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Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
  • Outcome Rather Than Outlook; Reacting Rather Than Preempting (A Little Fed Watching)
    Maybe we will eventually get some lasting inflation.....
    All this amounts to a backward-looking, rather than a forward-looking, monetary policy approach. Ironically, all the talking Fed heads now are saying that their “forward guidance” is no longer relevant since that was based on their outlook, which has not been relevant since the pandemic started. What matters now is the outcome, which can only be known after it happens!
    Link to Yardini Blog
  • Artisan High Income Fund to close to most new investors
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/935015/000119312521118559/d36840d497.htm
    497 1 d36840d497.htm ARTISAN PARTNERS FUNDS, INC.
    Filed pursuant to Rule 497(e)
    File Nos. 033-88316 and 811-08932
    ARTISAN PARTNERS FUNDS, INC.
    Artisan High Income Fund (the “Fund”)
    SUPPLEMENT DATED 16 APRIL 2021
    TO THE FUND’S PROSPECTUS
    CURRENT AS OF THE DATE HEREOF
    Effective after the close of business on 30 April 2021, the Fund is closed to most new investors. The Fund will accept new accounts from certain investors who satisfy new account eligibility requirements. Eligibility requirements are described in Artisan Partners Funds’ prospectus under the heading “Investing with Artisan Partners Funds—Who is Eligible to Invest in a Closed Fund?”
    Accordingly, effective 30 April 2021, the following changes will take effect:
    1. The following paragraph is added under the heading “Purchase and Sale of Fund Shares” on page 33 of Artisan Partners Funds’ prospectus:
    The Fund is closed to most new investors. See “Investing with Artisan Partners Funds—Who is Eligible to Invest in a Closed Fund?” in the Fund’s statutory prospectus for new account eligibility criteria.
    2. The following replaces the text under the heading “Who is Eligible to Invest in a Closed Fund?” on pages 101-102 of Artisan Partners Funds’ prospectus in its entirety:
    Artisan High Income Fund is closed to most new investors. From time to time, other Funds may also be closed to most new investors. The Funds do not permit investors to pool their investments in order to meet the eligibility requirements, except as otherwise noted below.
    If you have been a shareholder in a Fund continuously since it closed, you may make additional investments in that Fund and reinvest your dividends and capital gain distributions in that Fund, even though the Fund has closed, unless Artisan Partners considers such additional purchases to not be in the best interests of the Fund and its other shareholders. An employee benefit plan that is a Fund shareholder may continue to buy shares in the ordinary course of the plan’s operations, even for new plan participants.
    You may open a new account in a closed Fund only if that account meets the Fund’s other criteria (for example, minimum initial investment) and:
    ∎ you beneficially own shares of the closed Fund at the time of your application;
    ∎ you beneficially own shares in the Funds with combined balances of $250,000;
    ∎ you receive shares of the closed Fund as a gift from an existing shareholder of the Fund (additional investments generally are not permitted unless you are otherwise eligible to open an account under one of the other criteria listed);
    ∎ you are transferring or “rolling over” into a Fund IRA account from an employee benefit plan through which you held shares of the Fund (if your plan doesn’t qualify for rollovers you may still open a new account with all or part of the proceeds of a distribution from the plan);
    ∎ you are purchasing Fund shares through a sponsored fee-based program and shares of the Fund are made available to that program pursuant to an agreement with the Funds or Artisan Partners Distributors LLC and the Funds or Artisan Partners Distributors LLC has notified the sponsor of that program in writing that shares may be offered through such program and has not withdrawn that notification;
    ∎ you are an employee benefit plan and the Funds or Artisan Partners Distributors LLC has notified the plan in writing that the plan may invest in the Fund and has not withdrawn that notification;
    ∎ you are an employee benefit plan or other type of corporate, charitable or governmental account sponsored by or affiliated with an organization that also sponsors or is affiliated with (or is related to an organization that sponsors or is affiliated with) another employee benefit plan or corporate, charitable or governmental account that is a shareholder of the Fund at the time of application;
    ∎ you are a client, employee or associate of an institutional consultant or financial intermediary and the Funds or Artisan Partners Distributors LLC has notified that consultant or financial intermediary in writing that you may invest in the Fund and has not withdrawn that notification;
    ∎ you are a client of a financial advisor or a financial planner, or an affiliate of a financial advisor or financial planner, who has at least $2,500,000 of client assets invested with the Fund or at least $5,000,000 of client assets invested with the Funds or under Artisan Partners’ management at the time of your application;
    ∎ you are an institutional investor that is investing at least $5,000,000 in the Fund and the Fund or Artisan Partners Distributors LLC has notified you in writing that you may invest in the Fund and has not withdrawn that notification (available for investments in Artisan International Value Fund only);
    ∎ you are a client of Artisan Partners or are an investor in a product managed by Artisan Partners, or you have an existing business relationship with Artisan Partners, and in the judgment of Artisan Partners, your investment in a closed Fund would not adversely affect Artisan Partners’ ability to manage the Fund effectively; or
    ∎ you are a director or officer of the Funds, or a partner or employee of Artisan Partners or its affiliates, or a member of the immediate family of any of those persons.
    A Fund may ask you to verify that you meet one of the guidelines above prior to permitting you to open a new account in a closed Fund. A Fund may permit you to open a new account if the Fund reasonably believes that you are eligible. A Fund also may decline to permit you to open a new account if the Fund believes that doing so would be in the best interests of the Fund and its shareholders, even if you would be eligible to open a new account under these guidelines.
    The Funds’ ability to impose the guidelines above with respect to accounts held by financial intermediaries may vary depending on the systems capabilities of those intermediaries, applicable contractual and legal restrictions and cooperation of those intermediaries.
    Call us at 800.344.1770 if you have questions about your ability to invest in a closed Fund.
  • For Bonds, Add Safety by Venturing Abroad
    @JohnN
    Largest: RPSIX. 22.4% of portfolio.
    2nd largest: PRSNX. 21.5% of portfolio.
    3rd: PTIAX. 7.25% of portfolio.
    I'd recommend PTIAX ahead of the others.
    RPSIX holds a slice of equities, to "juice" the profit just a bit. Right now, the yield on it is below 3%. But you might make up the difference with cap. gains at the end of the year. RPSIX holds some TRP bond funds that are just plain sub-par. RPSIX is a fund-of-funds.
    PTIAX yield is not far from 4%, actually. (3.87.) And as for PRSNX: it's over 3%, which no one should complain about, these days.
    My only complaint with PTIAX is that they are slow to vest shares after you buy them. I once asked a Supervisor on the phone: "Is that because you don't have enough people hired to do the job of recording these items in a timely manner?" ..... After I asked the question, he went silent. Which told me a LOT. But the money they make for me is a good thing.
  • For Bonds, Add Safety by Venturing Abroad
    @Baseball_Fan This is not an endorsement, but:
    "Never have missed a payment." The same line used by TIAA in their ads.
    https://www.israelbonds.com/Home.aspx
    This is not a rebuttal, don't want to start an argument. ;) But as a serious bondholder, with more than half of my stuff now in bonds, in retirement, I expect better than the current returns offered by the US Treasury or Ginnie Maes or Freddie Macs and the like. (Although my bond funds include some of that stuff in their mix. My bond "Picture" is truly global.)
    I've looked at (very stable) Canada gov't bonds, too. Well, at least FEDERAL bonds. And "investing" in that stuff at the current rates is a contradiction in terms. Through banks, the gov't offers a "tax-free" account, too. But the interest rate offered is less than 1%. (As of 2018.) Well, "no, thanks" I said to the friendly bank employee.
    ...On the other hand, you simply, and very clearly, prefer the security of the domestically-branded animal. :)
  • Amazon Versus the Unions
    @Crash While it's true that an ethical corporation is somewhat of an oxymoron, there are ways to invest, not to leave a behemoth like Amazon out of the portfolio, yet insist that it behave better than it has in the past towards labor and the environment:
    https://morningstar.com/articles/1002749/how-big-fund-families-voted-on-climate-change-2020-edition
    https://barrons.com/articles/sec-says-esg-fund-proxy-voting-disclosure-needs-an-upgrade-51617119803
    If eliminating the company feels impossible without accepting underperformance, engagement, real public engagement, with the company can happen.
  • For Bonds, Add Safety by Venturing Abroad
    PRSNX. Bonds in my portfolio = 51% of total. PRSNX = 21.55% of total portfolio. It is below the zero-line so far in 2021 by just a fraction. RELIABLE. Owned it for several years, now. Other bond funds in portfolio are RPSIX, at 22.46% of total. And PTIAX at 7.25% of total. PRWCX and BRUFX hold bonds, too. I have so far, regretted putting money into those three funds not for a moment.
  • bernie hangover led to indexing
    I’ve long been convinced that there is a link between the end of Madoff’s scheme and the overwhelming popularity of index-fund investing in the aftermath of the financial crisis. It’s not simply that, as the Wall Street Journal theorized, people realized pricey money managers hadn’t seen what was coming. Nor was it merely that the regulators’ cursory investigations into Madoff’s fund left many dubious of all sorts of investments (and the officials tasked with overseeing them). Instead, Madoff demonstrated the lie that almost any savvy individual investor could produce steady gains in a way that nothing else could. By destroying the retirements and dreams of so many, he inadvertently performed a much-needed service.
    I'm not so convinced. Outside the realm of the ultra-rich, Madoff was hardly known before the scandal because it was an exclusive hedge fund. Meanwhile, Bogle was already practically a household name by the time of the scandal. I would say the growth of no load funds and fee-only/fee-based financial advisers had more to do with the shift to indexing. Instead of selling high cost active management with a commission or load based fund, advisers were charging a percentage of asset fee, typically 1%. Combine that fee with a high cost active fund charging 1.5% and you've got a 2.5% drag on returns each year. A 0.05% index fund combined with the 1% was far more palatable and produced better results. The whole advice model has shifted dramatically.
    Any bull market of course will drive investors to index too, and of course Bogle's own presence, his constant evangelizing and having the numbers to back it up. If there was any fund's fall that might have done more harm to active manager's influence on retail investors it would be Bill Miller's Legg Mason Value when it got completely crushed during the 2008-09 crisis after 15 straight years of beating the market. He was one of the last great heroes of active management in the retail world. Who by contrast in retail-land heard of Madoff before everyone who had heard of him lost their shirts?
  • Amazon Versus the Unions
    Oh, hell ya. But find me a fund that holds NONE of the shit-companies which don't pass my ethical filter. Impossible. Because fund managers --- and ourselves--- put our consciences on the shelf, when investing. If the idea is to make enough money to retire on, you can't afford to deliberately be ethical. I recall a scene from the series, "Thirtysomething." Michael's boss left him crestfallen when he told him: "We're not in the business of doing good. When we do good things, it happens by coincidence in the course of DOING BUSINESS." That's capitalism.
  • A Bitcoin / Cryptocurrency thread & Experiment
    @johnN just in case you were wondering. If you sell all of your Bitcoin and exchange it for Dogecoin... IRS says it's a taxable event. Sorry. Like kind transfers only apply to real estate. Also adviseable to hold or HODL your crypto for longer than 1 year otherwise the tax man cometh as well. Cheers.
  • Why Index Funds are Nuts
    Interesting story. If you invest in the S&P 500 Index (I do) - then over 25% of your money in that fund is on 6 companies: Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Facebook and wait for it... Tesla.
    If you invest in the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund... it's 19%.
    https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-index-funds-are-nuts-11618425937
  • Morgan Stanley Inception Portfolio fund already closed to new investors
    Sorry if this is a repeat. I don't remember posting/seeing this filing.
    https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/836487/000110465921032581/a21-8652_3497.htm
    497 1 a21-8652_3497.htm 497
    Prospectus and Summary
    Prospectus Supplement
    March 5, 2021
    Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund, Inc.
    Supplement dated March 5, 2021 to the Morgan Stanley Institutional Fund, Inc. Prospectus and Summary Prospectus dated April 30, 2020
    Inception Portfolio (the "Fund")
    Effective at the close of business on April 5, 2021, the Fund will suspend offering Class I, Class A, Class C and Class IS shares of the Fund to new investors, except as follows. The Fund will continue to offer Class I, Class A, Class C and Class IS shares of the Fund:
    (1) through certain retirement plan accounts,
    (2) to clients of certain registered investment advisers who currently offer shares of the Fund in their asset allocation programs,
    (3) to directors and trustees of the Morgan Stanley Funds,
    (4) to Morgan Stanley affiliates and their employees,
    (5) to benefit plans sponsored by Morgan Stanley and its affiliates and
    (6) omnibus accounts sponsored or serviced by a financial intermediary that currently hold shares of the Fund in such accounts.
    Retirement plan accounts (including new retirement plan accounts) investing through platforms that trade omnibus by plan for Fund shares as of April 5, 2021, fall under the exception for "certain retirement plan accounts" set forth above.
    Existing omnibus accounts (accounts offered on platforms that aggregate all underlying client-level transactions into one account) that are shareholders of record are considered one type of existing shareholder. Therefore, shares of the Fund will continue to be offered to underlying clients (including new clients) through such existing omnibus accounts.
    The Fund will continue to offer Class I, Class A, Class C and Class IS shares of the Fund to existing shareholders. In addition, the Adviser, in its discretion, may make certain exceptions to the suspended offering of Class I, Class A, Class C and Class IS shares of the Fund.
    The Fund may recommence offering Class I, Class A, Class C and Class IS shares of the Fund to new investors in the future. Any such offerings of the Fund's Class I, Class A, Class C and Class IS shares may be limited in amount and may commence and terminate without any prior notice.
    The Fund has suspended offering Class L shares to all investors. Class L shareholders of the Fund do not have the option of purchasing additional Class L shares. However, existing Class L shareholders may invest in additional Class L shares through reinvestment of dividends and distributions.
    Please retain this supplement for future reference.
    IFIINCEPTPROSPSPT 3/21
  • Morningstar Portfolio Manager: once AGAIN

    That's one of the reasons I fled M* a few years ago. Apart from the horrible interface changes on their site, their data often was inconsistent to flat-out wrong or nonexistent.
    M*'s at it again. Instant X-ray and Portfolio Manager are failing to identify the style of many funds. I just tested a few (T. Rowe Price seems to be particularly problematic):
    PRWCX - 100% unknown
    PRIDX - 100% unknown
    FLPSX - 100% unknown
    TRSGX - 16.39% LCV, 32.74% LCBlend, 29.97% LCG, and a smattering of others
    So it's not just T. Rowe Price funds, and it's not all Price funds. Whatever it is could be an overnight problem. Just don't rely on what M* shows you for your portfolio now.