a…
In the worst case (not receiving enough money from the banks to cover the insurance costs), the FDIC is reliant on the Treasury. That's what "full faith and credit" means.
"The FDIC is funded by its member institutions through premiums and assess…
The cite given in the article, gunfreefunds.org, is under the As You Sow Invest Your Values umbrella that I've suggested before.
In calling out Lockheed Martin (LMT), it seems the writer is conflating two different though related issues: military …
Now you're going all metaphysical on us :-)
If I have $400K in a bank split between two accounts and the bank fails, I'm covered for $250K. Cash being fungible, does it really matter whether the FDIC covers $200K in my savings account and $50K in…
Continuing from @hank's US Bank source:
CDs from the assumed bank are separately insured until the earliest maturity date after the end of the six-month grace period. CDs that mature during the six-month period and are renewed for the same term and …
On the last cycle, the Treasury said that you wouldn't get the old rate if you purchased savings bonds on Oct 30th (Mon) or 31st. Now it is saying much the same thing:
When did I need to complete my I bond purchase to receive the initial rate of 6…
"Mr. Ballou is an attorney and the author of the forthcoming 'Plunder: Private Equity’s Plan to Pillage America,' from which this essay is adapted."
Not to be confused with: "Financial journalist Gretchen Morgenson explain[ing] how private equity f…
Often, though not always, one can do a little better on the secondary market. Currently, the 3 month T-bill expected auction rate shows as 5.012%, while I'm seeing (at Fidelity) a T-bill maturing 7/27/23 with an ask yield of 5.124% (quantity 1). …
If the CD is replaced, the rest of the fine print says that you can exit without penalty. And you'll get the high(er) rate of interest that accrued up to then.
By law, the acquiring bank can lower the interest rate on your deposit account, but you…
Given that he was "big on Union Carbide", this must have been recorded in the 20th century. Union Carbide was acquired by Dow Chemical 2/6/2001.
I'd like to think that this was recorded before 1984, before Union Carbide caused the immediate death…
You could use the more PC line from TNG: "where no one has gone before". But that would be mono-ist.
Remember the Bynars.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Bynar
