[Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

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YDNAL
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by YDNAL »

Cut-Throat wrote:OK, I'm guessing there is the year end distributions going on here. Except I cannot find any news of this on the Vanguard Website.
Sure there is!
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/insigh ... ule-102013
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/insigh ... s-12092013
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by FinanceDoctor »

Just like every year, share price adjusts day 1 and reinvestment shows up on day 2. All is well today.
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Re: Why did VCVSX drop 8% today?

Post by HouseStark »

telcoguy wrote:Why is the SEC yield only 2.24% when the fund just paid a $1.18 on a $13 share?

Thanks for the education.
SEC yield includes interest and dividends of the fund's bond assets, but does not include capital gains distributions generated by the trading of those assets. Also, the published yield does not likely update immediately for a distribution that just occurred.
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Re: Why did VCVSX drop 8% today?

Post by telcoguy »

Thank you
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Re: Why did VCVSX drop 8% today?

Post by rkhusky »

Also note that the fund paid out $0.43/share in dividends in 2013, which works out roughly to a 3.1% dividend distribution.
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by LadyGeek »

FYI - I merged another thread into here. "Why did VCVSX drop 8% today?"

Also note the merged thread is in the Investing - Theory, News & General forum (investing theory). "Why did VCVSX drop 8% today?" was in Investing - Help with Personal Investments.
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Re: Why did VCVSX drop 8% today?

Post by sscritic »

telcoguy wrote:Thank you
So what is the difference between
A — BASED ON HOLDINGS' YIELD TO MATURITY FOR PRIOR 30 DAYS;DISTRIBUTION MAY DIFFER
and
B — BASED ON HOLDINGS' YIELD TO MATURITY/DIVIDEND FOR LAST 30 DAYS OF PRIOR MONTH
What does yield to maturity mean?

I missed the answers to these questions in the previous responses.

Here is another question: does the distribution paid to you make any difference in either of these? Will it after January 1?
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by janeeyre »

Thank you for the explanation. I noticed that my account has been restored to the previous day's value. However, I am still confused on one point. Doesn't a reinvested dividend add to the value not reduce the price per share because there are now more shares to equal the same value? I thought it would be value plus dividend. Thanks for explaining these details to me.
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by runner9 »

Here's my related confusion:

VTRIX and VSS both list payable dates on the distribution page of 12/27/13, yet VTRIX appears to have paid last night and VSS has not (guessing it pays tonight?) I understand one is MF and one is ETF, is this the reason for the difference, even though the date is the same?

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/ ... =INT#tab=4

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/ ... =INT#tab=4
goodenoughinvestor
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by goodenoughinvestor »

Question: With automatic reinvestment of dividends and capital gains, is the share price based on the ex-dividend date or the payable date? For example, the ex-dividend date for VTI (Vanguard total stock etf) was 12/20 and the payable date is today (although the additional shares haven't yet posted to my account). So will I be getting shares bought at today's price?
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by LadyGeek »

goodenoughinvestor wrote:Question: With automatic reinvestment of dividends and capital gains, is the share price based on the ex-dividend date or the payable date? For example, the ex-dividend date for VTI (Vanguard total stock etf) was 12/20 and the payable date is today (although the additional shares haven't yet posted to my account). So will I be getting shares bought at today's price?
It's based on the record date. See: Dissecting Declarations, Ex-Dividends And Record Dates ("The Important Dates of a Dividend") - new investors should read this article.
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by LadyGeek »

runner9 wrote:Here's my related confusion:

VTRIX and VSS both list payable dates on the distribution page of 12/27/13, yet VTRIX appears to have paid last night and VSS has not (guessing it pays tonight?) I understand one is MF and one is ETF, is this the reason for the difference, even though the date is the same?

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/ ... =INT#tab=4

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/ ... =INT#tab=4
I'm guessing that VSS will pay tonight - you might see it on Monday.
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by livesoft »

goodenoughinvestor wrote:Question: With automatic reinvestment of dividends and capital gains, is the share price based on the ex-dividend date or the payable date? For example, the ex-dividend date for VTI (Vanguard total stock etf) was 12/20 and the payable date is today (although the additional shares haven't yet posted to my account). So will I be getting shares bought at today's price?
ETFs are different than mutual funds when it comes to the price paid at time of reinvesting. One's broker decides on the time and price when buying shares for folks requesting reinvestment of dividends. Every broker is different.

Related threads to read:
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... =1&t=87742
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... &p=1816502
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by LadyGeek »

janeeyre wrote:Thank you for the explanation. I noticed that my account has been restored to the previous day's value. However, I am still confused on one point. Doesn't a reinvested dividend add to the value not reduce the price per share because there are now more shares to equal the same value? I thought it would be value plus dividend. Thanks for explaining these details to me.
You have an answer in your first thread: Subject: Vanguard Target Retirement Income Fund dropped 25 points!!
Levett wrote:Not necessarily.

It would depend on the reinvestment price in relation to the amount of the distribution.

Lev
Do you understand the answer? If not, just say so.

An example of the basic concept is shown below, from Dividend:
LadyGeek wrote:^^^ Here's the example in the wiki:
For example:You own 500 shares at $11 per share at year-end, for a total worth of $5,500. There is a $1 per share dividend. Therefore, net of accumulated dividends in the fund, your fund is worth $10 per share. Assuming dividends are reinvested, you'll get $500 ($1 x 500 shares) reinvested in the fund. $500 / $10 per share = 50 additional shares. Now you own 550 shares at $10 each, which equals your original $5,500.
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by linenfort »

Geologist wrote:I'm a geologist...so I recommend taking the long view.
Rocks make the most patient investors.
Mammalian minds -- not so much.
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by goodenoughinvestor »

livesoft wrote:
goodenoughinvestor wrote:Question: With automatic reinvestment of dividends and capital gains, is the share price based on the ex-dividend date or the payable date? For example, the ex-dividend date for VTI (Vanguard total stock etf) was 12/20 and the payable date is today (although the additional shares haven't yet posted to my account). So will I be getting shares bought at today's price?
ETFs are different than mutual funds when it comes to the price paid at time of reinvesting. One's broker decides on the time and price when buying shares for folks requesting reinvestment of dividends. Every broker is different.

Related threads to read:
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... =1&t=87742
http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... &p=1816502

thanks
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by runner9 »

LadyGeek wrote:
runner9 wrote:Here's my related confusion:

VTRIX and VSS both list payable dates on the distribution page of 12/27/13, yet VTRIX appears to have paid last night and VSS has not (guessing it pays tonight?) I understand one is MF and one is ETF, is this the reason for the difference, even though the date is the same?

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/ ... =INT#tab=4

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/ ... =INT#tab=4
I'm guessing that VSS will pay tonight - you might see it on Monday.
VSS and VEU paid last night. It's no big deal, I don't act on any of this, merely track it. Still don't understand how with both paying a payable date of 12/27/13 the MF can pay the night of 12/26 and the ETFs the night of 12/27 but no big deal.

As always, thanks!
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by sscritic »

I am not sure what you mean by "paid"? Do you mean show up on a website? How are you being paid? Are you reinvesting dividends? Is a check being mailed to you?

If you are reinvesting dividends, the mutual fund makes a notation in the computer that you own more shares. For the ETF, someone has to go into the market and buy more shares. I think the former takes less time than the latter. Read livesoft again
One's broker decides on the time and price when buying shares for folks requesting reinvestment of dividends
If you are not asking about reinvested dividends, does paid mean show up in your sweep account? Your question can't be answered (not that I would know the answer) unless you and we agree on what paid means.
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by runner9 »

Sorry for using the wrong word. Vanguard balance shows dividend was reinvested overnight, and the shares owned has increased.
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by zaboomafoozarg »

Q. Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?

A. The same reason that it drops every quarter or every year.
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by Bonnan »

I'm still waiting on my cap gains distribution from the Permanent Polio fund to show up. Distribution was 12/30/12 and it doesn't show in my pmm settlement account. I do not revest; is this where the "3 days' comes into play?
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by runner9 »

Bonnan wrote:I'm still waiting on my cap gains distribution from the Permanent Polio fund to show up. Distribution was 12/30/12 and it doesn't show in my pmm settlement account. I do not revest; is this where the "3 days' comes into play?
12/30/12 or 12/30/13?

Is this held at Vanguard, or Fidelity or where?
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by Bonnan »

runner9.............at Vanguard Brokerage
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by bayview »

I don't know if there's such a thing as a periodic sticky, but if so, it could be useful to sticky this thread the day before dividends in popular funds hit.
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by LadyGeek »

Someone remind me in December. :)
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by Leeraar »

sscritic wrote:
bayview wrote:I don't know if there's such a thing as a periodic sticky, but if so, it could be useful to sticky this thread the day before dividends in popular funds hit.
You are making an assumption that people read other people's threads. Having noticed six threads on the same topic, the second person to start one didn't read the first, the third person to start one didn't read the first or second, the fourth person to start one didn't reach the first, second, or third, ... , and the sixth person to start one didn't read any of the first five.

I don't think a sticky will stop people who can't be bothered to read what came before them from posting the same old "why did my fund drop?" The best we can hope for is a huge market drop on the day of the distribution so that most of these people won't even notice that their funds dropped even more.
sscritic,

You are missing that they also did not read all the communications on "year-end distributions" from their investment companies, nor the Bogleheads threads on future year-end distributions, before they started their own Bogleheads threads on the unexpected drop.

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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by bayview »

sscritic wrote:
Leeraar wrote:
sscritic wrote: I don't think a sticky will stop people who can't be bothered to read what came before them from posting the same old "why did my fund drop?" The best we can hope for is a huge market drop on the day of the distribution so that most of these people won't even notice that their funds dropped even more.
sscritic,

You are missing that they also did not read all the communications on "year-end distributions" from their investment companies, nor the Bogleheads threads on future year-end distributions, before they started their own Bogleheads threads on the unexpected drop.
Which just reinforces my point: you can lead a person to bogleheads, but you can't make him read it. Maybe we just need a banner across the top of every "start a new thread" compose box: Before you ask, google! And once the person clicks submit, there is a pop-up: do you verify under oath that you have already googled this and/or looked for the same topic on the front page. If we find another post on this topic, you will be banned for a period of ...

now here I am not sure: should they be banned longer for missing a thread from the day before or for missing one from seven days before? If the second post is less than 30 minutes after the previous post on the same topic, then there should be no penalty, but once you hit the one hour mark, the penalty should jump way up and then decline from there (IMO).
I do understand all this; I am a happily-retired longtime moderator from another huge forum, with many noobs joining on a daily basis, and with periodic floods of still more noobs joining after various outside crises brought them to us. New members and casual members DON'T necessarily know how to search, or indeed, realize that they ought to search, and when they try, they often don't find what they're looking for. They might not know the search term to enter, as the most basic obstacle. So yeah, they'll probably miss the sticky, but the handy thing about stickies is that they stay put at the top of the page, and all you have to do is (kindly, I hope) reply with the link to the sticky on their where'd-my-money-go post. And it also lets them learn about the usefulness of stickies in general, and who knows? --they might read the others, too.

As for communications from their investment companies, I do read mine, but I got them back in March or whenever, and I don't know about you, but I've slept since then. Also, when someone is new to a topic as complex as personal investing, it is completely absurd to think that something that they read once, before they have knowledge and personal experience to put it into context, is going to pop back in their heads when an unexpected event occurs. It's more likely that they'll come here, post their question, get their tongue-lashings, dig out their mail from back when, and think, "Oh, THAT'S what that meant."

All y'all who live and breathe this stuff appear to have lost sight of the fact that we all started in ignorance at some point. I enjoy pointed humor as much as the next person, even when it's aimed at me, but frankly, the snotty tone of many replies to the new and confused is very off-putting. I have a lot more appreciation for members like nisiprius and grabiner, who patiently untangle new members and save their digs for the old-timers. As a mod, I did a ton of time-outs and bans, but except for spammers, they went far more often to veteran members who were abusive to others, rather than to new members floundering about.

Many thanks to Lady Geek and the others (including members) who keep the Bogleheads forums both informative and civil. You'd be astonished how difficult a job that can be.
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by YDNAL »

.

This is not about stickies, if you ask me. BTW, this thread is a real mess!

That said, regardless of the level of experience, a buyer should know what they buy.
  • For mutual funds/ETFs, certainly know most basic things such as how much it costs to own, underlying holdings, distributions, etc.
  • The posters that don't know the basics of their funds, have not done sufficient due-diligence, IMO.
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by LadyGeek »

bayview wrote:Many thanks to Lady Geek and the others (including members) who keep the Bogleheads forums both informative and civil. You'd be astonished how difficult a job that can be.
Thank you. Speaking of which, I removed a number of off-topic posts which deep-dive into forum administration (stickies).

Please stay on-topic.
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by bayview »

YDNAL wrote:.

This is not about stickies, if you ask me. BTW, this thread is a real mess!

That said, regardless of the level of experience, a buyer should know what they buy.
  • For mutual funds/ETFs, certainly know most basic things such as how much it costs to own, underlying holdings, distributions, etc.
  • The posters that don't know the basics of their funds, have not done sufficient due-diligence, IMO.
I understand and agree about the costs and underlying holdings, but I still don't think it's terribly surprising for someone to be caught off-guard by their first fund drop at distribution time. It's in the nature of new (and anxious) investors to keep checking the prices and to be startled at the sudden drop. Now, if they come back the second year... :wink:

If nothing else, it sure points out what an awful idea it was to designate 401(k)'s as the retirement vehicle for all.
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Re: Sudden Wellington drop?

Post by YDNAL »

bayview wrote:
YDNAL wrote:This is not about stickies, if you ask me. BTW, this thread is a real mess!

That said, regardless of the level of experience, a buyer should know what they buy.
  • For mutual funds/ETFs, certainly know most basic things such as how much it costs to own, underlying holdings, distributions, etc.
  • The posters that don't know the basics of their funds, have not done sufficient due-diligence, IMO.
I understand and agree about the costs and underlying holdings, but I still don't think it's terribly surprising for someone to be caught off-guard by their first fund drop at distribution time. It's in the nature of new (and anxious) investors to keep checking the prices and to be startled at the sudden drop....
Well, I can't disagree with you more. Below is the original post in this thread (Sudden Wellington drop?):
zottopix wrote:[Thread title was: "Sudden Wellington drop?" See below. -- admin LadyGeek]

Just noted that my Wellington Fund ( VWENX ) dropped 4.25% in 2 days ( 12-24-2013 to 12-26-2013 )…..from NAV 68.21 down to 65.31
Any good reason for this sudden drop?
Just wondering…..
Here are historical Wellington VWENX distributions (excluded year end 2013 on purpose) right on Vanguard's fund information, Distribution tab:
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/ ... stribution Type Record Date Reinvest Payable Reinvest Price
Dividend $0.41100 09/25/2013 09/26/2013 09/27/2013 $64.96
Dividend $0.42800 06/26/2013 06/27/2013 06/28/2013 $62.88
Dividend $0.38100 03/26/2013 03/27/2013 03/28/2013 $62.04
Dividend $0.48300 12/27/2012 12/28/2012 12/31/2012 $58.00
ST Cap Gain $0.14000 12/27/2012 12/28/2012 12/31/2012 $58.00
LT Cap Gain $0.62200 12/27/2012 12/28/2012 12/31/2012 $58.00
Dividend $0.40000 09/26/2012 09/27/2012 09/28/2012 $59.27[/code]
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by Leeraar »

Nothing is going to stop the posts from coming in the first place.

I agree there should be a simple resource (Wiki, sticky, whatever) that explains it. Also, perhaps a preemptive message could be posted in mid-December: "WARNING: Your mutual fund prices are about to drop".

L.
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by Lowriskok »

The reason why the mutual fund value change are as follow: expenses, taxes, distribution, fund flow, and value of the assets. In the end of trading day the fund calculates the new fund's Net Asset Value (NAV). That value is publish in terms of dollar per share. However, that number is usually published on the third day because of settlement reasons. Meaning when we get the new share price of the fund that NAV is three days ago! :oops:

Mutual funds can generate short term capital gains taxes. This is most annoy to the fund holder where holder of the fund has held its position for the year but the mutual has not and therefore generates short term capital gains taxes that will applied to your fund. So if you held your fund thinking you get to keep all your gains however the fund had generated capital gains because they were buying and selling throughout the year! This is also massively annoying when you are new fund holder that has held the fund less than three months because you are subject to the tax from the year and did not benefit from gains of the year. This teaches an individual not to buy into a mutual fund that has gone up in the end of the year. The 3% to 4% drop is a just another fee. However, ignoring sudden drop from capital gains tax, to truly benefit from a mutual, an individual needs to hold the fund for minimum of five years or longer and ignore some of the day-to-day volatility.
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by LadyGeek »

I'm bumping this thread, as it's time for the quarterly dividend distribution questions. See: S&P 500 increased... my daily balance decreased?

My answer: Subject: S&P 500 increased... my daily balance decreased?
LadyGeek wrote:Welcome! The answer to your question is in the wiki: Dividend (Dividend distributions and fund prices)
Dividend distributions and fund prices

If your fund is paying out a dividend and/or capital gains distribution, the NAV of the fund will drop by the per share amount of the distributions on the payment date (sometimes quarterly, often annually). The investor's economic position is not changed by the distributions, regardless of whether the distributions are re-invested in the fund or taken in cash. Substantial drops in NAV from distributions most often occur in December, when many funds are paying annual dividend and capital gains distributions, especially if the distributions are large.
NAV = Net Asset Value = the reported share price.
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by Leeraar »

Now that that price change has your attention:

If this is a tax-advantaged account, you should be reinvesting the dividends and distributions. They will show up in your account statement in a day or two.

If this is a taxable account, the distributions are a taxable event, and you should not automatically be reinvesting them. Rather the distributions should be swept to a cash account. Early next month, use those distributions to (in order):

1. Fully invest up to the allowed limits in your current-year HSA and IRA tax-advantaged accounts.
2. Provide a cushion to bump your payroll contributions to 401k and similar investments.
3. Gift to children to fund their Roth IRA accounts, up to the limits of their earned income.
4. Manually reinvest in your taxable accounts to maintain your desired Asset Allocation.

Be thankful that you have this problem. You may also want to learn about allocating your investments for better tax efficiency, if that applies.

L.
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Re: Sudden Wellington drop?

Post by YDNAL »

Bump!!!
YDNAL » Thu Jan 02, 2014 4:51 pm wrote:....regardless of the level of experience, a buyer should know what they buy.
• For mutual funds/ETFs, certainly know most basic things such as how much it costs to own, underlying holdings, distributions, etc.
• The posters that don't know the basics of their funds, have not done sufficient due-diligence, IMO.
Find out if your fund declared a quarterly dividend in June

ps. yes, Wellington VWENX has *again* declared quarterly dividend/share -- declared June 19, 2014 [$0.417/share] reinvested at $68.95 payable June 23, 2014. :D
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by dbr »

I is human nature that some people have the habit, when they want to know something, that they run off and ask the question of someone or post it somewhere knowing that other people will gladly or grudgingly answer the question. Other people have the habit of researching the problem themselves because they like to find out answers to things on their own. Some people will delve into a forum like this one as a treasure trove of information, interesting discussions, a useful Wiki, and so on, and other people will spend just enough time to pose a question and wait for an answer, even if that answer and more is waiting just down the list somewhere. The fact that there is a running list of discussions that happen over and over again does not result in altering those habits. I think the people that are actually crazy are the ones who go and read the same discussion again and again. The people that answer the same question over and over are either just nice guys or have some weird obsession.

As to searching, I think that most forum's are nearly unsearchable. The best search tool for this forum is probably to go to Google with the search string having a pointer to the forum. Even then the result often contains so much information or refers to such long and convoluted postings as to be daunting and not useful.

By definition people having the natural human habit of asking rather than looking are not going to pursue a FAQ or a Wiki either.
letsgobobby
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by letsgobobby »

How about a top ten most frequently asked questions sticky?
sscritic
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Re: Sudden Wellington drop?

Post by sscritic »

YDNAL wrote:Bump!!!
LadyGeek beat you by 12 hours, at least in one time zone if not every time zone. :)
LadyGeek » Fri Jun 20, 2014 7:11 pm

I'm bumping this thread
YDNAL » Sat Jun 21, 2014 7:16 am

Bump!!!
Question: How old does a thread have to be (from the last post) before it can be bumped? One day, one week, one month? I really don't know.
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by Leeraar »

I think one "inappropriate" comment removed from the first incarnation of this thread was a very sarcastic one by me. In truth, I have no idea how to pre-empt questions like this. But, do we care? This is not the only field that gets plowed over and over by the Bogleheads.

In the good old days, the only way to get the prices was in the newspaper, and they printed a nice "x" next to the quote when the priced dropped due to a distribution.

L.
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by LadyGeek »

For this thread, I'd say once a quarter.

To address the question on adding this thread as a sticky, I'm in the camp that it won't help. The best place to answer recurring questions is in the wiki.

We already have a FAQ in the wiki: Investing FAQ for the Bogleheads® forum

I just added this one: Why did my fund price suddenly drop in value?

Perhaps we need a sticky to point to the wiki FAQ... Then, include the list of questions in the post content so a google search will find it.
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by stan1 »

LadyGeek wrote:For this thread, I'd say once a quarter.

To address the question on adding this thread as a sticky, I'm in the camp that it won't help. The best place to answer recurring questions is in the wiki.

We already have a FAQ in the wiki: Investing FAQ for the Bogleheads® forum

I just added this one: Why did my fund price suddenly drop in value?

Perhaps we need a sticky to point to the wiki FAQ... Then, include the list of questions in the post content so a google search will find it.
Maybe we need to put up a warning banner at the top of the website for 2 weeks every quarter: Mar/June/Sept/Dec from the 15th-30th:
"Attention: Dividend and capital gains distributions pending. Click here if you see unexpected drops in your account balances."
Warning: I am about 80% satisficer (accepting of good enough) and 20% maximizer
john94549
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Yes, It's Dividend Time

Post by john94549 »

[Thread merged into here, see below. --admin LadyGeek]

Let me be the first to pre-empt the posts "The benchmark for my fund went up; why did my fund go down"?

Yes, friends and neighbors, it's that time once again. Don't freak out.
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Re: Yes, It's Dividend Time

Post by InvestorNewb »

You had me thinking the dividend rates were posted on Vanguard's web site. To my dismay, they haven't been yet.
My Portfolio: VTI [US], VXUS [Int'l], VNQ [REIT], VCN [Canada] (largest to smallest)
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by LadyGeek »

I merged john94549's thread into here to keep all the info in one spot. Also, the thread title of "Yes, It's Dividend Time" is the answer; new investors don't know the question.

From the wiki: Why did my fund price suddenly drop in value?
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livesoft
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by livesoft »

But the answer is not always a dividend. :twisted: Remember last week and the REIT index fund VGSIX/VNQ: http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtop ... &p=2189498 ? Yes, it is really down more than 5% in the past few days.
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Re: Yes, It's Dividend Time

Post by gkaplan »

InvestorNewb wrote:You had me thinking the dividend rates were posted on Vanguard's web site. To my dismay, they haven't been yet.
Vanguard is declaring dividends on both September 18 and September 22, depending on the funds in question.

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/insigh ... nds-092014
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by peppers »

LadyGeek wrote:Someone remind me in December. :)

....ahem...
"..the cavalry ain't comin' kid, you're on your own..."
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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by Leeraar »

Biting my tongue ...

If you really follow the advice of not investing in something you do not understand, and you do not understand why your investment drops in value late in December ...

Those threads will come!

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Re: [Why did my fund suddenly drop in value?]

Post by cfs »

This time

Well, this time it's [not] different, but anyway, here is the link to the updated capital gains estimates.

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/insigh ... ins-112014
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