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Fund Moves in 2020

edited October 2020 in Fund Discussions
Not a particular judgement on the funds, but simply matter of not wanting to pay taxes because of all my put income this year. Some of them have indeed stunk up the place, though. In a market they are supposed to excel, they have been found wanting.

Would like to hear from others which funds they gave up on because I don't want to land in those funds without having the full picture.

At this point completely out of these funds
BPRRX, BGRSX (to cut a long story short ...no pun intended)
APPLX (selling each of last 3 years...what the effing F)
GRSPX (meh...)
MDISX, MQIFX (last of the funds I fell in love with the idea of owning, gotten over that the day I sold HSGFX)
All Artisan funds I owned with "value" in the name but looking to buy back (still one I own, see below)
RPHYX, RSIVX, WMCNX (Sorry people, I can do better selling puts)
PRIJX (hoodwinked into the emerging markets value will do well idea, was in my MILs account)
PVFIX (found alternative, see below)

Funds I sold partially and still hold
FMIMX
ARTKX (if I sell it will generate capital gains)
COBYX (my condolence to the manager's family who passed, but really when are you going to turn around?)

Funds looking to sell at least some off to capture tax loss, hard decisions
IVWAX (my bad luck has to be excellent, manager has to leave, and with all that cash still stinks)
VGPMX (not "golden" any more)
VSIAX (bad timing)
WHGIX, FEVAX (not too worried, but since I don't reinvest dividends, have a loss on cost basis)

Moves that paid off
TMSRX (For MILs account)
PVCMX (Mr Cinnamond, you are not allowed to closed and then re-open new fund any more, it's illegal)
VLAAX, VALIX (lucky timing)
ONERX (Jeff Wrona found God. M* says NEGATIVE. F Them. Rock On)

Comments

  • Hi VintageFreak,
    Great post! Most people only want to talk about their winners, so this longneck's for you, big guy! So,.....to the losers.....
    FMIJX: the best part of this fund is the quarterly reports 'cause the fund stinks! GLFOX: I owned this for years. Right now, it sucks. Also sold ROGSX. It's a lagger. It got new PMs......still lags. One I still hold down 10+% right now. FSDAX: will buy more as it falls. Funds I would own again, just not now: FNSTX, GIBLXX, PTIAX, YCGEX, FARMX, RAANX. Moves that paid off. Many on buying the crash......lol. I want another one, please.
    God bless
    the Pudd
  • FMIJX really reminds me why we have to look at fund history over a long period of time. This was a top tier fund for most of its history and the management team seems intact. The funds value tilt hurt it in recent years...but my guess is if look back on this one in 2022 or 23 we will see this period as an aberration as both value and growth will revert to their mean. I'm holding while also maintaining my position in JOHAX though I've been tempted to go all in on JOHAX.
  • Hi wxman123,

    Yeah, it was (FMIJX) a top fund, but no more. Nothing lasts forever, as I always said. Don't love what you own. JOHAX: yes, owned it. Had 1 good year and sold it. America first, big guy! We have the money to support the market. That's where I'm at right now. Winter's coming now and this way something evil walks (i.e., COVID). I want to be here. We're the best. Think......the dollar. As the Dukester and I walk in the morning sun, I think of Ronnie (aka, Ronald Reagan). Back in the day.....it's ok.....we got this.

    God bless
    the Pudd
  • edited November 2020
    Per previous comments, agree that FMIJX was a good performer for several years in my portfolio until @2018. Was then on my watch list until March of 2020 as its pandemic performance belied its stated defensive posture. Traded into WCMIX--similar standard deviation and beta and with no regrets.
  • Thanks Guys. Staying strong with FMI funds. And thanks for YCGEX reminder.
  • Not a particular judgement on the funds, but simply matter of not wanting to pay taxes because of all my put income this year. Some of them have indeed stunk up the place, though. In a market they are supposed to excel, they have been found wanting.

    Would like to hear from others which funds they gave up on because I don't want to land in those funds without having the full picture.

    At this point completely out of these funds
    BPRRX, BGRSX (to cut a long story short ...no pun intended)
    APPLX (selling each of last 3 years...what the effing F)
    GRSPX (meh...)
    MDISX, MQIFX (last of the funds I fell in love with the idea of owning, gotten over that the day I sold HSGFX)
    All Artisan funds I owned with "value" in the name but looking to buy back (still one I own, see below)
    RPHYX, RSIVX, WMCNX (Sorry people, I can do better selling puts)
    PRIJX (hoodwinked into the emerging markets value will do well idea, was in my MILs account)
    PVFIX (found alternative, see below)

    Funds I sold partially and still hold
    FMIMX
    ARTKX (if I sell it will generate capital gains)
    COBYX (my condolence to the manager's family who passed, but really when are you going to turn around?)

    Funds looking to sell at least some off to capture tax loss, hard decisions
    IVWAX (my bad luck has to be excellent, manager has to leave, and with all that cash still stinks)
    VGPMX (not "golden" any more)
    VSIAX (bad timing)
    WHGIX, FEVAX (not too worried, but since I don't reinvest dividends, have a loss on cost basis)

    Moves that paid off
    TMSRX (For MILs account)
    PVCMX (Mr Cinnamond, you are not allowed to closed and then re-open new fund any more, it's illegal)
    VLAAX, VALIX (lucky timing)
    ONERX (Jeff Wrona found God. M* says NEGATIVE. F Them. Rock On)

    Out of curiosity, why do you hold so many funds? I'm ballparking statistically here, but if most funds fail to beat the market, aren't you raising your chances of under performing the market with each fund you add?
  • So much of fund performance seems driven by fund flows...especially for bond funds. Does anyone know of a screener that tracks this?
  • edited November 2020

    So much of fund performance seems driven by fund flows...especially for bond funds. Does anyone know of a screener that tracks this?

    I agree that fund flows can both accelerate a fund’s positive performance when money is streaming in and exacerbate losses when money flows out. There are probably some better methods / sources than what I use. But MaxFunds does present a “hot money” barometer. For OAKBX (a fund I sold 2 years ago) it rates the hot money flow as “average” 3/5.

    MaxFund Screener OAKBX
  • edited November 2020
    I have the same reaction. I could never hope to stay on top of so many funds. I use the KISS principle. Granted, my asset total is more than likely much smaller than the rest of you. So keeping things simple is easier for me. I understand selling, in order to "harvest" a tax-loss. But I don't even have that one on my grocery list. I do not even look in that direction. Am I just lucky? Over the years, I've not made too many changes. I stick with losers only to give them a bit of time to show me whether they're going to start making money again. When the day comes, I pull the trigger and sell. I started investing in 2003.
  • Crash said:

    I have the same reaction. I could never hope to stay on top of so many funds. I use the KISS principle. Granted, my asset total is more than likely much smaller than the rest of you. So keeping things simple is easier for me. I understand selling, in order to "harvest" a tax-loss. But I don't even have that one on my grocery list. I do not even look in that direction. Am I just lucky? Over the years, I've not made too many changes. I stick with losers only to give them a bit of time to show me whether they're going to start making money again. When the day comes, I pull the trigger and sell. I started investing in 2003.

    Right. Not to mention, even if one of the funds goes ballistic, it's still maybe a couple % of the portfolio. Seems pointless to me. Also, a quick overview of these funds looks like the OP is paying heavy fees for these funds to under perform. Not to make this an pro-index rant (I own both), but it looks like the OP would have been better off dumping it all in VTSAX with its .04 fee and forgetting about it for a long, long time.
  • @little5bee: on a M* fund profile, click on “Parent” and you will find fund flow stats for the entire MF company. Under the graph on the “Quote” tab that shows growth of $10k, you’ll find a smaller graph that shows fund flows by quarter for the individual fund. In my experience, funds that have outflows often wind up with larger capital gains distributions at year end.
  • I've not bought any new funds in 2020, but have had many debates with myself about holding some that I already own.

    I've had Fidelity Growth Fund FDGRX in my IRA for quite a few years. It's been a solid fund which really took off earlier in 2020. I just couldn't believe the growth rate was sustainable -- it really became a momentum play -- so I took money off the table in early June. What a dummy!
    It wiggled a little, but continued to go up. I did retain some shares in case I want to get back in (it's closed to new investors).

    My largest position is Fidelity Select Semiconductors FSELX, also in my IRA. It can be very volatile.
    Every time it hits a new peak, I consider cashing in.
    Every time it plummets, I wish I had cashed in, but hold on.
    It's up 44.5 % for the past 12 months (and 21.2% per year for the past 10 years, which is why it's become my largest position).

    Not in 2020 but last year, I bought Acre Focus AKREX because of comments on this board. It has been a solid fund -- thanks, folks.

    David
  • Interesting reading here. I owned FSELX for a while. I subscribed to the notion that AI will be growing and semiconductors is a prudent long term high growth play. It probably still is but the gyrations with NVidia and Intel - I couldn't take the volatility and sold it. It was probably a mistake. Long term... this is likely a good bet.

    Another fund I had was @Puddnhead FSDAX . I bought it 5 years ago before the last administration took office. It was a pure guess that a focus on Defense and build up would be positive for this fund. I did sell it in late 1999 or early 2020 (I can't recall exactly when). Pudd - are you still in it?

    I save a little space to speculate in sector funds or "trending" spaces. In 2021 - I'm in EM + Small Cap + Healthcare as my trending...
  • Foreign stuff is still only 10% of my portf. TEN percent, to be exact, and NINE percent of THAT is in PRIDX. It is a SMID fund. I was a bit surprised to see:
    21% in Consumer Cycl.
    Tech. 17.31
    Healthcare 15.32
    Industrials 14.45%.
    ...I'd have figured Healthcare to be on top.

    In the old regime before the '08-'09 Crash and prior to Covid, my thinking was that Europe was the "Old World" and was full of "old money," which mostly just sat there, doing... not much of anything. ... But if I'm not mistaken, European gov'ts are putting their markets on a meth-high, just like in the States, and maybe an even stronger dose. Of course, they have the EC to deal with, for member States. And I'm NOT intending anything negative about the EU and how it works. Better than FIGHTING and KILLING in a THIRD World War!
    ... Years ago, I did some reading about "Red" European bonds and "Blue" European Bonds. I do not think that the EU ITSELF as an entity is issuing any bonds, yet. Which is to say: I don't think there are any "Blue" bonds to buy, yet. Difficult, I suppose, to arrange for such a thing. How would a float like that be funded? In the EU, you have States that are in better health economically than many others....






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