Investors Climb Back Into Stock Funds; U.S. ETFs Dominate Flows
http://blogs.barrons.com/focusonfunds/2012/01/13/investors-climb-back-into-stock-funds-flows-dominated-by-domestic-etfs/?mod=BOLBlog
mf returns have not improve
http://www.forbes.com/sites/investor/2012/01/13/mutual-fund-returns-havent-really-improved/
does it pay to be couch potato
http://business.financialpost.com/2012/01/14/in-defence-of-couch-potatoes/
where can i find cd yielding 5%
http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/retirement/story/2012-01-13/cds-yielding-five-percent/52538816/1

Reply to @MaxBialystock: Max, it is indeed a great distinction to be "moderate" risk among the emerging bond funds (the riskiest bond asset class) or just "moderate" risk - period. Once you get other moneys, please don't pile up in high yield, another risky bond type. You will need to de-risk your portfolio. From reading your comments here and on FA over the years, I highly suggest that before you invest additional moneys, you should consult a fee-based financial adviser. I have much respect and appreciation for this Board, but having mostly EM equities and bonds so close to retirement is not the right thing to do. I will retreat now and will never repeat this again. Best wishes.

Reply to Maurice:
Here is a link that explains a non-prototype account. Basically it is an "investment only" account. Fidelity does not manage it, there are no yearly or maintenance fees. The plan trustee does the recordkeeping and tax reporting.
https://www.fidelity.com/retirement/small-business/investment-only-plans
I will have to call Fidelity about the K class shares to ask if we could use them. Does your plan only use Fidelity funds or can it use other no loads?

Reply to @scott:
Hi Scott,
Thanks for your reference to AQR Capital Management’s interpretation and implementation of the Risk Parity concept. Although I am generally familiar with the concept, my understanding of its details, especially its execution aspects, is extremely shallow. Your reference has somewhat deepened my knowledge base.
I downloaded the AQR document and spent an hour reviewing it. In the spirit of the Internet, here is my WikiView of the paper.
I am favorably impressed by the directness, the honesty, and the technical characteristics of the report. Its content clearly identifies the prospects and the limitations of the risk parity strategy. It helps to establish a trust in the author’s firm.
I applaud the AQR philosophy that management costs, particularly in the Hedge Fund universe, are far too high. The current cost structure seems appropriate, but the huge initial investment hurdle is an unassailable entry mountain for most private investors. I hope some group alternatives exist as is often the case.
A major AQR position is for ultra diversification across products, markets, and globally. It is ubiquitous in their document. I completely agree, but that is not a novel investment idea.
AQR talks about the complexity of risk, about its multidimensional nature. Yet when reporting their methodology, they revert to the conventional standard deviation measure of the risk parameter. This defection to the conventional representation has implications further down the road in my review. For now, the AQR document failed to walk the talk.
I was pleased with the ADQ presentation of investment category outcomes from the past 40 years, particularly with the segmentation of their discussions into decades and into different crisis periods. History does matter and informs our decision making.
I applaud ADQ for properly crediting the academic work completed by Harry Markowitz and James Tobin in the 1950s. These are the cornerstones of efficient portfolio construction and the investment separation concepts. Again, these are well established risk control concepts that are taught in every financial college course today. Nothing new here.
Let’s get back to the definition of risk once again. The ADQ team acknowledges standard deviation shortcomings, but uses it throughout the paper. That’s okay, except when displaying the potential benefits of leveraging in the Efficient Frontier curve given as Figure 6. Markowitz and Tobin used standard deviation as the full measure of risk because that was likely their simplified understanding five decades ago. By resorting to that same definition, ADQ understates the risk of Leverage when investing.
Note that the Leveraged portfolio in Figure 6 is still a linear function of Risk. ADQ knows better. See the warnings in their disclaimer section. At one point, they say: “It is also possible to lose more than the initial deposit when trading derivatives or using leverage.” That’s honest, but it is not properly reflected in the linear extrapolation relationship depicted in Figure 6. For the leverage notional depiction, the curve should bend, convex downward. As expected rewards increase, at some point, the risk price tag is likely to become exorbitant. The leveraged risk/reward tradeoff is definitely not linear.
Without leveraging, the standard Risk Parity portfolio is likely to deliver muted returns (perhaps similar to the Permanent Portfolio genre). The commonsense risk/reward investment tradeoff axiom remains intact; higher expected reward means higher risk adventures.
ADQ offers to sweeten the deal by engaging in very active Hedge Fund leveraging techniques, many of which are fairly presented in the paper. These techniques include special forecasting skills, preferential market assessments, and very active, and accurate money management tools. Hedge funds typically operate in this space. ADQ has considerable expertise and experience functioning in this specialized environment. But those operations increase risk; success can never be guaranteed, and risk is not fully represented in the Figure 6 plots.
ADQ has the experienced talent to execute this investment approach. They have been doing it for years. Just recognize, that is a risk mitigation method that degrades in risk control as leverage stretches for higher returns.
Market watchers have long recognized the realities of “fat-tailed” return distributions. About 15 years ago I did personal Monte Carlo computer simulations to inform my retirement decision. I did my own computer programming. Initially, I postulated Bell curve return’s distributions.
To enhance my simulation fidelity, I modified my code to do Bell curve returns when the randomly selected volatility was within a stipulated standard deviation factor, and then defaulted to a power-curve distribution when that standard deviation criteria was violated. The power-curve distribution better models the real world fat=tail return’s distribution.
Of course, my portfolio survival rate declined with the wilder ride that the fat-tails modeling projected. I still retired as planned, but my wife and I decided on a smaller portfolio drawdown rate as a result of those simulations.
We were never happy with the robustness of those simulations because the point of departure from the Bell curve, and the decay exponent in the postulated power-curve distribution were arbitrary. There is a paucity of data in the fat-tail regime. Inputing an exponential decay rate is pure guesswork. Assumptions must always be made in the borderline zone between orderly and unpredictable future market behavior. Luck is important.
I’m sure you made a wise decision in your ADQ investment. I know you do not expect miracles. It’s a nonlinear world.
Best Wishes.

winning the retirement game in 2012
http://www.onwallstreet.com/video/Don-Schreiber-Dividend-Buy-Hold-Stocks2676748-1.html?ET=onwallstreet:e5341:2131761a:&st=email&utm_source=editorial&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=OWS_Daily__010612

Howdy,
Again, a thank you to all who post the links and also start and participate in the many fine commentaries woven into the message threads.
For those who don't know; I ramble away about this and that, at least once each week.
NOTE: For those who visit MFO, this portfolio is designed for retirement, capital preservation and to stay ahead of inflation creep; if and when it returns. This is not a buy and hold portfolio, and is subject to change on any given day; based upon perceptions of market directions. All assets in this portfolio are in tax-sheltered accounts; and any fund distributions are reinvested in the funds. Gains or losses are computed from actual account values.
While looking around.....It is settled.....MFO is a most grand internet station in life for individual investors; and I will add, professionals could learn and thing or three here, too. There were several topical areas in the threads last week, receiving lively postings. At least one critical subject area of investing was settled, once and for all time: the buy and hold scenario vs market/trend timing over long time frames and which performs best.....okay, I wrote a small lie, eh? The discussion, none the less; is worthy for all to consider for their own purpose. Historical and societal aspects were also discussed; and my main take away on this is how all of us are affected by the who, what, when and where of our lives to this date. We all have modifiers of events in our lives that become part of who we are today; and may affect our investment behaviors; although our DNA's are almost pure mirrors of one another, a few small variables here and there, keep all of us different. Be it further settled, that the overwhelming conclusion is that; Homo sapiens are a most complex creature. Our house is glad and pleased that you are here.
I have noted a few things below, in the Buy/Sell/Portfolio section.
I have retained the following links for those who may choose to do their own holdings comparison against the fund types noted.
This 1st link to Bloomberg is for their list of balanced funds; although I don't always agree with the placement of fund styles in their categories.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/data?Sector=888&pid=invest_mutualfunds&ListBy=YTD&Term=1
These next two links are for conservative and moderate fund leaders YTD, per MSN.
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/partsub/funds/topfundresults.asp?Symbol=$HF&Category=CA
http://moneycentral.msn.com/investor/partsub/funds/topfundresults.asp?Category=MA&Type=&symbol=$HF
Such are the numerous battles with investments attempting to capture a decent return and minimize the risk.
We live and invest in interesting times, eh?
Hey, I probably forgot something; and hopefully the words make some sense.
Comments and questions always welcomed.
Good fortune to you, yours and the investments.
Take care,
Catch
SELLs/BUYs THIS PAST WEEK:
NONE
A reflection upon the links above; we attempt to establish a "benchmark" for our portfolio to help us "see" how our funds are performing. Aside from viewing many funds within the balanced/flexible funds rankings (the above links), a quick and dirty group of 4 funds we watch for benchmarking are the following:
***Note: these YTD's per M*
VWINX ....YTD = + .13%
PRPFX ....YTD = + 1.2%
SIRRX .....YTD = + .13%
HSTRX ....YTD = + .16%
None of these 4 are twins to our holdings, but we do watch these as a type of rough guage.
Portfolio Thoughts:
Our holdings had a +.87 % move this past week. Well, we may give the markets another week or two; but as the markets don't really care much about calendar dates and what year it may be, one finds many circumstances to be in place today as they were two weeks ago, as expected. Our house, for 2012 investments; is attempting to discover evidence that this year will not be unlike 2011, with the exception of a post election period. All evidence you may be able to provide to the contrary is greatly appreciated. This leads to the next thought of a small rework of our holdings with selling the majority of our positions in LSBDX and TEGBX. Selling is not the hardest part for this house, but what to do with the new monies. For 2012, if equities do "ok", LSBDX may have a so-so return, based upon what one witnessed for 2011. Not quite sure about TEGBX, but this fund reacted similar to LSBDX in 2011. So, let the studies begin and watch the first few weeks of this new year.
The immediate below % of holdings are only determined by a "fund" name, NO M* profile this week
CASH = 0%
Mixed bond funds = 91.9%
Equity funds = 8.1%
-Investment grade bond funds 26.8%
-Diversified bond funds 19.8%
-HY/HI bond funds 23.2%
-Total bond funds 17.8%
-Foreign EM/debt bond funds 4.3%
-U.S./Int'l equity/speciality funds 8.1%
This is our current list: (NOTE: I have added a speciality grouping below for a few of fund types)
---High Yield/High Income Bond funds
FAGIX Fid Capital & Income
SPHIX Fid High Income
FHIIX Fed High Income
DIHYX TransAmerica HY
---Total Bond funds
FTBFX Fid Total
PTTRX Pimco Total
---Investment Grade Bonds
APOIX Amer. Cent. TIPS Bond
DGCIX Delaware Corp. Bd
FBNDX Fid Invest Grade
FINPX Fidelity TIPS Bond
OPBYX Oppenheimer Core Bond
---Global/Diversified Bonds
FSICX Fid Strategic Income
FNMIX Fid New Markets
DPFFX Delaware Diversified
TEGBX Templeton Global (load waived)
LSBDX Loomis Sayles
---Speciality Funds (sectors or mixed allocation)
FCVSX Fidelity Convertible Securities (bond/equity mix)
FRIFX Fidelity Real Estate Income (bond/equity mix)
FFGCX Fidelity Global Commodity
FDLSX Fidelity Select Leisure
FSAGX Fidelity Select Precious Metals
RNCOX RiverNorth Core Opportunity (bond/equity)
---Equity-Domestic/Foreign
FDVLX Fidelity Value
FSLVX Fidelity Lg. Cap Value
FLPSX Fidelity Low Price Stock
MACSX Matthews Asia Growth-Income

Giggling at your closing remark, Investor. Ya, me too: I own both, but I own about 12X MORE MAPIX than MACSX. And MACSX is at present my ONLY taxable, regular, non-retirement animal.

OK, so...Fidelity then... In US dollars? I will assume that.... Fund managers will (hopefully) follow their fund's mandate. There are a bunch of "go anywhere" bond funds, but I tend to at least go as far as to choose the SECTORS I want to be in, and expect the Fund Managers not to "stray off the reservation." That's what I'll offer you here.
-You cannot go wrong with DODIX Dodge & Cox Income Fund (USA intermediate term.) Dividends quarterly. This is a solid, conservative, reliable fund that's been around forever. Morningstar's ratings currently indicate both "above avg." risk and "above avg." return. I don't know what they did to deserve that. 4.14% yield.
-Also, I rather like PREMX. The share price has fallen, but I love the MONTHLY dividends! There's a juicy 7% yield here. (Well, OK. Actually it's 6.96%.)
-Plus, MWTRX Metro West Total Return. It's another intermediate term domestic offering. MONTHLY divs. Yield = 4.37%.
These are the ones I own and/or track. Surely there will be other ideas shared. Good luck, or should I say: "break a leg." Buy and hold, through retirement... MWTRX actually moves stuff a LOT, lotsa turnover. Just be aware of taxable events.

I've been sitting on a bunch of cash that I would like to invest in bond funds. It would consist of around 50% of my portfolio. I have a few balanced funds. Equities compromise at least 50% of the rest of my portfolio. Since I live and work in Europe, I have savings in euros (gulp) that I'm not including in this mix. So, finally, the question...I'd like to assemble a portfolio of bond funds (not more than 4 if possible) which would enable the manager to decide which bonds the I should be holding. This would be a buy and hold portfolio that I would continue to hold through retirement. I don't want to decide which types of bonds to hold. That's what I would be paying the manager to do. I'm 53 years old. Any suggestions would be welcome. By the way, I have my brokerage account at Fidelity.Thanks!

Howdy,
Damn, couldn't resist. Been talking about this for some 20 years.
Scott really targeted some of the drawbacks with the 'buy and die' approach to investing. And mind you, there are simply some drawbacks to what is absolutely correct about investing. Time IN the market is paramount.
Now let's qualify this. The market has returned some 10% over the long run. Ok. Fine. What is the long run? I've seen many stats going back to before the Crash of '29 and I believe them. A couple of issues are how long is the long term for you and I as investors AND does the market diverge from equilibrium and for how long?
How long are we invested for? Geez, for most of us, I'd guess 20 years on average. But use 15 or 30 if you will -- it's still a much shorter period than 75+ years. Your 'long term' investment horizon can also be truncated if you have to make any withdrawals from the investment. This could simply be due to age and personal financial plans. You save and invest and then you retire and start to draw it down. Sorry, but his changes the definition of long term. This happened to wifey with a rollover IRA invested 1/1/2000 at vanguard and very conservatively. SEPP withdrawals per IRS formula early at age 50. dot.com meltdown. Account that was supposed to last throughout retirement will run dry at age 63.5. Long term in the stock market was not sufficiently long term to recover from the market reversal on an account with withdrawals. Parallel acct at price was untouched and not only recovered, but has grown substantially while still invested conservatively.
Does this prove that long term investing - mostly static - is the best way to invest? Sure. For the vast majority of people, it's wisest. Most people don't have the time, expertise, nor savy to actively play the market. Note that I say actively play the market rather than 'time the market'. If you define time the market by anticipating what it is going to do tomorrow . . . you're either crazy, on drugs or one of a very few particularly gifted individuals. This type of market timing is sheer idiocy.
How about actively investing? Alas, most of the B&D crowd look askance at anything more than rebalancing as market timing. That's too bad and so myopic.
And that leads to the second issue and that's short term divergences in the market and its various sectors, segments, and regions from equilibrium. One sector doing great while others are down. Some of these can last for years. Geez, the gold bull market has diverged since 2001. These anomolies can be identified and played by actively investing. I call it momentum investing and don't take it to an extreme. I maintain about 75% of my portfolios invested statically. I don't mess with it and it's fairly conservative for a 63 yo. The other 25% I use to overweight trending sectors. Some are going to say that's market timing. feh. So be it. However, the difference I see is that I do not anticipate what will happen tomorrow unless it's already doing it today. If a sector has been outperforming the overall market for a few months I can slowly scale into my target investment insuring that it continues to outperform. So long as it does, I continue to increase my play. When it stops out performing and begins to retreat to the mean, I scale back out. Sure, you need to watch for changes and, but if you pick some long running trend, you can easily overweight it a bit and juice your returns. And you can do it without riding the train back down the mountain - if you pay attention and heed your stops.
And I'm ok if you want to lable me a market timer.
peace,
rono

Morn'in Coffee, (probably not enough)
As noted in David's January commentary, and expected; there are more than enough forecasts for the 2012 markets. Before I go any further in this note; I will mention that one filter one may attempt to use for any and all verbal or written commentaries about investment market directions; is that there is and will remain a clash of equity and bond thinkers. Some are hard core to one side or the other; and both sides may profit based upon their skills, but there remain those who don't appear to choose to ever cross the road to the other side. Although many of these folks are well educated; and should have a complete understanding of both the equity and bond sectors; I attempt to find and/or filter a bias of their mind set to smooth their comments about why one should travel a particular investment sector for profit.
I note a recent, and likely a fairly common statement that the "market (equity) has no place to go, but up. Really? Says who? I wonder what these folks were writing between June of 2007 and October of 2008. 'Course, Morgan Stanley noted in the early part of 2010 that the 10 year Treasury would move to about 5.5%, if my recall is correct. Equities going up, bond prices going down. Hells bells, take your best guess, eh?
The Contrarian method has been noted over and over; being too many folks leaning to one side or the other. A coin toss may find one or the other side is correct. One can not dismiss that the big money will indeed move into what they perceive as an oversold area; if only to make a fast buck. Unfortunately, most of we individual investors need a bit longer time frame, vs one day; with which to attempt to position our portfolio for our own risk/reward factors.
What I attempt to understand may not be worth much in a short time frame (less than 6 months); but I use what time is available to find whether I may see any investment area being affected by "something". This lends more to what; at least for me, I may name as a "liberal arts" investor; trying to view various and sometimes unrelated areas in a broad spectrum, but may have the potential for cause and affect related to investments. I am comfortable with this method; although it is obvious that too much data from varying sources may cloud any given issue; but this is part of a most crucial circumstance of investing and this is doing one's best to understand who you are and how one reacts to, and takes actions from such information.
While looking around the broad spectrum of events and data..... I will note a few areas currently in view at this house.
---Employment: While it is easy to focus on those unemployed; one must also consider those still employed, eh? If 15% are unemployed and/or have stopped looking for work; do the remaining 85% have the ability or desire to continue to be consumers on a scale of past decades? How many employed at full time, minimum wage jobs will spend monies on other than the essentials of life. Full time, 2,080 hours/year at $7.25/hour is worth about $15,000 gross income per year.
---Unemployment: Reports indicate that some job areas are not being filled; as the skill set needed for some jobs, can not be readily matched. This is an ongoing social/educational/hedonistic problem and will not be fixed any time soon. Although always present in our society, there are many skilled folks who have "worked" outside of the normal workforce. I will presume this group has expanded and will continue to expand. I am not relating this to the drug trade or related; but those who do the side jobs and/or barter work in given communities. These individuals will generate and spend income into their communities, but will not be counted on tax rolls or other official data bases.
---Boomers: The massive flows of monies into investments during the past 30 years is no longer in place from this group. How well they have prepared themselves for retirement will have an impact on cash flows from investments; which will impact investors going forward. This group and their spending habits going forward will also impact our society in general; let alone the investment world in this country.
---Technology: While I read headline stories about many millions of dollars of investment into the auto industry in MI and elsewhere; the major of the monies will go towards technology and benefit only those involved with the technology. Very few "blue collar" jobs will be created; as in years past.
---Politics: U.S. politics in particular will likely remain in the cranial/rectal mode; with the exception of a most interesting period after the November, 2012 elections when the "lame duck" session of congress will be in place. I consider this period to also be a most dangerous legislative period. We will see, eh?
---War: Call them as you see them. Military intervention anywhere, in my opinion is making war. These wars will continue to draw upon monies of this country. The one bright spot, if one chooses to name it so; is that weapons exports are still a very large export of the U.S. You already know the list of hot spots that continue globally. What path is taken by this country; will impact some investment sectors, dependent upon the where and what.
---Asia: Too much to write about with this area; but China will likely continue to be picked upon for their currency policies from some in D.C. China may indeed manipulate in many areas. However, the finger pointing from some in this country will be nothing short of a deflection of fixing problems here. The big questions for those who choose to contact their faithful one's in D.C. are: Does the U.S. manipulate any internal or external monetary policies, and what would be the affect of prices upon one's budget....if China's currency were to become more valuable against the U.S. dollar. Let your D.C. person know that you expect truthful answers.
---Debt: Sure enough to go around for all, eh? Will all of the debt lead to more deleveraging by governments, financial institutions and consumers? I don't have that answer, but the question is worthy of observation going forward. Recent reports indicate that Euro banks who recently borrowed cheap money from the EuroCentralBank were expected to purchase some bonds issued by other EuroZone countries. Apparently, this has not yet happened. Their QE plan is on hold, at this time.
---Deleveraging: Consumer spending in this country was reportedly fairly strong in the holiday season. What will take place after the credit card bills arrive and due for payment will show its true face in the next quarter.
---Inflation: Inflation is still here in some areas. Social Security will place an extra 3.6% into payments beginning this month; and this is based upon the government CPI.
Well, not much noted to any extent; but my clock on the wall, states this is all, for now. If this house is lucky enough to be in the right places, at the right time with at least 50% of our portfolio, we will at least break even for 2012. The U.S. markets may be the best bet again this year. Watching the $Euro to find whether it continues downward; and its reflection upon our markets here. Mr. Bernanke likely will not allow or try to not allow much in the way of interest rate increases here; until he is fully satisfied that normal market forces, including the consumer have taken hold into a very positive GDP related mode.
What is Contrarian today? I sure don't know that this "feel" has as much meaning as it may have had 5 years ago; not unlike a steep yield curve may point to a going ecomomy. The 30 year bond bull market is reportedly upon it's death bed.....I will watch and wait. Perhaps when the bond traders and others are finished with helping Europe gets its act in order; that they will arrive in this country to help those in D.C. discover how much fun may be had with a 7% yield on our 10 year Treasury.
Surely missed something I thought I might write, but this is it.
Take care,
Catch

I don't give a rat's _ss about his privare life. What I do care about is his overall performance of DBLTX. I will stick with DBLTX in my non-retirement account and keep DFLNX in my Roth. Even with the market's volitility, DBLTX has maintained a more or less steady NAV. I would certainly buy DBLTX for its dividend yield, not for its potential capital appreciation.

Wolfgang,
You may want to get a copy of this book. I know Doug from another forum and he has put together a most execellent book for Military folks who are retiring:
http://www.amazon.com/Military-Financial-Independence-Retirement-ebook/dp/B005AU15EU
You can even order it through this site, and MFO will receive credit for your purchase.

Catch
I have been a reader of FundAlarm for a few years but don't recollect posting until today. Since FA closed I have been a firm MFO follower. I also don't plan on taking SS until 66, although I expect to retire @65. I receive a retirement check from the military and I will get one from the federal gov't when I retire. My wife also has a military retirement and will also have one from the federal gov't when she retires in about six years. No children, no parents. Mortgage is less than $1000 per month. Plus, I pay an additional $1000 per month on the principal. Both vehicles paid off. Very little credit card debt. The most recent funds purchased SteelPath MLP, RiverPark High Yield/Short Term and DoubleLine Bond fund. Starting to get into bonds and funds with yields, have enough stock funds from younger days. Hope this helps you to see where I'm coming from.

WolfgangAK,
Sidenote: This house will likely be into the retirement phase within another year.
Our pensions won't be large when combined; but we intend to do our best to not pull any IRA monies until the IRS age 70 1/2 requirement hits. Hopefully, we may also forgo drawing any SS until the maximum age.
We will, of course; have the normal monthly bills for stuff....food, utilities, taxes, etc. ; and one of the biggest concerns is future home maintenance, and replacing the autos within five years or so. The top concern, monetarily; is not yet Medicare age, and our employers do not provide a post retirement health plan. OUCH !
I will presume you have studied about withdraws and amounts; but I do have some decent articles stashed away somewhere on this pc which I will post links.
Check back here and I will edit this post with article links; hopefully this evening or Saturday.
these links are just some info to chew upon
http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052748703438504577042394189481000.html#printMode
http://seekingalpha.com/article/309386-time-to-throw-away-the-4-withdrawal-rule-for-retirement
http://seekingalpha.com/article/309115-retirement-scenarios-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickferri/2011/11/21/withdrawal-rates-drop-as-fees-rise/
http://www.burnsidenews.com/Opinion/Columns/2011-11-14/article-2804370/The-new-retirement-and-effects-of-market-risk/1
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/americans-in-the-dark-about-the-real-cost-of-retirement-131508253.html
http://seekingalpha.com/article/298138-rewriting-the-4-rule
Lastly, I have not noted your name here before. Being nosey and curious as to whether you have been a reader here or at FundAlarm, but had not posted before.
Take care,
Catch

Contemplating retirement within 6-12 months. What is the preferred method of withdrawing money from IRAs?
Lump sum or 12 equal amounts each month.

Good news / bad news.
Bad news: OAKBX has been a real solid performer these past several years (and is an anchor in my Roth portfolio). Studzinski was a part of that.
Good news: Oakmark has a pretty deep bench; I'm sure they'll have someone capable to fill his shoes. Perhaps it'll be someone who has a bit more capacity with international bonds.
Enjoy your retirement, Ed. Thanks for your work on behalf of OAKBX shareholders.

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/826732/000119312511347036/d269846d497.htm
Calamos Growth and Income Fund and Calamos Global Growth and Income Fund
Effective on the close of business January 20, 2012 (the “Closing Date”), Calamos Growth and Income Fund and Calamos Global Growth and Income Fund (each a “Fund”) is closed to new investors. Current investors in each Fund as of the Closing Date may continue to invest in their respective Fund, as well as reinvest any dividends or capital gains distributions. However, once an account is closed, additional investments in a Fund will not be accepted.
Each Fund has limited sales of its shares because Calamos Advisors, the Fund’s adviser, believes continued sales, without restriction, may adversely affect the Fund’s ability to achieve its investment objective. Sales of Fund shares to new investors will generally be discontinued as of close of business on the Closing Date, and financial intermediaries may not open new accounts with each Fund or add new investors to existing omnibus accounts after that time. You may be required to demonstrate eligibility to purchase shares of a Fund before your investment is accepted. If you are a current Fund shareholder and close an existing Fund account, you will not be able to make subsequent investments in the Fund. Each Fund may resume unrestricted sales of its shares at some future date, but neither Fund presently has an intention to do so.
Additional purchases of shares of each Fund will be permitted in the following instances:
(i) Acceptance of reinvestment of dividends and capital gain distributions on Fund shares.
(ii) Existing shareholders that have a position in the Fund may continue to add additional shares to their existing accounts.
(iii) Existing shareholders that have a position in each Fund may exchange shares of other funds in the Calamos Family of Funds for shares of each Fund.
(iv) Discretionary investment advisers may continue to invest in each Fund through an existing account at a financial institution and/or intermediary on behalf of clients who are current Fund shareholders.
(v) With Fund approval, all or a portion of the shares held in a closed Fund account may be reallocated to a different form of ownership.
(vi) In the case of certain mergers or reorganizations, retirement plans may be able to add the closed Funds as an investment option and sponsors of certain wrap programs with existing accounts in a Fund would be able to continue to invest in the Fund on behalf of new customers.
(vii) New and additional investments made through platform-level asset allocation models within mutual fund wrap and fee-based programs.
(viii) Direct clients of Calamos Advisors, or any affiliate, may open new accounts in each Fund.
(ix) Existing and new participants in employer-sponsored retirement plans, including employees of Calamos Advisors LLC, each Fund’s investment adviser, and any of its affiliates, and qualified defined contribution retirement plans, such as a 401(k) plan, profit sharing plan, 403(b) plan or 457 plan, that offer the closed Funds as an investment option as of the Closing Date may direct contributions to the Fund through their plan, regardless of whether the participant invested in the Fund prior to its closing.
(x) Upon prior approval, employees of Calamos Advisors and its affiliates may open new accounts in the closed Funds; Trustees of the Calamos Funds and directors of Calamos Asset Management, Inc. may also open new accounts in the closed Funds.
MFSPT3 12/11
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Each Fund reserves the right to modify the extent to which sales of shares are limited and may, in its sole discretion, permit purchases of shares where, in the judgment of management, such purchases do not have a detrimental effect on the portfolio management of the Fund or its Shareholders. Notwithstanding the forgoing, each Fund continues to reserve the right to reject any order for the purchase of shares in whole or in part for any reason, and to suspend the sale of shares to the public in response to conditions in the securities markets or otherwise.
Please retain this supplement for future reference.
2

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1127352/000089843211001433/a497.htm
Pearl® Mutual Funds
Supplement to the Prospectus dated May 1, 2011
Pearl Total Return Fund
Pearl Aggressive Growth Fund
(together the “Funds”)
On December 3, 2011, the Board of Trustees of Pearl Mutual Funds (the “Board of Trustees”) determined that it is in the best interest of the Funds and their shareholders to close and liquidate the Funds, and authorized the Trust to enter into a plan of liquidation and termination with Pearl Management Company, the Trust’s investment manager, which was executed on December 19, 2011 (the “Plan”). It is anticipated that all outstanding shares of each Fund will be redeemed and the Funds will discontinue operations on or about September 28, 2012 pursuant to the Plan.
Effective immediately, the Funds have ceased the public offering of their shares to new investors. Shares of the Funds are no longer available for purchase by new investors.
However, existing shareholders of each Fund can continue to invest in that Fund until 3 p.m. Central Time on April 30, 2012. After this date each Fund will terminate the public offering of its securities, and no additional shares will be available for purchase.
Scheduled purchases through the Funds’ automatic investment plan scheduled to occur after April 30, 2012 will be canceled. Purchase applications received from existing shareholders by any means will not be accepted unless payment for the shares has been received before 3 p.m. Central Time on April 30, 2012. The exchange privilege will also be suspended effective on April 30, 2012. Any requests for exchanges after this date will be treated as a request for redemption of the number of shares or dollar amount that a shareholder seeks to exchange.
Shareholders may continue to redeem their shares on each day the Funds are open for business during the liquidation process. As part of this process, all of each Fund’s portfolio securities will be liquidated in an orderly manner commencing as early as August 31, 2012. As a result, each Fund’s normal exposure to equity investments will be reduced after this date, and eventually eliminated, and shareholders should not expect the Funds to achieve their stated investment objectives.
As noted above, the Funds expect that the mandatory redemption of all of their remaining outstanding shares will occur on or about September 28, 2012.
Any shareholder remaining in a Fund on this date will receive a liquidation distribution equal to the shareholder's proportionate interest in the remaining net assets of the Fund and such distribution will be mailed to the shareholder's address of record. Automatic withdrawals scheduled to occur after this date will not be processed, and instead the investors will receive the appropriate liquidation distribution.
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During the entire liquidation phase, representatives of the Funds’ investment manager, Pearl Management Company ("PMC"), will be available to answer any questions regarding the closing of the Funds. You may contact representatives of PMC toll-free at 1-866-747-9030.
The Board of Trustees may determine to accelerate the liquidation date. If this were to occur, revised information would be transmitted to remaining shareholders pursuant to a further prospectus supplement.
The Funds and PMC do not give tax advice. They believe the following information is correct, but shareholders should consult with their own tax advisors. This transaction will be considered for tax purposes a sale of Fund shares by shareholders, and shareholders should consult with their own tax advisors to ensure its proper treatment on their income tax returns. In addition, shareholders invested through an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) or other tax-deferred account should consult the rules regarding the reinvestment of these assets. In order to avoid a potential tax issue, shareholders may choose to authorize, prior to September 28, 2012, a direct transfer of their retirement account assets to another tax-deferred retirement account. If any Fund shares are held in such an account on September 28, 2012, the shareholder will receive a liquidation distribution equal to the shareholder's proportionate interest in the remaining net assets of the Fund and such distribution will be mailed to the shareholder's address of record or to another address as directed by the shareholder. Typically, shareholders have 60 days from the date of the liquidation to invest the distribution in another IRA or qualified retirement account; otherwise the liquidation distribution may be required to be included in the shareholder's taxable income for the current tax year, possibly with an additional penalty for premature withdrawal from the qualified retirement account.
INVESTORS SHOULD RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE
PEARL® MUTUAL FUNDS
2610 Park Avenue
Muscatine, Iowa 52761
866-747-9030 (toll-free)

Both Vanguard and TSP provide expense ratios using 2010 figures (so they're both out of date, but comparable). TSP's 2010 expenses were 0.025%. Regardless of portfolio. Vanguard's target date funds were 0.16% to 0.19%. While very low, Vanguard is still inflating the cost by using Investor class shares for the underlying funds, rather than Admiral or Institutional class shares. M* and others have criticized them for this.
See Vanguard Target Retirment Funds", and click on the "years to retirement" band that you're interested in.