The Asteroid & the Portfolio Manager

Fidelity Investments has finally done it. The large Boston-based fund manager recently cut the management fees on two of their index-oriented stock mutual funds to zero—nada—NOTHING. Their arch rival Vanguard Group pioneered cheap, index-based investing in 1974. Forty-four years later, after decades of competitive innovation, fee-cutting and marketing hocus between[...] Continue reading

No backing down for the Fed

The events of the third quarter of 2017 were full of sound and fury, but really didn’t signify much in the U.S. bond market. Interest rates on the ten-year Treasury bond began the quarter at 2.29 percent. July was flat, but August dawned to a round of North Korean sabre rattling and a series of hurricanes that had interest rates “free fallin” (as the late, great Tom[...] Continue reading

Mastering Limited Partnerships

For the last seven years, interest rate suppression by central banks worldwide has forced investors to reach for higher yielding investments. High cash payouts relative to the puny yields available on money funds and certificates of deposit have made Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs), Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), High Yield bonds and dividend-paying stocks[...] Continue reading