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.
Jay Winik’s The Great Upheaval, a study of crucial events in the 18th century, covers the origins of the Establishment Clause, as it has come to be known. I am a Connecticut native brought up in the Congregational Church, or at least it was the chur…
M* has an article today about DODFX. I am still invested in SVXAX and it has been one of the few bright spots on my very gloomy portfolio picture. A word to the wise: the Smead boys are not afraid of big bets, especially on energy which makes up 28%…
Thanks, @Ben, for those illuminating instructions. They were so good my conversions worked on the first try. Can't say it was something I would have discovered on my own. I did not look at M* linked instructions.
@fred495: you’re right about PQT_X taking a hit yesterday; so did KMLM. However, with today’s merde show in the markets, KMLM has recovered smartly. I suspect the PIMCO funds will be positive this evening. Thanks for the info on the Wadhwany fund. P…
In my experience investor services allow cancelation within 30 days at no charge, as well as pro-rated refunds during the subscription period. At M*, however, you pays your money and M* keeps it. This is surely a bad feature for individual investors…
@msf: my memory might be faulty, but I recall that the problem was that the investor kept his own records, not his brokerage. I also understood that pass-through dividends issued by the MLP, which, are not taxed, require an adjustment of the basis a…
BION, I have a friend who made enough money in Bitcoin a few years ago to buy his daughter a house. I’m sure he’s out of that market now. Glad @rforno got out.
@Crash: we have personal experience as heirs of a portfolio containing several Limited Master Partnerships, positions bought and held by a DIY investor before the advent of electronic brokerage record keeping. The estate (read the lawyers) had to es…
I own some and (more) KMLM in the same space. The latter does not have a long record as an ETF, but its managed futures strategy dates to 1993. It seems to have avoided the string of mediocre years of performance that PQT_X racked up, as Lewis highl…
Thanks, @LewisBraham. I did get hooked on Serial when it came out. Nowadays I find broadcasts characterized by narrative or explanation accompanied by irritating music to be, well…,irritating. This American Life sins in that way, as do other shows o…
Not to detract from the intelligent discussion, but the problem of skyrocketing prices reminds me of the Nixon administration’s total failure at price controls. Be careful what you pray for. I certainly don’t pray nostalgically for a return to the 1…
Schwab's page for PGAEX lists its gross expense ratio as 175.28% while the net ER is 1.4%. I can't recall ever seeing an ER of any stripe as high as that.
@davidmoran is doing fine.
There are several discussion threads on CAPE and DE_SX dating back to the market collapse in March of 2020. More than one board member became disenchanted with the DoubleLine versions because the « special bond sauce » pr…
Those are good ideas, @JonGaltill. It appears the ETF industry is thinking along the same lines. A quick search brought up WBAT and EVMT, the latter just launched in April. Given the uncertainty of what materials will be most in demand over a ten-ye…
Nice links on that obscure history, @msf. I for those into minutiae and NYC public works history, no source can outdo Robert Caro’s The Power Broker. I hope he finishes his volume 5 on LBJ and the Vietnam years before age catches up with him (not to…
@Edmond has a good point. Insider buying has been touted by various and sundry as a positive indicator, but money flows into equity mutual funds (including index versions) will more reliably predict the direction of the markets. One manager of a big…
I found this article from Investopedia
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/082015/3-biggest-misconceptions-dividend-stocks.asp
useful in thinking about picking funds that pay dividends. My first reaction to the OP led to a suggestion …
If there is a solution to America wasting so many lives to gun violence, it may lie in confronting a more profound question than how to keep firearms out of the hands of dangerous people. The linked article, among others that I have read about the m…
@Crash: good point about WAISX. Take a look at the one-year performance figures for the 26 stocks in the portfolio; not surprising the investors have fled.
Is Wasatch reopening any hidden gems? I don’t know their lineup well.
Thanks to those who chimed in. I’m signed up for SA with my finger on the cancel trigger. I am also fooling around on StockCharts, but that site does not seem to be in my wheelhouse.
@shipwreckedandalone:
Here’s a nice profile on Rajiv Jain from 2020.
https://www.ft.com/content/f07bff08-226a-4e96-ada5-d0271e3ab986
He made his mark running Vontobel’s EM fund until he struck out on his own.
Also check ghqpartners.com for info o…
@Old_Joe: if it’s one thing banks want it’s automatic monthly deposits. I think they often make it a prerequisite for free checking or other benefits. We have BOA for checking because the local bank where we opened the free-for-academics account dec…
Unfortunately, France has exploited its former African colonies long after they achieved independence. The currency these countries use is le franc communautaire financière africaine (FCFA), but it is the French central bank that controls monetary p…
@MikeM: hard for me to tell if today’s weakness in the healthcare (pharma and biotech) stocks I follow was a reversal of some positive signs in the last month or so, or whether everything went out with the bath water today. I have hoped for a recove…
After I posted my query, trading volume did step up. When CAPE (now CAPD) began trading a few years ago, watching the volume was like waiting for grass seed to sprout. Now it trades robustly. On another thread, I commented on anemic volume of shares…
