site banner
birb_cromble  4d ago (text post)   594 thread views

Weekly Finance Thread - 2026-08-29

A weekly thread to discuss financial matters - from personal all the way up to global.

Ground Rules

  • Remember that we're all just Internet randos. Don't bet your life savings on a hot tip from this thread.
  • Keep culture war in the culture war thread. Yes, global events may impact our personal finances, but that does not mean we have to incessantly harp on culture war aspects here. If you are going to discuss it, please stick to the practical impacts of it on an individual level.
  • Be kind. Remember that everyone here comes from different circumstances. We all have different resources available and different risk tolerances.
  • Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Better is better. Celebrate people when they take a step up and work to move their finances in the right direction. Don't flame out because they haven't followed what you consider the optimal path. Everybody has to start somewhere.
2
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Do any of you have an opinion on the Invesco Optimum Yield Diversified Commodity Strategy No K-1 ETF? I'd like to diversify into hard assets, and this seems nice because it doesn't involve a K-1 and spreads across a pretty big mix of materials.

It would seem that this fund invests in commodity futures. So it makes money based on

  1. Whether the price of the commodity goes up
  2. Whether the commodity is in backwardation (good) or contango (bad)
  3. Earning interest on the collateral it puts up for the futures contracts

Overall, the performance of the fund (less than 4% annually) has been complete shit, but 2014 was just about the worst time possible to start a commodities fund.

From the 3 ways in which it earns money, 1 and 2 seem like zero sum gambles against other bettors. So I'd expect that long term, the fund would converge on the interest rate of treasuries. But the fund seems to have done better than that, so maybe they are able to take advantage of market structure in some way.

Commodities are in a 12 year bear market. They are showing some signs of life. But ultimately, gambling on commodities going up is just that - a gamble. A pile of gold, silver, or tin is not a productive asset.

This is not the worst investment, but I don't rate it as a compounder. It goes up because the denominator (US dollars) goes down. But productive assets should do even better.

If you are in a high tax bracket, I'd check tax treatment. Any distributions will likely NOT be considered as qualified dividends which could trigger higher taxation. You're also likely to pay higher capital gains when you sell.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats