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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.
  • Benchmarking my portfolio
    It's impossible to keep track of all these series without a scorecard, and even then, I'm not sure.
    Until 2013, T. Rowe Price offered an aggressive, but stable (unchanged glidepath) product, unlike its leading competitors, Vanguard and Fidelity.
    2011 Ibbotoson Paper, Bait and Switch: Glide Path Instability
    “In 2008 and 2009, there was increased interest in adjusting our glide path more conservatively,” said Jerome Clark, portfolio manager of T. Rowe Price’s retirement funds. “We avoid making glide path changes based upon short-term market environments, which is consistent with the message we communicate to our investors to stay the course when markets swing to extremes.”
    https://www.investmentnews.com/target-date-glide-paths-are-unstable-at-some-major-plan-providers-37617
    By 2013, T. Rowe Price and Vanguard had well outperformed Fidelity over the preceding five years because of their more aggressive glide paths. Consequently, Fidelity again changed its glidepath, bringing it in line with its competitors. It seems like a stretch to say that T. Rowe Price at the same time introduced a less aggressive line of funds because of loud complaints received years ago as it began multi-year run of superior results.
    Still, it is notable that as of Aug. 22, [2013] T. Rowe Price launched new funds that recognize that some investors are more risk averse as a complement its core T. Rowe Price Retirement Funds, which had $88.1 billion in assets as of March 31.
    https://riabiz.com/a/2013/9/27/after-a-lot-of-flak-fidelity-investments-does-a-study-and-pledges-to-change-how-it-manages-its-170-billion-of-target-date-funds
    Meanwhile, Fidelity was not only tinkering with its initial Freedom series, but creating a slew of variants: Freedom Index (same idea, but w/index funds), Managed Payout Funds and Simplicity RMD Funds (originally Income Replacement Funds launched in 2008, with dates every two years). That change came about around 2017.
    You can find those four series on Fidelity's Asset Allocation funds page (click on Asset Allocation tab).
    https://www.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/fidelity-funds/overview
    What Fidelity isn't showing you there is that it has a fifth(!) series of funds. Fidelity Freedom Blend funds, which is a "blend" of active and passive management. See, e.g. FHARX. These date from 2018.
    As Yogi noted, in 2020, T. Rowe Price decided change the glide paths of both of its series to make them more aggressive. Rather than make a quick change, it changed the allocations over a period of two years, which should be complete in the middle of this year.
    In 2021, T. Rowe Price launched a series of blend funds (that appear to make more extensive use of index funds to reduce cost). These follow the same new ("enhanced") glide path that the Retirement Series are migrating to. But since the Retirement Blend series is new, it doesn't need to transition to the new glide path, it starts with that immediately. The two series, Retirement and Retirement Blend, should be tracking the same path within a few months.
    • The Retirement Blend Fund series is designed for investors who prefer a single, simplified, professionally managed solution for retirement investing and who want an approach that marries the benefits of active and passive investment styles, including placing a greater emphasis on managing overall cost.
    • The Retirement Blend strategy has been in place at T. Rowe Price since 2018 but it was previously available only in the collective investment trust format. This mutual fund series extends the firm's Retirement Blend approach to a wider range of investors for whom a mutual fund is the preferred or most appropriate vehicle.
    • The Retirement Blend Funds use the enhanced glide path and the same diversification and tactical asset allocation as T. Rowe Price's existing Retirement series of target date portfolios.
    https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/t-rowe-price-adds-retirement-blend-funds-to-target-date-lineup-301343055.html
    I respectfully disagree that T. Rowe Price has made this confusing to the max. IMHO that "honor" goes to Fidelity, with its ever changing glidepaths, its greater multiplicity of series, its "hidden" series of blend funds, and its changing of series names and objectives. And lest I forget, a slew of share classes, including K and K6, and Fidelity Advisor variants with their alphabet soup: A, C, M, I, Z, and Z6.
  • Benchmarking my portfolio
    @Derf, leave to Price to make it confusing to the max.
    So, there were the original TDFs going back to around 2002. These are now called (TRP) Retirement 20xx. These were/are known as the most aggressive among the TDFs.
    To address the criticism (that was LOUD in 2008-09), Price introduced a new but tamer TDF series around 2013 called (TRP) Target 20xx (see the naming trick?)
    In 2020, Price decided to change glide-paths of its TDFs so that they keep higher equity for longer. This opened Price to criticism again that retirees may be hurt in big downdrafts.
    So, Price decided in 2021 to make even softer cousins, "blends" it calls, of its original TDF series, and these were named (TRP) Retirement Blend 20xx (I think Price needs better fund-naming execs).
    So, now Price has 3 variations for each retirement date. For 2010, they are (TRP) Retirement 2010 TRRAX (2002- ), (TRP) Target 2010 TRROX (2013- ), (TRP) Target Blend 2010 TBLQX (2021- ); these 3 are Investor classes, and there are 3 corresponding Institutional classes, so 6 2010 TDFs, or 6x the dates in the TDF series. Do you want add CITs to the count?
    Clear? May be call Price on Tuesday and see if its customer service even has a clue.
    Well, the others have a better system where each TDF is labeled as (BlaBla) Target/Retirement 20xx Aggressive, (BlaBla) Target/Retirement 20xx Moderate, (BlaBla) Target/Retirement 20xx Conservative; most just have one type per TDF date.
  • Benchmarking my portfolio
    Two drinks in & I have to question how TBLQX can be called a 2010 retirement fund when inception date is 2021 ? Thinking they looked at other funds (retirement) & determined what they held & made their fund up from a look see ?
    Can someone fill in the blanks ____
    I don't use a bench mark & find my account continues to grow. I'm not trying to keep up with the Jones or Smiths , just sleep good !
    Thanks Derf
  • Benchmarking my portfolio
    I like the idea of using a couple of target date funds as benchmarks.
    I use VTHRX and TRRWX for reference since these funds' asset allocations
    and assumed retirement dates roughly correspond with my personal situation.
    Alternatively, I could use a combination of VTSAX, VTIAX, and VBTLX with the same allocation as my portfolio.
    My portfolio consists of U.S. equities, foreign equities, and primarily U.S. high-quality bonds*
    with a smidgen of multi-sector bonds. Finding appropriate benchmarks may be more challenging
    for investors with large positions in alternative assets.
    *large core-plus position temporarily replaced with stable value fund
  • Benchmarking my portfolio
    @MikeM,
    Wealthtrack guest this week discusses TRP Retirement Funds:
    Linked Here
  • Benchmarking my portfolio
    Thought I'd share and ask how others are holding up to their own benchmarks. Sometimes you have to step back from the headlines and financial talking-heads and see how things are going personally.
    In a market that is so volatile and seems heading lower, it's hard for me to get a perspective for my portfolio losses unless I compare to some benchmarks. So I did that this morning. Overall, I have 2 tax deferred accounts that make up my total, total being ~46% equity. A little more than 1/2 my total is in a Schwab robo, Intelligent Portfolio. No fuss, no muss. Nothing I can screw up. It self balances to the goal of 45% equities (at 43% now). The other account is what I self-manage, sitting at about 49% equities, very little in bonds and a lot of the "other" category which I guess is the term for alternative investments, commodities and gold.
    I'm comfortable using the TRP retirement funds for benchmarks. The closest benchmark for me is their 2010 retirement fund, TBLQX, 45% equities. I also like to compare to SPY and VTI (Vanguards total stock market etf) to get some perspective of, if the market falls big-time, what would I expect my savings to drop, percentage wise. Below is my comparisons:
    YTD
    Schwab robo -3.4%
    Self managed -4.4
    Total -3.9
    Bechmarks:
    TBLQX -4.6
    SPY -9.3
    VTI -9.9
    So in perspective, I guess I'm holding up ok versus these benchmarks. If I make no adjustments and the market has a big drop I can guestimate my loss being "only" about 40% of that drop. Good to know.
    FWIW, some other TRP retirement funds YTD:
    TRRIX 38% stock = -4.1%
    TBLPX 41% stock = -4.3
    TBLQX 45% stock = -4.6
    TBLSX 48% stock = -4.7
    TSBAX 52% stock = -5.0
    TBLVX 60% stock = -5.5
  • Dodge and Cox to offer an X class in registration
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/29440/000119312522045497/d233985d485apos.htm#toc233985_14
    Class X Shares may be purchased only by eligible defined contribution employee retirement benefit plans that have contractual relationships with Dodge & Cox.
  • TSUMX
    Any thoughts on this fund? Considering it for part of our retirement funds.
  • BIVIX
    Considered investing a little in this fund, but it would have been retirement funds, and was concerned about the risk level.
  • A question for the senior members of the group. Preparing for cognitive decline and more.
    Wow. Who isn’t thinking about that? Depends so much on somebody’s situation. I tend to worry a lot. So I’ve long contemplated that the worst possible “1-2 punch” in retirement might be: (1) loose half or more of your invested assets in a market crash and than (2) get hit with very high inflation for the next decade. That’s not a prediction. Just a worst case scenario, Like I said, I worry a lot.
    I’ve heard good things about Wellesley on the board over the years. It appears to be moderate risk with a beta according to Lipper of .38. I’d guess my own do-it-yourself portfolio (age 75) right now to have a beta somewhat lower than that - but have never attempted to measure it. At Lipper / Marketwatch, clicking on “Risk & Return” ” tab brings up a fund’s beta - one measure of volatility.
    I think your thinking in terms of late life portfolio positioning is on the right track Larry. As far as the cognitive issues, it’s an area I can’t offer any insights on. I work out daily, eat a healthy diet, etc. etc.
  • Barron’s Fund Quarterly (2021/Q4–January 10, 2022)
    Yogi summaries are valuable. I have a digital subscription to Barron’s but inevitably seem to miss articles of interest. One such example is @LewisBraham post on changes to the 401k. Content on the potential back door Roth elimination is important to me. The addition of annuities to the 401k… I wanted to see if the story would address what happens to your annuity when you pass. It covered the topic. Good content
    “One of the behavioral reasons why people don’t want to select an annuity is they feel that ‘if I give you this money and I pass away in a year’s time, then I’ve lost the money,’ ” says Nick Nefouse, BlackRock’s head of Retirement Solutions. “The way we’ve structured this is your dependents will continue to receive the money to take that [anxiety] off the table.”
    Your 401(k) Has Quietly Undergone Significant Changes. What to Know.
    https://www.barrons.com/articles/401k-changes-three-major-additions-one-loss-51641495748
  • Revisiting Retirement Drawdown Strategy
    So far, in EARLY retirement, with my spouse still working, it's not difficult to come up with our drawdown strategy: don't do it. Problem solved. I have been removing small annual chunks of money from the pot, but not so much that I need to worry about permanently impairing future returns. ... Mr. Market has been artificially "juiced" for a long time. That's been a big help. I've discovered that "buy and hold forever" won't work, if it EVER did..... The Market, via my particular mutual funds, has been making up what I remove, plus even MORE. ...I recall how dark it felt in '08-'09. I stayed invested. (It was ALL in PREMX, back then. I woke up and diversified, thanks to participants on this message board.). In 2022, the customary January chunk-taking ritual has been delayed. Still not too worried. There are no guarantees, and if this turns out to be a negative year, no one should be statistically surprised about that, from time to time, eh?
  • The Case for Vanguard
    I think Vanguard has a ways to go to show improvement in their customer service. Some of their funds are pretty good. I have a large part of our retirement funds in VWIAX (paired with TRAIX), and I’m very happy with it.
  • Revisiting Retirement Drawdown Strategy
    It will be nice to track this strategy as we hit draw downs in the upcoming weeks, months, years...
    Developing a strategy for managing your transition from “Accumulation” to “Drawdown” is critical. It’s a huge shift in your investment strategy, and it’s not something you should approach without a plan. Today, we’ll revisit our original retirement drawdown strategy and analyze how it’s worked since our retirement in 2018.
    revisiting-our-drawdown-strategy
  • Grandeur Peak's 4th quarter 2021 quarterly letter
    From above : @Davep
    "Recently added GPGCX to one of my retirement portfolios. It is showing good strength relative to the other GP funds. Planning to hold long-term".
    I just combed through semi-annual GP funds.
    GPGCX didn't do so well during Covid drop, so it will be worth keeping an I on
  • Grandeur Peak's 4th quarter 2021 quarterly letter
    Recently added GPGCX to one of my retirement portfolios. It is showing good strength relative to the other GP funds. Planning to hold long-term.
  • PRWCX Shakey Start to Year
    DODBX is value-oriented while PRWCX is blend/growth oriented. Tech has taken a big hit in the last 3 weeks, so it’s not real surprising. I was somewhat disappointed with today’s relatively large drop. In one of my retirement portfolios, I’ve combined VWIAX with TRAIX to get exposure to both value and growth. A few weeks is not enough time to adequately assess its performance as a whole.
  • The Huge Tax Bills That Came Out of Nowhere at Vanguard
    By Jason Zweig, WSJ (Free Link)
    A change that benefitted big clients left little ones holding the bag
    Read Here
  • 7 bear market funds
    I would rather use ETFs unleveraged such as SH as you can set stop losses so don't loose your shirt.
    while it doesn't make sense to use them in Retirement account as there are no capital gains, in a taxable account they can protect you from generating sig taxes.
    Of course, Mommie Vanguard will not let you use inverse ETFs