@openice,
OK, let me be clear. The current AUM is a measly $53M for a fund which began collecting assets 8 months ago in May 2016. Like I said, this fund will not close to new investors anytime soon.
Also, Mr. Deshpande only has a paltry $100K or less invested of his own money in this fund, according to the latest SAI. Why should I have confidence in this fund if the manager doesn't ??
And if the AUM get near $10B, which may take 5 or more years at this pace, I predict that greed will overcome principle -- like it usually does -- and the fund will stay open to ALL investors.
Again, in this space, FMIJX would be my choice and not Mr. Deshpande's fund.
Kevin

Centerstone Investor Class A (CETAX) and Centerstone International Class A (CSIAX) are available no-load and NTF at Schwab for $100 and $1 additional in basic and IRA accounts. David ran a launch alert in June 2016. The fund http://centerstoneinv.com has a lengthy, detailed conference call transcript dated December 6 under News and Events that is worth your attention plus past articles / interviews that communicate very clearly the strategy of the funds and views of the manager. I own CSIAX and recommend it for consideration provided it has an appropriate place in one's portfolio.
@kevindow

Centerstone is likely looking for AUM like First Eagle, so this fund will not close to new investors anytime soon.

On the contrary, the manager has been quite clear about his intentions regarding AUM. He's stated that 10B would be an ideal size for his funds and mentions the importance of fund flows as well in keeping returns competitive. He points out that Ben Graham warned years ago about the danger of combining huge fund size with added fees making it difficult to produce superior returns. While it's probably true that the fund(s) will not close anytime soon, AUM will definitely be controlled.

Dear Old_Joe,
Thanks for you reply. This is the epoch when everyone becomes cynical, some call it "post-truth era". As for these funds, I recall now that there was a discussion of these new funds in June Commentary, in "Launch Alert: Centerstone Investors Fund (CETAX/CENTX)". Here is a part of these comments, much better said than in Morningstar:
"The argument for being excited about Centerstone Investors is pretty straightforward: it’s managed by Abhay Deshpande who worked on the singularly-splendid First Eagle Global (SGENX) fund for 14 years, the last six of them as co-manager.... Deshpande was seen as the driver of SGENX’s success in the years after Mr. Eveillard’s departure, which is reflected in the Morningstar downgrade when he left. So there’s talent on Centerstone’s side."
Then in July Commentary I read:
"The great virtue of the Morningstar conference, and one of the greatest gifts that working with the Observer affords, is the ability to talk with (heck, mostly listen to) remarkable people. That roster most recently included Rupal Bhansali, Abhay Deshpande, Andrew Foster, Teresa Kong and David Marcus. These folks aren’t just bright, they’re scary bright. More importantly, they’re the right kind of bright."
I guess this really helps me to decide:)

Here are two sites that I follow for global valuations:
Global Stock Market Valuations and Expected Future Returns
Global Stock Market Valuation Ratios
The following article demonstrates how CAPE and P/B reliably predict future market returns and market drawdowns in both domestic and foreign equity markets:
Predicting Stock Market Returns Using The Shiller Cape

Excellent excerpt from this last article:
"Existing research indicates that the cyclically adjusted Shiller CAPE has predicted long-term returns in the S&P 500 since 1881 fairly reliable for periods of more than 10 years. Furthermore, the results of this paper indicate that this was also the case for 16 other international equity markets in the period from 1979 to 2015, and in addition to this, CAPE also enabled equity market risks to be gauged. In this manner, low market valuations were not only followed by above average market returns but also lower drawdowns. On the contrary, high market valuations led to lower returns and faced higher market risks."
As far as investing, what does all this mean to me. Since CAPE matters globally, I am inclined to consider the ETF CAPE (however, average daily trading volume is too low for me), the ETF GVAL, and the mutual funds DSEEX/DSENX and DSEUX/DLEUX.
In our portfolio, I am confident in using CAPE and P/B for investment selection, and have an 18% position in DSEEX and a 10% position in PXH.
Kevin

@Javelina,
I am a fairly aggressive investor, but I have yet to see any evidence that owning a position in Frontier Markets is an essential and beneficial part of a diversified global portfolio. Personally, we own SIGIX and PXH in the EM equity space, and I consider that to be more than adequate.
Here is an informative M* article that you may find helpful:
Frontier Markets Begin To Emerge
Kevin

It sounds like an advertisement, because the first two sentences were copied from the web, but the end of it was mine: First Eagle funds are famous for their stability, safety and growth. I always wanted to have a chance to invest with them, but their funds either require 5% load, or 1 M for the institutional shares. Right now First Eagle Overseas has 15B AUM, and First Eagle Global has 51B AUM. Some of their leaders such as Jean-Marie Eveillard and Abhay Deshpande left. Meanwhile AUM of Centerstone funds is 1000 time smaller.

Hi @Tony
About Evergreen:
>>>Evergreen Investments was the investment management business of Wachovia. The brand was merged into Wells Fargo Advantage Funds and subsequently phased out following Wells Fargo's acquisition of Wachovia. The brand was officially retired on July 20, 2010.
So.........this fund, EKBYX is Wells Fargo.
Regards,
Catch

Intriguing no doubt but the scarcity of info is definitely a drawback. Compounding that are the transaction fees for purchase, loads, 12b-1 fees for anything less than the $100K institutional share class and no insight as to the expense ratio. I would imagine that if these funds kick butt they will begin to get more attention and publicity. However, if one is a gamer, and followed this managers accomplishments at First Eagle then getting in early might be just the ticket.

@Old_Skeet - You did well and stuck with your methodology. I like a bond-only portfolio because of the lower maximum draw down, which was 0.8% vs 8.5% for the S&P in Feb 2016.
I hope we all do well in 2017.

QUSIX is available at Scottrade for initial minimum of $100.00 in a regular account/non-taxable accounts with T/F.

Some strong candidates. Its only for 2016 but I have been invested in twvlx since 1994 and tweix since 2006. IMO Mr. Davidson and team consistently have provided good risk/return performances over multiple time frames and cycles.
http://corporate.morningstar.com/us/asp/subject.aspx?xmlfile=174.xml&filter=PR5719

Since, the topic has move to portfolio and investment performance Morningstar reports my investment return for 2016 at 10.1% while my brokerge house reports my combined account(s) returned 8.3% for the year which includes my sizeable cash position of about 20%. My bogey, the Lipper Balanced Index, is being reported to have returned 7.0% for 2016. With this, I score myself successful for the past year although my return fell short of my five year average return of 9.0%. I use my five year average return rate to help set my portfolio's annual distribution rate. Generally, I take no more than a sum equal to one halve of my five year average return.
My best performing sleeve for 2016 was my small/mid cap sleeve found in the growth area of my postfolio with a return of 38.7%. The next two best were found in the growth & income area of my portfolio with my domestic equity sleeve which returned 16.8% which edeged out my domestic hybrid sleeve with a return of 16.6%.
Seems though some of you active bond fellas (Junkster & SlowLane) left me snockered with your returns. I am happy with my return so I know you two have to be excitied with yours.
For infromation purposes and according to Instant Xray my portfolio bubbles at 20% cash, 25% bonds, 34% US stocks, 16% foreign stocks and 5% other as I open 2017.
Wishing everyone "Good Investing" as we move through 2017.
Again, nice going @Junkster & @SlowLane!
Old_Skeet

Fidelity will accept $2500 for QUSIX in an IRA.
Fidelity will likely let you transfer in shares (e.g. from Vanguard) to a taxable account even if you don't have $1M. But you should check to be sure, and also make sure that they'll let you buy more once you transfer the shares in.

A shares make sense if you hold them for long periods of time ( usually 7 years or longer) to take advantage of their generally lower ER, even factoring in the opportunity cost of not investing the 5.75% immediately. ... If you use a broker whose advice you find excellent, this is a small price to pay and probably a better deal than the 1% of all assets Merrill Lynch is reportedly going to charge their customers yearly. ... There are some brokers whose advice is excellent. Advisers, fee only or in wrap accounts or whatever, will not work for nothing. I would rather know what I was paying them than find hidden fees buried in the prospectus

John Rekenthaler, Vice President of Research at M* would seem to agree with you. He makes essentially the same point in Barron's ("The View From 30,000 Feet" - Jan. 9, 2017). Rekenthaler adds: "I think A shares, in which you pay a one time commission (known as a load) are underappreciated."
---
(This is from the print edition. However, Ted's recent link, "How to Pick Great Funds", should take you to the online version.)

My portfolio of solely bond funds was up 12.26% in 2016. But I can't hold a candle to @Junkster records of beating the S&P.
I posted my returns on Bogleheads last week (Trader/Investor) and talk about close 12.36% which reflect our similar style. Those higher commissions Scottrade instituted last year take a toll and the last many months I have done very little in and out. I have found it has helped my bottom line staying the course and getting those dividends being fully invested. Of course not much volatility either the past many months so not a lot of reasons to make many moves. That suits me just fine. Good luck in 2017. As always I am fearful and not complacent.

Fidelity wants $1MM to get in to QUSIX, but Vanguard will accept $10,000.
I have roughly equal amounts in QUSIX and GPROX.

Recently sold: EIFAX
Recently bought: GWMEX
Corp High Yield 42% (IVHIX, BHYSX)
Bank Loan Funds 30% (HFRZX, BXFYX)
Muni High Yield 28% (GWMEX)
I sold EIFAX and have been easing into GWMEX. EIFAX had a good 2016, but it has been lagging. Muni junk has been looking better.
My portfolio of solely bond funds was up 12.26% in 2016. But I can't hold a candle to @Junkster records of beating the S&P.

Two trades late December:
Sold remaining shares of PRNEX - up 25% in 2016.
Bought PIEQX - up 1.43% in 2016.
Sell high. Buy low.
"Nobody's ever made money in commodities."

I continue to DCA into SFGIX through my 401K at work. I'm very confident with the fund's management and think the sector is pretty beat up at the moment.

55% in bank loan fund BXFYX and 45% in junk corporate IVHIX. Bank loans are overloved and overbought while junk corporates are just overbought. Since 12/08 my goal has been to beat the S&P total return trading bond funds and with minimal drawdown. Except for 2013 made my goal. Something tells me unless 2017 is a bear market for stocks, I will fall short of my goal this year.