here is msf:
I was simply addressing the comment that the fund is opaque. Its practices and use of derivatives seem rather transparent (IMHO moreso than many funds); its bond holdings and the equity index it is tracking are not.

from FD1000:
DSEEX-First, managers invest in global bonds then, they look at 11 US stock sectors and select 5 undervalued sectors, then take 4 sectors out of 5 with the best momentum. They don't invest directly in the index but in a derivative that is similar to the index.
Basically, you get 200% investments for the price of 100%. You get real bonds + derivative of stock indexes.
To make even simpler, let's assume they invest in just one sector SPY and assume the bond portion makes 3-4% annually. It means, the performance will be SPY + 3-4% - (paying for derivatives).

long thread discussion, if anyone wants to get into the weeds of volatility and more (ah, those were the days):
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/comment/114551

Nope, for 2 reasons.
1. Determining to 'buy' equities is hard enough. They are studies and articles out there that show even the considered best pundit's only get it right half the time. Determining to 'sell them short' is even harder. I'm willing to bet the success ratio here would be considerably lower. Just today, would you buy Tesla or sell it short? Feel free to stick whatever other company name you'd like to into that question.
2. Personally I wouldn't be buying any equity at this time, the uncertainties are just not in my favor. My feelings are that people are indiscriminately selling most anything that isn't nailed down and still presents value. I'd rather wait for things to recover even if I end up paying more.

In the early days of gold mining, doing laundry was outsourced to China, because outsourcing was less expensive. Plus ça change.

In order to wash your own clothes in San Francisco, you had to buy water, paying 25 cents for two buckets’ worth. Then, of course, it wasn’t manly to do your own laundry. So many men sent their dirty clothes to be laundered in China.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2014/02/12/days-gone-by-clothes-in-mid-1800s-san-francisco-cleaned-at-washer-womans-bay/

I have not been a proponent for these strategies, at least not as a long term strategy, but I'm considering selling a couple non-equity fund/ETF's and going that path with some money. Thought I'd reach out to see if anyone else is thinking similarly or has already done so. If so, what would be your suggested choices.
The basis for this is that I think we are in for a fairly long duration of economic whoa and we will be testing new lows in the market over the next year. That's my crystal ball. Some think the S&P 500 may not bottom until the 1500-1800 range. That's an additional drop of 30-40% from Fridays close. Maybe I'm just reacting to my morning coffee and Barron's paper but I certainly don't see a V shape recovery to this 'yet to be announced recession'.
In any case, I'm considering selling my gold ETF and a bond fund and putting that money into one or 2 of these funds. I did some initial research on Schwab and re-read a commentary David had here from Feb. 2019.
My short list:
- NCLIX
- GSSFX (TF at schwab)
- FVALX (TF at schwab)
- RLSFX
- MNWAX a very consistent though muted return trend up in all markets
- BTAL
I refuse to pay the TF so I guess 2 on my short list won't happen, sadly. I'm leaning to the last 2 on the list.

I think MikeM is right. We shareholders should have seen how DSENX behaved in the market swoon at the end of 2018. Those of us who held it saw great returns for the next year, but the fund had shown itself to be weak in a downturn.

Howdy folks,
@johnN, I've dealt with apmex.com for years for bullion although not exclusively. They're painless. To buy higher end coins, the clearing house is collectorscorner.com . These are mostly slabbed coins and you'll find the top 10-15 dealers listing their coins here. I'm very fortunate where I live here in mid Michigan because Liberty Coins is here and I've dealt with them for years. https://libertycoinservice.com/
Never, ever, ever buy anything off of TV. It's all marked up about 50% over common retail. Also, you CAN get some buys on Ebay but it's tough and you really have to shop and know your sellers.
good luck,
rono

@fundfun, I'm not seeing in the Doubleline fund description any where the special bond sauce is the Doublelne low duration fund.
I'm pushing back here because you said that Doubleline does a good job explaining how this fund works. Based on that you say people didn't research the fund properly. I guess I take exception to that comment. DL does not explain the bond side, only that they use derivatives in that space. The bond side is not the low duration fund you point to. You may see that the bond side acts "similar" in return to low duration, but that is after the fact statement. No pre-buy research.
Also on performance per M*, they categorize this fund as LC blend. To that the fund has under-performed the past 1 month...98 percentile, YTD...96 pct, 1 year...90 pct and 3 year... 80 pct. All this with extra volatility.
The fund and the CAPE concept is very intriguing. I don't fault anyone for hanging on or even adding to because of that fact. But data does show it performing poorly in this bear environment. That's the important research to help understand what your buying, at least for me.

Hi @davfor First, thank you for the article post.
I have not read the write in full, but much had been discussed here; about forward impacts in so many areas. The economy will be damaged very deeply, just look around with what you know and understand about the state you reside. The cranial-rectal inversion syndrome crowd, for whatever reason, remain impaired with critical thinking. Data page (I'll try the full open link at the end, below my name. It will not link properly at this time when embedded) for the young who don't/didn't know better
and why I did and do still fear the number of retired snowbirds when they leave their southern nests and return to Michigan, let alone the young invincible and the southern states who refused to close the beaches, etc. The data related link in bold is for the danger that has already arrived regarding the young ones. Surely, they didn't THINK that they might be involved in the deaths of family members or friends who are more "at risk".
As to the adults with "the cranial-rectal inversion syndrome", well; so many of the older ones I know are not fixable; although some are beginning to "see the light". I/we use Facebook as linkage to our local school system. 'Course, we had to create a page/name; but there is nothing to see at the page........blank city. However, this allows me to visit other pages to read some posts (can't see everything without being a "friend"); but I see most of the posts and replies. Pretty sad bunch on the right side of the fence; folks I've know for decades. They're still posting about getting rid of Pelosi.....they have stopped the posts about COVID not being more of a problem than the common FLU. I emailed 5 of the people I've known for many years, ranging in age from 60-76. I noted to them that I know 3 of you were and/or are still smokers and that 2 of you have had mild heart conditions; and are you aware that if you contract the virus that your odds of surviving are very small. No replies yet.
A last note regarding Facebook pages I viewed this morning (April 5). A known (I know him) right winger placed a post (data source unknown, as is usual) stated that the virus "success" rate for recovery is 98.54%, "Why isn't this number being talked about on TV/media. Using a rounded figure of 330 million for U.S. population, his math works out to a death number of, 4,818,000. Geez.
AS to the adults who remain with the "cranial-rectal inversion syndrome" here's the game being played by Gov. Kemp of Georgia. The link has
multiple choices for reading....especially the Tybee Island Mayor.
Personal summary = We do our best here to stay out of harms way to avoid contracting the virus; and there remains so many dumb asses in the pathway to safety. I'd like to take them all to Detroit to help the paramedics and hospital staff. OH, and you want to wear a mask.......and you didn't bring your own........sorry, we're out of stock. Check Amazon.
Talk about part of our society being so screwed up in the brain cell area. I do believe they are in the land of OZ and I know which character they are.....
I'm done, I'm tired of writing about all of this.
Nap time is in my future.
Take care of you and yours,
Catch
https://t.co/3A3ePn9Vin" Click the map, enlarge and unmute on sound. About 1:15 minutes

@rono - who said "The private for profit health care system is imploding before our eyes." Honestly I can't say that's a bad thing. I remember going to the doctor as a kid up through going as a dad through maternity/childbirth. Appointment-treated-doctor sent invoice-patient paid. There was no mention of insurance, healthcare providers, in/out of network bullshit. It was like a trip to your auto mechanic or grocery store or hardware store or lumber yard, whatever. Now those bloodsuckers in the middle add in multiple layers of worthless nonsense and red tape voodoo that do nothing but gouge patients/clients and leave them in debt and despair. Honestly can anybody tell me WTF good they are?
What's worse, if I try to go to a doctor's office or a medical clinic with CASH, DOLLAR BILLS in my hand I get charged 1.5-2X the amount because I don't use the insurer's or their healthcare plans either in or out of network. Get back to me when you figure that one out would you please.
@JohnN - I sincerely hope that what you reported regarding slow/empty ER's is true. I have many friends (nurses/doctors/otherwise) in the field and they are not seeing that yet. Change would be welcome.

@Ben - I Have never used anything but the left-pointing arrow.

What I've been trying to say is that
1) using that arrow may be the source of the problem. After all, it is doing what the arrow symbolizes: going back (returning to what was.)
and
2) If you click on Discussions instead, you will be taken to an updated Discussions page. At least it works for me.

Safari Version 13.1 (13609.1.20.111.8). And yes, the OS updated around that March 24th time period.
Edit to add: Upon seeing the [ 2 New ] yellow-shape I clicked on the post to read who had added what. Saw, read and commented to catch22. Returned to discussion page and nothing had changed. My response was not noted, [ 2 New ] still visible. Weird I tell ya.

Mark............add
This is a broad search for Safari ver. 13.1
As you scroll down the links list you will see some articles dated March 27, etc. indicating some apparent problems encountered by others. I didn't read the CNET story, but you may want to check this, too.
WHAT version of Safari is indicated on your MAC?

This opinion piece is worth reading in its entirety. He is a good writer. Here are a few highlights from my second reading....

"Where to from here?" is a question no one can currently answer.
The oil story isn't merely a sideshow to the pandemic. The price war (narrowly construed) is tangential, but the potential for the collapse in prices (which fell the most in history during the first quarter) to make an already bad economic situation worse, is real indeed.
....This speaks to the irony of the Fed's multi-pronged corporate bond buying program announced late last month alongside a raft of additional measures. We are in no position to allow misallocated capital to be "purged."....In short, all of this has to be propped up, bailed out and otherwise inoculated. If it's not, the domino effect would be catastrophic, and although the cavalier among you may be inclined to bravely parrot the "let it all burn" line, I doubt you really want that.
Although there are, of course, limits to how much spending can be authorized without offsets, those limits are dictated by inflation. Quite obviously, inflation isn't something we need concern ourselves with in an environment characterized by the single largest demand shock of the past century.
In short, the mighty US services sector just disappeared in the space of four weeks. It's gone. That doesn't mean it's not coming back, but for the duration of the lockdown, it basically doesn't exist.
... there is absolutely no way to know what earnings are going to look like for the second and third quarters. I cannot remember (or find anyone who can remember) a time when there's been less visibility into the outlook for all corporate profits, not just one or two troubled sectors.....Show me someone who thinks they can price equities in this environment and I'll show you a liar. It's just that simple.
The Fed isn’t going to cancel all of the various liquidity facilities and asset purchase programs put into place over the past four weeks if the spread of the virus slows. That bid (which is now unlimited in scope) will be in the market for the foreseeable future, and now it includes spread products.

https://seekingalpha.com/article/4336021-bad-blood

@mcmarasco
The AUM was $7 billion when the fund closed 1 year ago. Some of the change value today to about $5.3 billion, is likely a combination of outflows from the fund and the underlying value of the holdings downward at this time. Mark had noted the value of the holdings for some of the AUM change.

To illustrate:
1 - After entering my comment in this discussion I used the left-pointing arrow to return to the discussion page with the list of discussions.
2 - I chose the Dodge and Cox discussion to read. The background to that post was white and had [ 3 New ] in a yellow-colored shape.
3 - I read the [ 3 New ] comments, selected the left-pointing arrow to return to the list of discussions. Nothing had changed - and by this I mean the discussion still had a white background, [ 3 New ] was still visible in a yellow-colored shape.
Anyway in the past after I had read the 3 new comments as noted in #3 above and then returned to the discussion list the Dodge and Cox discussion post would have become shaded in gray and the yellow-colored shape would have disappeared indicating that I had read that discussion. Now nothing changes until I select the 'reload page' icon.
An aside: What is that shape called anyway? A rounded rectangle? Dunno.

Good morning
Not trying to downplay virus issues /data but seems many major medical centers in major cities are extremelyslow right now [except hotspots NYC New Jersey NOLA]. We have family members working in austin and houston medical centers, they says rate of patients coming to er/hospitals down by 80-90% compared to Nov-Dec19. Their medical facilities are ghost town resemblance. Also not many active COVID19 cases.
Do you see similar themes in your local hospitals with down screenings and not too busy ER/HOSPITALS. Others argue these previous news maybe overhyped by Media. Virus deceased data of course real but it seems majority of US may have it under control. At least preliminary data demonstrates limited admissions and ICU care. As others stated, hope we can flatten curve soon....we will know in several weeks and hope for the best. Hopefully these are good signs and we are doing good job of virus containment.
My brother works as RN, he says they cut back his shifts by 30%, because he is not needed most of time because limited admissions and everything shut down, no more elective procedures at least until May 5th. Think most private physicians are also suffering not getting enough patients and supporting staff furloughed.
Hopeful for economy slowly reopen in 5-8 weeks/things slowly return to normalcy

+1.

Based on Fidelity's fund screening tools, DODBX 3 year Sharpe ratio is .32 as of 2/29/2020, which was one of the lowest among the balanced funds I reviewed. VWELX PRWCX JABAX RPBAX BALFX MAPOX FOBAX all outperformed DODBX. OAKBX and FPACX were 2 funds that underperformed DODBX. Fidelity funds used 3/31/2020 to calculate their data so they were excluded.

Quite surprising given that two of the three managers also manage MCSMX, whose performance has not been sterling. The fund hasn’t been in its category top quartile since 2014.

Typo there, with the ticker?

1) yes, but did you try going to the Discussions Home from this discussion *not* via the arrow, but via clicking on the word "Discussions"? That is what got rid of the Yellow New for me.
2) BUT— the problem isn't solved. In the time between making my first post and making this one, three other posts were made here. This one is the fourth. And yet on the Discussions Home Page this discussion had a grey background and no indication that new contributions had been made to this discussion. In this case yellow and "new" would have been appropriate but it did not appear. So *something* is malfunctioning.