FYI: Fifteen years is a long time, but it hasn't been enough to erase the poor average annual returns of growth stock mutual funds for that period. The average growth mutual fund rose an average annual 0.58% in the past 15 years vs. 7.28% for its value-style counterpart, 6.83% for core funds and 4.38% for the S&P 500, according to Morningstar Inc.
Regards,
Ted
http://license.icopyright.net/user/viewFreeUse.act?fuid=MjAwMTcwODY=
Enlarged Graphic:
http://news.investors.com/photopopup.aspx?path=WEBlv072215.jpg&docId=762773&xmpSource=&width=1000&height=1225&caption=&id=762770

That was also nearly 11 years ago... Liquidity in these markets is much different today.

Can anyone shed some light on the comparative performance of PRGTX to PRMTX? Are these two funds too similar to own both?
I own PRMTX. Aside from 08/09 and 2014, PRMTX has outperformed PRGTX eight out of the last ten years.

This is a report of how employees of national firms (such as Edward Jones) like their employer, not how customers like their advisors.
One cannot read the actual study (this is how companies like JD Powers make their money), but one can still go to the actual press release. That provides more (and often clearer) information than one gets elsewhere (rewrites of the PR).
The survey has been going on for many years (at least since 2008) - the rewrite said just the past two years. It is true that the survey was restructured in 2014, but it appears that the same 1,000 point scale was preserved. (I can't find any description of the scale, e.g. whether it is linear, or like M* ratings distributed unevenly.)
Here's the 2015 release, 2014 release, and 2013 release.
It seems that what the restructuring amounted to was using the same seven factors (e.g. compensation, operational support, etc.) in surveying all advisors post 2013, as opposed to using different factors for employee advisors (9 factors) and for independent advisors (8 factors). The older surveys also ordered the weighting of the factors differently depending upon whether the advisor was an employee or independent.
Not that I think any of this matters, but if one's going to read the results, one might has well have an idea of what they're talking about.

Yes, it would have been great to buy XBI a few years ago at the bottom. At my age, however, I would be too nervous to commit that much money at once after the run biotech has had. Much less anxiety to buy a little ETNHX...or FBIOX. Now, if we had a biotech pullback......

The more I read, the more I think VMVFX (and maybe a bond fund, if one doesn't want to view SS payments as a bond.)
I look at fees as a percentage of what I earned that year. If I pay 1% and earn 5%, I pay 20% of earnings. (VMVFX still costs me >6%.) If I lost money, I don't even want to go there. If someone had been with me from year zero (which NEVER would occur, because I was in debt at year zero), had advised me well, and I had on the average earned 5 to 8 X her charges yearly (10 x would be better), I'd probably be happy, even if she had taken 15% or more of my earnings.
But, if someone wants me to pay them $50K - $200K over 10 years, they had better promise me $0.5 to 1M better than VTI during that interval to justify their cost. If all they are offering is downside protection, they had better cost much less. (Timing may be everything, but it's extremely difficult, and you probably still lost money.)
Since I don't believe it is 4X more difficult to advise a $2M portfolio than one of $500K, I would opt for hourly reimbursed advice even if it's padded by a couple of hours, if I trust the adviser.

International/Global Stalwarts looks interesting, and perhaps they'll stay open a little while longer because of the slightly larger size. Honestly with the microcap fund, this might go small enough that it compounds in the high teens especially since it won't make it past 25 million.
Their funds have done well over the past few years, but with hundreds of holdings, it's hard to believe there are that many attractive companies, despite the universe of stocks they choose from. I'd love to see a focus fund with almost no turnover should they launch something after these three.
I didn't pull the trigger last time on gpiox, but I could definitely consider these for part of my foreign allocation.

@hank. Your comment on the tomatoes reminds me of the 1973 film Soylent Green where I think one went for $250. Actually over the years my attempt at growing tomatoes in my back yard is similar. After buying the plants, the best soil, the mulch, plant food, I figure each tomato I would get cost at least $25.00. Growing them in the strong New Mexico sun and summerheat not like growing them in my former east coast home.

@mnzdedwards
Similar to when Wasatch opened the Microcap Value and International Opportunities Funds years ago also.

Been in and out of gold/precious metals funds over the years. In the wayback years.........well, I better not tell ya.
I don't recall a RSI of 13.6 for much of anything since 2008. A reading of 30 or less is considered a nominal low point for "watching" and a reading of 70 is moving towards the overbought area.
'Course, sometimes these trends have longer legs; not unlike a value stock/fund in a downdraft and the value continues to improve, except for those invested at a higher price.
But, as I posted on Sunday; many sectors in the broad commodity sectors are quite weak. Perhaps the big money is getting ready for an unwind and then a short term profit run.
Ya won't always be bitten by a barking dog; but caution should be observed as shown next, plus or minus a small blip:
NUGT today = -32%
DUST today = +31%
GDX chart, 1 year
Take care,
Catch

When I have been asked about various investment products or vendors, I always attempt to get these "folks" to do their own work/research, too.
Too many friends/relatives I have talked with over the years are too lazy; in spite of the fact that they were good enough to have saved monies to invest and that expressing to them that you worked hard for this money and this money should work hard for you going forward, they don't even want to ask some simple questions about how much of their invested monies with vendor "x" would be their NET return.
A recent example is brothers (beneficiaries) whose mother passed away and the account was evenly split into active accounts from this money for the brothers. None of the investment holdings were changed; the "advisor" only sent letters showing the investments and values once each month. The advisor never sent an introduction letter explaining his fees or methods for "deciding" what would be proper investment areas.
Four of the 5 brothers have kept their accounts in place. One asked for the account to be closed and the monies be moved into a credit union account to be used or invested as desired. I asked about the management fee and what discussion had taken place as to whether the investments for the remaining 4 brothers was suitable to and for them.
They, of course; didn't know. Apparently the advisor fee is 1% of total account value, transaction fees(?) and they're not sure how to decide about investment areas and remain at the "whim" of the advisor. Two of these folks are very "tight" with their spending habits (stuff on sale, coupons for grocery shopping, etc.), but won't take the time and the infomation offered via the internet to get an "idea" of what to do. Guessing their time is limited after clipping coupons.
Example two is for 2 young men (25-30 y.o.) I encountered a few years ago. They worked for an insurance company and were selling their products and approached me. They briefly explained this and that. I asked about a variable annuity (no life insurance frills, etc.) offering and whether they had a cost/fee schedule in plain wording. Well, no........but............ I explained (all I knew about from the top of my head) that I was aware of a variable annuity product from Fidelity that allowed for investments in 57 active managed mutual funds and that my cost would be the E.R. of the mutual fund, plus an annual fee of .25%. How do your similar products measure against this? Well, they were not able to provide any data of value. I am sure they wanted their foot inside my money door to "help" me with their products. But, for every one of me; there will be 99 others with few questions and these 2 salesmen likely will sell something to a few of them.
Lastly, one could hope for a "plain black on white", 1 page form of all expenses one will encounter doing business with person "x" for investment product "y".
One hopes that enough folks with needs and help in this area happen to have a decent person hold their hand through an investment process. I do not begrude anyone "making a living" with helping folks with their investments. It is indeed a special area of knowledge that too few folks have any clue.
I suspect many here field questions about investments, from friends and family.
I/we, at this house, are glad we are a tiny bit smart in this area; and have the "devil's advocate" questions at the ready. One can not expect the proper answer without the proper question.
Just my inflation adjusted 2 cents worth of jabber.
Catch

Morning @Ted
Thank you for this article. Many of these areas have been discussed over the years at FundAlarm and here; but there are summary items in this article that are of value for all investors.
Take care,
Catch

Folks might I suggest ... and, if you have the desire ...
Edward Jones has offices in most towns throughout the good old USA ... Why not visit one and meet with one of their advisors, face-to-face, to get the scoop first hand on their Advisor Solutions program. I am not in their advisory program because I felt I'd be taking a pay cut as my portfolio, at last review when compared to their growth & income model(s) was out performing theirs plus I'd be giving up control of my investments and my ability to hire and fire fund managers, positon my portfolio to my choices plus I'd have to pay the advisory solutions management fee ... and, in addition, I'd have to sell funds with large capital gains (TAXES) to make the switch unless I opted to do this in my IRA.
I have been a client of Edward Jones for more than twenty five years and the only account fees I remember to have ever paid myself was the annual fee ($30.00, perhaps now $40.00) on my self directed IRA. And, with building the account(s) to a good size I now have no account, or wrap, fees and many of my purchase transactions are at nav or reduced commissions. Generally, once you buy into a fund family you can do nav exchanges into other funds within that family of funds without a sales charge.
Perhaps you should just get the scoop first hand from them, if interested, and not off the board as I feel some of the information provided by some other posters is not what I have experienced.

Right. VIG is fine. Just depends which vehicle one likes better.
As for the fee of .20% vs. .10%, from what I understand, the existence of "front running" by traders adds a hidden but very real cost to any index etf -- a cost of maybe .2% or more per annum. So truly, the old fashioned open end fund -- at .20% -- may be cheaper.
However, the actual results over the past 5 years show an annualized advantage to VIG of right around .1% exactly -- hmmmm.
another good alternative: SCHD.

It seems that there is no set aum standard for having advisory help, you have to find what works best for you and research the person that will be advising if that is the route you decide to take. When I inherited a portfolio almost three years ago, it was larger than I was used to self managing, so hired a CFP at Merrill whom I knew for about 5 years. I pay less than .75%, AUM fee, get access to Institutional fund class funds, thus a lower ER on many funds and advice as often as I want. I like the idea of a second set of eyes and sometimes we disagree, but I make the final decision in the long run. Sometimes I was right and sometimes she was right, it all balances out.
Only disadvantage is they don't sell all funds like a fund supermarket or discount broker, perhaps that is why those houses charge more for managing or advising. I do still have a small acct at a discount broker for those times I do want to buy a fund ML does not sell. Just my $.02

"For starters the advisory fee at Fidelity is stated as "between 0.63% and 1.7%" according to the link msf provided."
Charles wrote: "So, they [EJ] charge you 1.5% each year to manage your life savings". I simply responded with the same phrasing, figuring we both knew what that meant. The article states that EJ "charges up to 1.5%", so apples to apples, EJ still looks cheaper than Fidelity.
" I don't think that either Charles or I (I'm sure about me) were suggesting that EJ or anyone else (e.g. Fidelity, Schwab etc) other than the issuing fund company were collecting the loads charged."
Charles continued: "Will sell you American's front-loaded funds, which takes 5.75% off the top (and Edward Jones pockets)." It sure sounded like Charles was suggesting that EJ collected the loads.
You may have meant something different, but your article quote was: "Jones last year earned $49.4 million in revenue sharing from sales". Those are loads (and/or trailing commissions, another form of loads, per SEC). That's $49.4 million of loads collected by EJ. (Well, technically collected by American funds and "shared" with EJ, hence revenue "sharing".) That's why I noted that this amount was in addition to the servicing fees received by EJ from the funds.
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@Maurice - what Fidelity suggests with Premium services is that you "Talk to your [Fidelity] financial consultant about a referral to an independent, registered investment advisor who can provide customized portfolio management, advice, and specialized products."
It seems Fidelity Premium Services does not provide advice - you need to go elsewhere and pay for it.
No pressure for high rev products at Fidelity? When I moved an annuity out of Fidelity, they called me at 6:30 in the morning local time, and spent a half hour trying to talk me into undoing that. They even got an annuity specialist on the line midway through the conversation.
The products for which reps get the highest compensation, i.e. trailing fees, are Portfolio Advisory Services (PAS) and annuities.
I figure that's why my rep kept reminding me for a few years that I could offload all my portfolio management work onto PAS. He gradually accepted my statement that I prefer to do this myself, and has since gently tossed a product idea or two my way from time to time. A much improved working relationship.

I wouldn't say I am afraid to spend money...I just don't like overpaying for things...or paying anything at all, if I can get it for free! Although I still get alimony and am still in a high tax bracket (thank you, divorce attorney), I decided several years ago to learn how to extreme coupon. I have always used coupons, but at an "amateur" level. What I do now is "professional" shopping...I have shopped many times and actually earned a little money for shopping. I get so much stuff for free or cheap, I have to give it away to friends, family, and food bank! I also use several shopping apps, where I can earn free gift cards. It takes a lot of time, but I'd much rather do this than pay Uncle Sam 40% of what I'd earn at a job. With the money I save, I splurge on travel, golf, clothes and jewelry. My bf, also retired, works part-time at a golf club which is part of a network of golf clubs, so we enjoy traveling around the state and playing different courses for free.

NOBL looks great. I like the fact that it is a compact portfolio, and I like the fact that it is equal-weighted. Also I can live with the .35% management fee.
In the same vein is the open end fund VDAIX, where the index requires only 10 years of consecutive dividend increases vs. 25 years for NOBL. Management fee is .20% and it holds a cap-weighted gaggle of 181 names.
I would not consider QVAL. I am unfamiliar with the quantitative screens it uses, although I have little doubt that they have all back-tested very well. To me, these somewhat esoteric screens add uncertainty and violate the KISS principle. Further, it is billed as an actively managed etf which not only gives humans a chance to mess it up, but which costs .79% annually. My guess is that over time it will lag the others mentioned here for that reason alone.
I feel that chances are all of these mentioned will do fine. The phrase "6 of one half-dozen of the other" comes to mind, but for a certain type of weirdo (present!) it is fun and interesting to split the hairs. Thanks for pointing out NOBL, scott.

However, having been burned myself a few years ago in OPGSX, I'd rather track these things than own them. Just a very tough way to make a living.

I'm on board with you Hank. Gold and PM miners are the essence of speculation investing IMO. I jumped on the band wagon a bit back in the old FundAlarm days (USAGX, UNWPX, TGLDX). May be the worst advice I ever followed here. My own fault for jumping on. On the other hand, I'm sure some will say they've made money with PM's. They are better at it then me.

Yikes - After holding up very well earlier in the year, SGGDX appears to have entered a nose-dive. Down 12% YTD and 32% over 1 year. The other gold fund I track, OPPGX, is doing even worse.
I'm agnostic on gold. We've gone round and round on this one in the past. Nothing to add here that I haven't previously said. However, having been burned myself a few years ago in OPGSX, I'd rather track these things than own them. Just a very tough way to make a living.