Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

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.
  • Fixed income investing
    Asking this question under two hats, one personal and the other for a non-profit organization. We both have had investments in Certificates of Deposit that have/will mature in the coming months. The question is what do we do with the available cash going forward as the interest returns on the CDs are next to nothing. Fiduciary concerns with the non-profit make investments in equity/bond funds a touchy issue, though on a personal level that is not a particular concern. My wife and I are well into our retirement years with an adequate pension and social security and willing to undertake some risk on future investments, though the current investment climate suggests staying in cash until we see what happens in the next three months or so. Your collective comments and suggestions are most welcome (from a long time reader of the MFO discussions). Thanks.
    I would suggest some should be in short term bonds like BSV or SWSBX.
  • Rethinking Retirement
    Great advices posted here for those who are approaching retirement and in retirement. Maintaining good health is the key so one can enjoy doing all the activities they want during retirement. Another approach is to enjoy life (hiking, traveling or being active) while you are your young because some of these activities may not be physically possible at older ages. Through my college days, I learned car camping and hike as much as possible due to my limited budget. Out west there are ample outdoor opportunities in the local parks and on the coastline. I enjoyed week long backpacking trips on the Pacific Crest trail but today I do more long day hikes while camping with the family. Wildfire and COVID situation now limited our outdoor activities to long hikes on beaches. Traveling abroad provides wonderful experience and appreciation of other culture, and we have our fair share of doing that. When we get through this COVID-19 with effective vaccines, we would like to visit Australia and New Zealand.
    Speaking of saving for retirement, one needs to learn to be good investors (from savers) early in the career so the asset will compound until for the next several decades. Each bear market is a learning lesson. Hopefully one gained experience and become better investors. In private industry, lay-offs are inevitable as ones will change jobs several times throughout their careers. None of which is easy and I certainly have experienced that.
  • Rethinking Retirement
    My advice to youngsters is to save as much as they can because they will be facing the perils of lay-offs after 50. If not before. We never went into long-term debt for anything but a house.
    We certainly intend to spend down our retirement savings. That's what they're for. We do hope to pass on the principal of some small family inheritances even if we need to take income from them.
    Not sure when we'll get to travel under the current circumstances. We logged thousands of miles all over the West before we started having kids. Most of the time we were sleeping under the stars.
    I have never been out of North America. But my wife traveled extensively in her career. I'ld like to rent a country place for a while, and visit the farmer's markets, and local establishments. Wife likes my cooking, so she agrees.
    Never felt the need to read a book about what to do with my retirement time.
  • Rethinking Retirement
    Great comments.
    Retirement continues to be good after 15 years. Actively putting attention into maintaining good health makes sense to me as does accepting the aging process as it inevitably occurs. Being close to relatives makes sense in our situation (in some situations it doesn't!). Financially, maintaining a balance between current enjoyment and set asides for the future continues to make sense to me. My simple minded approach for about a decade has been to release income (including some long term gains) from investment accounts to our household account each year. Remaining portfolio balances continue to be set aside for growth, for potential use in extreme emergencies, and for assisting relatives if needed. Any remaining balances will eventually be distributed to heirs and to non-profits.
    As my 70th birthday approached last year, I decided to somewhat increase the income being generated by the portfolio for release by beginning to move 25% of the OEF/ETF portfolio balance to a newly created high yield portfolio (an @Junkster thought process led to this decision). That process was recently completed. The new portfolio has been populated with higher yielding stocks (3%+ yields at time of purchase), cefs, bdcs, reits, and commercial mreits. Time will tell if this exercise has been helpful or not!
    Income released to the household is used for a variety of general purposes. What remains is mostly used for travel. Unfortunately, an early March return from Hawaii heralded the end to this year's travel. Summer travel plans got cancelled or mothballed. Also, the month in Hawaii scheduled for this coming winter will probably get cancelled soon.
    Trips since the pandemic hit have centered around getaways most weeks to our nearby beach cabin (having that has proved to be a real blessing this year). My hope is that a relatively effective vaccine will be fairly widely distributed by next summer. Once that happens, I am hopeful travel risk will be reduced enough that somewhat more normal travel can resume. I am not getting any younger!
    After thought: Alway remember life is short! Don't take any day for granted! My wife recently mentioned she could count 19 friends, co-volunteers of hers at the American Legion, and relatives who have passed away during the past year. (We just visited a friend at the coast yesterday who lost his wife to liver cancer during the past month. She was about our age and appeared to be in good health when we last visited them during the winter. The problem was only recently discovered.)
  • Fixed income investing
    Asking this question under two hats, one personal and the other for a non-profit organization. We both have had investments in Certificates of Deposit that have/will mature in the coming months. The question is what do we do with the available cash going forward as the interest returns on the CDs are next to nothing. Fiduciary concerns with the non-profit make investments in equity/bond funds a touchy issue, though on a personal level that is not a particular concern. My wife and I are well into our retirement years with an adequate pension and social security and willing to undertake some risk on future investments, though the current investment climate suggests staying in cash until we see what happens in the next three months or so. Your collective comments and suggestions are most welcome (from a long time reader of the MFO discussions). Thanks.
  • Markets Without Havens - VMVFX
    Bloomberg Article:
    markets-without-havens-are-becoming-all-too-real
    The Bloomberg article got me thinking about doing a portfolio review.
    Much of the article was focused on volatility and earlier this year I watched VMVFX deal with the pandemic's impact on this fund's focus, minimizing volatility.
    I initially liked the concept of a fund (VMVFX)...a global equity fund... that attempted to minimize volatility. The Pandemic tested its strategy and proved its volatility wasn't at all minimal on the downward side of things. I sold out of that position and decided to except "normal" market volatility by purchasing PRGSX instead. The two have diverged since March with PRGSX offering the rewards of upward volatility.
    I also noticed that my Moderate Asset allocation fund (PRWCX) YTD lost less and regain more than VMVFX proving that allocation funds are still a great way to manage market risk and reward.
    VWINX performed as expected losing less and continues to be my portfolio benchmark (a fund that I compare all my other funds performance against). When other funds in my portfolio out perform VWINX I consider capturing that out performance by selling that fund's alpha back into VWINX. This helps me grow my portfolio's conservative base in good times and is a place where I will pull assets from during retirement minimizing the volatility of my withdrawals. I struggle going one step further by holding sizeable amounts of my portfolio in pure bond funds. I own VFSTX, PRWBX, PTIAX, THOPX, and (a Schwab bond eft) SCHZ.
    Q: Is there anything magical out there in mutual/eft fund-land similar to PONDX of yesterday?
    I believe even with bonds at historically low returns they still maybe the best way to minimize volatility, especially when thoughtfully combined with well managed allocation funds.
    Other fund holdings that have not performed to my expectation:
    FRIFX - Very correlated on the downside (to VGSIX) with little upside capture.
    THOPX - A Short Term Corporate fund that has performed absolutely awful in the short (YTD) term. Showing no signs of its former performance.
  • Rethinking Retirement
    Retirement pleasures put to the side, I would love now to be working, remotely, at any of the editing / writing jobs of my last decades, but would hate to be suddenly downsized and looking; been that and done there, for long anxious years, and now would be ever so much worse.
  • Rethinking Retirement
    COVID-19 has thrown a kink into many retirees’ plans. It’s difficult and risky now to do many things that people have saved all of their lives fo — like traveling, visiting family and friends, taking classes, etc. It has helped us by reducing our spending, allowing us to retain our retirement savings and delaying the need to draw on Social Security. I’m still glad that I retired, though, and would hate to be working right now.
  • Rethinking Retirement
    Regarding rethinking retirement. I am reading a book by Bill Perkins titled Die With Zero. I thought it was going to merit a one star review but now not so sure. It has really made me think. The gist of the book is to use your money for life experiences before you get too old to enjoy such experiences. Most of us instead are into the senselessness of indefinitely delaying gratification. And then we suddenly wake up and have one health problem after another and there is no gratification to enjoy.
    In my case at 73 I am still hiking away with no health issues. But looking back to my sixties there are a lot of things I wish I had done then I don’t particularly feel like doing anymore. Such as cross country traveling to places like Colorado and my old stomping grounds in the Sierras for off the beaten path hiking adventures. My long time girlfriend who is 71 can no longer hike with me because of osteoporosis and that has really put a damper on things. So my advice to you youngsters in your 50s and 60s do whatever now, don’t wait. There are some things in life you don’t need a huge nest egg for. I have a friend who is 56 and a triathlete. He pretty much lives hand to mouth but every year finds a way to travel out west for a couple weeks of extensive hiking as well as participating in a couple triathlons in some exotic locations. Sometimes I envy him and his carefree attitude.
    I also have been so focused on accumulating and not spending I find myself with a nest egg of 70x living expenses. I can think of a couple environmental organizations in my will who will enjoy my eventual passing. Again, to you youngsters, enjoy the fruits of your labor when you are at peak health and don’t get so obsessed with accumulation.
  • Rethinking Retirement
    NYT article -
    What has emerged from your research that retirees should think about?
    The importance of interdependence alongside independence — we all would do better in our later years if we’re connected and not isolated. And how do I maximize my health span, not just my life span?
    And there’s the serious issue of funding our longer lives. A third of the boomers have close to nothing saved for retirement and no pensions; that is a massive poverty phenomenon about to happen, unless millions of people work a bit longer, spend less, downsize or even share their homes with housemates or family.
    What is the biggest mistake retirees make?
    Far too many think far too small. I have asked thousands of people from all walks of life over the years who are nearing retirement what they hope to do in retirement. They tell me: ‘I want to get some rest, exercise some more, visit with my family, go on a great vacation, read some great books’ Then most stall. Few have taken the time or effort to study the countless possibilities that await them or imagine or explore all of the incredible ways they can spend the next period of their lives.
    rethinking-retirement
  • Convergence Market Neutral Fund to liquidate
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1141819/000089418920008331/convergenceliquidation.htm
    (CPMNX)
    497 1 convergenceliquidation.htm CONVERGENCE 497E
    Filed pursuant to Rule 497(e)
    Registration Nos. 333-62298; 811-10401
    Convergence Market Neutral Fund
    A series of Trust for Professional Managers (the “Trust”)
    Supplement dated October 14, 2020
    to the Prospectus, Summary Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”)
    dated March 29, 2020
    The Board of Trustees (the “Board”) of Trust for Professional Managers (the “Trust”), based upon the recommendation of Convergence Investment Partners, LLC (the “Adviser”), the investment adviser to the Convergence Market Neutral Fund (the “Fund”), a series of the Trust, has determined to close and liquidate the Fund. The Board concluded that it would be in the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders that the Fund be closed to new purchases, except for purchases made through an automatic investment program, as of the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on October 16, 2020 (the “Closing Date”) and liquidated as a series of the Trust effective as of the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on November 13, 2020 (the “Liquidation Date”).
    The Board approved a Plan of Liquidation (the “Plan”) that determines the manner in which the Fund will be liquidated. Pursuant to the Plan and in anticipation of the Fund’s liquidation, the Fund will be closed to new purchases, subject to any exceptions approved by the Trust officers in their sole discretion, effective as of the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on the Closing Date, after which the Fund’s assets may be entirely invested in money market instruments or held in cash. Accordingly, the Fund will no longer be investing according to its investment objective. However, any distributions declared to shareholders of the Fund after the Closing Date and until the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on the Liquidation Date will be automatically reinvested in additional shares of the Fund unless a shareholder specifically requests that such distributions be paid in cash. Although the Fund will be closed to new purchases as of the Closing Date, you may continue to redeem your shares of the Fund until the Liquidation Date, as described in “How to Redeem Shares” in the Fund’s Prospectus.
    Pursuant to the Plan, if the Fund has not received your redemption request or other instruction prior to the close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange on the Liquidation Date, your shares will be redeemed and you will receive proceeds representing your proportionate interest in the net assets of the Fund as of the Liquidation Date, subject to any required withholdings. As is the case with any redemption of Fund shares, these liquidation proceeds will generally be subject to federal and, as applicable, state and local income taxes if the redeemed shares are held in a taxable account and the liquidation proceeds exceed your adjusted basis in the shares redeemed.
    If the redeemed shares are held in a qualified retirement account, the liquidation proceeds may not be subject to current income taxation. You should consult with your tax adviser on the consequences of this redemption to you. If, for example, you hold your shares in an individual retirement account (and “IRA”), you have 60 days from the date you receive your proceeds to reinvest or “rollover” your proceeds into another IRA and maintain their tax-deferred status. You must notify the Fund at 1-877-677-9414 prior to November 13, 2020 of your intent to rollover your IRA account to avoid withholding deductions from your proceeds.
    The Adviser will bear all of the expenses incurred in carrying out the Plan.
    Shareholder inquiries should be directed to the Fund at 877-677-9414.
    Please retain this Supplement with your Summary Prospectus, Prospectus and SAI for reference.
  • Redwood AlphaFactor® Tactical Core Fund and the Redwood Activist Leaders® Fund to be liquidated
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1552947/000158064220003735/redwood497.htm
    497 1 redwood497.htm 497
    REDWOOD ALPHAFACTOR® TACTICAL CORE FUND
    Class N RWTNX
    Class I RWTIX
    REDWOOD ACTIVIST LEADERS® FUND
    Class N RWLNX
    Class I RWLIX
    Each Series of Two Roads Shared Trust
    Supplement dated October 13, 2020 to the Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information (“SAI”)
    for the Redwood AlphaFactor® Tactical Core Fund and the Redwood Activist Leaders® Fund
    each dated February 28, 2020
    The Board of Trustees of Two Roads Shared Trust (the “Trust”) has concluded, based upon the recommendation of Redwood Investment Management, LLC, that it is in the best interests of the Redwood AlphaFactor® Tactical Core Fund and the Redwood Activist Leaders® Fund (each a “Fund” and together, the “Funds”) and their respective shareholders that each Fund be liquidated. Pursuant to a Plan of Liquidation (the “Plan”) approved by the Board of Trustees, each Fund will be liquidated and dissolved on or about October 30, 2020.
    Each Fund will be closed to all new investments on October 14, 2020. On or about the close of business on October 30, 2020, each Fund will distribute pro rata all of its assets in cash to its shareholders and all outstanding shares will be redeemed and cancelled. Each Fund will not accept any new investments and will no longer pursue its stated investment objective. The Plan for each Fund provides that the Fund will begin liquidating its portfolio as soon as is reasonable and practicable and will invest in cash or cash equivalents (such as money market funds). During this time, each Fund may hold more cash or cash equivalents than normal, which may prevent a Fund from meeting its stated investment objective. Shares of the Funds are not available for purchase.
    Prior to October 30, 2020, you may redeem your shares, including reinvested distributions, in accordance with the “How to Redeem Shares” section of the Funds’ Prospectus. Unless your investment in a Fund is through a tax-deferred retirement account, you will recognize gain or loss for federal income tax purposes (and for most state and local income tax purposes) on a redemption of your shares, whether as a result of a redemption that you initiate or upon the final liquidating distribution by a Fund, based on the difference between the amount you receive and your tax basis in your shares. Please refer to the “Tax Status, Dividends and Distributions” section in the Prospectus for general information. You may wish to consult your tax advisor about your particular situation. Plan sponsors or plan administrative agents should notify participants that a Fund is liquidating and should provide information about alternative investment options.
    ANY SHAREHOLDERS WHO HAVE NOT REDEEMED OR EXCHANGED THEIR SHARES OF THE FUNDS PRIOR TO OCTOBER 30, 2020 WILL HAVE THEIR SHARES AUTOMATICALLY REDEEMED AS OF THAT DATE, AND PROCEEDS WILL BE SENT TO THE ADDRESS OR ACCOUNT OF RECORD.
    PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.
    ________________________________________
    This Supplement, and the Prospectus and SAI, each dated February 28, 2020, provide relevant information for all shareholders and should be retained for future reference. The Prospectus and the SAI have been filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and are incorporated by reference. The Prospectus and SAI can be obtained without charge by calling 1-855-RED-FUND (733-3863).
  • Your Home is Not an Investment
    Most excellent! The key is to keep the expense down during retirement. The wild card is medical expense. My wife and I will cross that point in the near future.
  • Your Home is Not an Investment
    I was a professional student for most of the time, even into my 40s. That made the choice easy: no income. No house. The way I'm hard-wired, SIMPLICITY is a key priority. I lived in the family home for a few years after retirement. Mortgage was long ago paid. The crime (01108, I don't recommend it) drove me away sooner than we'd planned to leave. Lucky to have in-law cousins here. Mom (back East) is in a fancy stand-alone condo by a golf course. My step-father played. He's gone now, though. ...Great place, new. Open floor plan. But the condom (sic) assoc. monthly fees are absurd. ..... Anyone who BUYS in Hawaii these days is either stupid or foolish. EVERY politician running for election states that homelessness is a huge problem that must be addressed. AFFORDABLE housing is gone, just gone. That's true for renters, too. To buy a house here now would be to strap an albatross around your neck. Unless you're just filthy rich and don't care, and you can afford a waterfront home. On Oahu, lots are tiny. It's heaven, but it's crowded.
  • Ready For a Melt UP? Bears, It's Checkmate!
    BS or not, I have been using T/A successfully for about 20 years. T/A is only one part of my system. I never held a losing fund too long and since retirement in 2018 I didn't lose more than 1% from any last top. T/A just help me to be a better consistent discipline trader.
  • David Giroux, Finding Overlooked Opportunities in the COVID-19 Market
    @Hank I share your frustration. I am early in the "distribution phase" and take seriously the models that show major losses early in retirement are very hard to make up. I dont see much out there that has a margin of safety needed to avoid a 30% haircut. FUTY crashed with everything else in February.
    The fact that the stock market has made a V shaped recovery does not mean the next leg down will snap back as quickly. Conservative dividend stocks didn't drop as much so I am putting most of my equity exposure ( still a low %) there and trying to find alternatives from the MFO commentary and staying in short term bonds.
    I also think Energy will eventually have to rebound. Everyone hates this sector, but buying well capitalized companies or conservative funds will likely be smart in two or three years
  • Maryland ORP Changes

    Our state retirement board makes the plans.
    We have both Fido and TRP as plan providers (VALIC was dropped a few years back) ... I found it noteworthy that a) 3 of TIAA's most prominent VA offerings were nixed from *their* plan offerings, and b) replaced with funds that were higher-cost.
    I always find it fascinating the seemingly random nature of independent fund picks in plans ... you'd think plans would stick with big names like TRP, Vanguard, AF, Blackstone, etc. Victory RS? I never heard of them.
  • Maryland ORP Changes
    Today I received a note that Maryland's ORP (403b) program is changing some of its TIAA-CREF lineup. Of particular note is that although TIAA CREF is one of the 2 plan providers, they're dumping CREF Stock, Growth, and Global Equity VAs for actively managed funds. To my amazement, the 3 replacement funds all have noticeably higher ERs:
    Old ...
    CREF Stock Account Ticker Symbol: QCSTIX Net Expense Ratio: 0.30%
    CREF Growth Account Ticker Symbol: QCGRIX Net Expense Ratio: 0.23%
    CREF Global Equities Account Ticker Symbol: QCGRIX Net Expense Ratio: 0.27%
    New ...
    Hartford Core Equity Fund Ticker Symbol: HAITX Net Expense Ratio: 0.39%
    T. Rowe Price Instl Large Cap Growth Fund Ticker Symbol: TRLGX Net Expense Ratio: 0.56%
    Victory RS Global Fund Ticker Symbol: RGGRX Net Expense Ratio: 0.55%
    They did swap VINIX (.04) with lower-priced VIIIX (.02) for a passive index, which was nice to see.
    Granted, I am all-in with the LCV AF RWMGX (.29) in my 403B and would be glad to start regularly putting some money into TRLGX now that I have access to a solid TRP fund there. That said, while none of these fund fees are especially egregious in my view, I still find a retirement plans' move toward funds with *higher* ERs to be rather odd, especially in 2020 ... and articularly for a state university system that normally qualifies for the lowest-cost class in funds.
    (Yes I'm making enquiries.)
    .... which reminds me again why I don't like or trust state investment boards or advisors.
  • One Fund for A Small IRA
    Likewise, I neglected to mention that even IRAs inherited from the same person can't be combined if they are of different types. However, there may still be a way to combine accounts (again, assuming inherited from the same person), because some of them are 403(b)s.
    Here's a 2016 article from Kitces that covers rolling over inherited 403(b)s. Take it with a grain of salt, as the more recent SECURE Act has changed some things (e.g. eliminating stretch IRAs if the original owner died after 2019, but extending the non-stretch period allowed from five years to ten years).
    https://www.kitces.com/blog/non-spouse-beneficiary-stretch-of-inherited-ira-and-401k-or-403b-employer-retirement-plans/
    One of the things Kitces points out is that one has (or had?) the option of doing a rollover Roth conversion of the 403(b). That is, rolling the inherited T-403(b) directly into an inherited Roth IRA. Of course taxes would be due upon conversion. This could provide Mrs. Ruffles a way to increase the assets in that small inherited Roth IRA, assuming both the 403b and Roth IRA were inherited from the same person.
    Of course this would not eliminate RMDs.
    Even if the 403(b)s could not be combined with existing inherited IRAs (Roth or Traditional), rolling them over could still simplify administration. OTOH, Mrs. Ruffles may have investment options in the 403(b)s that are unique to them (e.g. stable value or TREA, or R6 share class of funds, or ...).
  • One Fund for A Small IRA
    I know I can’t avoid a drawdown but I want to try and keep it manageable to one that will recover in a reasonable amount of time. While this account is a tiny portion of her portfolio, she doesn’t like seeing the balance drop precipitously. She’s happier hitting a solid double than taking a chance on striking out going for a grand slam.
    As she’s still working, she doesn’t need (or even want) the RMD (and its taxes) from this or her other much larger inherited accounts but just wants to make sure the entire nest egg stays relatively healthy until she reaches retirement.
    This helps quite a bit in understanding the situation. I gather that Mrs. Ruffles did not inherit these IRAs from Mr. Ruffles (you), so she can't roll them into her own IRAs.
    If she inherited multiple IRAs from the same person, she could combine them into a larger inherited IRA. That wouldn't solve the problem of having to take RMDs, but it could simplify and/or give her more flexibility.
    As @Graust points out, thinking in terms of investment stability, she can virtually ignore the fact that there are RMDs. RMDs are more of a tax event than a forced change of investments.
    Regarding specific investment suggestions to achieve "doubles", you've already gotten some good suggestions and I'm sure you'll get some more.