@Crash & MFO Members: The real thanks should be given to David Snowball, who first brought SFGIX to the attention of MFO Members back in 2013
Regards,
Ted
http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2015/05/seafarer-overseas-growth-income-sfgixsigix-may-2015/

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/734383/000093247116013843/ps_57072016.htm
497 1 ps_57072016.htm VANGUARD DIVIDEND GROWTH FUND
Vanguard Dividend Growth Fund
Supplement to the Prospectus and Summary Prospectus
Important Note Regarding Vanguard Dividend Growth Fund
Vanguard Dividend Growth Fund is closed to all new investors (with the
exception of (1) investors who are added and invest in the Fund only through
technology-driven model portfolios and (2) participants who invest in the Fund
only through defined contribution plans that offer the Fund as an existing option).
The Fund will remain closed until further notice and there is no specific time
frame for when the Fund will reopen. During the Fund’s closed period, all current
shareholders may continue to purchase, exchange, or redeem shares of the Fund
online, by telephone, or by mail.
The Fund may modify these transaction policies at any time and without prior
notice to shareholders. You may call Vanguard for more detailed information
about the Fund’s transaction policies. Participants in employer-sponsored plans
may call Vanguard Participant Services at 800-523-1188. Investors in
nonretirement accounts and IRAs may call Vanguard’s Investor Information
Department at 800-662-7447.

Hi @johnN,
Thanks for posting Dr. Madell's monthly newsletter. I always enjoy reading Dr. Madell's perspectives. In this month's newsletter ... Dr. Madell covers active management vs. passive (the market).
Below is an interesting quote from the newsletter.
"Out of all the 17 Vanguard mananged US stock funds that have been around for 15 years or more, 11 beat VTSMX over the prior 15 year period. The average return for the 17 was 7.57% vs. 6.72% for the Vanguard total stock market Index."
Interesting? Yes!

@MFO Members: Speaking of hot new, 5/1/16, foreign large-cap blend funds ! Look at FINOX, up 9.26% in the last month.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.morningstar.com/funds/XNAS/FIONX/quote.html

@MikeW You might put the Aston/Pictet International Fund on your watch list. It would be more similar to the Harbor fund than others mentioned so far. APINX is only two years old, but it has demonstrated good defensive properties since the dust-up started in Europe last year. Low turnover so far. Measured as a LC blend fund, it has a median cap of around 5B. It has some size (currently around $1B, almost entirely institutional money). When international is on a tear, I can't recall a Pictet fund that hasn't done well (although my memory stops about 10 yrs ago on this, so take that with some salt, so to speak).
Profile sheet:
https://astonfunds.com/includes/modules/assets/controllers/fileDownload.php?file=1469561876_FS_ASTON_PictetIntlFd_2Q16_063016_FS163-AC.pdf&id=1876&r=/funds/aston-pictet-international&type=file
Website:
https://astonfunds.com/funds/aston-pictet-international

@MFO Members Eariler this month I took a position in CSCIX with the belief that the sector will outperform the S&P 500 for the remainder of 2016. According to conventional wisdom, rising interest rates are bad for REITs. The theory is that investors hold REITS because of their high dividend income, and REIT dividends become less attractive as bond yields rise. However, historical evidence hasn’t always supported this theory. Forbes examined what happened the last time the Fed raised rates and found that, contrary to expectations, REIT stocks outperformed the overall market. During the two-year period when rates were rising, REITs returned over 60 percent – far above the S&P 500’s return of 20 percent. The reason for the exceptional REIT performance was that interest rates rose along with a strengthening economy. As demand for rental units grew, so did rents and property values.
Regards,
Ted

Plenty More Lined Up. With Better Ideas ?
Steve Cohen and the Infinite Monkey Theorem
By Michael P Regan a Bloomberg Gadfly columnist covering equities and financial services. Jul 27, 2016 2:05 PM CDT
.. this theory came to mind while reading a Wall Street Journal article about how Steve Cohen is investing in a hedge fund run by investment firm Quantopian, which provides money to amateur quants who come up with profitable computerized trading strategies. These aren't exactly monkeys, of course; they're obviously much smarter. (The article mentions mechanical engineers and nuclear scientists.) But the idea is similar: Give enough people the right tools, and eventually you'll get Shakespeare. Or in this case, something even better: market-beating trading algorithms.
Some 85,000 quant wannabes reportedly have signed up from 180 countries and created more than 400,000 algorithms trading U.S. stocks on the platform, and 10 have been selected to trade a few thousand dollars.
.. It may be tempting to roll your eyes and dismiss the initiative as some sort of gimmick. That would be a mistake that ignores how much technology has democratized all manner of business models that previously had high barriers to entry
And if you wanted to be the manager of a quant fund? Well, now it sounds as if Cohen and his crew are interested in knocking down those barriers to entry that stood in the way for a long time -- namely access to millions, or hundreds of millions of dollars, in capital. This will most likely inspire even more to storm the gates than the 85,000 that have already done so. Perhaps the only surprising part of this development is that it took this long to happen.
http://www.bloomberg.com/gadfly/articles/2016-07-27/steve-cohen-and-the-infinite-monkey-hedge-fund-managers

@ Soupkitchen: Like some others, I threw in the towel on OAKIX too and decided to put proceeds into ARTGX in one account, but in another account, I sold off all but $2500 in favor of FMIJX. I have noticed OAKIX has started coming back a bit, lets see how long it lasts. I decided to keep a foothold in it because historically until 3-4 years ago it was a fine fund with good management. Maybe they will be back.

Yet for years, as VF pointed out, it knocked the ball out of the park, was an M* analyst pick etc. For me, another piece of evidence that it is damned hard (not impossible, but damned hard) to pick a fund that's going to outperform.

That's why I keep selling in round robin fashion and keep rebuying the same funds. I know I'm never going to land that 10-bagger fund. Anytime my investment yields 50% I sell and buy another fund. Over time I decide which one to keep. I don't want to be caught napping.

BBALX, is one that David owns (still own David?) and one that has been reviewed on this site twice. I've been mostly in the fund in various accounts. I'm mulling placing large amounts in my IRA accounts as I get closer to my 80th birthday next year. Good performance if you see it as David does, global tactical allocation, with low expenses and a flexible allocation process.
I believe its a great holding to pass on to family who doesn't want to get involved in managing money.
I'd be interested in hearing from others out there with opinions on how how they view this fund for non interested inheritors all aged about 50.heir.

I took a quick look on *M and wasn't very impressed with the long-term performance of the fund. If I'm not mistaken, it would be classified as a moderate global balanced fund with nearly 60% of the portfolio in equities. It's not a terrible fund, just not one that jumps out of the pack right now.

I would take a serious look at the very low cost (ER 0.20%) and liquid (850K avg. daily volume) EFAV which has performed well since inception and its underlying index has very attractive back-tested performance:
Index Performance
Kevin

A favorite around here seems to be FMI Int'l (FMIJX). Personally, I tend to tread carefully with highly concentrated funds (33 stocks vs. 67 for Harbor), but its extremely low turnover (9%) speaks to its conviction in its holdings. And you can't argue with performance.
It is still large cap; but in comparison Harbor leans toward giant cap. It is heavily focused on industrials (and materials), while Harbor is focused on more defensive/value areas like healthcare and financials. That difference in emphasis could explain a lot of the performance differences. So a question is whether that trend will continue or reverse.
A fund with a much closer profile (59 stocks vs. 67, mostly similar sector weightings, 30% turnover vs. 25%) is LZIOX/LZIEX. While both Harbor Int'l and Lazard are classified as blend funds, they both come from a lineage of value oriented investing, which might help to explain the similarity.

A few you should look at:
Matthews Pacific Tiger, Artisan Intl Value, Capital World Growth&Income (American funds), Polaris Global Value, Vanguard Intl Growth, Artisan Global Equity, Artisan Global Value
I have been investing in Matthews Pacific Tiger for 5 years, and have been happy with it.

BBALX, is one that David owns (still own David?) and one that has been reviewed on this site twice. I've been mostly in the fund in various accounts. I'm mulling placing large amounts in my IRA accounts as I get closer to my 80th birthday next year. Good performance if you see it as David does, global tactical allocation, with low expenses and a flexible allocation process.
I believe its a great holding to pass on to family who doesn't want to get involved in managing money.
I'd be interested in hearing from others out there with opinions on how how they view this fund for non interested inheritors all aged about 50.heir.

Hi folks,
I was hoping the community good provide some good options on international funds I can consider to replace Harbor International in my portfolio. This has been a long term hold for me but the fund has underperformed over the past 3 and 5 year periods. Would greatly appreciate any advice you can provide here. thanks!

Just thought I'd post this link from Morningstar. Probably a damn pay-wall. Let me know, and I'll solve THAT little capitalist plot. ;)
http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=759947

That's an analyst report in the form of a regular article. Seems unusual, & from the preface in italics, clearly a marketing attempt for premium membership. The ranks must be thinning, what with all the site problems over there.

Just thought I'd post this link from Morningstar. Probably a damn pay-wall. Let me know, and I'll solve THAT little capitalist plot. ;)
http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=759947

I strive to maintain at least a five percent weighting in the minority sectors (materials, real estate, communication services and utilities) and at least a nine percent weighting in the majority sectors (consumer cyclical, financial services, energy, industrials, technology, consumer defensive & healthcare) within my portfolio. Since, I am at about a nine percent weighting in energy and energy now accounts for about a seven percent weighting in the S&P 500 Index this puts me at about a +2% overweight in the sector as compared to the Index and in a neutral position within my portfolio according to my allocation weightings. This leaves me with about seventeen percent that can be move around and overweight accordingly as to how I wish to allocate sector weighting within my portfolio.

You're 5 months late John. The time to load up on energy-heavy funds was in February when oil bottomed around $26. By my crude calculation it's now up about 70% from those lows. As I wrote on May 3: "I suspect the big gains in NR & energy are over for the year, but remain optimistic for PRNEX (and natural resources in general) looking out two or three years." http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/comment/77459/#Comment_77459
On that day (May 3) oil closed around $43-44 and PRNEX (the fund mentioned in the post) was sitting at about $32. That's about where both are today. So neither has moved much. In the intervening months since that post, oil touched $50 and PRNEX approached $35. I sold another 25% of PRNEX at the higher prices, so now have only a small position.
Energy analysts are divided of course, but there seems to be some consensus that oil will be in the $60 range in a couple years. Unfortunately, a 2-year time horizon seems very long for some. So John, you'll probably get paid to wait - but your gains will come in drips and drabs.

How I did not include WHGIX in my previous post is a mystery. It has been a consistently steady performer. ETNMX looks like it could be worth a look, but a 1.23% expense ratio is a bit steep for this kind of fund. Perhaps it will continue to do well and earn its costs.

I imagine your clients would be investing in the somewhat cheaper (1.03%) ETIMX shares. They're also available to retail investors with a $2500 min (plus TF) at Scottrade.
As this is a new fund with both high estimates on "other" expenses and a short term (until October 2016) fee waiver in place, it isn't clear what the actual expenses will be going forward. For example, its management fee component, at 0.73%, is nearly identical to the management fees of the other fund in your post, WHGIX, at 0.75%.