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.
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MikeM
I know you are not a fan of his, Mona (understatement :) )
Another Bills fan!!! Junkster just sent me a note saying the same. GO BILLS! They will be right down the road from me when training camp starts next week at St. John Fisher College. But tickets sold out in hours, so I won't be going. Are you from the area, Western NY?
@msf made me think back to being young and 'probably' foolish. Our company's original 401k plan had only 4 options, one of them being the companies stock (Kodak). Being a DOW blue-chip stock for so long, I and many of my coworkers typically had 50% …
@Ben, I do believe your mind was already made when you posted. Stick with what you already think is best. But, over the years, there have been 10x the positive posts about brokerages such as Fidelity and Schwab then negative. I wouldn't dwell on the…
It's all what you're comfortable with, but like WABAC, I have not encountered any of the disadvantages you suggest a brokerage has, @Ben. And if I have a question, I just call my contact advisor at our local office. I don't pay anything for that, an…
Interestingly, there was a lot of discussion on ZEOIX back in 2020 as a "cash alternative". It was being compared to RPHYX in a positive manner. Coincidently, RPHYX was re-opening at that time after being closed for quite a while.
Type ZEOIX into …
I don’t own or track a single bond fund that has produced an average annual return approaching 5% over the past 5 or 10 years
That time frame includes a couple very bad years for bonds during the FED rate hikes, so of course averages will be lower. …
A good debate, upcoming recession or not. We are heading into a typical equity market summer slow time, aug through sept. That may be all we are seeing. Then again, who knows.
@larryB, that was my suggestion or, at least I threw out the idea. There is nothing wrong with 5.5% on a CD for the next 5 years. If it's called, oh well. Those conditions, falling rates, that make a bank call on that CD should open up other opportu…
Dan, yes, you are right. When the CD or treasury matures, the money 1st goes to whatever that sweep account is that pays virtually nothing. I move it myself to the SWVXX MM account. I don't have nearly enough to be in the $1,000,000 MM club :)
Hon…
Personally, I wouldn't care to much if callable. You still get the interest rate stated until called, and that rate is likely better than the MM. The only downside, to me, is that you would again have to find something to do with the money. But, I w…
I'm in a similar boat @dtconroe. I had a couple CDs mature and I moved the $ to the Schwab MM, for now. ~5.1%, with flexibility, is a pretty darn good return. But if CD's are flat or dropping the MM account can't be far behind. This morning I see 1 …
Thanks @davidsherman. It was a little "wonky" for me :). Lots of acronyms. But as long as you understand the environment, that's good for me. I hold RPHYX and SPC in my safe-withdrawal bucket, along with a bunch of treasuries. Keep up the good work!…
Trading is for a small % who can do it with reasonable success. But, the following MAY work for retirees who have enough and don't want to lose much. They don't care about performance, they care a lot more about NOT losing money.
Point taken @FD100…
:) I wish I could go back and explain these excepted uses of 'effect' as a verb to my 4th grade teacher, Sister Mary Michael. She may not have hit me in the back of the head for using it incorrectly.
Some really good discussion here. A couple comments:
@FD1000, So, just my opinion, good timing/trading is the only choice IF you can do it.
You are always self promoting this option. Fact is, 90% of every-day investors that try timing methods actua…
There is a "flag" option on each post. Not exactly sure what that does, but worth a try. I agree with @dtconroe. I can choose not to listen to 1 poster, but the bullying from the other should be stopped. He has done it to me and others.
Great analogy @msf, insurance. I've always thought of 'hedging' as buying safety, 'hedging your bets' as you stated. But that doesn't need to be the case. It can also create greater volatility and the opposite affect if bets are incorrect. Shorting …
I hold JHQAX, JPMorgan Hedged Equity Fund. I bought in over 2 years ago and have added to it to a point where it is about 10% of my portfolio. We've talked about this fund before and I guess I really can't explain very well the put-call spread colla…
I'm so glad others are stepping up to show dislike for what these 2 participants bring to the table. One seems to be a self-absorbed ego maniac. The other a pure bully. They do deserve each other.
I have not received any notification from MOVEit or Schwab, but for me this comes on the heels of another data breach I just went through with Aetna, my supplemental healthcare provider. 2 weeks after being notified of that breach, the credit card I…
I added SPC to my conservative withdrawal bucket pretty much at inception. It now makes up about 20% of that account, about 2x as much as RPHYX at 10%. It's on pace to make 6-7% this year. Not sure you can find a more consistent trend up than SPC si…
@Crash, FWIW, some might think opening a brokerage account, especially for a young person, is KISS. A lot more flexibility and choices as his nest egg grows. And at 30, why not a straight equity fund like TCAF, the new Giroux managed T.R.Price ETF? …
I remember that @hank, but I didn't pay much attention because I thought the concern related more to individual foreign stocks in a Roth, not mutual funds. I could be wrong or naïve, but personally I have no concern owning International or global fu…
I don't understand the concern for international funds in a Roth IRA, but that's ok. I did google a little on the subject and it's complicated, but I'm still not concerned after reading. Apparently Schwab isn't either. I found this in one of their a…
Thanks guys for you input on buying corporate bonds vs CD's or Treasuries. I guess it comes down to, is the extra % you can get with longer duration worth the additional risk? The answer can be different for everyone I suppose.
@dtconroe, @Old_Joe, in your guys opinions, how much more risky is a corporate bond issued from a bank with a A+ rating? Without a lot of experience it sounds pretty safe to me. Schwab shows the Bank of Montreal giving 6% on a 2 year bond. Yes, call…
Ok, here's a question. I've owned GPGOX since inception, close to 12 years. The last few years are not stellar, but over all I've always thought of it as a buy-and-hold fund and no need to be concerned. The M* ratings don't really agree with my view…
@Crash, to me it looks like BHB is just following the regional bank index ETF KRE, at least it has since the small bank failures earlier this year. Doesn't matter what bank you bet on, they will likely all move in unison for a while. Hopefully the t…
...it's not economically affordable to convert office space to affordable housing units.
And multiples of that, I would think, to convert to manufacturing space.
