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Thanks Mo for the reminder. BobC, a frequent poster to the board also voiced the same reasoning in the past. Many like to invest with Michael Hasenstab without paying the front-end load. Unfortunately the closed-end fund, GIM is one the few vehicle.
I believe Schwab (retailed brokerage) offers TRINX with front-load waived, while TIBIX is only available in their Institutional brokerage. Other suggestions??
One often sees posters asking: (open end) fund X has done poorly; do you consider it a buy now? IMHO, this question is generally misplaced - open end funds are not stocks of companies that may get beaten down because of a bad quarter or due to deal that failed to close. They are baskets of securities that get priced at NAV. A fund would get beaten down systemically if the manager invested in a particular section of the market that was currently out of favor. But you'd have to rely on the manager staying with those securities or at least that part of the market in order to expect a rebound based on it being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
In contrast, closed end funds are indeed priced (somewhat) like individual companies in the sense that they have a market discount that waxes and wanes. If they are trading below their historical norm (i.e. at an excessive discount, or in the case of GIM at any discount since GIM usually trades at a premium), it is reasonable to expect it to regress sooner or later. What does one do with a stock one likes if its price continues to fall? Buy more. (That's not to say that the primary consideration shouldn't be whether one wants to add to one's foreign bond holdings, but if one does, it seems now is a good time to buy this particular CEF.)
GIM has historically done better than TGBAX, though at higher cost and higher volatility. As a result, I prefer the latter, though as noted above, GIM looked like a good buy three months ago, and an even better buy now.
One can purchase Templeton Global Bond A shares, TPINX, at NAV by exchanging from the A or Z share class of another Franklin Templeton Fund. So if one has access to Mutual Series Z shares (e.g. by being grandfathered in), that's one way to get no load access. (I'm just guessing that by TRINX you meant TPINX. Maybe you mean something else, since TPINX appears to have a load at Schwab. This is why it is important to spell out the funds) Firstrade is another alternative for noload access.
Comments
I believe Schwab (retailed brokerage) offers TRINX with front-load waived, while TIBIX is only available in their Institutional brokerage. Other suggestions??
In contrast, closed end funds are indeed priced (somewhat) like individual companies in the sense that they have a market discount that waxes and wanes. If they are trading below their historical norm (i.e. at an excessive discount, or in the case of GIM at any discount since GIM usually trades at a premium), it is reasonable to expect it to regress sooner or later. What does one do with a stock one likes if its price continues to fall? Buy more. (That's not to say that the primary consideration shouldn't be whether one wants to add to one's foreign bond holdings, but if one does, it seems now is a good time to buy this particular CEF.)
GIM has historically done better than TGBAX, though at higher cost and higher volatility. As a result, I prefer the latter, though as noted above, GIM looked like a good buy three months ago, and an even better buy now.
One can purchase Templeton Global Bond A shares, TPINX, at NAV by exchanging from the A or Z share class of another Franklin Templeton Fund. So if one has access to Mutual Series Z shares (e.g. by being grandfathered in), that's one way to get no load access. (I'm just guessing that by TRINX you meant TPINX. Maybe you mean something else, since TPINX appears to have a load at Schwab. This is why it is important to spell out the funds) Firstrade is another alternative for noload access.