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.
It takes Krugman 529 words to say that none of us understands wtf is going on with interest rates?
Edit: Kinda busy today. Some chopped up observations ... I don’t think Krugman’s wrong. He just tosses out a number of possibilities - already widel…
@Old_Joe, I didn’t mean to slight the valuable resources here. I’m sure no one else intended to either. In truth, I’m a “stick in the mud” kind of guy. I buy a new pair of shoes more often I do a new fund - and a new car almost as often. Point bei…
@MikeM, Your point is well taken. They are “free.” :)
If you deal through a single brokerage, I’m guessing you get a good tracker from them. For us more independent souls, invested with multiple fund houses, it’s tough finding a good reliable trac…
@msf - Re: 5 year holding period on Roth conversions -
Thought you might catch that. What you stated agrees with my understanding of IRS rules as well. I’m just being extra cautious in leaving the converted $$ alone for 5 years. Of course, if it…
Great chart @Edmund. Saved a screen shot. Disproved an assumption I’d (incorrectly) made.
RPSIX held up better.
Thanks to everyone for the great suggestions.
Hmmm ... A review of recent threads:
“Big trouble ...”
“Where to hide ...”
“How this bull market will end ...”
“Bond Market’s Dot Com Moment...”
“S&P 8X more likely to drop 5% in a month ...”
“Saving ourselves ...”
“... take shelter from…
Hi Guys, “Daily or weekly reviews of a portfolio’s value is a Loser’s Game. Some distance is required to retain sanity.”
I never heard of anybody who does that. Have you? I review mine every 3 months and rebalance than only if there’s been a signi…
Thanks @davidrmoran for the reply.
Speaking of tracking multiple portfolios, I have a traditional IRA plus 3 separate converted Roths. It’s nice to track each of those IRAs separately. Only 1 Roth has satisfied the IRS 5-year holding time. A secon…
“So you have a service that does reinvested-growth graphing and comparison of equities and funds?”
@davidrmoran: Where did I say that? (I didn’t). But I’ll assume that when M* or Lipper or anyone else publishes 3, 5, 10 year returns for a fund the…
>> M* is garbage ...So please tell me where else one can see comparatively graphed historical compounded performance of mfund and some ETF / ETN investments (not CEF and individual stocks yet, presumably to come) --- for free?
That’s a reaso…
@hank You commented...
I’ll say I continue to be amazed by the performance of real estate funds. Maintain a small “nibble” in OREAX - and the danged thing is up 19% YTD (20% after today) - following on the heels of several other good years. I keep …
Pardon me if I’m wrong. But isn’t that the reason we buy mutual funds? To hire someone else to do our investing for us? I don’t know if I’d be any good at investing or not. Never bought or sold an individual stock or bond. I do know that some fund …
M* is garbageI don’t always agree with @JoJo. But a very perceptive observation.
Fortunately, I have an IOS tracker app that’s been running smooth as silk for awhile. But when I have occasion to access the backup tracker at M* it’s like wading t…
“Marko Kolanovic, J.P. Morgan’s quant guru, and Dubravko Lakos-Bujas, the bank’s chief U.S. equity strategist, are encouraging investors to seize the buying opportunity after the trade-war induced sell-off.”
Anybody understand why an outfit like J.…
“What is a medium - term buying opportunity?”
@Derf - Sounds like they’re hedging their bets. On one hand, they don’t want investors complaining if the market keeps on falling after they dive in (short term). On the other hand, they don’t want to be…
OREAX tops FRIFX at: 1, 5 and 10 years (per Lipper). I wasn’t touting the fund, just commenting on the asset class overall. As you might recall, I have no brokerage accounts, Just some money directly with a few houses. Actually, now that Oppenheimer…
Sorry - but the 10-year time horizon mentioned renders such comparisons useless. Anything can happen over such a short (and random) time span. Everything runs in cycles, and the cycles can be very long. Since they were basically polling investor “ex…
@Ted. Thanks for the link. Nice to know you’re “on the job.”
@Edmund - I agree with everything you said. Not recommending longer term bonds. I’m saying very few investors need the absolute, concrete, never-wavering NAV that money market mutual fun…
Is there a link here?
I’m curious what the reasons for the surge in money market funds might be. The return seems paltry. Over past year, money market mutual funds returned an average 1.97%. VG’s did slightly better at 2.35%. https://investor.va…
@MikeM, We shan’t discuss politics here. :) But I know I bailed too soon on the spec position. There’s kind of a knee-jerk reaction when you see a fund you hold up 35% in 3 months. Thankfully, overall I adhere to a static allocation model and refu…
Hey - I really called the “top” in gold, didn’t I? Closed out my 3 month spec position yesterday. Today it’s up $31 to over $1500. That’s the biggest dollar gain I can remember in one day in years. (Timing is everything). :)
Still have a smalle…
I’m not seeing “U.S. Futures higher” ??
-- S&P futures are 1% lower as of 9:05 AM.
-- Currency war heated up overnight in asia.
-- Partially in response, 10-year’s around 1.63% this morning.
-- Gold’s up. But most commodities down.
…
Just closed out a spec position in mining fund OPGSX opened May 6. Gold rose from around $1250 than to $1470 now. The fund spiked about 35% over the 3 months. Been scaling out for a couple months. Just ran the numbers - netted 20% on the position o…
@NumbersGal - Thanks for a provocative question. Of course there’s been studies done re the long term effects of negative real interest rates on an economy & inflation. However, there are so many other variables involved I doubt such studies wou…
“Houston - We got a problem.”
This isn’t a political issue. The #1 job of any government is to protect its citizens. From ABC tonight: Police stopped the Dayton gunman within 30 seconds of his first shot. Yet, 9 died. His gun’s magazine held over 1…
How Many Times ...?
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=the+answer+is+blowing+in+the+wind+video&view=detail&mid=F9A376A9742812D4DA81F9A376A9742812D4DA81&FORM=VIRE
Well, not to add insult to injury - but the Dow just passed through -737 on the way down. Maybe Boeing was signaling something with the MAX? (gallows humor).
More seriously, I try to temper my enthusiasm for stocks by listening to some of the bea…
Added BRK.B today just small portions..holding very large cash now [although only about 4% of portfolio lol] @JohnN, I do believe you’re the “buyingest” fella I know. Maybe some pretty deep pockets? :)
That aside, you may be holding more cash than…
@hank : Did you happen to price out composite decking vs treated ? Composite has low maintenance.
Yes - My builder priced it. Cheap composite is competitive with wood on price, but not very attractive. The cost of top quality composite would have …
unless you are retired then place everything in bonds
The problem with putting 100% into “bonds” at retirement is that some of us may spend 30 or 40 years in retirement. Do you really want to settle for relatively low bond-like returns over all thos…
@Lewis: I still enjoy playing poker and watching sports on TV.”
@Ted, Don’t forget to watch the Cubs today. They’re at the top of the NL Central. Playing a pretty good team in the Brewers.
Whatever you do - don’t go near the toxic Tigers. They’r…
Derf, I do not see a link to the article or its name. Could you try again, please?
Until @Derf gets back from lunch, these links might help. The February / March 2919 AARP Magazine references a 5-year retirement planner/check-list. By Googling diff…
