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Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
  • What are you pondering investing in today?
    Under the topic of: "Buying, Selling & Pondering" here is what I have been doing along with my thinking.
    At these richly priced stock valuations I'm thinking of selling down more of my equities as they advance upward to new 52 week highs. This strategy is perhaps not for everyone; but, it is one I have followed for a good number of years with good success and one I learned from my late father and follows a buy low sell high theme.
    Currently, my overall asset allocation for my master portfolio is 25% cash, 25% bonds, 30% domestic equity, 15% foreign equity and 5% other assets as of my most recent Morningstar Instant Xray analysis. In addition, within equities, I have been overweight the traditional defensive sectors of healthcare, consumer staples, utilities along with communication services and real estate. Combined these sectors account for better than one half of my portfolio's sector weightings and puts them well overweight to their sector weightings found in the S&P 500 Index. Year-to-date my portfolio has performed well with a total return of better than seven percent, 7%, (including cash) plus a little trading activity (buying during pullbacks and then rebalancing after the rebound) has enhanced my portfolio's performance. In addition, since I have stayed invested along my asset allocation guide lines, utlizing some adpative allocatin strategies, I have enjoyed the income benefit that my portfolio provides.
    In compairson, the Lipper Balanced Index has returned through the same reporting period 5.1%.
    I wish all ... "Good Investing."
    Old_Skeet
    Good job Old_Skeet.
    And nice post.
    Always good to read your posts.
  • Seafarer Overseas Value Fund now available
    Legally, Seafarer can admit only those folks intending to one day reach the $100,000 threshold. Assuming my current rate of investing, that milestone might well be celebrated by my great-grandchildren (and Andrew's).
    Mr. Foster's preference is to describe this as "the universal share class" and to make it available to all, combining low expenses and a low minimum. Given agreements with folks like Schwab, that's not currently possible. For small, systematic investors, even those with no real prospect for reaching the $100,000 threshold in their lifetimes, this remains an attractive option.
    David
  • Market Cycle Data
    @dryflower.
    Hi again.
    Thought I'd share this from a response I just posted to teapot:
    On the premium site, you have 21 selectable evaluation periods (lifetime, 20, 10, 5, 3, and 1 year, plus full, down, and up market cycles) for all risk and performance metrics... Here is link to display metrics available.
    We will be adding even more evaluation periods to the premium site, but intend to leave the main site search tools in legacy form.
  • Seafarer Overseas Value Fund now available
    @ rjb 112,
    That was not the impression I got from my discussion with Seafarer representative, but I could be wrong. For the sake of accuracy, I will ask again on this specific question.
  • MFO Ratings Updated Through June 2016
    @teapot.
    1) Does every category use the same top % as Owl fund threshold line?
    If I understand your question, yes. MFO return ratings are relative to peers, so done for each category. MFO risk ratings are relative to overall US market (SP500). Here is link to definitions.
    2) For miraculous search, can you enhance it to allow multi-category/type search (similar to what Fidelity research mutual fund screen offers)?
    On the premium site, you can search up to 25 categories simultaneously, along with some 50 other parameters. Here is link to MultiSearch parameter list.
    We decided a while back to maintain the search tools on main site in current form and put all recommendations received from David and MFO community into the premium search tools site.
    3) Is it possible to display those measurement (e.g, Ulcer, Martin) for the same time period for all funds? You already have those numbers. What I would like to see is for age group of 5 years, the result will also include those funds over five years but will only calculate for the past 5 years not the life period of funds. So it is easy to compare between lines in the same period.
    On the premium site, you have 21 selectable evaluation periods (lifetime, 20, 10, 5, 3, and 1 year, plus full, down, and up market cycles) for all risk and performance metrics to enable the direct comparisons you describe. Here is link to display metrics.
    We will be adding even more evaluation periods to the premium site, but intend to leave the main site search tools in legacy form.
    4) How about offering premium member on a quarter basis or a free 14 days trial?
    Ultimately that is up to David. From my perspective, I think we provide enough insight into all that is available on the premium site through a myriad of screens shots on the welcome page (see lower right corner), periodic descriptions of new features in the monthly commentaries, and selected results on the discussion board. Enough to make a donation decision. Here is link to David's invitation letter when we launched the premium site last December after several months of beta testing.
    Hope that helps.
    Thanks again teapot.
    c
  • What are you pondering investing in today?
    Under the topic of: "Buying, Selling & Pondering" here is what I have been doing along with my thinking.
    At these richly priced stock valuations I'm thinking of selling down more of my equities as they advance upward to new 52 week highs. This strategy is perhaps not for everyone; but, it is one I have followed for a good number of years with good success and one I learned from my late father and follows a buy low sell high theme.
    Currently, my overall asset allocation for my master portfolio is 25% cash, 25% bonds, 30% domestic equity, 15% foreign equity and 5% other assets as of my most recent Morningstar Instant Xray analysis. In addition, within equities, I have been overweight the traditional defensive sectors of healthcare, consumer staples, utilities along with communication services and real estate. Combined these sectors account for better than one half of my portfolio's sector weightings and puts them well overweight to their sector weightings found in the S&P 500 Index. Year-to-date my portfolio has performed well with a total return of better than seven percent, 7%, (including cash) plus a little trading activity (buying during pullbacks and then rebalancing after the rebound) has enhanced my portfolio's performance. In addition, since I have stayed invested along my asset allocation guide lines, utlizing some adpative allocation strategies, I have enjoyed the income benefit that my portfolio provides.
    In compairson, the Lipper Balanced Index has returned through the same reporting period 5.1%.
    I wish all ... "Good Investing."
    Old_Skeet
  • Funds that distribute qualified dividends
    @TSP_Transfer: Question ? Which one is you, the baby on the left, or the Bullmastiff on the right ?
    Regards,
    Ted
    http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/profile/1467/TSP_Transfer
  • Seafarer Overseas Value Fund now available
    One can invest directly with Seafarer for the institutional shares. If you agree to the automatic investment purchase ($100/purchase), the $100K minimum is lowered to $1,500. Very nice for small investors.

    I was under the impression that it took more than just taking out an AIP, automatic investment plan.
    I thought you had to commit to meeting the $100K minimum over time, and have every intention of doing just that.
  • Seafarer Overseas Value Fund now available
    One can invest directly with Seafarer for the institutional shares. If you agree to the automatic investment purchase ($100/purchase), the $100K minimum is lowered to $1,500. Very nice for small investors.
    For traditional and Roth IRA, make sure your annual AIP does not exceed the maximum annual contribution. Also there is a $10 IRA account maintenance fee.
  • Seafarer Overseas Value Fund now available
    Fidelity, Vanguard, and Schwab are now offering the institutional class, SIVLX for a 100K minimum, basic and IRA. None of these offer the investor class SFVLX so far. What I don't understand is the statement by the person who manages Client Services for Seafarer Capital Partners who said, "We do not expect that the investor share class of the Seafarer Overseas Value Fund (SFVLX) will be made available on these No Transaction Fee platforms." Hmm.
  • What are you pondering investing in today?
    @rforno & Old_Joe: For those of us unwashed who don't have the slightest clue about Speyside 1
    Regards,
    Ted
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speyside_single_malt
  • This Closed-End Fund Looks Cheap And Boasts A 10% Yield: PCI
    They are very late to the party. The PCI discount was over 15% in December, 2015. The more savvy CEF traders will be selling into their buy recommendation.
  • What are you pondering investing in today?
    The markets are up about 8% since the Brexit low, we're lucky to get a gain of 10% for an entire year. We're obviously at the high end of our 2 year trading range, so I'm holding onto my dry powder for now.
    Not much talk about that trading range but there it is.
  • What are you pondering investing in today?
    The markets are up about 8% since the Brexit low, we're lucky to get a gain of 10% for an entire year. We're obviously at the high end of our 2 year trading range, so I'm holding onto my dry powder for now.
  • Low Bond Yields Are Upending A Basic Tenet of Portfolio Construction
    @Ted. Thanks for the link. An interesting write.
    Okay. I've only had one cup of coffee, out of bed at 5:30 am, outside work for awhile (as the heat index is going to be near 100 degrees this afternoon) so some outside work has to be done now, BUT................I'm having a problem with the info in this article.
    From the article: "But the portfolio padding provided by bonds may be wearing thin. To fully offset a 10% drop in the S&P 500 index, a 60/40 portfolio would need to see a rally in bond prices, pushing yields to new record lows. The 10-year Treasury note’s yield would need to fall by 1.62 percentage points to negative 0.24%, according to calculations by Morgan Stanley. That’s not impossible, but it would take a huge move lower from already record low levels, and relying on such an outcome is inadvisable, the bank found."
    I suspect the writer intended to state "would need to fall by XXX basis points or yield or whatever". A yield move from the current (about) +1.40% to a -.24% yield is a tremendous percentage move. The "balancing act" chart in the article is also very confusing.
    At many different trading day periods for this year, relative to the 10 year note yield; has found very large percentage changes at a daily basis, let alone the percentage change YTD.
    Perhaps I'm "Dazed and Confused" (from that generation).
    Help me out, if I've dug an improper information hole.
    Okay, I have not performed the math on the yield change move noted above; as I gotta get me arse outside again.
    Regards,
    Catch
  • Junk bonds break out above multi-year falling channel
    You can't use traditional technical analysis with junk bond ETFs ala JNK or HYG. In reality, junk bonds hit all time highs on 6/8/16 and then again on 6/23 right before BREXIT. Previous all time high was 5/31/15. They are on a roll now hitting all time highs 6 of the past 7 trading days. Looking at a chart of JNK or HYG is simply not reality.
    Edit: I left a comment at the site of your link but seriously doubt it will get published.
  • Junk bonds break out above multi-year falling channel
    Conclusion: With the S&P working on hitting all-time highs, this push above resistance and long-term moving averages sends an encouraging message to the risk on trade.
    http://blog.kimblechartingsolutions.com/2016/07/junk-bonds-breakout-above-multi-year-falling-channel/