^ http://www.nasd.com/InvestorInformation/InvestorAlerts/MutualFunds/UnderstandingMutualFundClasses/index.htm
http://www.statesman.com/money/content/shared/money/stories/hank/hank0721.html
http://www.360financialliteracy.org/Life+Stages/Career/Articles/Saving+and+Investing/Understanding+mutual+fund+share+classes.htm

[Edited on January 3, 2007 at 4:24 PM. Reason : .]

1/3/2007 4:22:38 PM

Thanks for the info, especially the chart on link #2.

[Edited on January 3, 2007 at 4:34 PM. Reason : ]

1/3/2007 4:34:18 PM

Quote :

"What are the pros and cons of class C funds?"

If you are planning to hold the funds between 1 and 7 or 8 years, you would choose C over A or B.

Why are you buying loaded funds? Are you getting the ideas from your broker? Go no-load if you're the one doing the research.

1/3/2007 4:52:59 PM

to whomever is considering "The Economist" deal...I'd recommend it, I have a subscription and that's got a ton of good info (it's not an american publication so you don't get the typical american spin)

1/3/2007 6:30:35 PM

Quote :

"Are you getting the ideas from your broker?"

Yes.

Quote :

" Go no-load if you're the one doing the research."

What types of funds are usually no load?

1/3/2007 6:37:53 PM

^
http://biz.yahoo.com/funds/ir_mf2.html

http://www.troweprice.com
http://vanguard.com
http://oakmark.com/
http://dodgeandcox.com/

Mutual Fund Screener:
http://screen.morningstar.com/FundSelector.html?tsection=toolsfsel

1/3/2007 6:51:01 PM

is there usually a student price for the economist? i remember prof. mcelroy offering it in class a year ago, but i wasnt sure if that was a limited time special.

1/3/2007 7:50:45 PM

fyi : If you own a POTS phone and want to claim some $$ from IRS

http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=161506,00.html

probably applies to very few people here, since most of us younguns stick to mobile phones.

1/4/2007 9:30:40 AM

Yay! That applies to me!

1/4/2007 9:45:31 AM

i'm back in black with TRID after a 4% gain today.

now, do i want to ride it a little longer, or move on to greener pastures?

just thinking aloud here.

1/4/2007 1:36:18 PM

Bobby I was just about to come in here and post about it. Personally I'm going to ride it out a bit longer because I'm still in the red. I bought it at 23.80, 21.25, and 19.35--in that order. I'll probably wait at least a little bit more to see if it'll head back up. Here's to hoping...

1/4/2007 2:38:19 PM

yeah, i think i'll do the same.

I'm really starting to get nervous with TIE.

down 10% at this point.

1/4/2007 2:42:40 PM

I'm debating moving all my investment money into etfs. Any good arguements against this?

1/4/2007 2:45:31 PM

I'm sticking with CRGN until $25/sh (or $0/sh)

1/4/2007 2:51:31 PM

^^ I've considered it - but I would defintely leave a good bit in high dividend yielding blue chip stocks.

1/4/2007 2:52:53 PM

Looks like CRGN is fairly cyclic--
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=CRGN&t=2y

1/4/2007 3:04:04 PM

i am hoping it stays so I can increase my position before they spin off 454, if that means anything to you

1/4/2007 3:07:42 PM

in 2007 the intraday performance of the market has absolutely nothing to do with how my individual stocks perform

interesting

1/4/2007 3:19:15 PM

Is blue chip the same as large cap?

Any other comments?

1/4/2007 3:22:08 PM

^ ETV and ETW are two of my favorites

VWO has also treated me very well

1/4/2007 3:22:59 PM

TRID up 5.5% now.

TM is another one i've been watching lately.
It's done nothing but go up in the last month or so. I really don't see any downside with them.

1/4/2007 3:34:20 PM

Diversified ETF portfolio:

VTI (total US market index)
EFA (MSCI EAFE Index / non US established markets)
VWO (Emerging market index)
AGG (aggregate bond index)

Aggressive:

20% in bonds (AGG)
80% split in equity
-60% in US (VTI)
-40% in non US
--20% in established (EFA)
--20% in emerging (VWO)

Percentages are not set in stone, choose as you wish:
-Portfolio Allocations:
https://flagship.vanguard.com/VGApp/hnw/planningeducation/general/PEdGPCreateTheRightMixContent.jsp

-Risk vs Reward Statistics:
http://www.indexfunds11.com/step11page5.php

There are several index mutual funds that these ETFs mimic. So, with the choice between ETF/Mutual Fund for indexing, you have plenty of options to suite your preference.

1/4/2007 3:53:19 PM

No, blue chip is not necessarily the same thing as large-cap, but they'll be used interchangeably because there is so much overlap. Blue chips are established, stable companies that generally pay healthy dividends and are more or less insulated against really wide market movements except in extreme situations.

I think the bluest blue chip stock is GE. It isn't the biggest large-cap stock, though.

Also, for the love of God please everyone sign up and play this. You can get some good stock ideas and you can track your picks as well as your buys in a really simple and easy way.

http://caps.fool.com/

1/4/2007 3:53:22 PM

What is the difference between etf & index?

1/4/2007 4:14:26 PM

http://investopedia.com/

1/4/2007 4:20:18 PM

^Good link, but at least post the relevant topics for him or quote them. This is the lounge, we don't just point people to google when they have questions.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/etf.asp

Quote :

"A security that tracks an index, a commodity or a basket of assets like an index fund, but trades like a stock on an exchange, thus experiencing price changes throughout the day as it is bought and sold."

They're usually dead-on, but they're wrong on this. It doesn't have to track an index, and although they all do in the U.S. right now, there are actively managed ones in other countries and will be here soon.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/indexfund.asp

Quote :

"A portfolio of investments that is weighted the same as a stock-exchange index in order to mirror its performance. This process is also referred to as "indexing"."

1/4/2007 4:24:47 PM

^it was not meant as a sarcastic "google it" post

there is a search feature on the page to lookup terms, its not hard to find once pointed to the site itself
if he had come back and asked specifics i would have given him specific links like i had before

i do not think i overestimated david's intelligence, hopefully not yours either?

1/4/2007 5:12:08 PM

Thanks for the info. I could have googled for a definition but I was looking for answers more along the lines of pros and cons of each.

1/4/2007 5:16:57 PM

^

As I have read, here are some notes about index mutual funds vs index ETFs:

-ETFs, like a regular stock, allow for trading at anytime during the day because the price is constantly changing. Mutual funds, on the other hand, have their NAV calculated at the end of the day and intra day trading is not a possibility.

-Both Index ETFs and Index Mutual Funds have lower than normal expense ratios (but you should check regardless).

-ETFs, like regular stocks, require broker fees ($8 scottrade for example) per trade. This can lead to high expenses for dollar cost averaging or monthly contributions into a portfolio. On the other hand, Mutual Funds that are no load and bought directly from the management company occur no trading fees for individual trades and dollar cost averaging / monthly contributions are not an issue.

-Mutual Funds a lot of the times require minimum balances or they charge a fee. Many vanguard index funds require at least $10k or they charge a fee. With ETFs, like regular stocks, you can buy a single share.

-Some Index Mutual Funds have short term fees if you hold the shares for less than a certain time period. Say 2 months...ETFs, like stocks, never do.


ETFs are funds of stocks, they act and trade like stocks
Index ETFs are ETFs that follow indexes.

Mutual funds are funds of stocks, their price per share or net asset value (NAV) is calculated at the end of the trading day. Index Mutual funds are mutual funds that follow indexes.

Index Mutual Funds and Index ETFs try to follow the exact same thing and generally are very close in their returns. Thats when the above comparisons come into play.

Sometimes, ETFs and Index ETFs are used interchangeably since most ETFs track an index (but this is changing).

Just found this...dur probably better than my explanation
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/mutualfund/05/ETFIndexFund.asp

[Edited on January 4, 2007 at 5:30 PM. Reason : .]

1/4/2007 5:26:45 PM

TM is down 4% today.

looks like a buy. I've been following it for a little while, and I really like the stock as well as the company. P/E of 15, so they're not overvalued. I think that within 5 years, they'll be the #1 automaker worldwide.

1/5/2007 10:22:36 AM

5? I hope it's sooner than that. I really hope they put GM out of business.

1/5/2007 11:17:21 AM

yeah, but realistically, that won't happen.

1/5/2007 11:55:55 AM

^^^ yeah, i've been interested in picking up TM, too. not quite interested enough yet, though...gonna see if I can pick it up for cheaper.

___________________

Bought 6 shares of Fed Ex (FDX) earlier today at $107.40 on a limit order.

1/5/2007 2:38:35 PM

TM sounds pretty good as a long term play

1/6/2007 1:07:13 PM

Bought 27 shares of FXI @ 107.37
Bought 67 shares of IFN @ 43.05

1/8/2007 10:57:23 AM

TRID is taking a beating.

1/8/2007 1:31:29 PM

yes it is.

should have sold last week.

1/8/2007 1:34:01 PM

glad that i bought a few lots of GD last week

1/8/2007 2:34:41 PM

FXI, ballsy, nice

Just saw this article:
http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/jan2007/pi20070108_578184.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index_investing

Seems there are 2 thoughts on this trend...either not finished going up or its about to correct...we'll see!

1/8/2007 3:09:04 PM

yeah, i got into FXI ~97. i hope the pull back thats imminent in the coming months isn't too sharp.

i don't see it being worse than the pullback we had from may-june of 2006.

after the pullback though, i think we're in for a longer term bull run in FXI as well as other emerging markets.

1/8/2007 3:18:10 PM

btw, nice play on words "correction"

haha

1/8/2007 3:29:24 PM

TRID is killing me.
edit: Perhaps some good news?
http://tinyurl.com/y29qom

[Edited on January 8, 2007 at 6:22 PM. Reason : ]

1/8/2007 6:19:58 PM

ok, i got out of TRID with about a 10% hit.

from that article:

Quote :

"its founder and CEO has left the company, as have two financial officers"

i've been looking at this story a little bit and I get the feeling that this has less to do with "a resolution in the next six months of its option problem";

and more to do with a group of raiders who want to do an LBO/PE buyout, in order to pay themselves a fat dividend with the cash on TRID's balance sheet.

if Trident is as sound of a conpany as it seems to be, and whatever cash is not paid out to the raiders is succesfully put to use in productive projects, the group will likely exercise whatever registration rights they contract in during the buyout, and do a re-Public Offering of the company a year later.

the group that pulls it off gets the initial dividend cash + a cut of the cash raised during the next public offering -- a pretty good return for them.

TRID and other similar tech companies have been sitting on cash as an operational buffer incase they hit hard times, and the kind of moves a PE/LBO group would put on them would put the company more at risk than the current management is comfortable with -- the risk is real because the consumer is fickle, especially in the light of how fast electronics commoditise. take this for starters:

http://asia.cnet.com/reviews/home_av/ontheradar/0,39050990,61958855,00.htm


i think this founder and his guard want to build long term sustainable value, and protect their operations the best they can. if some new entrant comes in and sweeps the marketplace, the management wants to be able to absorb the shock without wrecking everything. it seems that goal is getting in the way of the Private Equity two step that's so in vogue these days -- hence the smokescreen of the "options" debacle.

there is an uncanny amount of money being poured into building these Viking excursions right now (see http://www.pehub.com for starters), so ousting some visionary who broke his back to build a sustainable company in order to return 20% to private equity investors is really no big deal. the PE group just needs to install some management that is for sale, and at the time of the agreement pay enough of the current shareholders a premium to the current share price -- a share price that they will have their buddies at hedge funds short into the ground for them in return for a piece of the action.

companies whose operations are really solid can survive this sort of raid and i don't know if TRID is one of them or not.

long story short, i may get in later if TRID keeps dropping, and then hope to get out when a buyout announcement is made. ...or i may just buy some ETFs i've had my eyes on.

1/9/2007 10:46:59 AM

just dumped FXI at a 3% loss.

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/finance/editorial/xbizwk/SIG=12ebkp87l/*http://yahoo.businessweek.com/investor/content/jan2007/pi20070108_578184.htm

may re-enter after the looming correction.

still hanging on to IFN.

1/9/2007 11:00:36 AM

yeah, waiting for a pullback in FXI is probably a good thing to do.

matter of fact, all emerging market securities have reached a near term peak. late winter/early spring may be a good time to get back in.

last year i built a large ETF portfolio mid~late May. a slide occured during most of May, and i thought it was near bottom. i was wrong - the slide continued into June and part of July. nonetheless, i was up ~10% from the inception of that portfolio until December. i haven't made any moves since i started it. (i posted it in the 2006 thread)

i don't know how long this impending correction will last, nor when it will begin. as long at you avoid buying at the peak and selling at the valley, on a long enough timeline i think you can make decent money on FXI.

1/9/2007 11:11:24 AM

...

^ page 11 of the '06 thread

1/9/2007 11:26:56 AM

Apple releases the iPhone.
In other unrelated news, I just bought some AAPL.

1/9/2007 1:03:12 PM

/troll

[Edited on January 9, 2007 at 1:39 PM. Reason : faces are better]

1/9/2007 1:36:46 PM

i sold a bunch of calls on apple a few minutes ago when the intraday chart peaked

now i'm just watching the stock price slide back down

hopefully i can buy to close and make at least 10% by the end of the day

1/9/2007 1:55:11 PM

interesting

http://tinyurl.com/y3skfh

1/9/2007 2:00:27 PM