Mark your calendar for year-end fund distributions

[dirt_dobber]

Not sure if this has been posted yet - apologies if so.
This info helped navigate some personal finance decisions last year.

Mark your calendar for year-end fund distributions

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/insights/article/year-end-distribution-schedule-102016

 

[scrabbler1]

Fidelity posted its 2016 year-end estimates, too.


https://www.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/information/year-end

 

[Amethyst]

As has T. Rowe Price https://individual.troweprice.com/p...tions/2016-Preliminary-Year-End-Distributions

 

[sengsational]

Might as well keep this going with other sources (BlackRock iShares):

https://www.ishares.com/us/capital-gains-distributions


And here's a guy that's collected some links:
https://sixfigureinvesting.com/2010...nd-paydate-distribution-information-for-etfs/

 

[Amethyst]

In years past, I've noted significant differences between these early estimates, and what actually appears on the 1099's

 

[ERD50]

Now we just need the admins to create a pop-up with this info, or a note to the post dialog box.

Seems every single year, we get at least one post "What happened!!! OMG!!! The sky is falling!!! My mutual fund dropped 6% and the rest of the market is up!!!! I'm doomed!"

Followed by the explanation that the NAV drop is just the offset of the end-of-year distribution. You have the same amount of money, just in a different form.

Maybe it will be different this year? I wouldn't bet on it.

But that's OK, that's how you learn.

-ERD50

 

[gerntz]

Not sure if this has been posted yet - apologies if so.
This info helped navigate some personal finance decisions last year.

Mark your calendar for year-end fund distributions

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/insights/article/year-end-distribution-schedule-102016

Don't understand how they can wait till 2017 to tell you final 2016 distributions. Seems they were either distributed in 2016 or they weren't & will have shown up in your account.

 

[dirt_dobber]

updated Dec.9th
Updated and expanded estimates:
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/insights/article/year-end-distribution-schedule-102016

 

[pb4uski]

Don't understand how they can wait till 2017 to tell you final 2016 distributions. Seems they were either distributed in 2016 or they weren't & will have shown up in your account.

I agree that it is confusing. They will know the net distribution amount before the end of the year because they do the distribution before the end of the year. What I suspect they are referring to is the portion of the distribution that is qualified may not be determined until after the end of the year. Also, for funds with foreign taxes paid, they get added to whatever is actually distributed so those amounts may not be known before the end of the year too.

 

[RunningBum]

Vanguard Total Stock Market Index only 92% QDI, isn't it usually 100%? Anyone know why some of the divs are non-qualified this year?

 

[RunningBum]

Don't understand how they can wait till 2017 to tell you final 2016 distributions. Seems they were either distributed in 2016 or they weren't & will have shown up in your account.

I read that to say this is when they'll update the final table, but the actual distributions to your account are done in December.

In years past, I've noted significant differences between these early estimates, and what actually appears on the 1099's

As with above, you should be able to see the distributions in December when they actually happen and have a week or so to make any final adjustments, right? You don't have to wait for the 1099, except perhaps for the QDI/non-QDI split. And that doesn't impact the ACA cliff point, nor should it impact the "top of the 15%" Roth conversion point. It probably impacts your estimated tax payments but you can try for "close enough" on those.

I just use these estimates to give me a feel for how close I'm cutting it. Right now it looks to me like dividends are coming in a bit lower than expected so I'll have a bit more room for last minute Roth conversions. I know I could go over and recharacterize before filing, but cutting it to the last dollar really isn't worth what I consider a hassle.

 

[scrabbler1]

I agree that it is confusing. They will know the net distribution amount before the end of the year because they do the distribution before the end of the year. What I suspect they are referring to is the portion of the distribution that is qualified may not be determined until after the end of the year. Also, for funds with foreign taxes paid, they get added to whatever is actually distributed so those amounts may not be known before the end of the year too.

One year, I had a distribution in one of my stock fund split differently between Dividends and Short-Term Cap Gains (which gets reported as Dividends, anyway; not sure if any of the Dividends part was QD or not) than it had originally been declared. It was an early January distribution, but I don't recall how much later the reclassification was done.

 

[Amethyst]

Vanguard's updated estimates are up, including dividend estimates:

https://personal.vanguard.com/us/insights/article/cap-gains

 

[LOL!]

Vanguard Total Stock Market Index only 92% QDI, isn't it usually 100%? Anyone know why some of the divs are non-qualified this year?

Same as last year. At bogleheads someone wrote that it is because of the REITs held by this fund. REIT dividends are not qualified.

But that is only part of the story. It turns out there is some law that if at least 95% of a fund's dividends are qualified, then ALL of them (100%) are considered qualified.

Last year the estimate was 95% QDI for Total Stock Index and it ended up being 100% QDI. I don't know what will happen for this year.

 

[Sojourner]

Slightly OT question here, but I was wondering why a fund such as Wellesley would have a much higher LTCG distribution for its Admiral fund than for its Investor class fund. Looks like VWIAX will have a $0.63/share long term CG vs. $0.23 LTCG for VWINX. I thought those two funds were identical except for their management fees.

 

[RunningBum]

Slightly OT question here, but I was wondering why a fund such as Wellesley would have a much higher LTCG distribution for its Admiral fund than for its Investor class fund. Looks like VWIAX will have a $0.63/share long term CG vs. $0.23 LTCG for VWINX. I thought those two funds were identical except for their management fees.

As I understand it, they are the same underneath, with the same % allocated to each holding, but trade as totally different issues. VWIAX is at 62 and VWINX is at 25, so as a % of share price they are close, with the difference due to management fees, I guess.


Probably not a real clear explanation but bottom line is to look at the price per share of each.