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Don't Expect Mutual Fund Managers To Protect You In A Bear Market
You mean Pointless Pronouncement (ala one of David Salem's pet peeves)?
You could be right. Al least, self-evident to most of us on the MFO board.
That said, I thought it had a couple good remainders, like:
However, they [fund managers] cannot move substantially into cash in times of high risk, or hedge with downside positions or short-sales. In accordance with the restrictions imposed by their prospectus (I know, who reads those), they must remain pretty much fully invested at all times.
It is one reason I've been drawn more to all-asset, all-authority funds.
I've also been noticing more prospectuses with increased flexibility. Just my perception.
Not many managers claim to be selling protection. But, a nice straw-man for a reporter with time on his hands one supposes.
Hussman will sell you some. But it's costly. His flagship HSGFX is still negative over 1, 3, 5, and 10 year periods.
Can't help offering here that one can't have it all. If we're gonna dump funds after a year or so's under-performance and take our $$ elsewhere, than we're laying ourselves (and our managers too) a nice trap for when things suddenly turn and go south.
Hussman does not sell protection. If you want protection buy some short fund. I continue to get bluer in the face...Hussman is also not a Long Short fund.
@Charles: "It is one reason I've been drawn more to all-asset, all-authority funds." ------------
Besides the 2 Pimco offerings managed by Rob Arnott, what other all-asset, all-authority type funds are you aware of?
Marketfield can pretty much go anywhere l/s although the original shares remain closed (and I'm guessing will continue to be, as there's no reason for Mainstay to reopen them.) Whitebox is also a highly flexible fund.
How can the Marketfield fund possibly be "highly flexible" with total assets over $21 billion. It may have been a great, flexible, well managed fund a couple years ago when you first started talking about it, but at some point the management sold out and decided to make it a profit maker for themselves and the new owner - a life insurance company.
I'm guessing MFLDX closed because the managers couldn't perform the same blueprint after so much money flowed into the fund. The fund should have closed before 1B in assets, as did BPLSX for example. This could be a very mediocre fund going forward.
I think the White Box funds or possibly other small asset alternative funds like RGHVX are a better alternatives... just my 2 cents.
I think Yacktmans YAFFX is a good example. It is a substantial part of my portfolio and I was disappointed by its performance in 2013 that was below its peers. However the fund showed much better results than its peers during the current recent market correction. It is positive YTD - better than S&P benchmark. I believe some funds can indeed protect our portfolio but of course it is not true for "average" fund.
Comments
Rightly or wrongly, in my retirement I invest only in otherwise good equity funds that have better-than-index downside behaviors. Else why bother?
You could be right. Al least, self-evident to most of us on the MFO board.
That said, I thought it had a couple good remainders, like: It is one reason I've been drawn more to all-asset, all-authority funds.
I've also been noticing more prospectuses with increased flexibility. Just my perception.
Hussman will sell you some. But it's costly. His flagship HSGFX is still negative over 1, 3, 5, and 10 year periods.
Can't help offering here that one can't have it all. If we're gonna dump funds after a year or so's under-performance and take our $$ elsewhere, than we're laying ourselves (and our managers too) a nice trap for when things suddenly turn and go south.
I continue to get bluer in the face...Hussman is also not a Long Short fund.
Waaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!
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Besides the 2 Pimco offerings managed by Rob Arnott, what other all-asset, all-authority type funds are you aware of?
I'm guessing MFLDX closed because the managers couldn't perform the same blueprint after so much money flowed into the fund. The fund should have closed before 1B in assets, as did BPLSX for example. This could be a very mediocre fund going forward.
I think the White Box funds or possibly other small asset alternative funds like RGHVX are a better alternatives... just my 2 cents.
What's 'substantially'?
I have no issue when Yacktmans and Ahlsten and Romick move into cash.
I guess if they went 3/4 into it they would get a lot of grief.