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.
Sold XMLV. Checked all the PowerShares low-vol ETFs and found lagging performance over the past six weeks while the overall market has been hot. Mid-caps as measured by IJH have done fine, but XMLV peaked in late November and the trend continues neg…
If I were to invest in commodities, I'd buy DBC, which is described as follows:
"The investment seeks to track changes, whether positive or negative, in the level of the DBIQ Optimum Yield Diversified Commodity Index Excess Return™. The fund pursue…
@hank; FWIIW, my only attempts to move some big chunks of my retirement money into cash in 2008 did not pay off. An advisor later pointed out how much of the recovery I had missed.
Maybe it is a good time to sell. Any of you remember how much the market loved the turmoil Nixon brought on? I wish I had an in-house lawyer who would say he was the one speaking when I had put my foot in my mouth. More will be revealed, but it won'…
How one reacts to tax reform proposals always depends on whose ox is being gored. I'm no different from any other taxpayer trying to figure out what the salauds in Washington are trying to do to me. So far, I don't like what I see: limitation on pro…
BCSVX is new, but it is strong out of the gate. 65% developed and developing Europe. The current portfolio has sizable dollops of large caps and mid caps, despite its stated small cap orientation. I am surprised that Brown Capital has done as well a…
I think you can buy KCMTX at Schwab, but the ER is 1.62% for the R-1 shares, at a minimum purchase of $100. Schwab sells Driehaus funds at low minima also, even though that company’s website would have you believe the minimum is 10K.
I like Old_Skeet's idea of a global balanced fund for a one-and-done fund. Although it does not have a long track record, RPGAX has both a great start and all of TRP's resources behind it. I'd feel comfortable putting this in a UGTM account or inves…
I agree with all of the members' above comments. One similarity between Michael Lewis' two articles is a recounting of how both the DOE and USDA operatives spent a huge amount of time and energy to prepare for the handover to the incoming appointees…
On August 10, @LewisBraham, I linked the DOE article you mentioned above. Not one person commented on what I thought was a grave matter. Thanks for bringing your influence to bear. As the French say, “Vous avez du piston.” The Department of State de…
Both of Lewis' article are true shockers. As bad as a president may be, it's the people he appoints that do the real governing and they can really screw things up. Quite frankly, I don't think Trump himself picked the people running the government a…
@LLBJ: what you point out about FTHNX changing its stripes in 2015 does seem to be reflected in the massive distributions of $6.58 made that year while the NAV was between $16 and $20. If they were unloading large cap stocks that had appreciated, th…
I looked at this fund also and concluded it's worthwhile, but only in a tax-advantaged account. If distributions, predicted to be high this year for everyone, follow the fund's past behavior, there will be a big one in December. Turnover recently wa…
You are right @jlev. However, MOAT revised its methodology and expanded its holdings and has avoided since then the sort of value trap it fell into. I sold at that time but have bought back in.
@davidmoran: Looking back to our short discussion in June, I am pleased with the choice of MOTI and MOAT. Both of these ETFs have out performed the DoubleLine domestic and foreign OEFs for 2016 and 2017. MOTI is Asia-centric and DLEUX is Europe, so …
As @Catch22 pointed out, for retirees in MI (comme moi et ma femme) who worked as represented employees our entire careers, our health, Rx, dental, vision and hearing plans are subsidized. We pay Medicare premiums and premiums of about $150 to the s…
@PBKCM: Has your fund ever held assets other than stocks? At present, it doesn't seem to merit the moniker "multialternative" assigned by M* because it holds all stocks.
@PBKCM: Given what Old_Skeet said above about unrealized gains and high turnover of your fund, do you have any idea what you'll be paying out in distributions for 2017? Thanks.
@hank: Very prescient comments about Verlander; two long balls give the Dodgers a 3-1 lead and someone else had to win the game. I watched JV with the Tigers as you did.
Closed out long-time position in GPEOX; adding the yearly max to GPMCX and holding GPGOX. The EM fund hasn't been bad, but it has lagged and I can afford to trim there.
With respect to the increase in Medicare premiums that may ensue if one takes two RMDs in the same calendar year, it is possible to appeal to Medicare for a return to the lower premium rate if one can show that the one year with the high income was …
By way of disclosure, I'm old and I sometimes post. Being as old as I am, I am not inclined to "share." That probably makes me a curmudgeon.
The very best offerings on MFO concern specific funds or types of funds. I am most interested in knowing wh…
I owned MFMPX after its predecessor CEF open-ended. I sold when the prolonged downturn in frontier markets was underway. In my view, the asset class has not recovered and I am disinclined to re-enter it. Index rejiggering eliminated some of the coun…
FWIIW, a company called Intersections, Inc (INTX) owns IdentityGuard. While the stock is up about 8% over the last couple of days, this company could best be called a "distressed small-cap value" issue. They haven't made money, but they certainly ou…
@hank: Thanks for the suggestion about Identity Guard. The $20 per month plan seems to fit our needs, so I signed up. I just hope it does not result in gremlins popping up on my browser screen asking about more coverage, or virus protection, etc. My…
We could have a password protection program such as Dashlane create an identity for each of us. The identity will be impossible to commit to memory, like a Dashlane password. Then we won't know who we are, who are friends are, or anything else. Who …
I feel like a schmuck. My credit card account was breached last March and I was referred to Equifax to set up credit monitoring. In my panic, I agreed to pay them 16.95 a month to "protect" me. Recently, I canceled that service as it gave me nothing…
