Stocks, Bonds, and ‘Others’ What are the others?

[fuzzyhippo]

In my 401k we are invested in a Blackrock TDF LIJKX. I noticed last week that there is now 42% of the fund classified as ‘other’ that’s a huge change from something like 3% previously. Im assuming something has been reclassified and there wasn’t actually a big shift in the underlying investments but I would like to confirm that somehow. Any ideas on how to dig deeper into the others category to learn what is driving the % increase?

[dogagility]

Any ideas on how to dig deeper into the others category to learn what is driving the % increase?

https://www.blackrock.com/us/individual ... ocl-k-fund

[nisiprius]

All I can say is that it's very weird. I would suspect some harmless glitch in whatever is making the classification. Some providers use Morningstar for some of their presentations and I do see that Morningstar is showing the same thing (as of August 31). I think there's some kind of clue in the claim that only 2.28% of the fund is US equity, even though BlackRock and Morningstar are showing a 39.18% holding in a Russell 1000 index fund!

I am quite curious now and hope you'll follow up when you learn more. Assuming that it's a dumb mistake, anyone want to have a pool on how long it will take them to fix it?

is showing



And also that if their list of holdings as of August 30th is right,



I don't see what in that list would count as anything other than "stocks" or "bonds," except possibly the "real estate" holding which is only 3.28% of the portfolio.

There might be a clue in that Morningstar is claiming that only 2.28% of the fund is in US equity!

The ticker symbol for the "iShares Russell 1000 Large-Cap Index Fund" appears to be BRGNX.

Morningstar knows of BRGNX and believes it is 99.45% equity--oddly, it does not call it out specifically as "US Equity."

Morningstar does not know of anything with the exact specific name "BLACKROCK RUSSELL 1000 INDEX FUND." Particularly with "BlackRock" (and not "iShares") in the fund name.

So I'm guessing "glitch," and that someone somewhere probably messed up entering the correct name of the fund, and that whatever entity is doing the classification on BlackRock's behalf saw a "nonexistent" fund name and classified it as "other."

Or another possibility could involve whatever is causing Morningstar to report "BRGNX" as merely having 99.45% "Equity" and not "US Equity." Maybe there's some internal glitch in whatever reports BRGNX's holdings to others, something somewhere is saying "well, if it isn't US Equity and it isn't ex-US Equity I don't know what it is."

P.S. Morningstar is definitely messed up for sure. If you look at Morningstar's very own list of holdings, it matches the list shown on BlackRock's website--twelve entries, including both obvious stock and bond entries--while claiming "Equity holdings 0, Bond holdings 0, Other holdings 13." So, um, if thirteen out of twelve (!) are "other," why isn't it 100% "other?"

And I do believe I've found another clue. Why are two of the entries on that list in black, while the rest are in blue? The answer is that each blue entry is a link to Morningstar's page for that fund. So Morningstar doesn't know what the two funds with "BlackRock" in the name are--only the ones named "iShares."

[nisiprius]

Morningstar says on a web page:

To request a correction or clarification in editorial content, email standards@morningstar.com. For questions or problems with data accuracy, email joe@morningstar.com or morningstardirect@morningstar.com

So, dewy-eyed young idealist that I am, I've gone ahead and emailed "joe" a description of the apparent problem, and will report responses, if any.

(Added) Well, I got an email saying "Case #06241093 is now open and our team is on it."

(Further added)

Case Summary
Subject: Error in portfolio data for LIJKX, BlackRock LifePath® Index 2035 K
Date Opened: 01/10/2024

Dear Client,

Thank you for contacting Morningstar Customer Support. We have been unable to associate your email address with a registered username for Morningstar Direct. Unfortunately, we will be unable to assist you at this time; as a matter of corporate policy, we support licensed users only. Please reply to this email with the email address you use to login to Morningstar Direct, and we will be glad to assist you further.

Boo. Thanks for nothing, Morningstar.

(Further added, 1/10/2024, 8 pm) But then I just received this

...Thank you for writing to Morningstar.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We understand the urgency of this matter and appreciate your patience while we investigate the issue further.

To ensure a comprehensive examination, I have escalated your query to our dedicated backend team. They will conduct a thorough investigation and provide us with an update at the earliest convenience.

In the meantime, we thank you for your continued patience and understanding...

[livesoft]

"Other" is usually evidence of a mistake in figuring out whether an investment has/is stocks or bonds. That is, "Others" could be stocks, could be bonds, could be something else.

I will state that TIAA Real Estate Account is usually classified as "Other." It holds buildings.