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purchased JQC... it recently changed investment strategy to being a sr loan fund. since not many investors are aware of the change, this closed end fund is still trading at a discount with a yield of over 8.19% -- purely from income. all its sisters and brothers have been commanding premiums for a while.
Doubled my position in mREIT CYS and in nat gas ETF FCG. Took profits in global real estate CEF IGR. I use IGR as an intermediate term trading vehicle. CYS and FCG are long term positions. Cut cash position by half to 13%.
These are all long term investments and are not meant for a quick trade. I do own a few of them (OAK,LUK,GLRE) and I intent to buy some more. Good luck to all Turtle.
Reply to @scott: Actually, the symbol has changed to just MJNA. And since I've been here in Boulder, I can distinguish between wildfire smoke and second-hand toke smoke.
Reply to @Turtle: OAK is a partnership... may i ask whether you are keeping it in a taxable or a tax exempt account? I have been looking at another listed manager -- a famous distressed mortgage investor -- but couldn't figure out the operational / tax issues.
Similar mindset. I've owned L in the past and I've owned GLRE a few times in the past. LUK is something I've never owned, but it's something I've looked at and it remains a value. I'm very interested in OAK, but I wish it wasn't a partnership/didn't generate a K-1 tax form - that's not to say it isn't something I may eventually invest in, but I just wish there wasn't a K-1 involved.
Reply to @Charles: I dunno much about HYLD, but I'm not overly thrilled with Advisorshares. I think a fair amount of their products (not HYLD - which may be great - but some of the other stuff) just isn't/may continue not to attract enough interest to continue.
Last week Annaly Capital’s CEO Wellington Denahan-Norris (who this week replaced the late Michael Farrell who tragically passed away), said some very interesting comments to Bloomberg on the state of the risk markets. After discussing the impact of the Fed buying Agency MBS she said:
“It’s not just at the mortgage REITs where the returns in this market are being put under assault, It’s the general global landscape where you have an incredible mispricing of risk that’s being delivered at the hands of academics at the central banks of the world.”
Worst fear #1--an unforeseen sharp rise in interest rates resulting in principal losses to fixed income allocations (bond funds.)
Worst fear #2--financial repression/negative real return/negligible yield on any better credit quality/shorter duration asset continuing on and on and on for years.
Either scenario equates to a damned whether you do or don't costly outcome for those who saved instead of spent, the flip side regression to mean for fixed income funds which have enjoyed decades of gains in addition to yield.
Fidelity Floating Rate and RPHYX are held as interest rate risk hedges. A doubling of precious metals exposure from 5% to 10% (gold, silver, mining shares and funds) was done through spring and summer to hedge against the rash actions of poison Ivy League economics PhDs.
So I keep wondering to myself, do our money-printing central banks and their cheerleaders understand the full consequences of the monetary debasement they continue to engineer? Inflation of the CPI might be a consequence both seen and measurable. A broad inflation of asset prices might be a consequence seen, though not measurable. But what about the consequences that are unseen but unmeasurable and are all the more destructive for it? I feel queasy about the enthusiasm with which our wise economists play games with something about which we have such a poor understanding.
My point is to show that money operates in many social domains beyond the financial, and that tying currency devaluation to social devaluation might have some merit.
If you're in a position to qualify, run - don't walk - to a (reputable) mortgage institution still offering 15 year fixed-rate refi loans at under 3%. Borrow a healthy chunk. Invest proceeds in a well-diversified mix of funds or other assets (no concentrated bets, and - certainly not all in a junk bond fund:-) Applies only to those with proven discipline to reinvest these proceeds and stay the course - as borrowing on one's home is always risky. The 30 year seems to be running a half percent or so higher. May fit some's needs - not mine, as the time horizon means it will take much longer to rebuild equity. If nothing else, invest proceeds in a conservative fund like TRRIX, up around 8% so far this year. Obviously tax considerations must be taken into consideration when investing proceeds.
Reply to @Charles: Just my opinion, but I wouldn't touch a junk bond ETF with a ten foot pole and most especially HYLD because of its lack of liquidity and wide bid/ask spreads.
I'm still riding dividend payers big time via NCV (11.7%) tax deferred and NZW (5.2%) tax exempt with long held positions in my personal utes (CMS and DTE) and the play that I put on for natgas back when it was below $2 with GASFX, FCG and FSNGX. Oh, and just in case anyone wondered, I'm still long pm's.
Probably no suprises for the MFO bunch; but we'll likely stay put with our bond mix to find how close we may be able to find a 13% return for the year. NOTE: Our bond mix has returned a +.09% each of the last two weeks and appears to be going negative for this week...............I will guess perhaps a -.20%. Perhaps 11% will be it for the year; barring how crazy the equity markets become for a few days or so after the elections. Expecting the S&P 500 close at year end, of 1371. Y'all take care of you and yours, Catch
Reply to @scott: I realize that this may have been discussed before, but could you or anyone else on the board help me understand the restrictions/limits on owning a partnership in a tax sheltered account?
I do not hold MLPs in a tax-sheltered account. The only partnership I currently hold is BIP. I do hold KMR, which is a different way (often called "i-share" version) to invest in the Kinder Morgan Partners MLP. KMR is not a partnership and does not result in a K-1. However, you only have the option of share dividends with KMR.
Reply to @scott: Thanks. I had similar perception of Advisorshares, like HDGE and AGLS. Seem just awful. Couple others too early to tell. And, I'm predisposed to not like these umbrella fund houses, like Affiliated Managers Group or DundeeWeath Funds, but that seems to be the direction these days. Still, intrigued by HYLD.
Reply to @hank: Hi hank. I've thought about same thing. Leverage as much low interest mortgage equity as you have available and put it to work in higher earning (but still conservative) funds.
Reply to @Charles: Yeah - I actually am quite a bit for alternative strategies, I believe they work and I believe they should be offered to a wider degree to retail investors. However, many of these funds have either been not very good or not flexible/nimble enough to effectively pull off the strategy.
I think the issue on top of those issues (and I see one or both of those issues in a number of Advisorshares funds) is the fact that the Advisorshares funds suffer - as hiyield noted below - from lack of liquidity and large bid/ask spreads. Additionally, a few of their funds are so specific/eccentric, I just don't see them attracting enough attention.
They do have a fund managed by Roger Nussbaum, whose articles I've liked on Seekingalpha, but I'm not interested enough to invest in one of their funds. HYLD may be good, and seems to be SOMEWHAT more liquid than other Advisorshares offerings, but not sure how much more upside high yield has (of course, I say that, then it continues for another year or three.)
I do think - either way - there will likely be better opportunities for a number of asset classes later in the year. I have admittedly started a couple of small stock positions in the last couple of weeks (one of which, the Andersons, I mentioned at the start of the thread), but otherwise, have taken (and may continue to take) profit in some funds and am waiting for better opportunities in both funds and adding to individual stocks.
I do own a couple of Dundeewealth funds, but not much in either.
These are NOT MY WORDS but 100% the way I feel now about BONDS at this juncture. This comes from Fidelity and it is the statistical equivalent of buffalo herd charging across the prairie toward an unseen cliff: "The below-average real returns for equities during the past 12 years, in combination with the near- uninterrupted 30-year rally for bonds, has led to a recent shift in investor preferences. Since December 2007, investors have poured more than $1.1 trillion into bond mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs)—more than 33 times the amount allocated to equity funds and ETFs" I don't hate bonds, they are an integral part of our low-volatility portfolio models. But to be doing bonds instead of stocks looks suicidal to me in the context of a long-range retirement portfolio. If I could pick an asset class for the next 5-10 years it would be REAL ESTATE. Just my humble opinion. Anyone care to mention or recommend a good real-estate mutual fund . Good luck to all. Turtle
Reply to @Charles: Depends on individual situation. Nobody should overburden selves with debt. Lota intangibles to owning your home free and clear. And, even the most disciplined among us might succumb to temptation and part with the $$ rather than letting it grow. But, from a purely statistical standpoint, if you can't grow the $$ at something above 3% over 15 years, there's something amiss somewhere. Now - that "something" could turn out to be a repeat of '08 or something like Japan has undergone. Just don't see it. Things will be clearer after election. If Romney wins, than Glenn Hubbard is rumored to be in line as Fed chair & could tilt the equation more in direction of deflation.
Reply to @hank: I dunno. I agree with Marc Faber: "Bernanke is a money printer and, believe me, if Romney wins the election the next Fed Chairman will also be a money printer”
Lastly, while I think he ain't going to fix anything either, the odds of Romney winning are greater than I would have ever expected them to be a few months ago.
No new ideas here. I'm overweight flexible bond funds (FSICX, PAUDX), energy (IXC) and metals (XME) stocks.
I would like to hear opinions on foreign equities, in particular Europe such as in FSIIX. I sold to take a capital loss and just can't bring myself to buy back in. I parked that money in Muni bonds (FLTMX).
Reply to @scott: Thanks for the links. Much appreciated. I have been looking to get into OAK as it seems to be one way to play the distressed debt market. There aren't too many distressed debt mutual funds and the Third Avenue fund (TFCIX) has not done exceptionally well. My hope was that OAK would go down when the lockup period expired (Oct 15), but that did not happen -- can be interpreted as a positive sign of the underlying strength of the stock.
Reply to @BWG: STWD has some capacity for distressed property debt (I haven't looked into it in great detail), but OAK would be an excellent distressed debt option with superb management.
If Mr. Joshua Brown would express which bonds he is talking about? Sure would have been nice for him to compare some of his thoughts against Japan and that market of the past 2 decades.
I ask, as it is difficult to make a broad statement about all bonds; not unlike making a broad statement about all equity investment styles.
As to real estate funds, the below link compares a few.
The last 6 weeks or so has found about a 5% decline in some real estate funds. If you would like a smooth riding real estate fund, I will suggest FRIFX. While FIREX gained + 1.24% this week and remains a high flyer for this year, and obviously has the potential to be more volatile.
Comments
Here are a few ideas that I like ;
1-OAK: Oaktree Capital Management
http://brooklyninvestor.blogspot.com/2012/04/oak-oaktree-capital-management-ipo.html
2-Loews Corp
http://brooklyninvestor.blogspot.com/2011/10/loews-corp.html
3-Leucadia -luk
http://brooklyninvestor.blogspot.com/2012/09/leucadia-fmg-note-resolution.html
4-GLRE: David Einhorn
http://brooklyninvestor.blogspot.com/2012/05/glre-david-einhorn-at-book.html
These are all long term investments and are not meant for a quick trade.
I do own a few of them (OAK,LUK,GLRE) and I intent to buy some more.
Good luck to all
Turtle.
Currently, holding steady with sweet six: RNSIX, AQRIX, WBMIX, SFGIX, FAAFX, DODBX and little bit of BAC.
Like the great one says: "Sometimes doing nothing is wise behavior." Steady as she goes.
Hope all is well.
Charles
Similar mindset. I've owned L in the past and I've owned GLRE a few times in the past. LUK is something I've never owned, but it's something I've looked at and it remains a value. I'm very interested in OAK, but I wish it wasn't a partnership/didn't generate a K-1 tax form - that's not to say it isn't something I may eventually invest in, but I just wish there wasn't a K-1 involved.
“It’s not just at the mortgage REITs where the returns in this market are being put under assault, It’s the general global landscape where you have an incredible mispricing of risk that’s being delivered at the hands of academics at the central banks of the world.”
Worst fear #1--an unforeseen sharp rise in interest rates resulting in principal losses to fixed income allocations (bond funds.)
Worst fear #2--financial repression/negative real return/negligible yield on any better credit quality/shorter duration asset continuing on and on and on for years.
Either scenario equates to a damned whether you do or don't costly outcome for those who saved instead of spent, the flip side regression to mean for fixed income funds which have enjoyed decades of gains in addition to yield.
Fidelity Floating Rate and RPHYX are held as interest rate risk hedges. A doubling of precious metals exposure from 5% to 10% (gold, silver, mining shares and funds) was done through spring and summer to hedge against the rash actions of poison Ivy League economics PhDs.
http://www.realclearmarkets.com/docs/2012/10/Population delusions 121007 great disorder.pdf
So I keep wondering to myself, do our money-printing central banks and their cheerleaders
understand the full consequences of the monetary debasement they continue to engineer?
Inflation of the CPI might be a consequence both seen and measurable. A broad inflation of
asset prices might be a consequence seen, though not measurable. But what about the
consequences that are unseen but unmeasurable and are all the more destructive for it? I feel queasy about the enthusiasm with which our wise economists play games with
something about which we have such a poor understanding.
My point is to show that money operates in many social domains beyond the
financial, and that tying currency devaluation to social devaluation might have some merit.
-Dylan Grice/SocGen
Money doesn't talk it swears.
-a different Dylan
http://ycharts.com/indicators/15_year_mortgage_rate
I'm still riding dividend payers big time via NCV (11.7%) tax deferred and NZW (5.2%) tax exempt with long held positions in my personal utes (CMS and DTE) and the play that I put on for natgas back when it was below $2 with GASFX, FCG and FSNGX. Oh, and just in case anyone wondered, I'm still long pm's.
peace,
rono
NOTE: Our bond mix has returned a +.09% each of the last two weeks and appears to be going negative for this week...............I will guess perhaps a -.20%.
Perhaps 11% will be it for the year; barring how crazy the equity markets become for a few days or so after the elections.
Expecting the S&P 500 close at year end, of 1371.
Y'all take care of you and yours,
Catch
Thanks in advance.
I do not hold MLPs in a tax-sheltered account. The only partnership I currently hold is BIP. I do hold KMR, which is a different way (often called "i-share" version) to invest in the Kinder Morgan Partners MLP. KMR is not a partnership and does not result in a K-1. However, you only have the option of share dividends with KMR.
I think the issue on top of those issues (and I see one or both of those issues in a number of Advisorshares funds) is the fact that the Advisorshares funds suffer - as hiyield noted below - from lack of liquidity and large bid/ask spreads. Additionally, a few of their funds are so specific/eccentric, I just don't see them attracting enough attention.
They do have a fund managed by Roger Nussbaum, whose articles I've liked on Seekingalpha, but I'm not interested enough to invest in one of their funds. HYLD may be good, and seems to be SOMEWHAT more liquid than other Advisorshares offerings, but not sure how much more upside high yield has (of course, I say that, then it continues for another year or three.)
I do think - either way - there will likely be better opportunities for a number of asset classes later in the year. I have admittedly started a couple of small stock positions in the last couple of weeks (one of which, the Andersons, I mentioned at the start of the thread), but otherwise, have taken (and may continue to take) profit in some funds and am waiting for better opportunities in both funds and adding to individual stocks.
I do own a couple of Dundeewealth funds, but not much in either.
This comes from Fidelity and it is the statistical equivalent of buffalo herd charging across the prairie toward an unseen cliff:
"The below-average real returns for equities during the past 12 years, in combination with the near- uninterrupted 30-year rally for bonds, has led to a recent shift in investor preferences. Since December 2007, investors have poured more than $1.1 trillion into bond mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs)—more than 33 times the amount allocated to equity funds and ETFs"
I don't hate bonds, they are an integral part of our low-volatility portfolio models. But to be doing bonds instead of stocks looks suicidal to me in the context of a long-range retirement portfolio.
If I could pick an asset class for the next 5-10 years it would be REAL ESTATE.
Just my humble opinion.
Anyone care to mention or recommend a good real-estate mutual fund .
Good luck to all.
Turtle
Lastly, while I think he ain't going to fix anything either, the odds of Romney winning are greater than I would have ever expected them to be a few months ago.
Neither here nor there, I also find it a little odd that Buffett's Lois Lane, mild-mannered and politically seemingly neutral anchorette Becky Quick is suddenly writing Fortune op-eds going after Krugman (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-10-26/art-cashin-becky-quicks-roast-paul-krugman).
I would like to hear opinions on foreign equities, in particular Europe such as in FSIIX. I sold to take a capital loss and just can't bring myself to buy back in. I parked that money in Muni bonds (FLTMX).
BWG
http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2012/04/fmi-international-fmijx-may-2012/
If Mr. Joshua Brown would express which bonds he is talking about? Sure would have been nice for him to compare some of his thoughts against Japan and that market of the past 2 decades.
I ask, as it is difficult to make a broad statement about all bonds; not unlike making a broad statement about all equity investment styles.
As to real estate funds, the below link compares a few.
real estate funds compare
The last 6 weeks or so has found about a 5% decline in some real estate funds. If you would like a smooth riding real estate fund, I will suggest FRIFX. While FIREX gained + 1.24% this week and remains a high flyer for this year, and obviously has the potential to be more volatile.
Regards,
Catch