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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.
  • RiverPark Short Term High Yield Fund to reopen to new investors
    @MFO Members: RPHYX performance record, I'm not impressed !
    Regards,
    Ted
    YTD= 97 Percentile
    1-Yr.=99 " "
    3-Yr.=83 " "
    5-Yr.-97 " "
    http://performance.morningstar.com/fund/performance-return.action?t=RPHYX&region=usa&culture=en-US
    The response you will get is that it is mischaracterized as a high yield fund by Morningstar. And I tend to agree. But what is not mentioned is how it will do worse when junk bonds perform worse ala 2015 and vice versa ala 2012. So there is a correlation. What I don't get though is all the love for a fund with a 3 and 5 year annualized return under 3%. By the very nature of this fund you will never get rich! It sure beats a money market so can understand using it in lieu of cash and can understand using it in retirement.
  • These Tools Help You Hit The Mark With Target-Date Funds
    @ Derf,
    I Probably did. Good memory.
    As I compared different T. Rowe Price Target Date Funds I noticed drawdown higher than I had expected. TRP Retirement Balance Fund (TRRIX) which is a conservative allocation fund doesn't even have the downside protection that VWINX has shown, nor does it out perform of the upside. PONDX does even better job as an income fund in both up and down markets.
    At TRP a combination of PRWCX and RPSIX (or better yet PONDX) might actually perform better than these target date fund.
  • These Tools Help You Hit The Mark With Target-Date Funds
    I believe Target Date Funds could be used in a totally different manner than they are typically advertised which usually means these funds "target a retirement date".
    I propose using these funds to provide a glide path of risk that "targets income needs in retirement" over future 5 year time periods.
    Let's say I am 57 years of age in 2017 and I see a need for my investments to provide me an income of $X/month (adjusted for inflation) starting in three years (age 60).
    So, a 2020 Target Date Fund would be funded with 5 years of spending (for age 60-64). So in 2020, I would begin disbursements from this 2020 fund and spend this fund down over the next 5 years (2020-2024). A Target Date Fund remains invested very conservatively after it reaches its target date which is perfect for spend down.
    At age 57, I also would fund a 2025 Target Date Fund to begin disbursement in 2025 (from age 65-69).
    I also would fund a 2030 Target Date Fund to disburse in 2030 (from age 70-74)
    and so on...
    Beyond the first 15 years I would then use 10 year increments such as,
    2040 Fund for years 75-84
    2050 Fund for years 85 - older
    5 Funds all done.
    For emergencies I might conservatively fund an additional 3-5 years of spending and replenish as needed.
    All other resources could be aggressively invested without the worry of spending these resources at the wrong time (a bear market).
    The beauty of a Target Date Funds is that they glide away from risk as they approach the spend down date (target date) and remains low risk during the 5 year spend down period.
    Longer dated funds have time to deal with the risk/reward of the market serving as the inflation hedge.
  • Fund for Grandparents to Give: BBALX/MASNX
    Funny, just two days ago I wrote the following email to my daughter (at her request):
    "Here's my summary of financial planning. Or, you could read a 300 page book and get the same information with more details.
    1) Have an emergency account. Ideally, it should have three months cost of living in it. At a minimum, have a couple of thousand dollars so you can fix a broken car, etc. without panic.
    2) Plan a budget. Specifically, you should know your weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual spending requirements in advance for the most part. Make sure you have the money set into "buckets" for those expenses. Examples: rent, insurance, food, loan payments, vacations, etc. Also, there should be a bucket for allowances for each of you. Just because you have money left over doesn't mean that it is "allowance". Actually plan in advance how much "fun money" seems reasonable. Left-over money should go into savings for #3 or #4.
    3) Save for retirement.
    4) Save for a house or condo.
    The easiest way to save for retirement is through a work 401k plan if they offer one. For most folks starting in their 20s, plan to save about 12% of your gross income. The company match if there is one is added on to this. If there is no company match, plan to save 15%. If you don't have access to a 401k, or if you want to save more, just open an IRA for each of you. Invest it 80% or more in the stock market (see details below). This will probably get you retired around age 60. If you save more, you can retire sooner.
    The stock market is the best place for long term investing. The reason is stocks go up and down in the short run, but in the long run the market has always gone up. One easy way to invest is to just put 100% of your money into the Vanguard VTI exchange traded fund (ETF). Just add more money every month or every quarter or every year or whatever. If you want to "smooth out the bumps" some, you can get a little more complicated. Invest some of it in a fund that invests internationally instead of just the US. Some years that will be better, some years worse, but you'll get similar results with a smoother ride. An example ETF for this is VXUS. Another option is to invest some money in the bond market (usually slightly lower returns in the long run but definitely smooths the bumps). Finally, to probably increase your results in the long run, invest in small companies (fund VBR) more than large ones.
    Keep in mind that the dips the stock market goes through don't really hurt you in the long run and actually help a little. If you are investing a certain amount every month (say $1000) to buy stocks, when the stock price goes down you get to buy more of them. Then when it goes back up, you gain faster than if it just went up the same amount every month.
    The way to use the multiple funds is to:
    - set target percentages
    - each time you add money to the investments add to the ones that are trailing your targets
    Example targets you could use:
    40% VTI (total US stock market)
    20% VXUS (international stocks)
    20% VBR (small company stocks)
    20% BND (total US bond market)
    Saving for a house/condo is different. It should be in some pretty secure investment, like a credit union savings account or CDs, but not the stock market. You'll probably want to actually spend the money in just a few years, so you don't want to have a down stock market right when you need the money. Most folks living in a high cost-of-living area like Seattle probably spend about 30% of their gross income on housing. So for you, if you make a combined $130,000, 30% is 39,000. If you currently pay rent of $22,000 per year, save the other 17,000.
    OK, where/how to open an account. I use Vanguard and Schwab for my retirement accounts and like both of them. You can open the accounts online and they both have good phone support, and Schwab has a Seattle office if you want to talk with a human being. The steps are:
    - open the account (an IRA or a Roth IRA or a regular investment account)
    - make an initial deposit (usually by an ACH transfer from your credit union savings or checking); this goes to a basic money market fund (kind of like a checking account)
    - move the money into your chosen ETF investments
    IRA and Roth IRA accounts are called "tax advantaged". The government wants people to save for retirement so they try to make it enticing. An IRA (like a 401k) lets you not pay income tax on the money you save. Instead, you pay income taxes when you take the money out 40 years from now. This is called "tax deferred".
    A Roth IRA or a Roth 401k is different. You do pay income tax now on the money that you save. But when you take the money out later you do not pay any taxes then.
    If the income tax rate now and 40 years from now is the same, it makes no mathematical difference which approach you use. If you expect your tax rate to be higher in the future, use the Roth approach. If you expect your tax rate to be lower in the future, use a regular IRA. Or you can do some of each to hedge your bets. Use a Roth 401k at work and a regular IRA, or a regular 401k at work and a Roth IRA.
    I've got some good books if you want more details, but this is the basics."
  • Two more AQR Funds to close June 30, 2017
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1444822/000119312517110128/d350531d497.htm
    497 1 d350531d497.htm AQR FUNDS PROSPECTUS SUPPLEMENT
    AQR FUNDS
    Supplement dated April 4, 2017 (“Supplement”)
    to the Class I Shares and Class N Shares Prospectus dated May 1, 2016, as amended (“Prospectus”), of the AQR Diversified Arbitrage Fund, AQR Long-Short Equity Fund, AQR Equity Market Neutral Fund, AQR Multi-Strategy Alternative Fund, AQR Style Premia Alternative Fund and AQR Style Premia Alternative LV Fund (the “Funds”)
    This Supplement updates certain information contained in the Prospectus. Please review this important information carefully. You may obtain copies of the Funds’ Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information free of charge, upon request, by calling (866) 290-2688, or by writing to AQR Funds, P.O. Box 2248, Denver, CO 80201-2248.
    Effective at the close of business on June 30, 2017, the AQR Long-Short Equity Fund and AQR Equity Market Neutral Fund will be closed to new investors, subject to certain exceptions as set out below under the heading “Closed Fund Policies.”
    Additionally, effective April 5, 2017, the section entitled “Closed Fund Policies” beginning on page 165 of the Prospectus is hereby deleted and replaced in its entirety with the following:
    Closed Fund Policies
    Effective at the close of business of the below dates (each, a “Closing Date”), the following Funds (each, as of its Closing Date, a “Closed Fund”) were or will be closed to new investors, subject to certain exceptions.
    Closed Fund Closing Date
    AQR Diversified Arbitrage Fund June 29, 2012
    AQR Multi-Strategy Alternative Fund September 30, 2013
    AQR Style Premia Alternative Fund March 31, 2016
    AQR Style Premia Alternative LV Fund March 31, 2016
    AQR Long-Short Equity Fund June 30, 2017
    AQR Equity Market Neutral Fund June 30, 2017
    Existing shareholders of a Closed Fund as of the applicable Closing Date are permitted to make additional investments in that Closed Fund and reinvest dividends and capital gains after the Closing Date in any account that held shares of the Closed Fund as of the Closing Date.
    Notwithstanding the closing of a Closed Fund, you may open a new account in the Closed Fund (including through an exchange from another series of the Trust (each, a “Series”)) and thereafter reinvest dividends and capital gains in the Closed Fund if you meet the Closed Fund’s eligibility requirements and are:
    ● A current shareholder of the applicable Closed Fund as of the Closing Date—either (a) in your own name or jointly with another or as trustee for another, or (b) as beneficial owner of shares held in another name—opening a (i) new individual account or IRA account in your own name, (ii) trust account, (iii) joint account with another party or (iv) account on behalf of an immediate family member;
    1
    ● A qualified defined contribution retirement plan that offers the applicable Closed Fund as an investment option of the plan (or another plan sponsored by the same employer), as of the Closing Date purchasing shares on behalf of new and existing participants;
    ● A financial advisor, wrap-fee program or model portfolio who as of the Closing Date has included the applicable Closed Fund as part of a discretionary fee-based program or model portfolio purchasing shares on behalf of a new or existing client;
    ● An investor opening a new account at a financial institution and/or financial intermediary firm or a client of an investment consultant that (i) has clients currently invested in the applicable Closed Fund or clients for whom the Adviser provides advisory services implementing a similar principal investment strategy and (ii) the new account to be opened has been pre-approved by the Adviser to purchase shares of the applicable Closed Fund. Investors should contact the firm through which they invest to determine whether new accounts are permitted;
    ● Clients of a financial institution, financial intermediary or consultant that submitted a letter of intent to invest in the Closed Fund that was accepted by the Adviser on or prior to the Closing Date;
    ● A shareholder of a Fund (including a Closed Fund) or another account or fund managed by the Adviser transferring, either by exchange or redemption and subsequent purchase, into a Closed Fund with a similar principal investment strategy where the Adviser concludes, in its judgment, that the transfer will not adversely affect the applicable Closed Fund;
    ● A participant in a tax-exempt retirement plan of the Adviser and its affiliates and rollover accounts from those plans, as well as employees of the Adviser and its affiliates, trustees and officers of the Trust and members of their immediate families; or
    ● A current shareholder of the AQR Diversified Arbitrage Fund transferring, either by exchange or redemption and subsequent purchase, into AQR Multi-Strategy Alternative Fund where the Adviser concludes, in its judgment, that the transfer will not adversely affect AQR Multi-Strategy Alternative Fund.
    ● A current shareholder of the AQR Long-Short Equity Fund transferring, either by exchange or redemption and subsequent purchase, into the AQR Equity Market Neutral Fund where the Adviser concludes, in its judgment, that the transfer will not adversely affect the AQR Equity Market Neutral Fund.
    ● A current shareholder of the AQR Equity Market Neutral Fund transferring, either by exchange or redemption and subsequent purchase, into the AQR Long-Short Equity Fund where the Adviser concludes, in its judgment, that the transfer will not adversely affect the AQR Long-Short Equity Fund.
    The ability to permit, limit or decline investments in accordance with the eligibility requirements set out above relating to accounts held by financial institutions and/or financial intermediaries may vary depending upon systems capabilities, applicable contractual and legal restrictions and cooperation of those institutions and/or intermediaries.
    Investors may be required to demonstrate eligibility to purchase shares of a Closed Fund before an investment is accepted.
    Each Closed Fund reserves the right to (i) allow investments in Closed Funds that do not fit within the eligibility requirements above pursuant to guidelines approved by the Funds’ Board of Trustees, (ii) reject any investment, including those pursuant to eligibility requirements detailed above, and (iii) close and re-open the Closed Fund to new or existing shareholders at any time.
    PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR YOUR FUTURE REFERENCE...
    2
  • Tax returns for Minors with Roth IRAs
    @hawkmountain
    I've exhausted my linkages, to the best of my knowledge, as of today. :)
    Here is an interesting notation from Fidelity, from the below linked article:
    "If your child is not filing a tax form that covers his or her earned income, consider maintaining a written log of their earnings in case the IRS asks questions."
    https://www.fidelity.com/learning-center/personal-finance/retirement/turbocharge-childs-retirement
    One may presume if the IRS starts auditing minor Roth IRA applications, which have been opened with fully righteous considerations; many other events to the negative side have already taken place.
    Regards,
    Catch
  • our April issue is posted
    Hi, guys.
    We posted last night but I didn't send out the notice until this morning; I still am uncomfortable bothering folks late on a weekend evening with "business."
    Stuff that's there:
    • my note on basketball and milestones, including ours and the markets
    • Ed's reflections on how the recent news from BlackRock, Morningstar, Templeton and elsewhere might foreshadow the industry's future
    • Bob C's discussion of how to think about creating a suitable income stream in retirement
      the story on Morningstar's new mutual fund series, including what (little) we know, what we don't and what we might speculate about
    • my profile of Northern Global Tactical Asset Allocation, which Morningstar finally got into the right peer group
    • Charles' profile of Litman Gregory Masters Alternative Strategies, which flows from his recent meetings with those folks in San Francisco
    • the first installment of Sam's profile of the Grandeur Peaks Global Stalwarts funds, where he shared the first 50% of the profile yesterday and aims to share the rest today
    • a Launch Alert for 361 US Small Cap Equity, a rare small cap that's driven by behavioral finance principles and that has a pretty solid record as a series of private accounts
    • coverage of a pretty stunning array of structural changes, including the marginalization of Mark Mobius, manager dismissals at BlackRock, the sale of one fund family and a host of rebrandings.
    Hope you find some worthwhile nuggets there.
    David
  • Bulletin !!! Fairholme Fund To Be Liquidated
    If Shadow had posted this article, I would have believed him :-D
    However, I have to say this was much better than predictable "Trump resigns the Presidency" idea so many had yesterday. I actually sent out an email to my friends to tell them if they didn't stop I will never talk to them again. Then they thought *that* was an April Fool's joke.
    Speaking of retirement, the two people who I think should have retired several years back are Denzel Washington and Nicholas Cage. It is so painful to watch them,
    Aso.
  • Ben Carlson: Preparing For The Next Bear Market
    Sometimes, investing is much like the weather. At times the sun can be out with a nice blue sky along with the temperature in the mid 80's and calm winds ... and, here comes a solar votrex that disrupts communications, travel and other things.
    With this, now in retirement I run an all weather conserative asset allocation in my portfolio along with a rebalance plan that adjust my equity allocation based upon certain stock market conditions plus I also harvest some capital gains in the rebalance process thus keeping them from becoming vaporized in major stock market declines.
    With this, when the day gets spoiled by a solar vortex (so-to-speak) and the bear comes growling I am already ahead of most; and, it is a big reason I keep an ample cash on hand so that I can become a buyer of stocks in major stock market pullbacks and corrections.
    With my portfolio management tools and rebalance processes as the markets recover I continue to sell down equities through a systematic process. Really nothing complex about this just a disciplined and systematic approach that keys off of stock market pullbacks and their recovery where I harvest some capital gains along the way.
    Folks ... thus far, this process has worked well form me and my family through the years. It has worked thus far for me, my father, his father and so on and so forth. It's really quite simple ... Make harvest of the crops whether they are capital gains in the markets or crops in the soil.
  • CalSTRS Unfunded Liability Grows Under New Returns Expectation
    FYI: The California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS) announced on Thursday that its funding level had dropped and its unfunded liability had increased, following a drop in the fund's expected investment returns.
    The public pension plan voted in February to lower its annual expected return rate from 7.5 percent to 7 percent by 2018. As a result, CalSTRS unfunded liability grew to $97 billion from $76 billion, and its funding level dropped from 68 percent to nearly 64 percent.
    Regards,
    Ted
    http://www.reuters.com/article/california-pensions-calstrs-idUSL2N1H71DC
  • Multi-Asset/Tactical Income Funds
    I tend to agree with Ted on this. Three or four fixed-income funds should be plenty, unless your account is all bonds. In my own retirement account, I own three bond funds: OSTIX, FFRHX, and THIIX. They are each very straight forward, very low volatility and low downside capture. Given higher interest rate environment, this makes sense to me. I also like LASYX, TGBAX, LLDYX, and PONDX. But the three I own now work for me. I don't have to constantly watch them. Great management, simple to understand, and decent interest income. I prefer to keep bonds pretty simple.
  • International Investing Options
    I think emerging markets up like 25 - 30% in last 6 months. Whatever rudimentary understanding I have, unless $USD breaks down meaningfully I don't see any point in overweighting emerging markets. I have some positions which I'm looking to reposition into others and possibly add. Hopefully I'll have opportunity to sell and then buy at lower prices.
    I think in a "diversified" portfolio, if we think 30% allocation should be international, then 20% of that perhaps should be emerging markets. So as an example, out of a $100,000 portfolio, $6,000 should be in emerging markets.
    Do any of us have more in emerging markets, now or at any other point? I have some money in MALOX and PASDX in my retirement accounts that's meaningful. I own some GPROX and PLMDX also. My meaningful positions are MACSX and MAPIX. I don't think I'm even 3% in emerging markets. Need to check.
  • Ten Ways To Get A Good Return On Cash (Stocks Not Included)
    All good ideas, Ted. The one about legal documents, however, is especially good. I cannot tell you how many people think if they have a will, they are all set. THEY ARE NOT! Yes, a will is important. But perhaps even more so are Powers of Attorney that designate who will act on your behalf for healthcare and financial decisions. These are critical, especially for single people, since spouses typically serve as POA for each other. And folks should make sure the financial POA includes language the specifically includes "all retirement accounts". Most custodians like Fidelity and Schwab will not honor financial POAs that do not have this language. The other important legal item is to be sure your beneficiary designations are current. Many times we find folks who have remarried with life insurance and/or financial account beneficiaries still naming their ex-spouse, or young people just married with their parents still named as beneficiaries.
    People, please take time to get these two items done, and be sure they reflect how you wish your assets to be handled in the event of your incapacity or death. This really is important.
  • Index funds and taxable accounts
    Hmmm...actually I have no index funds in my taxable accounts. I have index funds in my retirement accounts. I consider distributions as income and/or taking money of the table.
  • Investors Pay If Wall Street Wins A Fiduciary-Rule Delay
    FYI: Wall Street continues a doomed fight for brokers’ right to give bad advice to retirement savers, all in the hopes of propping up earnings. After three stinging courtroom defeats, the industry procured a presidential memorandum directing the Labor Department to review its ban on giving disloyal advice to investors.
    Regards,
    Ted
    https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-03-28/investors-pay-if-wall-street-wins-a-fiduciary-rule-delay
  • IBD: Which Mutual Funds Beat The S&P 500 Over The Last 1, 3, 5 & 10 Years?
    FYI: A mutual fund exists for virtually any and all your investment needs in your retirement or other accounts. The challenge is in choosing the right one for your portfolio from the more than 8,000 mutual funds available.
    The second annual IBD Best Mutual Fund Awards makes the task a lot easier. Every one of them has beaten its benchmark for the past one, three, five and 10 years — a feat that fewer than 4% of U.S. diversified stock and U.S. bond funds can claim.
    Look at the list and see if you already own any of these top performers. If you don't, compare them to the ones you do own and see if they might make a better fit in your portfolio. If you're looking for a fund to start or add to your portfolio, this best-of-the best list is a great place to start.
    Regards,
    Ted
    http://www.investors.com/best-mutual-fund-awards/ibd-best-mutual-fund-awards-growth-value-large-cap-small-cap-muni-bond/
  • DSE_X downside
    DSEEX is the institutional share class, which you can get for $5,000 only in retirement accounts. But you could also buy DBLFX, which has a 0.48% expense ratio, put 10% to 20% of what would have been your DSEEX allocation in that bond fund, then put the remaining 80% to 90% in four stock ETFs like XLK, which has a 0.14% expense ratio, and bring your average expense ratio down to about 0.20%. Since many of those ETFs trade transaction free at brokers, there'd be no cost there and you could also harvest losses on individual ETFs for tax purposes if need be instead of having them all lumped together in one fund. Periodically you could review what DSEEX is buying and try to get the ETFs it owns at a lower share price. I just don't see the great advantage of paying active management fees for a formula.
    By contrast, I do see an advantage to paying active management fees for SFGIX, an active manager with a long successful track record at another fund shop--Matthews--and now his own shop. The manager of that fund doesn't follow a formula but does intensive fundamental research of the securities he owns, and has the results to prove it. Now you could call that just luck--a classic active versus passive debate--but at the very least you know Andrew Foster is definitely active. You're not paying for a formula. The only really active side in DSEEX is on the bond side, which is not the primary driver of its returns.
  • COSIX
    I have made a major overhaul. I no longer need/want to take *any* risk. But before I go the CD laddering and money market route thought I would try something first. I hold 8 bond funds the most funds I have ever held. Sort of a fund of funds approach. Based on performance hope to winnow that down to three or four funds. PONDX is my largest holding because of its persistency of trend. Another holding is IOFIX. Don't believe it has ever been mentioned but a real persistent trender. If I can beat a CD and money market return will just stick with this in retirement. I believe the normalizing of rates by the Fed could be a boon for retirees. 3% or more in money market rates down the road? Sign me up!
    Edit: I should add I am really stymied by Scottrade's limited offerings and/or advisor only funds and will be glad when their merger is complete with TD Ameritrade.
  • ROTH IRA Question
    I still can't shake the feeling that until the IRA contributions can be made in sums equal to that of 401/403/457s ($18K vs $5500 per year) they may well be a joke down the road and/or don't allow people to save away enough for retirement. Yes, I contribute to mine each year, but if you CAN contribute more - up to a certain limit - why shouldn't we, especially if you're in a job that LETS you be a responsible saver and tuck away more while you can? Heck, if you suddenly are able to contribute $18K to an IRA while you're in a good-paying job, that can put you ahead of things if for some reason you lose that job and/or are later unable to contribute much to your retirement future. In this case, it's like you're being penalised for trying to be a responsible person and thinking proactively about your future needs.
    Long story short every now and then I just think the whole IRA/Roth IRA thing is a nice thought but may not be very helpful -- or more trouble than they're worth. Ridiculous contribution limit aside, the various loopholes / hoops you have to jump through with retirement accounts, conversions, limits on contributions, required withdrawls, etc .... it's crazy.
  • ROTH IRA Question
    I think I see where people are getting confused with 401(k)s. VF gave too much info.
    Wife made non-deductible contribution to "piddly IRA". That's the current state of affairs, it doesn't matter how she got there.
    The back story (which is irrelevant) is that wife decided in the past to make the non-deductible contribution because there's a rule saying you can't deduct a contribution to a traditional IRA if:
    (a) you are participating in a plan at work such as a 401(k), and
    (b) your income exceeds $119k in 2017.
    https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/2017-ira-deduction-limits-effect-of-modified-agi-on-deduction-if-you-are-covered-by-a-retirement-plan-at-work