Diversions November 15, 2012

Not Even $5 and Still a Bargain

Among things to be thankful for: next week’s turkey dinner costs, on average, a mere 1% more than it did last year.
Reported by

For 27 years, the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) has conducted an informal price survey of Thanksgiving Day dinner table classics: turkey, bread stuffing, sweet potatoes, rolls with butter, peas, cranberries, a relish tray of carrots and celery, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, and beverages of coffee and milk, in quantities sufficient to serve a family of 10. There is also plenty for leftovers.

This year’s feast for 10 carries an average cost of $49.48, just 28 cents more than last year’s average of $49.20. The star of the show, a 16-pound turkey, came in at $22.23—roughly $1.39 per pound, an increase of about 4 cents per pound, or a total of 66 cents for the whole bird, compared with 2011. The turkey was the biggest contributor to the final total, showing the largest price increase compared with last year.

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Savvy shoppers may pay even less for frozen turkey compared with AFBF’s 155 volunteer shoppers, who checked prices at grocery stores in 35 states.

Miscellaneous items, including coffee and ingredients necessary to prepare the meal (onions, eggs, sugar, flour, evaporated milk and butter) increased in price, to $3.18. A dozen brown-n-serve rolls also increased slightly, up 3 cents, to $2.33.

Some menu items actually took a price dip: a half pint of whipping cream, $1.83, down 13 cents; a 14-ounce package of cubed bread stuffing, $2.77, down 11 cents; three pounds of sweet potatoes, $3.15, down 11 cents; one gallon of whole milk, $3.59, down 7 cents; fresh cranberries, $2.45, down 3 cents; one pound of green peas, $1.66, down 2 cents; a 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix and two nine-inch pie shells, $5.53, down 2 cents.

A one-pound relish tray of carrots and celery remained the same, at 76 cents.

Farm Bureau volunteer shoppers are asked to look for the best possible prices, without using promotional coupons or special-purchase deals, such as spending $50 and receiving a free turkey. Shoppers with an eye for bargains throughout the country should be able to purchase individual menu items at prices comparable to the Farm Bureau survey averages. Another option for busy families without a lot of time to cook: ready-to-eat Thanksgiving meals for up to 10 people, with all the trimmings, which are available at many supermarkets and take-out restaurants for around $50 to $75.

The AFBF survey was first conducted in 1986. While Farm Bureau does not make any scientific claims about the data, it is an informal gauge of price trends around the nation. Farm Bureau’s survey menu has remained unchanged since 1986 to allow for consistent price comparisons.


 

Products November 14, 2012

Russell Unveils Strategic Call Overwriting Fund

The new fund leverages Russell’s multi-asset investing strengths and is in response to advisers seeking lower-volatility, equity-like returns.
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Advisers and their clients gain access to the first non-cash retail fund managed directly by Russell’s portfolio managers without underlying managers. The fund aims to provide total returns with lower volatility than U.S. equity markets, seeking gains from call options and equities and  income from stock dividends. The fund is managed by a team of four Russell portfolio managers.

The Russell Strategic Call Overwriting Fund invests principally in equity securities economically tied to the U.S. market, using a multi-factor quantitative model to select primarily common stocks of large and medium capitalization companies. The fund also writes index call options, typically on broad-based securities market indexes. The combination of buying common stocks and selling call options is known as “call overwriting.” Writing index call options is designed to reduce the fund’s volatility relative to U.S. equity securities and provide the fund with gains from premiums received.

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“In our conversations with advisers, we have consistently heard that they are looking to provide clients with a call overwriting strategy to support long-term wealth creation while managing overall portfolio volatility,” said Phill Rogerson, managing director of consulting and product development for Russell’s U.S. adviser-sold business. “Interest has only increased in the current volatile market environment, and we are pleased to be able to activate Russell’s proprietary research in a mutual fund format that provides advisers and their clients with a key tool to employ this investment approach.”

Many advisers are shifting away from a classic long equities growth strategy in the current market environment of uncertainty and limited growth, according to Rogerson. “This fund is in response to those wealth managers who ask us for strategies that can provide investors with attractive risk-adjusted returns and a potential reduction of losses during market downturns,” he said.

More information is available at Russell Strategic Call Overwriting Fund.

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