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.
NYC Bracing for Heaviest Snowfall in Years
"New York’s major airports are experiencing severe disruptions due to a powerful winter storm, which has caused hundreds of flight cancellations and delays. The National Weather Service has warned of up to…
"The most common way thieves drain money from gift cards is by shoplifting them from supermarkets
and other retailers and then manipulating the package to steal the card information.
The compromised cards are then placed back in stores, and the stol…
The popping of bubbles is exceedingly rare. They can occur in virtually any asset or market sector and have been known to occur in real estate, junk bonds, stocks and tulip bulbs among other things. Their existence are so difficult to identify that …
Your thinking is sound @bee in considering converting to a Roth a fund you believe is temporarily lagging and which you believe will eventually make up lost ground. Translated: tax-free gain. As to this particular fund? I have 0 insights. Personall…
Article length too short to allow a really deep dive into any single area. Is "does not own" same as "has never owned"? Doubt that. Perhaps this is intended as some type of disclaimer since she's a M* employee and feels a need to come clean ...
…
And @hank has stopped buying it:
@hank said,
40-50 years ago I couldn't get enough JB. Can't stand it today.
One wonders - Has Beam's quality diminished over the last half century? I did pick up a few samplers a month or so ago. One "on the rock…
Very educational thread. Thank you to all who answered my query. FWIW I did move out of JAAA and into PAAA during a major reshuffle yesterday. M* agrees with @msf that PAAA adheres to slightly higher credit quality and speaks highly of its experien…
LOL "The Golden Fleet"
He does have a curious fascination with yellow. Unfortunately a genuine gold fleet would be very heavy, wouldn't you think, and sink to the bottom?
It's getting cartoonish folks.
They (the 3 majors) are all afraid and have curtailed anything critical of Trump. He has threatened to jerk their licenses and has insulted their correspondents in live settings (ie - the "Piggy" remark). PBS continues to tell it like it is. I do…
It could be that Americans are drinking less and so have become more discerning and less price conscious in what they buy. Good scotch will run you 3X as much, if not more. 40-50 years ago I couldn't get enough JB. Can't stand it today. Some o…
Just unloaded all of the BARF basket. While it had gained nearly 4% in the 5 or 6 weeks owned, that largely offset some earlier losses in a couple of the holdings - notably AJG & CZR. All in all a "wash." My cash position increased from 15.5% t…
"For those Scotch drinkers, has your purchases gone sky high due to tariffs?"
I think some local retailers have used tariffs as an excuse to jack up prices the past few months. Michigan sets a minimum price for every spirit which retail can't go b…
Sold entire "HEDGE" basket (10 holdings / 15.5% portfolio) and moved proceeds into a new position in NLSAX. The basket had held up well in the 4-5 months since initiated. Included 2 inverse funds (both down) + TAIL along with MSGS which had gaine…
Good point by @msf re pools of mortgages. You or I might not receive an AAA bond rating by ourselves no matter how responsible we are. But a pool including our mortgage along with thousands of others of the same creditworthiness might.
This Lord…
Unable to access the Vontabel piece: "The page you are looking for is not available to your investor type, region or IP address." Could be my VPN which I haven't figured out how to switch off in IOS 26 short of deleting the security app responsible…
Thanks @msf - a lot to try and digest.
From the Guggenheim piece,
"CLOs are governed by a series of coverage tests that measure the adequacy of the collateral balance and the cash flows generated by the underlying bank loans."
Question 1: Who d…
"Bank-loans are non-investment-grade or not-rated"
Interesting. Thanks @yogibearbull. I knew there was "magic" involved, but did not realize the extent.
"M* shows JAAA as having only 7.65% as non-inv-gr & not-rated."
True, but that is aft…
Just watched full video.
- Ed's been in the investment business 40 years. (I've been investing for longer - over 55 years - but won't hold that against him.)
- Ed draws many parallels between today's markets and the 1920s.
- Importantly, many hav…
"In 1980, they consisted of Otis Williams, Melvin Franklyn, Louis Price, Ron Tyson, and Glen Leonard."
Thank you @Mona!
Ahh ... So Franklin (the wonderful baritone) was in both the '68 and '80 group. Looks like there's a film out there abou…
@Mona - Thanks. I came across that awesome VEVO recording of Silent Night you posted and decided to use a stage performance instead. The VEVO has superior acoustical quality being studio recorded. I'm wondering now if I might have gotten the d…
Glad folks like this one. Happened upon it a couple weeks ago by accident while watching a pretty decent Christmas film, The Holdovers. Midway through the film this tune was faintly audible in the background. I asked Siri, "What's playing?" She n…
Yes, the linked source notes that exact amounts vary by source.
I was a bit surprised when I looked up 3 of the 10 BARF basket holdings. Larger then I'd assumed. All 3 are considered large cap - but at the lower end of the range.
AJG $65 Bil
HE…
Hopefully I'm not being redundant here. I can never remember these designations and so frequently have to refer to charts like this one:
mega-cap: market value of $200 billion or more
large-cap: market value between $10 billion and $200 billion
mi…
@msf said, "I've always been somewhat underweighted in large caps (futilely fighting the tape)" Yeah. That goes double here.
I think a collection of small and / or mid caps is a good idea for a small portion of one's portfolio today. My BARF ba…
"... the market has been driven to record height levels this year by retail investors, not institutional investors, who are sitting mostly on the sidelines according to Business Insider and Vanda Research, with the latter reporting that cumulative r…
Congratulations!
I just ran a calculation FWIW: $500 invested on your great granddaughter's birth date and allowed to compound over time would be worth $45,490.28 when she reaches age 65. That assumes a one-time initial deposit, quarterly co…
@DrVenture - Barron's had a positive article on GHC Graham Holdings about 5 or 6 years ago. I bought some and messed with it for a couple years before letting it go. Guess I ended up with a small profit. It finally took off and must have doubled or…
I couldn't get enough Willie Nelson in younger years, probably during the 80s. "Poncho & Lefty" yes. Also "Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground" with the magnificent guitar solo. And the Beach Boys? Just amazing. The off-beat "Sloop John B" …
Board was kind of slow so I tossed the Barron's picks out there. Not my recommendations. I'm with @Crash when it comes to looking for less crowded trades.
Re Barron's - better than a 500 batting average. But some of their picks take years to pa…
Thanks @Crash.
Maybe these recommended high dividend stocks from the same issue of Barron's might interest you?
AbbVie / ABBV
Chevron / CVX
Coca-Cola / KO
Exxon Mobil / XOM
FedEx / FDX
J.M. Smucker / SJM
Northern Trust / NTRS
Pitney Bowes /…
Not sure if the magnitude is any worse than what has been occurring across the country for years if not decades under Administrations of both colors. Haven't there been instances of as many as 20 or more children being killed sitting in classrooms? …
I promise to view the video later. However, suspense is intense! The market will continue to roar until when? Forever and ever? Or maybe until after the mid-term elections? Or what?
Add: Yardeni is cited in this week's Barron's as making that "…
