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.
Congressional bills regarding cryptocurrency (S. 4760 / H.R. 8730) have at most a tangential relation to DOL's regulation of 401(k) plan investments.
Here's a brief negative critique summarizing the bill(s): https://ourfinancialsecurity.org/2022/09…
With all due respect to Elizabeth Warren, Dick Durbin and Tina Smith, IMHO cryptocurrency is no more unsuitable today for employer-sponsored plans than it was a month ago. Their current letter is more or less a followup to a similar but more extens…
While retail investors can log into their individual accounts with brokers like Fidelity and Charles Schwab and purchase shares in ETFs and mutual funds, this usually isn’t the case for interval fund shares. Although these services might offer quote…
Improvements may be depreciated but land is never depreciated. Regardless of the business. A farmer may depreciate his silo but not his acreage. I imagine this distinction is for just the reason you describe - land tends to increase in value o…
Funds from operation (FFO) is a measure of cash flow that is calculated simply by taking net income and "backing out" depreciation and amortization. That intuitively makes sense in terms of cash, since depreciation is a bookkeeping figure, not "re…
All of my brokered CDs have the "Survivor' Option" (commonly called a Death Put) as defined below by Investopedia. When I set up my brokerage account, I included the Transfer on Death component for my heirs.
Sometimes a belt can get in the way of s…
@dtconroe - I appreciate your sharing your thoughts. There is indeed a risk/reward tradeoff. I tend to view RPHIX as something between a MMF and a CD, in that I expect it to have a higher total return, even quarter by quarter, than a MMF, but wi…
I haven't found the 30 day SEC yield on Riverpark's website, which is why I linked to Fidelity.
Regardless of where one finds the figure, it is calculated by the fund itself. I infer this from the fact that even M* does not compute the yield but…
SWVXX has a cumulative (not annualized) return of 1.218% from March 16, 2020 through Nov 15, 2022. (Fund pays divs in mid-month.) Schwab data source.
RPHIX has provided a cumulative return of 7.20% over the same time span. M* data source.
Rec…
FDIC coverage is at owner level rather than at the product level. If you have a CD and a MMA at the same bank each with $250K (and each with same type of ownership), then if the bank fails you're only covered for $250K. If you have $500K in a MMF…
From the horse's mouth:
https://investor.vanguard.com/accounts-plans/vanguard-cash-plus-account
And participating banks:
https://personal.vanguard.com/pdf/Bank_Sweep_Participating_Banks.pdf
For purposes other than same-day trades, I'll stick with …
2. My specific question is > some for the distributions show as at loss - others are at a gain . I can identify and cherry pick and sell off a few of the distributions that are currently at a loss . This would then raise the gain of the remaining…
There are lots of numbers in the tax code that aren't indexed to inflation. ISTM that automatic (as opposed to manual) inflation adjustments are a fairly new concept, given that the modern tax era (16th Amendment, first 1040) started in 1913. Why,…
I hope these FB employees will find other meaningful jobs elsewhere with their skill sets. Twitter situation is even worse.
One writer's perspective:
The over-expansion at Big Tech has been bad not just for the companies’ shareholders (Amazon, M…
My point was a simple one. Extrapolating returns from figures of the moment is a risky proposition.
Here, reinvestment risk is amplified because it is not just coupons being reinvested but the principal itself is rolling over 1-4 times in a ye…
About 1% less dry power than in 1Q22 or 2Q22. See p. 5 in the 2Q22 commentary:
https://riverparkfunds.com/assets/pdfs/rpsthyf/commentary/RiverPark-Cohanzick_2Q22_Shareholder_Letter.pdf
It is risky to project out the yields (though I did that by q…
Compare apples to apples. Also be careful whether talking about total return or yield. Personally I prefer total return since a higher yield coming out of principal (declining NAV) seems misleading.
Of the numbers below, I'm most inclined to lo…
I ended a Prime membership in part because packages are delivered ahead of estimates anyway (and I'm just not that impatient) which suggests to me lots of deliverers making fewer deliveries. Still, I live in a condo and already the daily Amazon dro…
When I can find a CD for 5% or more, then I'll bite.
Is this what is meant by "eating one's words"? :-)
7 month certificate. Andrews Federal Credit Union. Membership open via American Consumer Council ($8) if you don't meet any of the other …
"Longer term CD's near 5% might come back, but for now it seems questionable."
Not quite 5%, but KS State Bank is offering 3-, 4-, 5-, and 7-year CDs with 4.99% APY.
https://www.ksstate.bank/resources/deposit-rates/
Interest compounds and pays qua…
" complications in bankruptcy or lawsuits."
Federal protection extends only to bankruptcy proceedings, not to creditor lawsuits. To understand this, it helps to see where protections come from.
Protection of money in employer sponsored plans come…
The difficulty is in accurately price securities. Securities don't have to be exotic to be illiquid and thus difficult to price. As Lewis later wrote, "The problem is many bonds and debt securities don't trade every day."
Not that long ago (earl…
@msf- sleeping dogs and all that stuff... :)Yeah, I know, and I thought about it. But this strikes me as that rare, real win-win situation.
Contrast it with something like NTF (aka "free") fund transactions. When NTF trades were introduced,…
So if I go to a bank and get a CD on my own, I get a certain rate, but if I go through a broker, I get a better rate? Wait, that's not free, that better than free :-)
@LewisBraham - point noted. That section didn't sound like you but it didn't come across as sharp enough to readily identify as sarcasm. No harm done. Worth clarifying.
“Taxation is the price we pay for civilization.” Oliver Wendell Holmes. According to fellow Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter: “[Holmes] did not have a curmudgeon’s feelings about his own taxes. A secretary who exclaimed ‘Don’t you hate to pay…
"I would just note that I had to "adjust" to watching my brokerage CDs change in reported value each day at my brokerage. "
Same thing for T-bills. Major difference is liquidity. The CD market price quoted may be a work of fiction. Did the val…
i think the statistical measuring rods are just not showing RELEVANT data. Maybe they did, in days gone by. Before federal agencies re-defined stuff to make things look better than they actually are. It's all too mushy and opaque and convoluted. So …
It was a rather different fund before June 2022.
Before:
The Fund seeks to deliver monthly dividend income derived from its investments in mortgage-backed securities (“MBS”), including U.S. agency and non-agency residential MBS, commercial mortgage…
Best wishes for a speedy, complete recovery.
I had covid a while ago. No medication. It took me "just" 4-5 days to recover, but about two weeks until I tested negative, and about three weeks before I could function for more than half-days. Fr…
I've seen things like this suggested before. As the writer points out, there are two concerns.
The first is volatility, which he addresses by purchasing a ladder at time t0 that mature in 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, and so on.
The second concer…
The ACA pre-existing condition requirement covers ALL health insurance plans unless it’s a grandfathered plan: https://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/about-the-aca/pre-existing-conditions/index.html
The information there is at best poorly written. If it …
Here in California, ARCO has perhaps the lowest cost gasoline. Since the composition of the profit margin for fuel from any gas station is a "black box", it's pointless to wonder what part of the price may be ascribed to anything.
...
ARCO's price d…
"The retailer pays for the card service by incorporating its cost into the price of merchandise."
No, it doesn't have to be that way. A decision has to be made.
I thought it was beyond question that a merchant's costs, all its costs, were covered b…
The retailer pays for the card service by incorporating its cost into the price of merchandise. Everybody pays, regardless of whether they charge their purchase or not. The retailer pockets the excess when a customer pays with cash. That's gr…
CUSIP is correct. See
https://www.farmcreditfunding.com/ffcb_live/debtSecurities/fixedRateBonds.html
Rating by Moody's is AAA. "The Aaa long-term senior unsecured rating on systemwide debt securities issued by the Federal Farm Credit Banks ...…
This seems somewhat like a non-event, given that China is "the largest importer of gas in the world". China is not like Qatar, a major exporter.
In terms of world demand, it doesn't matter whether China exports some LNG and imports more, or exp…
"transactions had been inadvertently omitted from his financial disclosures."
Note use of passive tense to deflect responsibility.
“I take very seriously my responsibility to be transparent about my financial transactions and to avoid any actual or…
