FYI: To beat the stock market and mutual fund peers, having the right stocks isn't enough. It's having them at the right time that counts. And Alger Spectra Fund (SPECX) has done that in spades in the past 10 years and is doing so again this year.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.investors.com/etfs-and-funds/mutual-funds/blue-chip-tech-names-help-fuel-this-red-hot-fund/
M* Snapshot SPECX:
http://www.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/specx/quote.html
Lipper Snapshot SPECX:
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/fund/specx
SPECX Ranks #139 In The (LCG) Fund Category By U.S. News & World Report:
http://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual-funds/large-growth/alger-spectra-fund/specx

FYI: Dawn Fitzpatrick manages the billions in family
wealth of the investor George Soros. But she takes
over at an unsettled moment for global markets.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/08/business/dealbook/george-soros-dawn-fitzpatrick-american-stock-exchange.html?ref=business&_r=0

I have some PASDX in my 401K the institutional version.
MAVRX I want to buy with all the talk about "emerging markets value" doing well, stated by Seafarer. However I'm observing behavior of MAVRX against MACSX and MAPIX and see no reason right now to buy it. I will keep observing.
In any case, I'm simply not seeing overweighting EM until dollar deteriorates meaningfully. I am seeing substantial adverse co-relation. I feel more comfortable going with global/allocation funds and that's where I'm focusing right now - increasing my allotment to such funds in my existing portfolios.

This why there needs to be more disclosure of manager ownership. It is not an effing privacy concern. Miller owned "1 million" of LMVTX. Okay...he bought a freakin' $70 MM yacht. That's how I knew to stay away from him. You would think if he wanted to let the world know he bought that yacht, he could also indicate how much of LMVTX he owned. $1MM is like pennies for him. He is not investing with his shareholders, he is gambling with other people's money where the downside for him is practically nothing, while of course the upside is unlimited. And all while charging 12b-1 fee for a closed fund.
And now he opens his own shop and all is forgiven, of course.
Perhaps now people can understand why I dream of my kids becoming mutual fund managers. Last thing I want to do is impose my morality on my kids. I blame my parents for the scruples I have. Just like everyone else let's only worry about what is "legal" and justify it in the name of capitalism.
What a job. What a !@#$%^&* job!

When I was looking for a cash substitute for my bucket 1 holdings, RPHYX was closed. From the Great Owl listings, SSTHX has filled in admirably for me, is NTF at Schwab, and has served its purpose well.

"The fund has shown occasional (small) losses for a quarter, which should be impossible if all its bonds are due in no more than 30 days and all pay up."
Say you own an FDIC-insured CD maturing in 30 days, but (to quote JG Wentworth) "you need it NOW".

Your CD might allow an early withdrawal, but you'd pay a penalty. Or it might be a brokered CD and you could sell it, but again you'd take a haircut.
Being able to get your money in a month doesn't mean that shareholders can get their money now without causing a hit to the NAV. Not unless you add the assumption that the bonds mature on a daily basis in amounts adequate to meet daily redemptions, or that the fund keeps a 30 day cash buffer.
You're correct that RPHYX pursues multiple strategies but I don't think you can prove this with logic alone, i.e. that the NAV could not possibly fall if it only used the single "exceedingly short-term" maturity strategy.
BTW, "exceedingly short-term" was the phrase David used, along with "think 30-90 day maturity". Not 30 days.

The article positively mentions that TCLOX owns real estate property and implies that's helpful diversification.
According to M* that fund-of-funds holds less than 1% in real estate. Why the Barrons writer thinks that almost-invisible percentage is worth pointing out is beyond me. Diversification for an allocation of less than 1%? Really?

@VintageFreak If you look back at David's original write-up, that strategy is supposed to be 1/3 of the portfolio, if conditions are right, and it's not zero risk. Some of these junk bond issuers could go bankrupt in those 30 days, it depends on the manager's research to reduce that risk.
The fund has shown occasional (small) losses for a quarter, which should be impossible if all its bonds are due in no more than 30 days and all pay up.
I like the fund and I expect it to perform as intended, except maybe in a massive crisis as in 2008 -- but that, of course, is when you most want safety.

These are funds I'm looking to buy. Feels like I will never be able to pull the trigger the way the market is going. Like I said I will be patient because it is important to buy fund at right point so one can then truly hold it for long periods - just like they tell you in magazine articles in hindsight.
If I could buy a smattering of each, I would do right away like I did for some funds at TIAA. However buying normal minimum of each is plonking a bit too much money so for right now any profits I am taking I'm redistributing in my existing other funds.
So my list, and some of these are not necessarily risky, but I just don't think they are needed in this market. I'm also mentioning brokerage where I intend to buy
Vanguard
BVAOX, GAVAX, BULLX
Merrill
WHGIX
Fido
WSBFX
Schwab
LCORX (in taxable already have in IRA, and bought $100 just in case)
Direct
BRUFX, TILDX, BRTNX
TIAA
GTSOX, GAIFX
Scottrade/TD
BTBFX, PUBDX (in IRA), FMIJX (in IRA, sneaked in with $100)

FYI: Legendary investor Bill Miller has always been an independent thinker and investor with a 100% “active share” in his funds, as different from any benchmark index as you can be. He is also now his own boss, having recently purchased 100% of his fund business from his long time employer Legg Mason and establishing his own investment advisory firm, Miller Value Partners. His two funds now bear his name and carry on his contrarian tradition of concentrated holdings in largely unloved stocks. His flagship Miller Opportunity Trust was the number one U.S. stock fund for the five year period ended in 2016. In a rare interview Miller gives his rationale for some of his most controversial holdings, including Valeant Pharmaceuticals.
Regards,
Ted
http://wealthtrack.com/miller-independent-investor/

@Crash: For your information. Founded in 1985 by Alfred “Al” Lagan, Congress Asset Management Company is a boutique, SEC registered, family-owned, investment management firm based in Boston, MA. The firm was built with the strong conviction that the client’s needs come first. Under the guiding principle of “Growth at Reasonable Risk,” the firm began by providing tailored risk-adjusted investment solutions to Taft-Hartley pension plans and insurance companies.
Congress grew under the leadership of Al’s sons, Dan and Chris, who apply the same model to a larger array of client-types. The firm serves endowments, foundations, high net worth individuals, 401k plans, and advisory platforms through a diversified suite of investment products and services.
Regards,
Ted
Congress Asset Management Other Funds:
http://www.congressasset.com/funds/mf_download_menu.htm

I finally DID, after mulling it over, empty-out my TRP RE fund, TRREX (all of which came from TRGRX Global RE, at the New Year,) and I plunked it into my PRIDX. US valuations are rich, and RE is not the place to be right now; also, in a recent conversation here, it was observed that as long as my fund managers have RE covered, then I don't really need a dedicated RE fund, in addition. So, I pulled the trigger. And so PRIDX doubled in size, in my portfolio, to 6.51% of total.

OMG. What an unfortunate NAME. "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" (John 1:46.) And the obvious parallel in this case is: "Can anything good come from CONGRESS???!!!"

FYI: Brisk growth in exchange-traded funds (ETF) in Europe is spurring providers to seek out a new generation of retail investors - by tapping into the lifestyles they espouse with niche products covering everything from fintech to robotics.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.reuters.com/article/europe-etf-retailinvestors-idUSL3N1HE4GJ

FYI: J.D. Power once again set out to answer that question with its annual “U.S. Full Service Investor Satisfaction Study.” Financial firms were ranked based on a January 2017 survey of 6,500 investors who work with financial advisers for at least some of their investments. The firms were measured on a 1,000-point scale based on how they fared in categories including financial advisers, investment performance, account information, product offerings, commissions and fees, websites and problem resolution.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.jdpower.com/press-releases/jd-power-2017-us-full-service-investor-satisfaction-study

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I own this, but worry that in the next GFC it may end up like those ultrashort bond funds that cratered, revealing that there was no free lunch: the extra 100-200 bp of return at year came at a risk, at least during a major crash. I do feel like the manager here is smarter and more careful than most of the managers there were, but the only true cash equivalent is cash.

My "go anywhere" funds have historically gone to the wrong places. It's interesting to see these discussions pop up from time to time.

+1. I've found the same with unconstrained bond funds.
In theory "go anywhere" sounds great. In practice the freedom to move money anywhere ends up involving market-timing, which seems to be harder to do than stockpicking.

"I'm looking at the 5-year tax adjusted returns for RPHYX and it's 1.40%. Three years is 0.90%. "
Okay, but what are you saying? That this is better than cash, or that it's worse than more volatile funds?

I wasn't saying anything other than what was stated - the numbers provided by *M. People can make their own conclusions based on the numbers. Taxes may play a part in returns so I think it's important to keep that in mind, especially for those holding these types of funds in taxable accounts.