@MFO Members: The curent report Gross put #700 million of his own money into the fund.
regards,
Ted
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2015-01-22/gross-put-more-than-700-million-in-unconstrained-fund.html

FYI: Asset manager T. Rowe Price Group (TROW) said on Thursday that its head of fixed income, Michael Gitlin, has resigned and will take the same role at rival fund company Capital Group.
Regards,
Ted
http://blogs.barrons.com/focusonfunds/2015/01/22/t-rowe-prices-fixed-incom-chief-gitlin-moves-to-capital-group/tab/print/

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
WSJ Slant:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-stock-futures-rise-in-advance-of-ecb-move-1421930337
Bloomberg Slant:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2015-01-22/u-s-stock-index-futures-advance-on-ecb-stimulus-speculation.html
Reuters Slant:
http://www.reuters.com/assets/print?aid=USKBN0KV18D20150122
MarketWatch Slant:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-futures-inch-up-ahead-of-ecb-meeting-jobless-claims-due-2015-01-22/print
WSJ Markets At A Glance: http://markets.wsj.com/us
Sector Tracker: http://www.sectorspdr.com/sectorspdr/tools/sector-tracker
Current Futures :http://finviz.com/futures.ashx

FYI: Mutual funds focused on paying dividends to income-minded investors outperformed the S&P 500 for much of the past 10 years.
But dividend funds have lagged since early 2013. A $10,000 investment in the average dividend mutual fund on Dec. 31, 2004, would have grown to $19,186 by Jan. 20 this year, according to Morningstar Inc. data. The same amount put in the S&P 500 would have $20,592 sitting in it now
Regards,
Ted
http://license.icopyright.net/user/viewFreeUse.act?fuid=MTg4NzgzNTU=
Enlarged Graphic;
http://news.investors.com/photopopup.aspx?path=WEBlv012215.jpg&docId=735669&xmpSource=&width=1000&height=1152&caption=&id=735579

FYI: Vanguard won’t just come out and tell you that any of its funds aren’t top-notch. No fund company will — not when their goal is to sell you their products.
But I will.
I still think Vanguard is the best fund family around, but even the best isn’t perfect. Some of Vanguard’s funds are nurtured by expert managers and grow to be profit-building stars, but others are misguided, whether by poor managers or a fundamentally flawed investment strategy. These funds can doom your portfolio to mediocrity — or worse, major losses. And worst of all: Most investors don’t realize these funds are subpar
Regards,
Ted
http://investorplace.com/2015/01/5-vanguard-funds-vtmsx-vgpmx-vustx-vmnfx-vexmx/print

Thanks Scott. RIMIX looks good, available at Scottrade and best of all has no short term redemption fees. I can't buy anything with a short term redemption fee. I will compare its volatility with HIEMX and go with the lower of the two. My junk munis have done well so far in 2015 but...... January is often a tell about the rest of the year and diversified emerging markets have been among the best tell so far this month, albeit the month isn't over yet..
Edit: the one year chart of RIMIX sure looks better than HIEMX.

Uhhh ... reportedly much of the net deposits came from Gross to Gross. Let's say he transferred a half billion dollars to himself and that he invested it in JUCIX, the institutional class of his own fund. The expense ratio there is 0.83%.
(mumble, mumble, scribble) 0.0083 x 500,000,000 is ... ummmm ... he's charging himself $4,150,000 for managing his personal fortune.

Let me tell you about the very rich. They are different from you and me. They possess and enjoy early, and it does something to them, makes them soft, where we are hard, cynical where we are trustful, in a way that, unless you were born rich, it is very difficult to understand.
F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Rich Boy" (1926)

David

2015? Maybe the U.S. will not be the top performer, maybe rates won't go much lower from here but higher, maybe deflation is not inevitable, and maybe Gundlach will finally be wrong? Diversified emerging markets funds looking good so far this year so may try to build a position with of course a tight leash.

FYI: Denver asset manager Janus Capital Group said fourth-quarter profit rose 22 percent after its hiring of star bond fund manager Bill Gross helped it reach its first quarter of net deposits since 2009.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.reuters.com/assets/print?aid=USL1N0V01AC20150122

"The iBillionaire High Dividend Index, which was just launched today, is an equally-weighted basket of 50 high-dividend stocks held by high-profile billionaires in the financial sector." From Charles Sizemore at Forbes.com
FWIW, I only own one selection in their top 10 but I own a lot of it. That probably helps explain why I am not a billionaire.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneybuilder/2015/01/21/what-dividend-stocks-are-the-billionaires-buying/?partner=yahootix

@jlev: "why SHRAX ?" great long-term manager, Rich Freeman, with excellent results, in the 8th percentile over 15 years.
Regards,
Ted

I copied this from the M* forums.
As Chief Technology Officer at MORNINGSTAR INC, Greg Goff made $962,819 in total compensation. Of this total $350,000 was received as a salary, $300,000 was received as a bonus, $0 was received in stock options, $299,977 was awarded as stock and $12,842 came from other types of compensation. This information is according to proxy statements filed for the 2013 fiscal year.
( It would be interesting to find out which stocks were included as part of that almost $300k. Conflict? )
Executive Management
Greg Goff
Chief Technology Officer
Morningstar, Inc.
Greg Goff is chief technology officer for Morningstar, responsible for the company’s global technology strategy.
Goff joined Morningstar in 2011. Previously, he was senior vice president of global platform technology for The Nielsen Company since 2009. He joined The Nielsen Company in 2004 as vice president of data warehousing. He has also worked for Accenture and BlueMeteor, Inc. in Chicago.
Goff holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, with high honors, from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
It's like being a weatherman: You can be wrong many times and still have a job the next day.
Source- http://www1.salary.com/Greg-Goff-Salary-Bonus-Stock-Options-for-MORNINGSTAR-INC.html

I think the most optimal outcome would be a return to a long-ago normal of 1) You don't have a rising QE tide lifting all boats 2) If you get a 5-10% return in a year, great. 3) A return to realistic volatility, whereas people don't act like the market is broken if it goes down in a day.
I can think of a very possible least optimistic outcome, as well.

When is 0.5% just a little?

@MFO Members: M* CEO Of The Year.
Regards,
Ted
http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=680544

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
WSJ Slant:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-stock-futures-weighed-down-by-ibm-and-european-markets-1421846487
Bloomberg Slant:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2015-01-21/u-s-index-futures-little-changed-as-ibm-slips-netflix-rallies.html
Reuters Slant:
http://www.reuters.com/assets/print?aid=USKBN0KU1DX20150121
MarketWatch Slant:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-rise-for-third-straight-session-on-ecb-hopes-2015-01-21?link=MW_home_latest_news
Markets At A Glance: http://markets.wsj.com/us
Sector Tracker:http://www.sectorspdr.com/sectorspdr/tools/sector-tracker
Current Futures: http://finviz.com/futures.ashx

@MFO Members: Here Is Chuck Jaffe's interview of Tom Howard on his 1/14/15 show. (Click On Download)
Regards,
Ted
http://www.moneylifeshow.com/highlights.asp

Chuck Jaffe just published an article based on research from a group called AthenaInvest. The firm specializes in behavioral finance, advises the AdvisorShare active ETFs and has its own fund rating scheme (Diamonds, not Stars.). I haven't seen the original report yet because it's password-protected. Here's the snippet from Jaffe:

Howard is relying on a wide range of research, some of it his own but also several studies from 2013, showing that 80% or more of equity-fund managers beat their benchmark until the burden of fees and costs come into play.

It makes an interesting claim that would, if born out, be reassuring and useful.
At base, they argue that the average stock manager demonstrates sufficient skill to outperform his or her benchmark by an amount greater than the fund's expense ratio. Most, however, are not able to leverage that skill to their investors' benefit because of three self-inflicted injuries: (1) asset bloat, (2) closet indexing and (3) over-diversification.
I'm sympathetic to the conclusion and Chuck quotes me ranting about the industry's shortsightedness and penchant for taking aim at their own feet. Nonetheless, I don't have sufficient understanding of the research to know whether this is anything more than wishful thinking.
Chuck has offered to put me in contact with the study's authors. If that works out, I'll surely share what I learn.
David