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.
I modified catch's charts to include "the market", VTSMX. In the context of investing, that pretty much is the market, and its performance over the past decade has not been much different from that of the S&P 500.
Granted that investing, f…
all they need to do is ensure that debt grows more slowly than their tax base.
If we use GDP as a proxy for the tax base (I'm open to better suggestions), then the US is not growing its debt more slowly than its tax base. Quite the opposite. …
A couple of definitions:
cryptocurrency: a digital currency in which transactions are verified and records maintained by a decentralized system using cryptography, rather than by a centralized authority.
"decentralized cryptocurrencies such as bit…
I assumed, perhaps wrongly, that a recent benchmark change for PRWAX portended a change in portfolio.
On March 1, 2021, the T. Rowe Price New America Growth Fund will change its name to the T. Rowe Price All-Cap Opportunities Fund. Accordingly, effe…
You might also look at MIOPX's sibling fund, MFAPX, also managed by Kristian Heugh. A very similar fund though with some differences. I'm inclined to agree with @stillers that Morgan Stanley looks like it has some of the most complementary funds…
OSTIX started August 30, 2002. So it's been around for about 19 years. It was classified as a multisector fund for just over 11 of those years, and as a high yield fund for nearly the past 8 years. You describe the 11 years (or less) when you ow…
If I had put any money into the account, that's exactly what I'd be afraid of. :-)
I did have reasons for the experiment. Primarily, to help someone who is gradually transferring money out of a 403(b) at TIAA.
In the past, the person was abl…
"Goldman Sachs Research’s David Mericle, chief US economist, discusses why central banks are considering digital currencies and the potential implications for the financial system and monetary and fiscal policy."
Video (14 minutes): https://www.gol…
I owned OSTIX for many many years, and M* chose to place it in the multisector bond category during those years, even though it held almost exclusively high yield bonds. ... During those years, its portfolio looks almost identical to what it holds t…
Before reading @bee 's comments, I had the same question: are these expenses for a household or for an individual? Bee observes that some categories don't add up, e.g. housing. (In housing, I'm not sure that they're supposed to - one either owns…
Certainly its international component has a lot to do with VGWAX's relative performance. But the differences go beyond that. One can't just look at names and make assumptions.
Though there's a perception of Wellington Management as a value hous…
In the interest of clarification (or perhaps obfuscation if you read the following), Brandywine funds and BrandywineGLOBAL (caps in original) funds are completely different.
As I described in this AMG thread, Brandwyine funds were affiliated with a…
I don't mind acknowledging that while I had initial concerns (see my 2017 post here), the fund has performed as well as one might have hoped for a Vanguard/Wellington fund, which is to say admirably.
Given that many of its stocks are culled from "t…
What's shocking about the table is that they would not only cherry pick data, but double and triple count it. And not even label entries the same as in the study. And did you notice that this list of top ten costs has eleven items (see #8)? Mak…
I've had limited vicarious experience (POA, executor) with investment real estate property including depreciating and inheriting it, and with using a margin account to borrow against securities (drawing out cash). So I've gone through the processe…
From the first piece:
You’ll want to put this money into the stock market, real estate, or another asset class that appreciates. ...
Real estate is almost perfect for this because: its value tends to go up,
it is not volatile
you can de…
It's often argued that SS COLA should be based on CPI-E rather than CPI-W. That's an argument that cuts both ways.
The latest (Dec 2020) relative weightings of the different basket components of CPI-E and CPI-W can be found here: https://www.bls.…
A bit more about how AMG handled the Brandywine funds (Friess Associates):
In 2001, Friess Associates facilitated succession from its founder by partnering with Affiliated Managers Group (AMG), making Friess Associates a majority-owned subsidiary of…
they have already appreciated well in HOPE of the bill passing (priced in)
While your particular fund may have gone up well, the infrastructure category as a whole is up "just" 8.19% YTD (using M*'s basic fund screener, Infrastructure category, re…
From cited paper:
One of the primary questions clients want answered is: What is the safe maximum withdrawal rate? Once again, Bengen has done some of the seminal work on this topic and has currently settled on a withdrawal figure of 4.15 percent fo…
Nice piece. Evensky is a common sense kind of guy. I'm not sure where that excerpt came from, because it looks somewhat like a mashup of three consecutive paragraphs on p. 71 (pdf p. 9) of the cited paper. It's worth reading what's in the paper…
Had Theil bought these shares in a taxable account the $5 Billion would also be mostly tax free to his heirs
Perhaps $3B would have been passed tax free to his heirs, after accounting for the 40% federal estate tax. While there are ways to circum…
founding shares with cost base that costs penny
Here's where one of those factors of 10 comes from ...SEC filings ... show that he bought his first slice of the company in January 1999. Thiel paid $0.001 per share — yes, just a tenth of a penny — …
I know I promised no quotes, but it's not accurate that "anyone here who is or was an excellent investor could have invested in their choice in 1999."
Mr. Thiel purchased his founders’ shares in PayPal through his Roth IRA during PayPal’s formation.…
One of a whole bunch (aka all) of the James Alpha funds
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2021/06/briefly-noted-58/
Aug 4, 2020 (Business Wire)
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200804005968/en/Easterly-Announces-Investment-in-James-Alpha-A…
The path was a little more messy.
Rochedale Emerging Markets Portfolio, starting on Dec 11, 2011. It was reorganized into City National Rochedale Emerging Markets Fund on April 1, 2013.
It has been managed since inception by Anindya Chatte…
In making these comparisons there are a few factors to keep in mind, for good or for bad ...
I believe Vanguard's portfolios are age dependent. That is, they follow glide paths. So depending on age, one person's "aggressive" portfolio could be an…
>> The Ulcer Index is about half of the S&P 500 meaning half as risky.
Is that what UI means / is supposed to mean?
IMHO the answers are: no (it doesn't mean this) and yes (it is supposed to mean this).
Leaving aside what "risk" even m…
@davidrmoran - my comment was self deprecating. Nothing more. An acknowledgement that my correction, though accurate, was immaterial to the topic at hand. If anything, by stating that Horstmeyer was a full professor I was giving more weight to a…
In the interest of petty accuracy and little else, according to his CV Horstmeyer is a full professor (as of February), and was a co-founder of the GMU Student Managed Investment Fund.
https://www.filesusr.com/ugd/3d3433_7004625502e5427fa5fb144f5ab…
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/3-big-charts-from-the-june-jobs-report-morning-brief-090813859.html
OJ is correct - the link is to each individual's email. I suspect that if Derf logged out of Yahoo and then followed the link, the system would pro…
The writer is a monthly columnist for the WSJ. I can find no corresponding working paper through the writer's website.
Unannounced to their investors, mutual-fund managers will often lend the shares they hold ...
Unannounced?Securities lending i…
Taking a quick look at MWFSX, I couldn't help but notice that M* reports a rather suspiciously high SEC yield of 8.55%! Just curious how that is possible in today's low interest rate environment? Certainly raises a red flag for me.
MWFSX : ER is a …
Was looking for a HY bond fund that had held up decently ("defensive?") in 1Q 2020. Found EIXIX with a 5.5% SEC Yield.
I took only a cursory look at EIXIX so all I've got are lots of questions, not clear statements: What is the average credit rati…
Here's a more detailed history of AMG:
https://www.referenceforbusiness.com/history2/13/Affiliated-Managers-Group-Inc.html
Until I checked, I also thought: "Affiliates operate independently" and "AMG invests in independent investment managers and a…
AMG is effectively a holding company. You may be familiar with at least a few of their funds, e.g. YACKX, TCMPX (mentioned by a few posters here as recently as 2020), BRWIX (formerly Brandywine), MGSEX (" Effective March 19, 2021, AMG Managers Spe…
I dearly wish, however, that MFO wasn't almost exclusively aimed at catering for those in retirement or approaching retirement.
There is practically nothing at all within these pages to cater for or appeal to those starting out on life's investmen…
How in the world can anyone short anything in this market ...
You might as well ask how in the world anyone can underweight anything in this market. Easy, because some securities perform better than others. Shorting just takes underweighting a …
Can't find the cited WaPo article on 2019 withdrawal option changes. Here's a reasonable alternative piece
https://federalnewsnetwork.com/tsp/2019/09/new-tsp-withdrawal-options-are-live-heres-what-you-need-to-know/
Regarding the claim that one ca…
We also have an advisor at Fidelity that we really like, which would be essential if I die before my wife, who has no interest in investing.
From Fidelity (all bolding is by Fidelity):
Our brokerage products and services for retail investors are pr…
