Author Archives: David Snowball

About David Snowball

David Snowball, PhD (Massachusetts). Cofounder, lead writer. David is a Professor of Communication Studies at Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois, a nationally-recognized college of the liberal arts and sciences, founded in 1860. For a quarter century, David competed in academic debate and coached college debate teams to over 1500 individual victories and 50 tournament championships. When he retired from that research-intensive endeavor, his interest turned to researching fund investing and fund communication strategies. He served as the closing moderator of Brill’s Mutual Funds Interactive (a Forbes “Best of the Web” site), was the Senior Fund Analyst at FundAlarm and author of over 120 fund profiles.

February 1, 2026

By David Snowball

Welcome to the February issue of Mutual Fund Observer.

We’re glad you’re here.

I’ve always been fascinated by the interplay of climate and culture, the way that our physical world seeps deep into our cultural bones. After years of The News from Lake Wobegon, Minnesota, gained an almost mythical spot in my vision of people in winter. For those of you who haven’t visited, the temps in Minneapolis hit -21 degrees Fahrenheit in January, and the force of the wind deducted another 30 degrees from that total. That’s low enough that Continue reading →

Quality Worked in 2025. And Failed Spectacularly

By David Snowball

Quality investing delivered one of its worst years on record in 2025. Except when it didn’t. Some quality funds posted top-quintile returns while many languished at the bottom, a divergence so dramatic it demands explanation. The story isn’t that quality failed; it’s that the market split quality investors into winners and losers based on a single tactical choice.

“Quality” funds in 2025

87 funds and ETFs have “quality” as part of their name; 60 of those 87 funds trailed their peers in 2025. Most funds that pursue “quality” Continue reading →

A Letter to Layla

By David Snowball

Hi, Layla.

Chip and I are grateful for the help you’ve given us in learning to be a bit more physically fit, and we were delighted to hear that you were interested in learning a bit about … umm, financial fitness. I know it seems confusing and infinitely complex.

It isn’t. Really, you just need to have a bit of faith, a bit of discipline, and Continue reading →

The Indolent Portfolio, 2025

By David Snowball

A tradition dating back to the days of FundAlarm was to annually share our portfolios, and reflections on them, with you. My portfolio, indolent in design and execution, makes for fearfully dull reading. That is its primary charm.

This is not a “here’s what you should own” exercise, much less an “envy me!” one. Instead, it’s a “here’s how I think. Perhaps it will help you do likewise?” exercise. Continue reading →

January 1, 2026

By David Snowball

Welcome to the New Year’s issue of the Mutual Fund Observer. We’re glad you’re here.

Heraclitus, the famously elusive Greek philosopher, reminded his students that you cannot step into the same river twice. Both we and the river will have changed. According to legend, one of those students – snarky little barstid – replied: “I don’t think you can step into the same river once.” Even as we step, the river flows and changes.

As do we. Continue reading →

New Year’s Resolution #1: Don’t underwrite lobotomies

By David Snowball

Ninety years ago, emergent science and a self-assured entrepreneur came together to offer a quick and cheap solution to an intractable problem.

The press loved it. The public became enamored, and demanded more and more of it. The Nobel committee awarded a Prize for it.

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

It always does. Continue reading →

What Five AIs Told Me About 2026’s Best Investment

By David Snowball

And what their answers tell you.

In mid-December 2025, I asked five AI systems – ChatGPT, Claude, DeepSeek, Grok, Perplexity – the same deliberately unfair question: “given current market condition and historic patterns, what is likely to be the highest returning asset class available to US investors in 2026?” The question is unfair because nobody can know that until 2027, and because it ignores all of the important stuff, information about the investor’s horizon, needs, and temperament, which is vastly more important than raw returns information.

Every system rushed to answer rather than Continue reading →

AI and MFO

By David Snowball

Since our January 2026 issue has two distinct, cautionary essays on the incursion of artificial intelligence chatbots into our lives, schools, and portfolios, it’s important for you to understand the role of AI at MFO.

Every single article is conceived and written by one of three human beings: Snowball, Lynn Bolin, or The Shadow. All of them are reviewed, cleaned, edited (and occasionally snickered at) by one of two human beings: Raychelle and Chip. Whether the argument or the writing is sublime or execrable, it’s human. Continue reading →

December 1, 2025

By David Snowball

Dear friends,

Welcome to the December Mutual Fund Observer, and to the holiday season.

The Christmas of the early American republic would be barely recognizable to us. In many colonies, it was a workday, ignored or mistrusted; only some immigrant communities treated it as a true festival. You’ll remember the Christmas of Continue reading →

The Kids are Alright

By David Snowball

MFO’s founding mission is to “write for the benefit of intellectually curious, serious investors— managers, advisers, and individuals—who need to go beyond marketing fluff, beyond computer-generated recommendations and beyond Morningstar’s coverage universe.” But one of our core precepts is “80% of all existing funds could disappear today with no loss to anyone, except possibly the managers who have to explain it to their spouses.” The goodriddance group includes two overlapping sorts of idiocy: (1) many are launched Continue reading →

Launch Alert: GMO Domestic Resilience ETF

By David Snowball

On October 1, 2025, GMO launched the GMO Domestic Resilience ETF (DRES), bringing the firm’s time-tested quality-focused investment discipline to a distinctly contemporary challenge: identifying companies positioned to benefit as manufacturing, defense production, and critical supply chains return to U.S. soil. DRES represents GMO’s bet that reshoring and nearshoring—the movement of production capacity back onshore or to nearby allies—constitutes more than political theater or a temporary supply-chain correction. The fund targets sectors at the heart of this shift: Continue reading →

Launch Alert: MFS Active Mid Cap ETF

By David Snowball

On September 24, 2025, MFS Investment Management launched the MFS Active Mid Cap ETF (MMID), bringing one of the firm’s most seasoned mid-cap strategies into the ETF wrapper. The fund represents a straightforward translation of MFS Mid Cap Value – a strategy portfolio manager Kevin Schmitz has managed since 2008 – into a more tax-efficient and accessible structure. What distinguishes MMID is not novelty but pedigree: a 17-year track record, a manager who joined MFS as an equity analyst in 2002 and has spent more than Continue reading →

November 1, 2025

By David Snowball

Welcome, dear friends.

Welcome to autumn. The apples are in, the trees are changing, flurries threaten – four of my students have never seen snow except at the movies – and, at long last, summer’s wardrobe has been laid to its rest. The clocks “fell back” as I was writing this essay, offering me a bonus hour in my day. Hesitant, as ever, to be wasteful, I resolved to spend my gifted hour thinking Interesting Thoughts.

Warren Buffett has more Continue reading →

T Rowe Price’s Calculated Bet: Why the Quintessential “Singles Hitter” Is Swinging for Crypto

By David Snowball

In the buttoned-down world of institutional asset management, T Rowe Price has long been the firm that makes boring look brilliant. While competitors chased hot trends and flashy returns, the Baltimore-based firm built its reputation as the quintessential “singles hitter,” compounding modest, steady gains into industry-leading long-term performance through disciplined, research-driven processes.

Which makes the 87-year-old firm’s October 2025 filing Continue reading →

Launch Alert: GMO Dynamic Allocation ETF

By David Snowball

On October 13, 2025, GMO launched its newest ETF, GMO Dynamic Allocation ETF (GMOD). The ETF is managed by Co-Heads of Asset Allocation Ben Inker and John Thorndike, and draws on GMO’s proprietary 7-Year Asset Class Forecasts. It will typically range between 40% and 80% equity exposure and can invest broadly across stocks and bonds, not limited by sector, market cap, credit quality, or geography.

This would be an interesting but distinctly contrarian operation. The key is that GMO has a strong and well-founded belief that Continue reading →

October 1, 2025

By David Snowball

Dear friends,

Welcome to the October issue of the Mutual Fund Observer. We’re glad you’re here.

And welcome to the Dog Days of Autumn! The natural world is scrambling to keep up with the changes we’ve triggered, and continue to intensify, upon it. As I walked one of the many bike/hike trails in the Quad Cities on Sunday, I confronted two worlds. One was defined by 90-degree temperatures, hot sunshine, and cracked earth. The other by the rhythm of birds called southward and plants quietening for the season to Continue reading →

Launch Alert: Tweedy, Browne International Insider + Value ETF

By David Snowball

On September 10, 2025, Tweedy, Browne Company LLC, launched the International Insider + Value ETF (ICPY). The ETF is both actively managed and fully transparent, which might engender some risk (for example, front-running by high-speed traders) but also simplifies the structure and reduces complexity.

The managers have the freedom to create an all-cap, all-world portfolio that can invest in developed and developing markets and, to a limited extent, in the US. The plan is simple Continue reading →

Launch Alert: RACWI US ETF

By David Snowball

On September 12, 2025, Research Affiliates launched the RACWI US ETF, which will track its proprietary RACWI US Index. This is just RA’s second directly managed fund, following Research Affiliates Deletions ETF (NIXT), which launched in September 2024 and targets the stocks dropped from traditional large- to mid-cap indexes.

Research Affiliates, founded in 2002 by Rob Arnott, is a Newport Beach–based investment firm recognized for Continue reading →

Launch Alert: The Militia Long Short ETF

By David Snowball

An Unusual Offering from an Unusual Manager

In January 2025, the Militia Long Short Equity ETF (ticker: ORR) launched. We’re profiling it because Sam Lee strongly recommended we look at it, and we trust Sam Lee. Founder of Austin-based SVRN Asset Management, former Morningstar strategist and editor of ETFInvestor newsletter and MFO contributor, Sam is very smart, has assessed a lot of managers, and has never invested in a hedge fund before. He describes Continue reading →