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I have been a long time fan of MFO and trust most of the participants opinions. Lately, I have been coming across negative comments by various financial writers who seem to have a strong bias against Morningstar reports. I depend on M* and would appreciate any info you can provide, pro or con. Thank you for being there. Stay safe.
That's interesting. What sort of bias are you observing? They're certainly - for good business reasons - obsessed with the comings and goings of large funds and larger fund families, some of their folks are perhaps a bit rosy-eyed about the prospects of passive investing and some of their web functionality is iffy, but I hadn't perceived any systemic problem. The individuals there with whom I work remain uniformly helpful, cheerful and professional.
I saw a deal to get SeekingAlpha for $19/mo and pounced for a year. The data/metrics are far more usable than M*'s new (er, current) site ... and the user comments I find quite useful food-for-thought, oftentimes more insightful than the article I'm reading there.
I haven't read any negative comments on M* from the financial press. But I haven't been looking for them either. Neither do I spend a lot of time in the market blogosphere, like Seeking Alpha.
My own observation is that their home page has lost its focus on mutual funds. The result is a discordant mischmasch of conflicting advice aimed at a variety of different audiences from IRA buyers to stock pickers to financial advisors.
Many investors today have never experienced a bear market in their personal investing and many more hadn’t accumulated significant wealth of their own during the last downturn. The same is true for many professional investors who either have never experienced this type of market environment or did not have as much professional financial responsibility during it. This is a challenging environment for the experienced and even more unsettling for the inexperienced.
Say what? A thirty year old with an interest in investing might have noticed a couple of major shocks growing up. I noticed the end of the silver standard as a mere lad of 8 tender years. Nor was it possible to avoid the impact of inflation.
If young professional investors have not studied, and learned from, recent large shocks I would not trust my money to them. Such people will continue to be punished by market surprises until they learn to pay attention to valuations and leverage.
Morningstar’s mission is to empower investor success, and we are committed to weathering this storm with all investors. We are confident that with a sustained focus on long-term investing principles, investors will manage through this crisis just fine.
Does that mean we should be reading another iteration from Christine Benz, John Rekenthaler's dyspeptic musings, or the latest stock touts?
The writing has never been very strong. Sam Lee was the only person I looked forward to. Russ Kinnel spends most of his time on their more expensive platforms. Jeff Ptak touts indexes. And there are only so many ways Benz can rewrite the same five or six topics.
Comments
That's interesting. What sort of bias are you observing? They're certainly - for good business reasons - obsessed with the comings and goings of large funds and larger fund families, some of their folks are perhaps a bit rosy-eyed about the prospects of passive investing and some of their web functionality is iffy, but I hadn't perceived any systemic problem. The individuals there with whom I work remain uniformly helpful, cheerful and professional.
Curious, as ever,
David
I saw a deal to get SeekingAlpha for $19/mo and pounced for a year. The data/metrics are far more usable than M*'s new (er, current) site ... and the user comments I find quite useful food-for-thought, oftentimes more insightful than the article I'm reading there.
My own observation is that their home page has lost its focus on mutual funds. The result is a discordant mischmasch of conflicting advice aimed at a variety of different audiences from IRA buyers to stock pickers to financial advisors.
Consider the CEO's letter to readers posted recently. Say what? A thirty year old with an interest in investing might have noticed a couple of major shocks growing up. I noticed the end of the silver standard as a mere lad of 8 tender years. Nor was it possible to avoid the impact of inflation.
If young professional investors have not studied, and learned from, recent large shocks I would not trust my money to them. Such people will continue to be punished by market surprises until they learn to pay attention to valuations and leverage. Does that mean we should be reading another iteration from Christine Benz, John Rekenthaler's dyspeptic musings, or the latest stock touts?
The writing has never been very strong. Sam Lee was the only person I looked forward to. Russ Kinnel spends most of his time on their more expensive platforms. Jeff Ptak touts indexes. And there are only so many ways Benz can rewrite the same five or six topics.