Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

In this Discussion

Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.

    Support MFO

  • Donate through PayPal

JULY commentary, mugs, profiles, vacation recs and more!

edited July 2021 in Other Investing
Noted in the July commentary:
Chip and I will spend much of the month of July in New York, starting with her son’s wedding in mid-July and our retreat to the Finger Lakes region (I’m already working on Wine Trail priorities) in the second half of the month. Our original plan was to place the Observer on hiatus for a month but we already have a half dozen stories in the pipeline, from a profile of the best international small-cap fund around to the impending launch of a whole new series of funds from T. Rowe Price. With your kind support, I suspect that we’ll share a lite issue with you on August 1st.
While I have not received an electronic or paper ballot; I am voting that the two of you "take a vacation". Many here are all too familiar with a "working vacation". Traditional work and vacation time combined are fully opposed word meanings, in the sense of mental health.

Full attention, by you and Chip, needs to be directed towards wine bouquet and palate sensations; without traditional work outside influences.

An August commentary skip? I vote YES.

Have a vacation.

Respectfully,
Catch

Comments

  • Good advice Dr. catch. In fact, take two. Don't call us, we'll call you.
  • Re “the impending launch of a whole new series of funds from T. Rowe Price”

    Can’t wait!

    image
  • hank, you are brilliant! i second your thoughts on gibberish.
  • beebee
    edited July 2021
    hank said:

    Re “the impending launch of a whole new series of funds from T. Rowe Price”

    I have been very impressed with TROW as a stock holding...anyone own TROW?
    https://morningstar.com/stocks/xnas/trow/quote

    Quick comparison with PRWCX, TRRBX, & TROW over the life of TRRBX.
    TROW Comparison
  • edited July 2021
    @davidsnowball and Chip, I hope you enjoy your Finger Lakes wine tasting experience. Living outside of Rochester, we have had many years of summer cottage rentals on the lakes and always toured the wineries. There are so many wineries now (100+) that I couldn't pick a favorite. Between Seneca and Cayuga is usually where we concentrate. That area has a great selection, and of course at the bottom of Cayuga is Ithaca, a wonderful little town with that college (Cornell) atmosphere you may appreciate.

    edit: David, if you find a place that makes it, try the ice wine. really good... but expensive. They keep the grapes on the vine in the winter to freeze which I guess brings more flavor and sugar. Expensive process but a great final product.

  • Enjoy Western New York! We, too lived in Rochester for five years well before the wineries became so popular.

    A friend and I spent several hours in Konstantine Frank's basement "sampling" his wine with him in the 80's.

    https://www.drfrankwines.com/

    Frank singlehandedly developed the vinifera grapes in the area in the 1950's. When he started it was all Concord grapes grown for Welch's grape Jelly. I think his vineyard still has the best Chardonnays and Rieslings

    A great read for the story of the vineyards there

    "Summer in a glass" By Evan Dawson.

    https://www.amazon.com/Summer-Glass-Coming-Winemaking-Finger/dp/1402797109
  • @sma3, good choice. Dr. Frank's Rieslings are award winning.
  • The Corning Museum of Glass has an interesting exhibit on the connection between glass and wine.
  • Very interesting Bee!
    As Malcom Forbes said years ago - “There’s more money to be made selling it than buying it”! It being mutual funds, in the case.
    bee said:

    hank said:

    Re “the impending launch of a whole new series of funds from T. Rowe Price”

    I have been very impressed with TROW as a stock holding...anyone own TROW?
    https://morningstar.com/stocks/xnas/trow/quote

    Quick comparison with PRWCX, TRRBX, & TROW over the life of TRRBX.
    TROW Comparison
  • Interesting July commentary, as usual.

    I dearly wish, however, that MFO wasn't almost exclusively aimed at catering for those in retirement or approaching retirement.

    There is practically nothing at all within these pages to cater for or appeal to those starting out on life's investment journey. In fact, nothing to appeal to those from 18-45. I'm 55, and Lynn Bolin's monthly articles bore the hell out of me despite their impeccable quality. I'm still seeking agressive growth.

    What's a younger invester to do?
  • edited July 2021
    @Simon:
    Please see
    https://armchairinvesting.freeforums.net/
    https://big-bang-investors.proboards.com/
    Both are fairly new sites and may be more responsive. There is some overlap with posters on MFO, but less focus on sundowning, especially Big Bang! Investors.

    David and Chip: Enjoy some well-earned time off!
  • This may help you out FWIW. Use search & type in aggressive. Don't give up after the first page.
    Happy Fourth to All, Derf
  • Hi @Simon
    While the tilt of Mr. Snowball's monthly commentary (over the years) and Mr. Bolin's current articles may be directed more towards capital preservation; one has the full discussion forum available here to seek any and all investment opinions with posting the proper question(s) to discover appropriate and proper suggestions that you may find worthy.
    While some of the old farts who regularly post here may be 20+ years your age; do not assume they are not growth investors; or that their investment path has not included growth in their portfolio to arrive at it's current value.
    The Start New Discussion icon and selecting either Fund Discussions or Other Investing is the start point to begin your query, of your topic.
    I also suggest reviewing the Discussion board at least on a weekly basis to discover if a post is related to your inclination and investing style.
    Regards,
    Catch
  • Yes-we've had a number of lively discussions about aggressive growth funds like MSEGX and MGGIX .
  • Simon said:


    I dearly wish, however, that MFO wasn't almost exclusively aimed at catering for those in retirement or approaching retirement.

    There is practically nothing at all within these pages to cater for or appeal to those starting out on life's investment journey. In fact, nothing to appeal to those from 18-45. .... I'm still seeking agressive growth.

    That sounds a bit ageist, don't you think?

    Expanding on Catch's suggestion to look at the discussions:

    I've posted several comments speaking positively about Pfau and Kitces research on rising glidepaths in retirement. In a sense I've gone further, suggesting that if you're investing to leave a legacy, you might consider the heir's lifetime not your own for the investment horizon. Many, um, older people have reasons to invest as aggressively as "those starting out".

    Then there's the question of what you mean by "aggressive growth". If you're looking for a gambling table, here's a recent thread on dogecoin, appropriately titled "keep gambling ?!! Anyone buying dogecoin"

    Or perhaps you're looking for posts on the latest hot fund manager. There's been a fair amount posted on Cathy Wood, e.g.
    https://mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/57508/ark-investing-etfs-interview-with-cathy-wood
    https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/57784/digging-into-ark-innovation-s-portfolio/p1
    https://mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/57574/you-want-some-more-ark-coming-soon-to-a-choice-near-you-x

    Personally, not my cup of tea. To add to the comments of some of the posters in those threads, I find the buzz reminiscent of that surrounding Van Wagoner. All I know of Tsai is what I read in history books, but it seems there were similarities to him as well.

    "Aggressive growth" might mean building an aggressively allocated portfolio or it might mean disregarding "risk". On the former, there's been a fair amount of discussion about giving up on bonds. On the latter, I've questioned how risk is quantified, or if it even matters: "why do you care about the volatility of an investment you won't touch for a decade or more?"
  • @Simon@InformalEconomist mentioned two great investing forum websites with a wide investment style coverage. I’ve personally found the two mentioned offer a refreshing benefit of learning about different investment strategies and perspectives without personal attack and criticism.

    There is very rich data and info here via search - especially if entering tickers and fully utilizing search. The life of the site is lengthy enough to provide a lot of helpful advice from intelligent investors.
  • @Simon who said:

    "There is practically nothing at all within these pages to cater for or appeal to those starting out on life's investment journey. In fact, nothing to appeal to those from 18-45. I'm 55, and Lynn Bolin's monthly articles bore the hell out of me despite their impeccable quality. I'm still seeking agressive growth.

    What's a younger invester to do?"

    Maybe said investor might consider starting the type of discussions they wish to have.
  • edited July 2021
    *Semper* Brentview Div Growth Equity, like the Semper of the junk MBS fund SEMPX and the sorta similar short duration debt fund?

    Yes, it is. Wonder what came over them to stretch into equities, and if they have ambitions of getting their fingers into other asset class pies.
  • kids today
  • edited July 2021
    “Where is the evidence that the market could "slap (you) in the face" soon? There is none. With respect, the very person who recently told us to ignore speculative comments like this has just made one himself! The facts all point to continued growth in the US stockmarket for the foreseeable future. There is absolutely zero evidence supporting the recession theory, let alone the crash theory.”

    - Posted by @Simon - January 2020

    Nobody could have foreseen the market swoon that befell us only weeks after that comment was posted. A bloody time for stocks, gold, commodities - even corporate bonds until the Federal Reserve stepped in and shored up the BBB markets. Had you been light on risk assets at the time you could have made out like a bandit buying them up in the aftermath. Possibly, the “old f’s” that hang out here were on to something with their cautious note. You’re never too old or too young to learn - young from old and old from young.

    March 9, 2020 Market Crash
  • Hi, guys.

    Sorry for the long absence. I think the Semper + Brentview launch was a sort of "kindred souls" thing. I spoke at length to the guys involved and they seemed very much united in their view of each other and their relations with the investor community. Not sure that it's part of any larger plan, fyi.

    Three things.

    (1) on younger / more aggressive investors: you'd want to separate the monthly issue from the board discussions and, within the monthly issue, the commentary pieces from the fund profiles. My commentaries generally do have a fair risk-consciousness but a bunch of the profiled funds at nearly 100% equities and often in higher risk / higher return segments (EM value or microcaps). Even within those spaces, I tend to have more respect for managers who'd prefer not to impoverish you, since some people react poorly to losing 60% of the their money.

    I did, by the way, try to arrange an alliance with a site dedicated to younger investors. They reached out to us, I responded and didn't hear back, then responded again and experienced more silence.

    I anticipate two profiles for the aggressive in September: North Star Microcap and Baillie Gifford Long Term Global Growth. The former keeps popping at a top MCV fund and we're investing in the latter for Will's Roth IRA: he turns 21 next week and the Roth should have a 45+ year window. Dan Wiener, aka Dan the Vanguard Man, made a strong pitch for BG and has almost all of his clients invested in it.

    (2) on August: at most we'll post the four pieces that are already essentially ready (an Elevator Talk with attorneys specializing in ESG disclosure issues, the T Rowe Price Retirement Blend series launch, Corbett Road Opportunity ETF and StandPoint Multi-Asset), perhaps with a short wine review as my monthly letter.

    I read a really disheartening news story that makes me dislike VC and bitcoin even more: a VC fund is running a gas-fueled power station that (a) is providing power for bitcoin mining and (b) is dramatically warming Seneca Lake. They're response to "you're destroying the most iconic of the Finger Lakes" is "hey, we got the permits to do it!"

    (3) on celebrating you: we have some of the MFO coffee mugs left and I'd happily share with you. Just drop a note to my david at MFO email and I'll take care of it as soon as I can. image

    Buying a 2018 Camry today after a failed search for an inexpensive but reliable used car for my son, Will. (10 cars, 10 test drives, three full mechanical reviews = 10 disasters waiting to happen. So I'm "selling" my Kia to Will and upgrading.) Chip and I head to Pittsburgh Monday, we visit my family Tuesday, head northward Wednesday to be with her family for her son's wedding ... then onto the Wine Trail! Thanks for the leads!

    David
Sign In or Register to comment.