Can anybody think of good reasons to go with actively managed balanced funds (other than Vanguard) instead of their Balanced Index? Over the past 10 years the Balanced Index has been competitive with actively managed funds yadda yadda. But what about the future?

I was surprised too, but then I don't keep up with, at best, more than a couple of individual companies at any one time. With GE, though, I'm under the impression that their renewables (division? subsidiary? whatever it is) is pretty well positioned, globally, especially in wind tech. Not sure how much of the portfolio that'll be once the dust settles, tho.
Seems like it would be, at the very least, worth considering something like you're thinking about.

I was actually surprised he said that. I've been toying with buying some GE LEAPS in my Roth and just let them sit there for the next few years to play on the potential recovery/restructuring.

Interesting that DG's 'one investment' was GE, calling it a $20 stock eventually.

Thanks @Ted - An informative discussion.
Some take-aways:
- Reminds me a lot of Peter Lynch 30 years ago. Both are / were more concerned about product, and much less so with price performance, technical indicators or indexes.
- Loved his comment: “There are good active managers and there are bad active managers.”
- Repeated reference to autonomous driving. My Accord has “level 1” capability which allows it to self-steer, provided it can discern a clearly marked center line. Biggest problem is it cannot tell smooth portions of a roadway from the pot-holed and broken-up areas. To be able to steer around those (endemic on our local roads) I often have to turn it off. Only mention it because I’m wondering how the designers will work around that issue?
- Nothing surprising about T. Rowe. After 25+ years, I know them to be excellent at sorting out the macro trends.
- On GE, if you’re familiar with Arthur Miller you’ll recall Willy Loman also held them in high esteem. Hearing his Hastings refrigerator had broken again ...
“I told you we should’ve bought a well-advertised machine. Charley bought
a General Electric and it’s twenty years old and it’s still good, that son-of-a-
bitch ... Whoever heard of a Hastings refrigerator?” (Death of a Salesman - Act 2 )
Couple disappointments:
- Little if any discussion of fixed income.
- Mack’s lead-in suggested some bearishness on Giroux’s part. But I didn’t sense that. I’d say he’s very macro oriented and bearish on some big names while being positive on others - depending largely on sector.

I was actually surprised he said that. I've been toying with buying some GE LEAPS in my Roth and just let them sit there for the next few years to play on the potential recovery/restructuring.

Interesting that DG's 'one investment' was GE, calling it a $20 stock eventually.

If you believe the GMO 7-year forecasts, along with many of the other pundits, emerging markets is the place to be for the next 5-10 years relative to other asset classes; so I would expect the Grandeur Peak funds to do well since they are heavy on emerging markets. Only time will tell, I'm not unloading mine just yet!

Even older funds may not gather many assets if they don't market themselves. See BRUFX - 35 years old, $500M, not available through any brokerage. (But it does offer an HSA - talk about a stealth product!)

FYI: (Fund is closed to new investors.)
Regards,
Ted
January 17, 2019
Dear WEALTHTRACK Subscriber,
How concerned are you about stock market risk? Have occasional eight hundred point drops in the Dow, corrections in various indices, presidential tweets and trade disputes had you reaching for your Pepto-Bismol or Valium?
Market volatility has definitely picked up in the last year or so. Not an unusual occurrence. There have been many rocky periods, plus several euphoric highs and nail-biting lows during the long bull market that began in 2009. But those are not the risks that this week’s guest is focusing on. He is looking at much more fundamental, structural changes that he says are affecting the long-term future of specific companies, lots of them.
He is David Giroux, Portfolio Manager and Chairman of the Investment Advisory Committee of T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation Fund which is a Morningstar Gold Medalist and carries a Five-Star rating. Giroux was named Morningstar’s Allocation and Alternatives Fund Manager of the Year in 2017, the second time he was so honored and has been nominated for the award several other times.
It is Giroux’s role as Head of Investment Strategy at T. Rowe Price that is the focus of much of today’s conversation because he is leading research projects across T. Rowe Price’s investment platform and asset classes. One of his major efforts is identifying secular risk in companies and avoiding companies that have it. He and his team estimate that over a third of S&P 500 companies are facing risks that will result in lower performance over the next ten years and that their numbers are increasing.
As always, this week’s program is available to our PREMIUM subscribers right now. In our exclusive EXTRA feature with David Giroux you’ll learn about a book that he says has improved his and his team’s productivity significantly.
Thank you for watching. Have a lovely weekend and make the week ahead a profitable and a productive one.
Best regards,
Consuelo
Video Clip:

M* Snapshot PRWCX:
https://www.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/prwcx/quote.html
Lipper Snapshot PRWCX:
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/fund/prwcx
PRWCX Is Ranked #19 In The (50-70/% E) Fund Category By U.S. News & World Report:
https://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual-funds/allocation-50-to-70-equity/t-rowe-price-capital-appreciation-fund/prwcx

Taking a closer look at this now than I did in the last thread, and I'm wondering how far off you are with that "Bernie" comment.
The strategy has echoes of RPHYX's - buying "orphaned securities; exceedingly short-term (think 30-90 day maturity) securities for which there are few other buyers."
[Than you Professor for Riverpark's fund profile: https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2012/09/riverpark-short-term-high-yield-fund-rphyx-july-2011-updated-october-2012/]
In the case of RPHYX, the remnants are short term junk bonds that the fund manager believes have little risk of default. In contrast, STATX is picking up short term Treasuries (with presumably even less risk of default).
While both funds may be picking up coins from the sidewalk (bonds that aren't being bought by other investors), ISTM that RPHYX is picking up nickels and STATX is picking up pennies.
So how does STATX generate an SEC yield a full percentage point higher than RPHIX's, even allowing for its 1/2 percent lower fees? Especially since it is investing in higher grade bonds, slightly shorter average maturity (1.0 vs. 1.1 years), and lower duration (0.01 vs. 0.55 years)?
The only thing I see is the use of reverse repurchasing agreements, which as the prospectus states, has "a leveraging effect on the Fund’s NAV".

Hi @Derf and good morning. Thanks for your question.
I did put a little bit of cash to work recently opening first step positions in DWGAX, INUTX, PONAX and TEQIX since I have now reached my new asset allocation of 20% cash, 40% income and 40% equity. My focus this year is to grow my portfolio's income generation while maintaing my asset allocation along with achieving some growth of principal. Over the past five years my portfolio's income generation has ranged from a low of 3.0% to a high of 5.3% with an average of 4.4%. I'd like to get my income average a littler higher. Ten years ago its average was north of 5%. As most of us know yields have dropped during this time frame but are now (more recently) back on the rise. Even with the past, and more recent, market swoons my portfolio's total return has been better than nine percent annually over the past ten years; however, I also held a greater percentage in equities earlier than I presently do. At one time I was about 70% equity but I have now reduced this down to 40% equity (through time) due to an age based asset allocation realignment. Now being 70+ years in age I consider my present asset allocation, noted above, to be an all weather asset allocation, for me, as it holds ample cash, generates ample income, and should still grow my principal over time.

Have a Kenmore washer, dryer & canister vacuum cleaner all 20+ years old and still running fine. The name has always been highly respected. That’s a bit odd - since Sears was known to brand devices made by assorted manufacturers with the prized Kennmore label.
Let’s not get carried away here. Bought a Craftsman power lawn mower a few years ago and it was a piece of trash. Took it back for a refund.

I've held 3-4 of their funds since they opened the shop. It went swimmingly until it no longer did. When their funds were outpacing the pack the boys from Utah looked like geniuses, making company visits where few venture, and seeming to have a great team. The last two shareholder letters paint a very different picture; there's talk of mistakes, the need to move personnel around, a recognition that no matter how great a company might appear to fund management, the market is cruel. I still ponder what a "guardian portfolio manager" ought to be doing with respect to the rest of his team. I'm holding for now, but I previously dumped a significant percentage of my foreign (over)exposure.
I think we all like honest and direct shareholder letters. The situation at GP reminds me of Bridgeway Funds, another small, independent company that had great numbers for several years. Bridegeway does good with its profits and seems to be a good place to work. John Montgomery writes fine analyses of his firm's fund performance. It really sounds good, but the performance of their small and micro-cap funds does not cut the mustard. Montgomery's first vehicle was BRUSX, a real winner for a long time. But in the last 10 years he's may behind his benchmark, losing an average of 3.58.% in the last 5 years, for example. Le marché est cruel.

@Derf - I've been using an electric Kenmore clothes dryer since 1976. Two years ago I had to replace the belt which spins the drum.
I also have a 24-yr old Kenmore washer still going strong.

I still say she looks like a bloody lemur.

My SO has, for many years, called her "racoon lady", so I see your point. :-)

Considering adding to GPIOX, but just plotted out performance vs VMVFX and it looks like VMVFX did just as well in the good years, and outperformed massively last year. (Not apples to apples, since GPIOX is just international & smaller cap, but plugging GPGOX or any other GP fund into the charts makes no difference.)
Still on the fence. Grandeur Peak has managers with a long track record of success at Wasatch.

Will consider selling my FPACX if they liquidate FPPTX which I have held for years. No reason to leave any money behind.

I also owned many years ago and sold it.. Seems Mr. Romick has alway been held in high regard. I was never able to understand that.

This is a fund David owns and keeps in high regard as per his input on this site.This is supposed to be a cautious mod allocation fund but lost about 6.5% in the past year with about 25% cash in assets, ie loss greater than the s&p 500 index by about 2%. FPACX has lost about 25% of its AUM in the past few years. Has Steve Romick and his clan lost their supposed mandate? Or is it very poor equity choices. What say thee?

FYI: (Slide mouse to 16:30 minutes for Andrew Foster interview.)
Andrew Foster, portfolio manager at the Seafarer Growth and Income Fund, said he expects 2019 to be better for emerging markets than last year was, but warned that it won't be a great year, just better than the recent past. More importantly, with emerging markets coming back, he expects them to deliver the diversification benefits that they mostly have fallen short of in recent years. Also on the show, Gerg McBride of BankRate.com discusses they pay raises workers are expecting -- or not -- for the year ahead, David Trainer of New Constructs reviews his top Danger Zone picks from 2018, and Tom Plumb of the Plumb Funds has the Market Call.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/moneylife-with-chuck-jaffe/e/58176652?autoplay=true
M*: Snapshot SFGIX:
https://www.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/sfgix/quote.html
Lipper Snapshot SFGIX:
https://www.marketwatch.com/investing/fund/sfgix
SFGIX Is Unranked In The (DEM) Fund Category By U.S. News & World Report:
https://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual-funds/diversified-emerging-mkts/seafarer-overseas-growth-and-income-fund/sfgix

Has anyone figured out why T. Rowe offers 2 distinct lines (“Retirement” and “Target”)? I looked at the 2015 version of each and both have a glide path (which grows more conservative over time) and both earned Price’s “Moderate” risk assessment. If I had the time, I’d enjoy digging deeper - but not at this time.
One thought is that one line became saturated with investments to the point where it was putting too much stress (bloat) on the underlying funds it invests in. So, a new line using different underlying funds would help with that. Seems like I did read some “rumblings” re a possible saturation point many years ago in one of their Retirement funds reports.
Additionally, they may contract out with some big corporations to meet their employees’ retirement needs (401K and other). Thus, different corporations might buy into different versions of what appear to be very similar investment products.

“The scenario I just sketched isn’t a forecast. It is a description of exactly what has been happening in Japan. The forecast is that most of the rest of the world will follow suit. Japan is the poster child for the rest of us who aren’t having enough babies to replace ourselves.”
(BTW- That’s not a new thought. It’s been around for many years.)
So why is this country intent on deploying armed forces to the southern border to turn away hungry, willing to work (and consume), families with babies? This isn’t an argument for open borders. But with severe labor shortages across much of the nation, it seems not in our own self interest to discourage new arrivals. MAGA
As a prospective employer, would you be willing to offer a job to someone who had just walked 2,000 miles in search of work?