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I've got a prominent place reserved for it on the watch list, but I generally don't buy any new fund until at least the first full report/commentary/portfolio holdings comes out.
Nearly all my EM stock exposure is with Matthews right now; I recently zeroed out the DEM and EDIV I had held for a while. The options I'm considering now for "balanced" EM exposure when I decide to put new $ into EM are SFGIX, FEO, and a combination of DEM and TEI.
This Bio from M* Andrew Foster 10/31/2006 — 03/21/2011 Andrew Foster is a Portfolio Manager at Matthews International Capital Management, LLC. Andrew joined Matthews in 1998 as a Research Analyst, and has held a number of positions at the firm during his tenure, including Director of Research, and acting Chief Investment Officer. Andrew began his career in Singapore, where he worked as a management consultant in A.T. Kearney’s Financial Institutions Group. He holds an A.B. in Public Policy and a secondary degree in Economics from Stanford and an M.B.A. from INSEAD in France. Mr. Foster had an excellent performance at MAPIX,basically in the top 10% for his 4 1/2 years there.
Reply to @VintageFreak: fyi, if you are looking for asian exposure, this may not be your fund. This fund is not suppose to be an Asian concentrated fund like his previous fund at Matthews, MACSX. From David's review, it will based on the MACSX formula of investing, but using emerging and (some) developed markets around the globe, plus frontier markets. Kind of an all in one International fund weighted towards EM's is the way I see it.
from David:
Seafarer will take the MACSX formula global. The Seafarer prospectus explains the strategy:
The Fund attempts to offer investors a relatively stable means of participating in a portion of developing countries’ growth prospects, while providing some downside protection, in comparison to a portfolio that invests purely in the common stocks of developing countries. The strategy of owning convertible bonds and dividend-paying equities is intended to help the Fund meet its investment objective while reducing the volatility of the portfolio’s returns.
Mr. Foster writes: “I hope to marry Asia Pacific with other ‘emerging markets,’ a few carefully-selected ‘frontier’ markets, alongside a handful of ‘developed’ countries. I am excited about the possibilities.”
I have Seafarer funds on my watch list. I had to liquidate a bunch of securities to make a large cash settlement with my ex as part of a recent divorce. About the same time as my divorce, my father died and left my sister and I with a chunk of cash that more than made up for the divorce settlement. As a result, I'm currently sitting on a pile of cash and having to rethink my entire portfolio. I'm heavily biased toward international and emerging markets; Seafarer may be a good fit but I haven't decided, and I also think this market will experience a major correction shortly.
I haven't posted much since fundalarm days, mainly because of the personal turmoil in my life during the last half of last year.
I called Seafarer today, and the fund is not currently available at any brokerage, but the company is negotiating with a "number" of brokerages to carry their fund. Of course you can buy the fund directly from Seafarer.
This fund will be on my watch list, but I will wait to see a portfolio and some sort of track record.
Reply to @Investor: While holding onto a high percentage of cash, I have added to a few of my long term mutual fund positions, and I also added a couple of telecom individual stocks, a mortgage REIT, an oil and gas royalty trust, and a high yield bond CEF.
Reply to @tgeno: It's good to hear from you, and sad to hear of your tribulations. I'm not sure whether it's reassuring or not to know that many share the experiences and are deeply sympathetic.
There are an increasing number of non-traditional portfolios, often with hybrid characteristics but little common stock exposure, that might be plausible fits. I'll try to write a bit about the subject in March.
Comments
http://www.seafarerfunds.com/about/
Nearly all my EM stock exposure is with Matthews right now; I recently zeroed out the DEM and EDIV I had held for a while. The options I'm considering now for "balanced" EM exposure when I decide to put new $ into EM are SFGIX, FEO, and a combination of DEM and TEI.
P.S. Yes, I sold down my EM stake a bit early ...
David
Andrew Foster
10/31/2006 — 03/21/2011 Andrew Foster is a Portfolio Manager at Matthews International Capital Management, LLC. Andrew joined Matthews in 1998 as a Research Analyst, and has held a number of positions at the firm during his tenure, including Director of Research, and acting Chief Investment Officer. Andrew began his career in Singapore, where he worked as a management consultant in A.T. Kearney’s Financial Institutions Group. He holds an A.B. in Public Policy and a secondary degree in Economics from Stanford and an M.B.A. from INSEAD in France.
Mr. Foster had an excellent performance at MAPIX,basically in the top 10% for his 4 1/2 years there.
http://performance.morningstar.com/fund/performance-return.action?t=MAPIX®ion=USA&culture=en-us
from David:
Seafarer will take the MACSX formula global. The Seafarer prospectus explains the strategy:
The Fund attempts to offer investors a relatively stable means of participating in a portion of developing countries’ growth prospects, while providing some downside protection, in comparison to a portfolio that invests purely in the common stocks of developing countries. The strategy of owning convertible bonds and dividend-paying equities is intended to help the Fund meet its investment objective while reducing the volatility of the portfolio’s returns.
Mr. Foster writes: “I hope to marry Asia Pacific with other ‘emerging markets,’ a few carefully-selected ‘frontier’ markets, alongside a handful of ‘developed’ countries. I am excited about the possibilities.”
On the other hand MACSX opening back up too.
I haven't posted much since fundalarm days, mainly because of the personal turmoil in my life during the last half of last year.
How about Watershed Fund? Or Windfall Fund?
Seafarer. Bah!
This fund will be on my watch list, but I will wait to see a portfolio and some sort of track record.
Kevin
There may be a major correction. It eventually will. But why not slowly DCA into some conservative funds meantime.
There are an increasing number of non-traditional portfolios, often with hybrid characteristics but little common stock exposure, that might be plausible fits. I'll try to write a bit about the subject in March.
In any case, welcome again. David