Paul Massaro Article on Fixed Income:
uncovering-opportunities-noninvestment-grade-credit
On Duration Risk:

... if you're going to take duration risk, take duration risk in your equity sleeve, not in your fixed-income sleeve. Duration risk in equities is really cheap, given how attractive utilities are priced today relative to investment-grade or Treasuries

On Holdings:

But you can't outperform by 400 basis points a year or 300 basis points per year if you have 100 stocks. It's very, very hard to do that. You really need to be a little more concentrated.

TRP's Floating Rate Fund = PRFRX
Market inefficiencies...
GARP-y Stocks = Growth At Reasonable Price
-13% of the S&P 500 (according to Giroux)
https://investopedia.com/terms/g/garp.asp

I think what drives in many respects the multiple companies is a little bit supply and demand. So, the reason why this 13% of the S&P 500 that I call GARP, trades where it does, and it should trade higher, is that a value manager will often look and say, Well, these companies, they trade for 10% or 20% premium to the market, that’s too expensive, so I can't invest in those stocks. Growth manager says, you know what, these companies, they're only growing organically like 4% or 5% organically. I want to own companies that are growing 10% organically.
So, in many cases, there's no natural buyer for these companies. So, that depresses their valuation to a level where, again, if you think about the market, the market, typically, in non-recession years, grows earnings at 6% to 7% kind of clip, gives you a 2% dividend yield. So, for a small premium to that, which you'd able to generate, is find the companies that are growing earnings at 10% plus, maybe a little bit more dividend yield, and have much less downside risk, because there's an inefficiency. The two big market participants kind of shunned these companies a little bit. So, what happens is, over time, they just compound wealth, and in many cases, the market becomes a little bit smarter over time and says, Oh, it used to trade for 18 times earnings, but it's actually a really good company, and you should trade for 20 or 21 times or 22 times. So, you get the compounding of the earnings and the dividend and usually, like the multiple expands.

The Nasdax Index is 50 years old:
crossingwallstreet.com/archives/2021/02/happy-50th-birthday-to-the-nasdaq-composite.html
Article on owning USNQX (NASDX / QQQ) verses VIGAX (LC Growth Index):
https://fool.com/investing/2020/09/08/better-buy-vanguard-growth-index-fund-usaa-nasdaq/

I wonder if it's worth pointing out that at least the first couple of years of a four-year administration probably have more to do with the last couple of years of the previous administration? I'd be happier with a comparison from year two of an administration to year one of the following administration. Maybe that would come out the same; don't really know.

Thanks very much for sharing this @Mark. I appreciate it. Yes he's over at Hennessy and has been for a number of years. Looks like his funds have done well. The only negative is that the expense ratio is 1.83%. Ouch!

@Mark and @sma3. Thanks for thoughts. Im very familiar with ARKF and its had great performance. But its more like a tech fund than a financial fund. Im looking at this as more a value driven investment vs growth. Admittedly financials havent done great over last several years but I think the dynamics are changing. This includes rising interest rates and banks being able to increase their dividends over next few years. Very curious how anyone on the board is investing in banks? Thru bank etfs, value etfs, or mutual funds?

PRWCX is one of the best risk/reward moderate allocation funds in the last 5-10-20 years.
VWIAX is one of the best risk/reward conservative allocation funds in the last 5-10-20 years.
PIMIX is one of the best Multi sector bond funds 2008-2018.
So, when they tell you can't get FREE LUNCH, I have eaten free lunch for over 20 years.
Defining free lunch:
when you get better performance at similar SD.
when you get similar performance at lower SD.
And the best is...when you get better performance at lower SD.
Example for the third choice...PV(link) PRWCX vs SPY since 2000. Sharpe+Sortino are also good indicators.

I have been a Baron's shareholder for years, although I never went to his shareholder events every year where some Mega star shows up. Having said that I got nervous when his kids started showing up as fund mangers, and left five or ten years ago.
I did leave a chunk of my Daughter's IRA in BPRTX, although it is leveraged 30% and has had huge drawdowns (47% tin 2020 and 60% in 2009)
Having said that we just sold half because TSLA is 47% of the fund. Baron may have sold some TSLA, but so far this year BPRTX's return is 50% of TSLA; you would expect more if it is leveraged
I think his investment philosophy is sound, but letting a mutual fund to become nearly a one stock vehicle is too risky. We have all seen what happened with Sequoia and Fairholm when that happened.
I would start small and wait for a significant pullback, and only use money you won't need in 10 years.

"the groundhog just saw his shadow which means six more weeks of winter. "
THE groundhog? If we're talking prognosticators, shouldn't we go with the better track record?

It turns out Staten Island Chuck is, on the whole, more reliable than Phil of Punxsutawny, if you look at the past years data:
How Often Are Our Local Groundhogs Right?
Based on 24 predictions since 1992, as measured against data from the National Climate Data Center
[Bar Chart]      Punxsutawney Phil 43%      Staten Island Chuck 65%

https://gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/data-staten-island-chuck-or-punxsutawny-phil-which-groundhog-is-historically-more-accurate
"Staten Island Chuck claimed that spring is imminent." But there are allegations of fake news: "Chuck's prognostication was suspiciously made in a pre-taped Staten Island Zoo video."
Since this is an investing site and predictions seem to be the subject, one must consider the Super Bowl indicator. Clearly the Chiefs represent the AFC. But what about the Buccaneers? For its first season the team was in the AFC. Does that mean it's a sure bet that the market will fall this year (since there's arguably no team originally from the NFC)?
Not so fast. The accuracy of this indicator goes down as attendance declines. With the pandemic, attendance (excluding cutouts) will be the lowest ever.
https://www.thestreet.com/investing/does-the-super-bowl-indicator-work
Lies, darn lies, and statistics.

@rono- As I'm sure that you'll remember, we have a large stash of 90% silver quarters that we've been sitting on for some sixty years. This morning I said to my wife "hey, we're rich again!".
Then I observed that yes, we could in fact sell into this market for a fair amount of money- maybe the best chance since the Hunt brothers. But we already have a good-sized pile of small green pieces of paper with numbers printed on them, of steadily decreasing worth, and which no one wants to borrow if they have to give us more pieces of green paper to do so.
So what's the point of converting the silver to even more pieces of green paper? Maybe better to keep the silver against the day when no one wants to trade anything of value for those small pieces of green paper.
You never know.
OJ

Thanks, @bee
A form of the words I've pushed upon folks for a number of years.
Sadly, never many takers, or thinkers. For some, as I've witnessed; they would prefer $70k into an ego version of themselves with a super-duper truck; or similar monies into other toys.

I've held AKREX/AKRIX for several years now and have not been disappointed. It is my number two holding right now and although I plan on reducing it by three percent in the coming year or two (rebalancing), it will still be 2 or 3 in my portfolio.
Whether to keep it not depends on your need and expectation. It is not a high-flying fund, in fact, although it is very concentrated it is still LOW risk and somewhat defensive.
I am not worried about Mr. Akre stepping aside, there are two very capable managers in place now. Mr. Neff since 2014 (2009 w/Akre) and Mr. Cerrone just last year (2012 w/Akre).
I am giving them a year or two before I make a decision. If I do bail, it will be gradual because I have significant LCG. All funds go through periods of "under-performance"; so far 2021, not good. Was last year a "little" disappointing (relatively speaking) for some, maybe, BUT I will take 21% EVERY YEAR!!!
As has been mentioned to me numerous times, has the reason you purchased the fund changed? Its scope or approach? Asset bloat affecting performance, etc.
Good luck with your decision!!!
Matt

Although my time frames are fuzzy, I held this fund around ten years ago and sold it a year or two later based on similar performance deterioration. Then, I watched AKREX recover and outperform and got back in several years ago, and now plan on maintaining my position, monitor, and reassess in a few months. At only 1% of my portfolio not a major impact.

I held AKREX from 7/2016, eventually it was my number 1 holing. By early 2020, I detected weakness in this fund. Started selling in April 2020 and nothing left on 6/29/2020. I know Mr. Charles Akre since the time he managed a small cap fund specialize in Finance sector and was # 1 for many years. he sold it to other mutual fund. Made lots of money from that fund. Then AKREX was formed. In my post dated 7/27/2020, I suggested to dump this fund for several reasons....Now, Mr Akre has retired.

Thanks for the clarification. My condolences to his family and friends.
Just received an email from GP concerning him:
February 1, 2021
Dear Fellow Investors,
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of our dear friend and colleague, Keefer Babbitt. Keefer was not only a great partner and friend, he also set the bar extremely high as it relates to his work. His character, work ethic, depth of thought and the quality of his output were greatly admired by all of us at Grandeur Peak. Keefer joined Grandeur Peak in 2012 as one of our first interns, and over the past 8+ years he has been a true builder of our firm. He made an enormous difference here and he will be greatly missed.
Keefer's current roles included co-managing the Global Contrarian Fund alongside Mark Madsen and Robert Gardiner, co-managing the Global Reach Fund with six other portfolio managers, contributing on our Industrials team, and of course first and foremost serving as a global research analyst. Given our unique team-based approach, we do not anticipate making any immediate changes to the portfolio management of either fund.
If you have any further questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me or a member of our Client Relations Team.
Best Regards,
Eric

@rsorden
.......Type the name of the pieces you own in the search box at the top of the Ebay link below to discover current pricing of your pieces; IF they are listed for sale at Ebay. The link is active for your use for whatever else at Ebay.
If silver bullion pricing moves a lot above and beyond its "normal" range for the past 10 years, then, IMHO; the bullion price will overwhelm the collectible price, with the exception of truly collectible pieces; which would likely reside in the rare coin area.
Folks will again start to unload "melt silver" coins and related items. The jewelry stores and pawn shops will have a lot of traffic. This was the pattern that persisted for about 6 months in the late '70's.
I've used Ebay for many years to determine what the general public is willing to pay for item "x" to have and hold in their hand, not an etf or other investment market device. The below link is for "closed auctions/bids" for silver bullion related items. This list will continue to update as auctions/bids close. This is a long list that one may scroll through to older dates.
Closed auction prices, Ebay.
ADD: Silver retail sites freeze from demand

If you evaluate these funds through the full market in 2020, the list may get considerable smaller. FMI funds, for example, was 3 alarm funds last years as noted on this discussion board

I saw this list in the M* article. Pretty hard to create a more obvious list than this for suggested core holdings.
Lemme get this straight: Buy a Total Stock Market index and/or S&P 500 Index for your core holding? Duh.
Moving past the obvious, if you remove ALL of the (unbelievable number of) Total Stock Market Index and S&P 500 Index, what do you really have?
One that you have is OAKMX, a 2-star, dog of a fund that's been mired in 3+ consecutive years of horrific underperformance, that you couldn't pay me to own. Pretty much ditto on FMIHX which is already DOWN 3+% YTD.
The author should have just stuck with the obvious.

Hi Old Joe,
It's good to hear from you. As you likely know I retired almost 25 years ago. At that time no Monte Carlo-like codes were available to me so I wrote my own simple version of that tool. It served me well but was not all inclusive.
Today's versions of that tool are much more complete and powerful. They will aid potential retirees in making good decisions. I will always take the opportunity to encourage their application for that purpose.
That 's surely a far distant application from their original use which was to help design the atomic bomb. The current applications are a tiny bit more sedate but more widely applied. The investment industry is a most frequent user to help in the retirement decision making process. But you knew that already.
Added comment: If a professional advisor does not make use of a sophisticated Monte Carlo tool, he or she is short changing his client. Monte Carlo is certainly not the total picture but can be a significant input. It is available so it should be exercised.
Best Wishes

Grantham and GMO usually makes predictions over the next seven years. This is different in that he’s saying the downturn could happen in the coming months, that we are near the top. Also, the extremity of the collapse he’s predicting is new.

OK...MSSMX UP 150% in 2020. UP 30% YTD.
Read it again slowly and try to understand it.
On the short squeeze question, speaking generally to all readers/posters...
I would caution limiting one's concerns about this issue to just SCs and/or any specific fund, e.g., MSSMX. This is potentially a very large, diverse problem that could affect investors in many ways, yet TBD, and may be affecting some/sevral of your holdings unbeknownst to you right now. That said...
Most recent portfolio data, even on the MS site, is from 09/30/20. It does NOT appear any of the short squeeze companies*** are held by MSSMX, at least not in the top ~50%-60% of its holdings. Invite others to look for some as well - could have missed one.
***UPDATE: SFIX is on both the Fido holdings and Short Squeeze company lists below (as a 5.21% holding per Fido list) but not sure if it's a problem child short.
Also note:
(1) These are dated holdings lists and much could have changed in the 4th Qtr and/or Jan 2021. Unless there were significant changes, does NOT appear to be a problem. (If it is, it's currently a GOOD problem to have. Just sayin'.)
(2) Keep in mind this is Morgan Stanley we're talking about here. If anybody stands a chance of being on the right side of how these squeezes turn out, I like my chances teaming up with them.
(3) I am NOT recommending that any readers/posters BUY/HOLD this fund. If you are considering doing so, do so after your own DD and at your own risk/peril. Like all MFs, it does NOT come with a warning label and "Nobody rings a bell" when it's time to consider getting out. (Thanks Art Cashin!)
(4) If you do BUY it, note that Dramamine is not included with your purchase.
(5) Lastly, and FWIW, it is an (intended, at least) LT hold for me and like they say, I'm "Enjoy(ing) the ride!"
https://www.morganstanley.com/im/en-us/registered-investment-advisor/product-and-performance/mutual-funds/us-equity/inception-portfolio.shareClass.I.html
https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/composition/61744J614?type=o-NavBar
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/here-are-the-biggest-short-squeezes-in-the-stock-market-including-gamestop-and-amc-11611842270
@Graust I recall you helping me several times over the years. Happy to have reciprocated at least in part. Be sure to Buckle Up on this one.