I chose 4 funds I'm a bit familiar with just for the heck of graph city going back to May, 2011 and to look at the lines as to what anyone may consider a fair or not so fair price from those days, through today.
>>>So, the chart funds.....well, Fido health is a decent long time, fairly broad based fund. Fido balanced, well within the high end of returns for similar funds. Fido Growth has a decent long term record and represents a broad group of growth stuff. ITOT is a kinda SP500 with a dash of mid and sm cap U.S.
>>>The chart starts with May, 2011 when Europe was still having monetary fits and the soon to come downgrade of U.S. gov't issued debt put a bang in the equity markets for a spell. Moving along, part of the 2015 and 2016 period were sideways, as reflected in the charting. And on to now.........
A semi random mix of equity types and bonds with FBALX, all U.S. directed. Non-U.S. is a different critter not covered here.
Go ahead, its okay; decide for yourself. Any of these in the chart undervalued since 6 years or so ago? Me? I'm just a profit pig and attempt to buy as low as I think I "see" and sell with what seems a reasonable profit.
I'll leave the link open for viewing the tickers.
https://stockcharts.com/freecharts/perf.php?FSPHX,FBALX,FDGRX,ITOT&n=1922&O=011000
OK........pillow time here.....good night.

In comparison, to Morningstar's valuation graph, Old_Skeet's market barometer has the S&P 500 Index at a reading of 180+ which marks it at extremely oversold on the barometer's scale by about 20%. For me to start buying equities at this point in time, in this falling market, I'd need to see a reversal in the barometer's reading. Currently, I've been just watching the action and building cash as my mutual funds are now making their year end distributions which I take in cash. I'd like to think we are working on a bottom; but, with rising interest rates it makes investing on margin more costly. And, with this, it seems, big money continues to deleverage as interest rates rise. In addition, short interest in the Index has been rising (not falling) as more and more investors are now shorting the Index.
I've been reducing my allocation to equities by about 10% within my portfolio as interest rates continue to rise and have increased both my allocation to cash and to fixed income by about 5% each. I am pretty close in getting to my target allocation of 20% cash, 40% bonds and 40% stocks. Within equities I am favoring an overweight to the traditional defensive sectors plus a few others (real estate and telecom being two of them).
Since, I am retired and my portfolio kicks off a good income stream I've elected to stay invested rather than selling out and lose the income stream plus I'd have a sizeable capital gains tax bill to pay as about 65% of my invested assets are in taxable accounts. My portfolio was built over time mostly through the organic growth of invested assets although I have done some trading as well.
I have a fund (CTFAX) that has been buying stocks as the market pulls back. It is now in its 4th buy step. With each equity buy step that the fund makes increases the fund's equity allocation by about 5%. Currently, the fund is about 70% bonds and 30% equity. It is normally is about 90% bonds and 10% equity. As the market recovers and begins an upward move the fund then starts to sell down equites and load bonds. This fund has automated, for me, the special investment positions (spiffs) that I use to manually make. However, once the dust settles in my rebalance process I've been thinking of putting an equity spiff postion in play most likely in an equally weighted S&P 500 Index fund as there are currently, as I write, only 12% of the stocks in the 500 Index above their 50 day moving average. It seems few are looking at forward earnings as they continue to be relative strong with 2019 forward earnings estimates in the $170.00 range. At current valuation of 2507 / forward earnings of $170.00 = a forward P/E Ratio of 14.74. This equates to a forward earnings yield of about 6.8%. With this, it seems, to me, there is some good value to be had by being invested in equities.
And, so-it-goes ... I wish all "Good Investing."
Old_Skeet
An update: With the market closing today (12/20/18) I am finding the S&P 500 Index at a reading of 2467. According to CTFAX's buy matrix the fund has now reached its 5th equity buy step. This should put bonds at about 65% and equities at 35%. I am also finding that the Index is off its 52 week high by about 15%. Hello ... Plundge Protection Team time to take some action.

Mairs & Power past 7 years through November ...

Dollar wise or % wise ? @ hank: Derf

I guess that would be % - wise Derf. Most anything with risk exposure will fall in both dollar terms and percentage terms during a bad market. At the same time, cash and bonds will normally increase as a percentage of your assets. At last look, my normal 38-42% allocation to equity weighted funds (mostly balanced funds) had slipped from 39.5% mid-summer to 38.5%.
Haven’t checked recently because of all the distributions - and being otherwise occupied. Suspect that when the dust settles (distribution season ends) the equity loaded portion will come in a bit under 38%. That’s where my pre-sets would mandate rebalancing back to 40%. Should that portion fail to fall below 38% no rebalance would occur. Other portfolio areas with risk exposure (in particular real-assets) have also experienced losses the past couple months and might be due for a rebalance.
My thinking for a couple years has been that equity valuations had “over-reached” and couldn’t be sustained at those levels. IMHO a steady measured approach (neither rushing in nor rushing out) is a good way to go. I’m off between 3 and 4% YTD. If you’re willing to expose your money to the markets in pursuit of better long-term returns (and inflation protection), that’s a very small loss ... “Ay, ay, a scratch, a scratch.”

@johnN: You stepped on four pairs of toes on this one. !!
Regards,
Ted :( :( :( :(
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/46253/vanguard-morgan-growth-fund-to-be-reorganized#latest

https://www.investmentnews.com/article/20181217/FREE/181219944/vanguard-combines-two-strong-funds-creating-a-25-billion-large-cap
The combined Vanguard U.S. Growth Fund will cut two subadvisers, trim fees to 38 basis points
By the end of March, investors in the $15.1 billion Vanguard Morgan Growth Fund (VMRAX) will be folded into the $10.2 billion Vanguard U.S. Growth Fund (VWUAX), the company announced Monday morning.
(More:​ Vanguard wrestles with new service problems)

https://www.nasdaq.com/article/us-equity-fund-sell-off-tops-46b-whats-next-cm1070066
The U.S. equity mutual funds market witnessed the largest weekly sell-off between Dec 5 and 12, with investors redeeming $46 billion amid macroeconomic fears, per a report by Lipper. The data comes at a time when an ongoing stock market sell-off has pushed the broader S&P 500 index into correction

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/872323/000110465918073225/a18-41291_1497.htm
497 1 a18-41291_1497.htm 497
Harris Associates Investment Trust
Oakmark International Fund (the “Fund”)
Supplement dated December 17, 2018 to the Fund’s Prospectus and Summary Prospectus, each dated January 26, 2018
This supplement serves as notification of the following change:
Effective December 17, 2018, the Fund will re-open to all investors. Accordingly, all references to the Fund being closed to most new investors are hereby deleted in their entirety from the Prospectus and Summary Prospectus, effective as of December 17, 2018.
PLEASE RETAIN THIS SUPPLEMENT FOR FUTURE REFERENCE.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/68138/000093247118008062/morgangrowth.htm
497 1 morgangrowth.htm VANGUARD MORGAN GROWTH FUND
Vanguard Morgan™ Growth Fund
Supplement Dated December 17, 2018 to the Prospectus and Summary Prospectus Dated January 26, 2018
Reorganization of Vanguard Morgan Growth Fund into Vanguard U.S. Growth Fund
The Board of Trustees of Vanguard Morgan Growth Fund (the Trust) has approved an agreement and plan of reorganization (the Agreement) whereby Vanguard Morgan Growth Fund, a series of the Trust, would be reorganized with and into Vanguard U.S. Growth Fund, a series of Vanguard World Fund.
The reorganization allows Morgan Growth Fund shareholders to merge to form a larger fund, with an identical objective of seeking to provide long-term capital appreciation. The reorganization will consolidate the assets of the Funds, and streamline the Vanguard fund lineup. We anticipate that the reorganization will eliminate duplicative expenses and spread fixed costs over a larger asset base of the combined fund.
The reorganization does not require shareholder approval and is expected to close on or about April 5, 2019. Prior to the closing, shareholders of the Morgan Growth Fund will be issued a combined Information Statement/Prospectus, which will describe the reorganization, provide a description of the U.S. Growth Fund, and include a comparison of the Funds.
Under the Agreement and after the closing, shareholders of the Morgan Growth Fund will receive Investor Shares and Admiral Shares of the U.S. Growth Fund in exchange for their Investor Shares and Admiral Shares of the Morgan Growth Fund, respectively, and the Morgan Growth Fund and the Trust will cease operations, and be liquidated.
We anticipate that the reorganization will qualify as a tax-free reorganization under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended.
Closed to New Accounts
Effective immediately, the Morgan Growth Fund is closed to new accounts, and will stop accepting purchase requests from existing accounts shortly before the reorganization is scheduled to occur.
Restructuring of the Investment Advisory Team
The following advisors of the Morgan Growth Fund have been approved to serve as advisors to the combined fund after the completion of the reorganization: Jennison Associates LLC (Jennison), Vanguard Quantitative Equity Group (QEG), and Wellington Management Company LLP (Wellington Management). Jennison and Wellington Management currently serve as advisors of the U.S. Growth Fund. Two of the other advisors in U.S. Growth Fund, Jackson Square Partners, LLC (Jackson Square), and Baillie Gifford Overseas Ltd. (Baillie Gifford), will continue with the U.S. Growth Fund. QEG will be added after the closing of the reorganization. Both Funds operate under the terms of an SEC exemption, whereby each Fund’s Board of Trustees may, without prior approval from shareholders, hire a new advisor. Vanguard may also recommend to the Board of Trustees of the Funds that an advisor be hired, terminated, or replaced, or that the terms of an existing advisory agreement be revised.
The Board of Trustees of the Trust has also approved a restructuring of the Morgan Growth Fund’s investment advisory team, removing Frontier Capital Management Co., LLC (Frontier Capital), as an investment advisor for the Fund effective immediately. All references to Frontier Capital and all other details and descriptions regarding Frontier Capital’s management of certain assets of the Fund in the Prospectus and Summary Prospectus are hereby deleted in their entirety.
In addition, Paul E. Marrkand, CFA of Wellington Management will no longer serve as portfolio manager for the Morgan Growth Fund and will be replaced by Andrew J. Shilling, CFA, also of Wellington Management. All references to Mr. Marrkand in the Prospectus and Summary Prospectus are hereby deleted in their entirety...

Right. So maybe better buy both Sp500 + Canadian index ewc

Well.... No. I'd go with single-stock CM.

Right. So maybe better buy both Sp500 + Canadian index ewc

@johnN and @Crash
And one would want to attempt to buy this Canadian etf for what reasons?
I-shares, Canada etf, EWC 10 largest holdings contain 5 of the banks noted for the Horizon etf, for a total of 91 holdings; and one may buy EWC with the click of the mouse.
I suspect buying Horizon is not so easy, and with possible IRS foreign transaction busy work later.

Hi Guys,
Fees always matter, but Morningstar has a more comprehensive way to rate fund management. They use a 5 parameter criteria. These criteria are: Process, Performance, People, Parent, and Price, not necessarily in that order of importance. Here is a Link to their 5-P methodology on this matter:
http://www.morningstar.com/InvGlossary/morningstar-analyst-rating-for-funds.aspx
But caution must be applied. Easy investment answers do not exist. Here is a Link that takes exception to the predictive usefulness of most fund rating systems:
https://www.investmentnews.com/article/20171026/BLOG09/171029958/are-morningstars-ratings-a-good-guide-to-mutual-funds
The persistent enemy to all projection methods that heavily trade on past performance data is reversion-to-the-mean (RTTM). Fund performance data strongly supports the observation that RTTM is real and a killer. So, investors, please be aware of the dangers in any correlation. Change happens and correlations decay.
Enjoy the references. Reading time is short.
Best Wishes

@Derf ... Take a look at INUTX it is a domestic all equity fund much like SVAAX also with a dividend strategy. I do not put more than 5% of my portfolio in any one mutual fund. I am at this 5% cap in SVAAX so I'll soon be opening a position in INUTX with it becoming the fourth member of my domestic equity sleeve that has a dividend focus. The other members of this sleeve are ANCFX and FDSAX.

For me to read I had to Goggle the article as the link provided is for readers with a Barrons' subscription.
The two people that I value their comments the most are Liz Ann Sonders and Jeffrey Saut. Ms. Sonders for her long term perspectives and Mr.Suat for the shorter term positioning.
For me, I'm currently taking most all my mutual fund distributions in cash so, for me, cash continues to build plus I have been buying in some of my fixed income funds as well as we move towards 2019. Currently, my money market mutual funds have a higher yield than the a S&P 500 Index fund that I follow. Within equities I've reduced the amounts held in some of my growth mutual funds and moved some of this money into higher dividend paying value funds through some nav exchanges while some went into fixed income funds.
I've shortened my timeline to get to my new asset allocation of 20% cash, 40% fixed, and 40% equity to the end of this year. In doing this I'll have reduced my equity allocation by 10% and raised both cash and fixed income allocations by about 5% each. This reallocation is being done due to the current investing climate, my age, and my desire to reduce risk within my portfolio while staying invested along with maintaining a reasonable income stream.

https://www.fairfieldcurrent.com/news/2018/12/13/ishares-core-sp-500-etf-ivv-position-boosted-by-mufg-americas-holdings-corp.html
MUFG Americas Holdings Corp increased its position in shares of iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:IVV) by 4.8% in the third quarter, ...

Interesting that they cite Professor S lauding TRP (a firm I actually like), which happens to be the most expensive on the chart. Since Vanguard is 0.5% x 20 (25, 30 yr?? [optimists live longer] cheaper, I'll take my 10, 12.5 or 15% to good cheap restaurants, a lake shore cabin, a winter in Portugal, my granddaughters' college graduations, any place but the grave.

FYI: As chief investment strategist for Charles Schwab , Liz Ann Sonders is Main Street’s guide to Wall Street. Lately, her advice to individual investors is to tread carefully, as she sees recession risks rising in 2019, some sort of bear market, and probably greater volatility.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/charles-schwab-strategist-on-stock-market-recession-51544799898?mod=djem_b_Weekly barrons_daily_newsletter

FYI: It has been a tough year for investors in general, but investors in target-date funds have more reason to be wondering what went wrong. The average fund lost 4% this year through Dec. 10, notes Morningstar, while the S&P 500 is up just under 1%. Not one of 664 target-date funds on the market, which together hold more than $1.1 trillion in assets, has had a positive return, according to Morningstar.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.barrons.com/articles/target-date-funds-fall-but-can-still-help-with-retirement-51544817528?mod=djem_b_Weekly barrons_daily_newsletter

FYI: Prospective investors in private market funds are more concerned about fee structures than historical performance or fund strategy, according to a PitchBook survey.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/b1c7h5vy65jhr3/Private-Market-Investors-Say-Fees-Matter-Most-in-Manager-Selection