Hi David,
Thanks so much. Do you think of Oakseed as similar to BMPEX in terms of the role it would play in your portfolio? They seem to both have interests aligned with investors, value focus, U.S. equity focus, capital preservation, sleep well at night type funds -- although Seedx can go anywhere if they so choose. thanks

Hi, guys.
The question of the fund's tax efficiency came up in the call. Oakseed just published their preliminary distribution estimates:
Record Date: December 6, 2013 Ex-Dividend Date: December 9, 2013
Investor Class Estimated Income Per Share*: $0.03 to $0.04
Investor Class Estimated Short-Term Capital Gain Per Share*: $0.04 to $0.05
Institutional Class Estimated Income Per Share*: $0.05 to $0.06
Institutional Class Estimated Short-Term Capital Gain Per Share*: $0.04 to $0.05
No Long-Term Capital Gain Distribution
The (*) just reinforces the "estimated, not yet final" piece. The fund's current NAV is $12.15.
David

Responses noted. Guess I was just recalling the comment in the original description of SEEDX: " they’re not all that concerned about attracting more money."

While I always feel guilty ignoring the scripture of St. John (Bogle), who tells the believers that they can sleep just as soundly investing in index funds, I have put a few sheckels in SEEDX, partly to keep my foot in the door and partly to keep me checking its perfomance. I obviously will be disappointed if they return money at some time when they can't find investible stocks.
It seems that a fund claiming as broad a mandate as they do could find a few places every year to drop a few million; and I, for one, am not adverse to a manager building up cash, although I do eventually come to wonder why I'm paying an ER on that portion of the fund. It would be reassuring, in this day of supercomputers and elegant software, if a fund would charge a significantly lower ER for their cash portion. I might even believe that our interests were aligned, were that the case. If I were already independently wealthy and investing my own money as well as that of my family and friends, I might consider such an approach.
But all you proselytizers (I had to look up the spelling) might want to ask yourselves why a fund that relies on word of mouth for advertising (although it does shyly mention all the other fund managers who have invested with them) charges a 12b 1 fee, albeit a modest one.
If you're completely baffled, you might even ask Messrs Jackson and Park.
Tangentially, as to picking fund bogeys, it might be helpful for the Great Owl to include a few lines representing the performance of indices composed of 60/40 and 80/20 US stocks and bonds (total market, or S&P and total market) and world stocks and bonds, if the numbers can be easily found. If it takes moderate effort to find/compute the numbers, you move that much closer to becoming a paid site with a worthwhile product. It would also be interesting for new stock or balanced funds to be measured against this standard, as well as the one they select.

Reply to @David_Snowball: I really appreciate you took the time interview with Greg Jackson and John Kim. The situation when Samra and O'Keefe left Oakmark International fund is somewhat different from the one that Jackson and Kim face today. First, ARTK was ran as a diversified portfolio (not a concentrated one) and still remains so today. With a small asset these experienced managers did fine whether they have leveraged analyst support from Mark Yockey who is the other Artisan foreign fund manager. Within the same firm it is plausible that the fund managers share the research capabilities and analysts. Today, the combined asset between ARTRX and ARTGX asset exceeded $11 billions.
Second, SEEDX is designed to be a concentrated fund with about 30 stocks. Picking the right stock and more importantly at the right price, is critical as part of the risk management. As the asset grows in the future, managing can only get harder, not easier without solid analyst support. Marketing and account effort can be outsourced.
As for disclosure, I invested with Greg Jackson and Mike Welsh since the inception of OAKGX. In the height of tech bubble (2000), these managers were GREAT! Sadly they left in 2006. For now I will wait and see for awhile...

Reply to @brucea: SEEDX beat the S&P 500 and its category in the 2nd quarter and trailed in the 1st and 3rd quarters.
Regards,
Ted

...They think that the small cap space is egregiously, unsustainably overvalued and they see few attractive opportunities in the emerging markets...
This is from the thread about SEEDX and what the managers think. I have a few go anywhere funds and checked portfolios of others. Most do not have much in the way of small caps. Funds checked were BPAVX, BMPEX, FPACX, IVWIX, MFLDX.
Questions are do you hold U.S. small caps in your portfolio and in what percentage? Are you or do you plan on reducing exposure to US small caps in the near future?
I hold 3 funds that have small/micro cap holdings totaling 14% of portfolio. PCVAX, VVPSX and BUFOX. Maybe time to reduce exposure. Seems some of these managers think value is elsewhere or none is to be had if they are in cash.

Just checked Schwab- they went with their usual reasonable $2500 minimum to open, $500 subsequent. IRAs, $1000 & $500.
With respect to YTD performance, Schwab shows SEEDX $12,040.00 / S&P 500 TR $12,530 / Large Blend Category $12,464.
If the downside protection proves to be decent, seems to me to be a reasonable price to pay for only a $500 difference on appreciation.

OK, quick look back at LTFAX and OAKGX from circa 2000 through 2004. Ted, even you should be impressed...mitigated drawdown, superior absolute returns, and high risk adjusted returns:

And, here's look at M* performance plot during same period:

Looks pretty impressive to me. During the call, Mr. Jackson and Mr. Park stated that SEEDX would reflect behaviors from both these legacy funds. That would be a very good thing.

Reply to @Ted: Ha! What do you really think? True, it's been an up market from SEEDX inception, so hard to judge by just looking at the past 11 months or so. Fact is, most defensive long equity funds have "under-performed" against traditional benchmarks.
At one point during the call, the PMs talked about being up 22% and under-performing?! They agreed to take that any day, as long as they protect on the down-side.
I too thought their "complete alignment" construct represents an industry best practice. Or, as Mr. Studzinkski touts, these folks have skin in the game. And maybe it's even better, since SEEDX is their only game. Their goal is not so much to make a living off the management fees from asset accumulation, but asset return growth. Similar, I think, to Stephen Dobson's philosophy with Bretton Fund.
Their stated performance goal is to beat S&P 500 "trough-to-trough, peak-to-peak."
I will take a closer look back at their two previous funds, see if it can add more perspective.

Mr. Jackson & Mr. Park: I know your fund is less that one year old, but you boys need to put the pedal to the metal, especially with a concentrated fund. In a year with most large-cap funds and the S&P 500 near 30% your fund is lagging. Combine that with your high expense ratio, I have no compelling reason to invest in your fund.
YTD 21.30% SEEDX 29.18% Category S&P 500 28.00% Percentile 93% 5
Regards,
Ted

Reply to @msf: Good digging msf. It bothered me because I did not understand difference between the NTF expense of 0.4% and the 12b-1 fee. On the call yesterday with the good folks at Oakseed, they stated the 12b-1 fee of 0.25% was the only ER difference between the investor shares SEEDX with NTF and institutional SEDEX. Checking with Schwab site, that rings true. They offer SEEDX with NTF at 1.41 and SEDEX at 1.16. The difference in ER being the 12b-1.

Two questions that focus on the distribution of SEEDX/SEDEX:
1) Why has TD Ameritrade refused to lower the minimum for SEDEX to the revised level?
2) Does Oakseed plan to make the fund available through Fidelity's fund network?

Reply to @robertwells: These two funds are probably considered "mainstream" and both hold either gold mining shares or bullion equivalents with corresponding under performance with the bear market in precious metals ongoing since mid 2011.Another consideration for precious metals are commision free ETFs@ Fidelity(PICK,RING,SLVR)or @ Schwab(PSAU). Limit order @ your price,1 share or a million!
http://quicktake.morningstar.com/syndication/holdings.aspx?cn=GLG117&symbol=APPLX
http://www.goodhavenfunds.com/media/pdfs/GHF_FS.pdf
I own FPACX,MFLDX,as core holdings and am establishing positions in WBMRX and PMHDX as I harvest some gains from the small growth area.I am retired and get a bit more conservative as the market sets new highs.
Also,take a look at MARVX a traditional L/S fund.
http://portfolios.morningstar.com/fund/summary?t=MARVX&region=USA&culture=en-US
Plenty of EM bond funds available with local currency exposure as a hedge.Flip a coin? I have a small position in GYLD. Monthly dividend,conservative 60/40 mix with 40% non- dollar holdings.
http://www.arrowshares.com/files/PFS00000/001a.pdf
I really should add BRUFX to the list.Seldom if ever has short or precious metal holding but management will go just about anywhere else.Low turnover and exceptional long term record.Patience is the word here.Only available through the fund.
LOR
The Lazard World Dividend & Income Fund is a closed-end management company that seeks total return through a combination of dividends, income, and capital appreciation. The Fund will pursue this objective through a world equity strategy and a short-term emerging markets and debt strategy.
The Fund will invest substantially all of its net assets in between 60 to 90 world equity securities that are financially productive and high dividend yielding.
It seeks to enhance income through exposure to short-term, emerging market forward currency contracts and other emerging markets debt instruments (limited to 33.3% or less of the Fund’s total leveraged assets), which will provide exposure to emerging market currencies.
These two strategies are complementary, with historically low correlation to one another, which may reduce volatility.
http://www.lazardnet.com/us/mutual-funds/closed-end-funds/lor/
SEEDX looks like it will also take short positions.Good managers in a new fund
Top 10 Holdings – September 30, 2013
Express Scripts Holdings Co. 5.30%
Teva Pharm Inds Ltr Adr 4.98%
Leucadia National Corp. 4.92%
Yahoo Inc. 4.25%
Loews Corp. 4.19%
Chambers Street Properties 3.97%
Abbvie Inc. 3.84%
Oracle Corp. 3.63%
GlaxoSmithKline plc 3.62%
ProShares Short Russell 2000 ETF 3.49%

John and I had a nice chat over the noon hour yesterday. His general theme was "now we can get back to normal finance topics, rather than 24/7 debt crises." Mine was, "yep, but it's not going to get any easier." John does read MFO (you might be surprised by the wide variety of folks - from the WSJ, Baltimore Sun, NY Times and a slug of fund firms - who scan both the board and the fixed content) and suggested that he'd rather talk first, instead of just "borrowing" ideas.
My suggestion was to look for managers who'd help investors make it through turbulent, rapidly shifting markets. I clustered those into two groups:

• risk conscious managers with experience and flexibility in their investment mandates - Seafarer (SFGIX), F P A Paramount (FPRAX), RiverPark Strategic Income (RSIVX).
  
• risk conscious managers who have a sensible, steady investment discipline that they might actually be able to get investors to understand and buy into - Beck Mack & Oliver Partners (BMPEX), Oakseed Opportunity SEEDX), Frank Value (FRNKX), Bretton (BRTNX), Cook & Bynum (COBYX).

Afterwards, we talked about international travel and John's observation that being perceived as disrespectful was a much bigger problem than not speaking the local language. Romans, he noted, mostly spoke enough English to help you get by and enjoy the city -- unless you were wearing shorts and ball caps and galumphing around.
For what interest it holds,
David

Reply to @kallerid: We're working out a date in the second or third week of December for a call with David. October (Zac Wydra of BMPEX) and November (John Park and Greg Jackson of SEEDX) were already taken.
David

Hmm...M* not flagging it as such. Same as with SEEDX which I now know is NTF Vanguard. Didn't think M* would be this slow to reflect NTF platform availability.
Anyways PFPFX NTF at Schwab is no good when min investment still 25K.

Here is what I have narrowed down to for my ROTH and I'm 49 years old. Please help me select from each of the catagories. Thanks!
MXXVX-LB
MPGFX-LB
VDIGX-LB
MARNX-LB
SEEDX-LV
GOODX-LV
PFPFX-LV
HUDIX-LV
FAIRX-LV
TFRVX-LG
SEQUX-LG
SHRAX-LG
VVPLX-LG

Hmm...I've been holding off on buying SEEDX. It perfectly meets my criteria for moving my portfolio to all go anywhere funds. For some reason, my gut has told me to hold off on this fund. However, I will seriously re-examine my decision.
I think exiting CGMFX whose manager is 70+ and going with younger managers might be most prudent. Speaking of which Akre is not getting any younger. Unfortunately, we have to worry about such things.
One stupid question. If HERRO has $3M in SEEDX, how much does he have in his own funds. I mean SAIs don't disclose exact amount, just "over $1M". What I really want to know is if HERRO is investing his own money in a more nimble fund while not in his own bloated funds.
Sorry, don't want to piss anyone off. I'm just a cynical quickly-getting-old bast***

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2013-09-06/a-fund-s-value-having-skin-in-the-game.html
M* Snapshot Of SEEDX: http://quotes.morningstar.com/fund/f?t=SEEDX&region=USA&culture=en-US