I guess Mr. Icahn was on vacation on another planet last June, when junk really was high-priced at a spread of 3.4 and yield of 5.2, versus 4.6 and 6.1 now. Is he confusing energy junk with the broader category? Maybe - lower down in the article, it sounds like he's worried about his energy investments.
Not to imply that HY couldn't take a fall anytime, like every other stretched asset in the land ...

I had read that article and while not necessarily disagreeing (Marty Fridson the junk bond guru feels likewise) markets don't usually top amid gloom but ebulience. It's encouraging that junk is outperforming not just everything in bondland in 2015, but many of the major stock indexes also.

Mark makes a very good point. Maybe I'm wrong, but my sense is we have very few "stay-put" type investors posting on this board. There's one notable exception (And I'd rather not go there, thank you.)
Don't mean to suggest we're a bunch of highly active market timers. That I don't know. On the other hand, I doubt many here have held mostly the same funds year-in and year-out for 15 - 25 years or longer without at least varying the allocations to each. I'll confess I haven't.

But then I am biased! Junk bond funds (PHYTX) are notable for their trend persistency and low volatility making them amenable to various trading methodologies using tight stops. Yes, I know 2008 was a disaster but the tight stop methodology would have kept you out of harm's way.

Comparing PHYTX to PONDX since Dec 2007 on a buy and hold basis the graph below shows PONDX produced similar returns with less than half the MAXDD. I would imagine tight stops would achieve greater upside gains while removing MAXDD entirely. Would you review with us the nuts and bolts of this strategy?

Thanks Hank.
So, right, Hussman just has four, but everyone has under-performed its peers over their lifetimes, although HSGFX is pretty much a push.
And Permanent Portfolio has three of four under-performers.
Here's the data...

Each has at least one Three Alarm Fund...

In a NUTSHELL:
For some asset classes, such as large US Stocks, DFA doesn’t seem to make much of a difference. DFA’s large company fund (DFUSX) is very similar to Vanguard’s 500 fund (VFIAX), although it charges a slightly higher expense ratio (10 basis points vs 5 for the Vanguard fund). The performance difference? According to Morningstar, DFUSX has had an average annual return (arithmetic) of 7.96% per year for the last ten years, compared to 7.94% per year for the Vanguard fund. Am I going to pay 0.37%, much less 1% to get DFA access to that fund? No way. For other asset classes, however, the difference is larger.

Thanks everyone for chiming in so far:

For those considering GLRBX, Fidelity will let you swap it for its cheaper institutional class GLRIX (ER of .75% v. 1.00%) once you own at least $50K.

FYI: As has been widely reported in the financial media, 2014 was one of the worst years in recent memory for active managers.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/3-reasons-investors-still-buy-actively-managed-funds-2015-05-01/print

FYI: .–Warren Buffett‘s “Woodstock for Capitalists”, the annual meeting of his Berkshire Hathaway Inc., celebrated a major milestone this year: Mr. Buffett has now been at the helm of the conglomerate for 50 years.
Mr. Buffett played host to roughly 40,000 people at the company’s annual meeting Saturday, an event that swells the population of Mr. Buffett’s hometown by nearly 10% each year. Over the hours and hours of question-and-answer that are the hallmark of the meeting, Mr. Buffett and his vice chairman, Charlie Munger, fielded questions about investing and markets, Berkshire’s relationship with 3G Capital and its investments in International Business Machines Corp. and Coca-Cola Co.
MoneyBeat live-blogged the all-day event from Mr. Buffett’s first sip of cherry Coke to his last bite of See’s candy. Here’s how it all went down
Regards,
Ted
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/05/02/live-analysis-the-2015-berkshire-hathaway-annual-meeting/tab/print/

FYI: The relative anonymity of target date bond ETFs could fade when the financial markets become convinced that the Fed will finally make its move to raise interest rates for the first time since December 2008.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.thinkadvisor.com/2015/05/01/a-little-known-bond-vehicle-for-when-interest-rate?t=fixed-income&page_all=1

FYI: ACTX: Trade Like Carl Icahn With the Global X Activist Index ETF.
Author is a big believer in doing independent investment research. But I also believe that it’s never a bad idea to look over the shoulder of some of the best investors in the business for ideas.
Regards,
Ted
http://investorplace.com/2015/05/global-x-actx-activist-investors/print

FYI: How much longer can the sun shine on Japan's stock market?
The Tokyo Stock Exchange has been among the world's hottest for years and the Nikkei 225 index recently topped the 20,000 level for the first time since 2000. Usually when an investment is doing that well, euphoria ensues. But Japanese stocks have a long history of disappointing investors. The reputation is so strong that veteran managers say they're still encountering skepticism
Regards,
Ted
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/print?id=30708617

FYI: Dimensional Fund Advisors is as popular as hemp in a commune of hippies. According to Investment News, a 2014 survey said DFA’s investors were more loyal than investors with any other firm.
One reason is that the mutual fund company has posted strong performances. Bloomberg reports that nearly 90 percent of DFA funds with a 15-year track record beat their benchmarks. AssetBuilder regularly updates a series of DFA fund returns. They compare them to Vanguard’s funds. Their results often humble those of the indexing giant
Regards,
Ted
http://assetbuilder.com/andrew_hallam/how_dimensional_fund_advisors_really_earn_better_returns
M* DFA Fund Family: http://quicktake.morningstar.com/fundfamily/dimensional-fund-advisors/0C00004AKC/fund-list.aspx

Deleted post and graph. Speaking of one-fund lazy retirement portfolios, I tried to compare the two conservative five star funds listed here with my beloved junk bond funds over the past 10/15 years. I used one of my favorite five star junk bond funds and a present holding PHYTX. It was no contest with PHYTX the clear winner. But then I am biased! Junk bond funds are notable for their trend persistency and low volatility making them amenable to various trading methodologies using tight stops. Yes, I know 2008 was a disaster but the tight stop methodology would have kept you out of harm's way.

I'll chime in here...
Anyone should feel fortunate to have owned either one over the last couple cycles.
Bee's right on the money...VWINX has outperformed GLRBX both in absolute return, with less volatility (although slightly worse MAXDD), higher dividend yield, and lower expense ratio.
These folks seem to have the magic formula for a long, long time...about as long as interest rates have been going down.
Across the current market cycle:

Across the last:

Like the referenced article suggests, why would anyone and especially retired folks consider anything else?
Hmmm...
Well, I do believe that the last time VWINX was not in top quintile was four market cycles ago...during a period of raising interest rates:

GLRBX has not been around that long:

https://www.google.com.ph/search?site=&source=hp&ei=XHBFVbXoL47VuQTaoYCoDg&q=+Alleged+Fund+Fraud+Exposes+Cracks+In+Securities+Pricing&oq=+Alleged+Fund+Fraud+Exposes+Cracks+In+Securities+Pricing&gs_l=mobile-gws-hp.12...18075.18075.0.20438.2.2.0.1.1.0.324.501.0j1j0j1.2.0.msedr...0...1c.2.64.mobile-gws-hp..2.0.0.0.WZpnn2OXsAc
Quite the link but it might work. It did for me

Mona, a good point, especially with different managers. But with the slightly deeper 08-09 dip followed by faster bounceback, probably attributable to megacap orientation (?)
I also wonder if Ted's listing would hold for the VWIAX Admiral shares, since those differences are so petite.
As I get farther into retirement I wonder if I should go 50-50 with these two funds, hmm.
I was speaking earlier of the Midwest, and see that one of the current VWINX managers is a UWisc econ / biz grad, same as famous Oakmark folkx and MAPOX as well, IIRC. If I were still an assigning editor, I would get a research story on UWisc mfund connections.

@ MFO Members:
Total Return: GLRBX Is Winner
1wk. 13wk. YTD 1yr. 3yr. 5yr. 10 yr.
GLRBX James Adv:Bal GR;Retail -0.86% 2.37% 2.95% 7.12% 8.89% 9.01% 7.47%
VWINX Vanguard Wellesley;Inv -0.50% 1.03% 1.78% 5.79% 8.04% 8.97% 7.31%

Hi Ted,
VWINX has a lower 3-year, 5-year, 10-year, and 15-year Standard Deviation, a measurement important to me.
Best Regards,
Mona