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've been with Schwab for years and I'm happy. I was impressed recently when they upgraded the iPad app. The first version a real clunker, but they had it fixed quickly and it's now much better than previously. Easy to get up-to-date quotes on all m…
Crazy as it sounds, there is no good research showing that stents prevent heart attacks or later cardiac events. Stents have been around for a long time and used because doctors assumed they worked. The new machine might be great for inserting somet…
CELG is my largest single stock position. I dare not sell lest I cross bracket barriers and trigger Medicare premium increases. Thanks for posting the very useful info on the company. HQL and THQ are anchors of a Roth where I'm glad to reinvest the …
As I understand it, THQ is a different fund from HQL. The former pays a monthly distribution and invests in healthcare issues that produce income as well as capital appeciation. HQL is an equity fund that may invest a portion of its assets in more s…
Great call, Scott, when GILD was below 100. I own THQ also. If you are looking for froth, FBIO (formerly CNDO) and NVAX are Jim McCamant's picks from a while ago that I still have. No dividends, of course.
With respect to preservation of the environment, the one meaningful action each person could take is to give up hamburger. Much water goes into beef production to say nothing of other resources used or abused in raising meat. I endorse Scott's picks…
All those funds bring in the big bucks. The NY times reported in 2010 that Royce had purchased many properties in my birthplace, Westerly, RI. Locals could not understand why. Mr Royce apparently summered in nearby Watch Hill, where summer "cottage…
The Bruce operation is quaint, but it encourages me to leave my dough there for the duration. It's too easy to make injudicious trades in a couple of my accounts.
I hold a fair amount of "near cash" in RPHYX and RSIVX. Each one has returned a tad over two percent in the last year, the former is closed, but the latter is open. There has been a fair amount of discussion on the board about using this type of fun…
I recently sold MOAT after holding it for more than two years. Made decent money, but didn't like it piling into energy at the last reconfiguration. I already had an energy play, so MOAT became redundant. For most of the fund's history it has outper…
Why did Brewer and another manager of this new fund take "sabbaticals" from around 2008-2010? It sure would be nice to have their performance figures from that period when high-flyers mostly crash landed.
Water plays seem to me the ultimate story stocks. It's an easy story to understand given our droughts, warming climate, and probable competition for a valuable resource; however, the 4 ETFs (PHO +51%; CGW +73%; PIO +52%; and FIW (65%) investing in t…
I believe your employer will have a list of the TIAA-CREF funds that you can use. Most universities or non-profits, even big ones, do not allow access to all the funds. Let people on the board know what your choices are and you'll get good feedback.
Good information provided here. Computing the RMD correctly is extremely important because if you withdraw less than the minimum, the tax penalty is 50% of the underpayment. This seems weird given that the penalty for making an early w/d from a tax-…
I commented before the election in Michigan on another thread. Georgia was cited in discussion of our road condition as being the state with the lowest per capita expenditure on roads, with Michigan (the f'n capital of the car industry) 49th. Previo…
@slick: check out TRN in the New York Times archive. They are trying to soften up states attorneys general in the light of coming litigation due to their highway guardrail fiasco. I have a couple of small cap funds that reported holding TRN last qua…
Here in MI, we are faced with a ballot proposition to amend the constitution to increase the sales tax from 6% to 7%. Our spineless legislators would not simply raise taxes to fix the roads, but are giving us a poorly worded and confusing propositio…
JohnChisum is far and away the April leader in the unofficial contest to garner the most comments for a single thread. If he were managing a fund, it would have to close on account of asset bloat.
I will remain a shareholder if I think the increases in assets do not detract from the performance of the "original" GP funds. At this point I think GPGOX and GPIOX are treading water. For the GP approach to work the managers need to be on the road …
Eddie Brown from Baltimore was frequently on; Mike Holland ran a balanced fund. Both guys named their firms after themselves. BCISX is run by Eddie Brown's firm that employs a large number of African Americans. I don't know anything about Holland's …
John's comments prompt a couple of observations: for several years pundits have been predicting the rising cost of water as an investment theme to exploit. The word is not out: the performance of the ETF PHO has been feeble. Retail prices are going …
Merci, Maurice, for tracking down the info on the sponsors of Lou's show. Alan Abelson had much the same skeptical and irreverent approach to the big machers on Wall Street.
I must be naïve, but I thought my three GP holdings held "stalwarts." The word means little to me in the investing context and raises my suspicions about loss of focus. Clarity in language reflects clarity of thought. Obscure language, well, George …
So did I, Junkster. I am proudly a lefty. Good employers give lefties a 10% bump in pay because we are so talented. For some reason, I worked for 42 years without finding such an employer.
It's possible I started that original discussion. I was looking for Alpha, which on this board means 50 or more comments. I suggested a monthly prize, but no one fell into line behind me.
