Bogleheads.org

FYI, Jason Zweig discusses these new funds in his Intelligent Investor column in this weekend's Wall Street Journal.

The original link I provided was removed, so I am including it here. Sorry, but I apparently misunderstood the forum's policy about "naked" links. I thought the post was relatively self-explanatory; either way, I just thought DFA's launch of growth funds was interesting in the context of w...

So, does their website need to be updated (now that Fama has apparently identified four, instead of three factors)?

http://www.dfaus.com/philosophy/dimensions.html

[Posting a naked link is a violation of forum policy and it was removed]

New SEC proposals for money market reform:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/ ... 9D20120207

He's been in our camp for several years-- per his book:

http://www.amazon.com/Wall-Street-Self- ... 0977743322

Insightful quote towards the end of the article, pertinent to this forum: "You have to be accurate,” he says. “Otherwise, you are going to pay. Alpha is zero sum. In order to earn more than the market return, you have to take money from somebody else.” " Only confirms my "Boglehead-ne...

CFA since '96, CFP since '03.

FYI, I am an investment advisor, and in addition to being in contact with my firm's Vanguard RIA contact about this issue, I sent a personal note to CEO Bill McNabb, requesting that they similiarly lower the Admiral share class minimums for non-retail (i.e., advisor) clients. Frankly, I don't unders...

With all due respect to Prof. Malkiel, I think the article should have made this disclosure:

http://www.alphashares.com/team.html#BMalkiel

Is DFA behind this in some way (given the CRSP/University of Chicago connection)?

I hope the next step is that Vanguard addresses the disparity they created by lowering the Admiral share class minimum to $10k from $100k, but only for those fundholders who purchase/own their shares directly thru Vanguard. As an advisor, I don't have the option of utilizing Vanguard for brokerage/c...

Here's an article I wrote on socially responsible index/passive asset class funds, for what its worth:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Investing ... 0.html?x=0

Written by two iShares Blackrock fixed income strategists, so take with the appropriate grain of salt (though its quite technical):

http://www.indexuniverse.com/publicatio ... ounts.html

http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=349066 Morningstar notes DFA is "agnostic" on commodities, and simply responding to client demand; however, its somewhat intriguing in light of this recent Prof. Ken French interview: http://www.americaninvestment.com/investor-resource...

Doc -- I stand corrected -- Thank you!

Re: Schwab ETF's - do note they have a 12b-1, currently waived thru November 2011, so current total expense ratios may be subject to change/increase. Following is from their prospectus: "The fund has adopted a Distribution and Shareholder Services (12b-1) Plan pursuant to which the fund is subj...

Scroll to minute 17:00 http://www.forbes.com/2010/04/09/pabrai-buffett-munger-intelligent-investing-video.html A well known active manager extolling the virtues of index funds. While some may argue with his specific fund recommendations, it's the bigger picture argument/endorsement that's most impor...

I still believe its always easier/more obvious in hindsight. Perhaps a couple of years from now, it will have been "obvious" one should have taken a leveraged bet in his/her convictions & shorted the Chinese real estate market and US Treasuries - rather than sticking with a buy-and-hol...

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/04/opini ... ef=opinion Not to take anything away from Dr. Burry, but the ultimate question is whether one has the ability to REPEATEDLY profit from such foresight.

Additional comment: #3 interesting (prompted by hiring Nuveen for their muni bond ETF's, I presume); #4 seems similiar to recent Vanguard and DFA proxy changes 3. To approve a “manager of managers” structure for all SPDR Funds, which would permit the SPDR Funds to hire and replace sub-advisers witho...

Just an FYI

https://materials.proxyvote.com/Approve ... _50999.pdf

Here's Risk Metrics/KLD's take on the survey/article -- Note they mention another survey of sustainability indexes of which I was not previously aware.

http://blog.kld.com/kld/passive-esg-str ... -universe/

Just to add to this discussion/string, here's a survey of current SRI/ESG index and passive asset class funds I wrote:

http://www.indexuniverse.com/sections/f ... l?Itemid=5

Thank you for these notes!!

Martin Wolf, chief economics editor of the FT, also had some interesting comments/perspective on inflation in his piece yesterday:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cf6ae1e4-9ca5 ... abdc0.html (not sure if you can access without a subscription)

I have a lot of respect for them, too, even though I am committed to index/passive funds. And, I have also always wondered if they use appropriate index benchmarks -- Their international fund typically has emerging market stocks -- nothing wrong with this per se, of course, but they compare the fund...

Thanks Fixer -- FYI, per page 25 of DFA's most current Semi Annual report (April 30, 2009), their US Vector Portfolio has securities lending collateral equal to 29.3% of the total net investment assets (with common stocks = 99.5%, repo agreement at Deutsche Bank = 0.2%). Thus, total combined percent...

Fixer -- these are income/assets, not value of lending (collateral)/assets, right?

Thanks -- Actually curious about lending thresholds/policies (both DFA and Vanguard seem to have the same 33 1/3% threshold), as well as historical data on actual lending/total portfolio percentages.

Does anyone know of any reports/research from third parties which reviews the securities lending policies/practices of Vanguard & DFA (or any other major index/passive asset class managers, i.e., Barclays)? Rick or Larry, any insight??

More interesting perspective from today's San Francisco Examiner:
http://www.examiner.com/x-7944-Warren-B ... ee-on-much

INTERVIEW WITH BURTON MALKIEL: The influential author of the 1973 bestseller; A Random Walk Down Wall Street, again makes the case for low-cost index funds. AS A YOUNG INVESTMENT BANKER AT SMITH BARNEY in 1959, Burton Malkiel proposed that the firm ramp up its over-the-counter trading. His idea got ...

Defends EMH (no surprise, of course), particularly in light of Justin Fox's book, and discusses China/AlphaShares.

I am a CFA and CFP. Ditto to Rick Ferri's comments. I consider myself a "recovering securities analyst" -- used to follow bank stocks for an institutional buy-side firm in San Francisco. Then I saw the proverbial light!

Interesting comments about his own personal investments

Hey Rick -- I count only 9 out 20 markets up; not 11 (I'll take 9 though!). Just making sure I'm reading your data correctly: (It is worth noting that while overall June prices were down based on a national average, home prices were up in 11 of 20 cities, and UP year-to-date in three growing areas)

Mr. Bogle -- What are your thoughts on Burton Malkiel's current focus on China, and how does this reconcile (or not reconcile) with Efficient Markets Theory? Do you believe China should be "overweighted" versus its market capitalization weighting in emerging markets indexes (just as many d...