Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

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.
  • Mag 7 Holdings - How Much You Got?
    Within fund holdings (I only looked at the top 10 and combined GOOG+GOOGL):
    AAPL 1.18%
    AMZN 0.32%
    GOOGL 0.36%
    META 0.25%
    MSFT 1.21%
    NVDA 0.59%
    TSLA 0.018%
    Total 4.09%
    I also own shares of AAPL (6.1% of total portfolio value) and GOOGL (3.1%) outright.
    QLTY owns 5 of these stocks in their top 10. JQUA also owns 5 and CGDV owns one.
  • frozen markets, range-bound
    I'm not much different @Crash. Up just slightly from the 2022 high, but on a positive note, up about 15% from the 2022 low. Bottom line, 2022 sucked.
    Up about 1.6% YTD with a similar to you combined 45% equity stake. I'd like to think 2024 will be decent. Good luck to all us old(er) guys.
  • February MFO is Live
    @David, I agree 100%. Though if fund managers were content to not be beholden to (or required to track?) a benchmark, this probably wouldn't as big a concern for them. But if they can't brag about their performance vs. an index or fund category, they'd struggle to market themselves to attract AUM and/or differentiate from the crowd. Thus, many funds often act alike and become a costly jumble of 'me-too' vehicles in their manager's quest to dodge peer pressure.
    I like absolute return metrics myself, at least in terms of overall analysis of performance - in my portfolio, I don't care if I 'beat/trail the S&P or my M* category or other funds. If I can SWAN and make a decent return for myself and my needs, whether that performance is +/- 5%, 11%, or 25% in a given year vs everyone else, I don't care. But the average investor tends to act only on recency bias, so immediate past/current performance is all the fund managers focus on to attract new money.
    (I don't like most of the popular tracking/benchmarking indexes anyway, which are used by most passive indexing funds that are so widely held, because they're market-cap weighted, as I've said for years. But they're 'cheap' which is used as a carrot to attract investors, so....here we are.)
  • Meketa Sets Up an Infrastructure Fund Targeting Ordinary Investors
    Different twist. This one’s for “ordinary” rather than “regular” investors - :)
    “In the past several years, private-equity firms have begun to raise large amounts of money from retail investors, a group that most alternative-asset managers had typically neglected. Private funds are generally open to people with at least $1 million to invest or an annual salary of $200,000 or more …
    WSJ
    Here’s a YAHOO link / story if you don’t have a WSJ subscription.
  • Bill Ackman is starting a fund for regular investors
    2% is quite low by hedge fund standards. I’ll pass on this opportunity. Hedge funds for the filthy rich make some sense. I think as someone noted elsewhere, wealth at the upper level is concentrated in families and passed on generation to generation. Similar to how big pension funds operate. So a 5-10 year bear market and a 30% + haircut doesn’t mean that much. They will survive during the downturn and the generational wealth will eventually recover. Part of the key to high returns is the inability to withdraw assets at will. Otherwise, many might flee at low points in the market and disrupt the very long term strategy.
  • WBALX Weitz Conserv Allocation
    PMEFX, not off to a great start this year, but its 3-year record is encouraging if you want a fund that is not concentrated in large-cap funds.

    Appreciate the response! We are steering clear of small-caps. Too damn volatile for a buy-and-hold guy like me. (
    30 Nov. 2023: 17% "not classified?" in PMEFX. WTF? Is that maybe 100-year old Saurian brandy futures from Star Trek?)
    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/r2OkF-Yck6Q
    Not sure where you’re seeing “Not classified.” From their Q4 Fact Sheet:
    Equity 35.3%
    HY Corporate 35.8%
    Investment Grade Corporate 25.8%
    Treasury 1.6%
    Cash 1.5%
  • frozen markets, range-bound
    Range-bound. That's where my portfolio is. 54 stocks, 37 bonds 7 cash.
    Just thought I'd mention it. Getting impatient. Tonight, I'm sitting just off my OLD high-point, at the start of '22, before the interest rate hikes. Financials, Energy, Tech and Healthcare are where I'm most concentrated. In that order. Bonds have come up, yes. But not "so'z you'd notice."
    I really don't want to pile into a horrifically crowded tech-trade right now. Arm, A.I., Facebook, Google, Amazon. And some of my stuff is holding WFC as a top holding. Makes me want to gag. Criminal suck-bag banksters. All of the huge banks are that way.
    Interest rate cuts will help. Earnings have pretty much been coming in hot for 4Q '23. Still not much of a difference in MY portfolio. Stinky poopy. Meanwhile, tempus fugit.
    ---End---
  • Buy Sell Why: ad infinitum.
    @Derf - Thanks for your question. My wife and I are invested in a similar ratio as you; much larger allocation to VWIAX than this new, very modest investment in PRCFX (just a toe hold). VWIAX holds a 35% position in an IRA requiring RMDs, and now that the market has recovered somewhat, I thought it was time to begin diversifying beyond the value stocks and intermed-term bonds.
  • Buy Sell Why: ad infinitum.
    @Level5 : Any reason why you're making the move at this time ? Thanks for posting as I'll begin to keep an eye on both for a comparison. I hold a small piece of PRCFX & about 7 times that amount in VWIAX.
  • Americans expected to bet $23.1B on Super Bowl 2024
    (This dude won’t be one of them.)
    ESPN
    The total is staggering. Hopefully they’re not gambling with their 401Ks or IRAs the way they are on sports.
    For comparison, mid-cap companies are defined as having a market capitalization between $2 and $10 billion.
    Large cap stocks in that range
    - LIST
    WBD / $23.9 Bil
    RJF / $23.5 Bil
    STT / $23.3 Bil
    EBAY / $21.8 Bil
    According to one commentator, there will be more than 10,000 different things folks will be able to bet on during the game. One supposes issues like what color Taylor Swift will be wearing, wind speed at kickoff and whether any rain falls are among them.
  • Buy Sell Why: ad infinitum.
    @BaluBalu
    See my link on this thread from Feb 3rd on page 8 for historical returns for Marshfield equity composite vs SP500
    Best regards
    Baseball fan
    Thanks. That link just spools and does not load on my iPad.
  • Mag 7 Holdings - How Much You Got?
    @WABAC
    Doing a quick look-see, I get these respective allocations for you based on your data.
    I invite you or anyone to proof these calcs.
    AAPL 0.05%
    AMZN 0.00%
    GOOGL 0.40%
    META 0.00%
    MSFT 1.02%
    NVDA 0.00%
    TSLA 0.00%
    Total 1.47%
    If you are OK with my calc's, I'll use them in the next summary.
  • Bill Ackman is starting a fund for regular investors
    @rforno, that would be an interval-fund, a special type of CEF.
    OEFs can only suspend redemption temporarily, but may impose redemption fees (like class B loads that have almost gone away now due to paperwork problems).
    Nontraded/non-listed funds can do that too. We see that for once popular nontraded REITs such as Blackstone BReit and Starwood SReit - these have been under max redemption (2% per month or 5% per quarter) for over a year now.
  • Buy Sell Why: ad infinitum.
    Yeah, @Crash. Sectors like Natural Resources are more of a momentum play, I think, than a buy and hold core investment. NR has been a poor investment for over 10 years. It's not PRNEX, it's the sector it invests in.
    Growth of $10,000 over 10 years (Schwab data):
    PRNEX $13,528
    NR category: $13,264
    Compared to the broader US market S&P 500: $32,807
    That's pretty much the equivalent of making about 2.5% a year on your NR investment.
    Anything that isn't broad and diversified will have really good stretches along with really lean years.
  • Buy Sell Why: ad infinitum.
    @BaluBalu
    See my link on this thread from Feb 3rd on page 8 for historical returns for Marshfield equity composite vs SP500
    Best regards
    Baseball fan
  • Mohnish Pabrai's mutual fund for regular investors
    I generally agree w/their investing strategy, but I'm not overly impressed with their holdings -- 25% of the portfolio is in coal stocks?!?
  • Bill Ackman is starting a fund for regular investors
    Alternatively, you could buy it directly on the London Exchange (PSH:GB). But not in a retirement account.
    Fidelity charges £9 for the London Exchange transaction. At the current exchange rate of $1.26, that's around $11.35 - a lot cheaper than $50. Though I don't know what sort of stock price you'd get through each mechanism.
    https://www.fidelity.com/stock-trading/faqs-international
    https://www.fidelity.com/bin-public/060_www_fidelity_com/documents/Brokerage_Commissions_Fee_Schedule.pdf
    https://www.reddit.com/r/fidelityinvestments/comments/pjvwvg/why_fidelity_charges_5000_foreign_settlement_fee/
  • Bill Ackman is starting a fund for regular investors
    Pershing Square PSHZF is a foreign-listed CEF that will have $50 exchange fee at most brokers, even if commission-free otherwise (Fido, etc).
  • SUNW vs NVDA
    During the downturn in 2021-22, I bought a small amount of NVDA. After trimming around $350 to take out initial purchase amount, it grew up a lot since then. M* portfolio is showing I am up 480%. However, it is still relatively small %age my overall portfolio, which consists of 80% mutual funds and 20% stocks. All the stocks were accumulated since 2021, and most of them growth stocks including speculative ones like SOFI and PLTR. I have been thinking of selling some of them completely or trimming these high flyers including NVDA, but not yet done it. (NVDA, NFLX, CRWD, DDOG, ASML to name a few).
    One of my mantras for buying so many of them when they were irrationally punished during 2021-22 period. My average price for NVDA is $122. I was lucky to buy NFLX around $170. I was not bold enough to buy Meta below $100, but average price is not bad at $175.