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I asked my advisor at Fidelity whether it is possible to make MRFOX available at Fidelity. After consulting with others she answered that it is possible, but only if many investors want it: Fidelity requires $25MM in demand in order to ask for a net new relationship with the fund. She suggested that if many people express their interest, perhaps something could be done. This does not look encouraging at all, but I wanted to share it here anyway.
Given the rush of inflows (though not widely available), may cause the fund to close to new investors. So, I would check with the fund about their criteria for closing.
Finally, not too many seem to focus but this fund levies a 2% short term redemption fees for holdings of fewer than 90 days. Check the prospectus for specific conditions.
Dear JD_co, thanks for letting me know. If anybody else makes a similar request at Fidelity, please tell me, and then I will approach my advisor again. She is good and really tries to help whenever she can.
In my case, Fidelity website shows a small window to the right "Connect with your advisor." It gives the phone and e-mail. However, maybe this is not a general setting. I guess you may call Fidelity and ask them how to make such a request. I may ask my advisor as well, but she will be out next week. If I know that there are many people interested, I will inform her when she returns.
You may be right that the fund may close if it becomes too popular.
People have been asking Fidelity to add MRFOX for at least a year (r/fidelityinvestments).
Personally, I have never found a Fidelity advisor to be useful on such 'external' business matters (m.b. just bad luck). However, I was once speaking with a supervisor at Fidelity's MF trading desk regarding an unrelated issue and the question of adding a fund to their offerings came up (a different fund). As I understood it, the process must be driven by the adviser. At which point Fidelity makes an assessment as to whether there is enough demand to add it to the platform. This would suggest that Fido, as a rule, would not go out and
So, unless it is known that Marshfield itself has been trying to make MRFOX available at Fidelity, it would appear unlikely to happen any time soon.
The above information may or may not be valid, since it is probably an operations dept call, but I used this logic when deciding on where/how to buy MRFOX. Ended up moving money around and buying it Schwab.
I called Marshfield Associates and asked whether they were planning to close MRFOX because of its rapid asset growth. The person responding to my call was very surprised and said that they had no plans to close it. I explained why I was asking and got the same reply. Maybe the person responding to my call did not know the managers' plans, but that is the answer I got.
@finder Here's what I know about closure. Since I profiled the fund in February 2019, the assets in MRFOX have increased about 82%. But Elise Hoffman writes today, "We seem to have room to grow still, based on how the market has grown and the fact that we can buy and sell what we want to with little issue. But we are very aware of those questions on a continuing basis. We haven’t set a different figure for closure, though." In my profile, I wrote that she said that tentatively the fund would close at $1B. I wouldn't be surprised if the fund closes at $1B.
@finder Here's what I know about closure. Since I profiled the fund in February 2019, the assets in MRFOX have increased about 82%. But Elise Hoffman writes today, "We seem to have room to grow still, based on how the market has grown and the fact that we can buy and sell what we want to with little issue. But we are very aware of those questions on a continuing basis. We haven’t set a different figure for closure, though." In my profile, I wrote that she said that tentatively the fund would close at $1B. I wouldn't be surprised if the fund closes at $1B.
Hi Dennis,
Do you mind sharing a link to the fund profile you wrote? I would like to learn more about the fund.
The fund currently has $820M AUM. March inflows was the highest in its history. I am guessing it would reach the $1B by September (in six months).
@Dennis Baran, thorough and very well written. I am looking forward to the quarterly fund card and manager commentary (and to see how much cash the fund holds). Because of the low turnover, concentrated portfolio, the fund disclosures and commentary on their site is only as of 12/31. In your post yesterday you indicated Elise wrote yesterday re the fund closure. If it is from a public commentary from her, please link to it. Thanks.
@BaluBalu The only thing I can add is that she isn't sure about when to close the fund, specifically would it be unannounced or be announced later. She said, "I don’t know but we don't particularly want to accelerate the pace…."
As luck would have it, we have a pension plan option with Schwab, which I initiated to be able to buy MRFOX. Schwab has some of the widest fund offerings, and with low minimums.
This fund may become more popular soon as it is prominently mentioned in Barros's this week in the article "Don’t Put All Your Eggs in the Mag 7 Stocks. These Funds Beat the S&P 500"
Comments
Finally, not too many seem to focus but this fund levies a 2% short term redemption fees for holdings of fewer than 90 days. Check the prospectus for specific conditions.
You may be right that the fund may close if it becomes too popular.
Personally, I have never found a Fidelity advisor to be useful on such 'external' business matters (m.b. just bad luck). However, I was once speaking with a supervisor at Fidelity's MF trading desk regarding an unrelated issue and the question of adding a fund to their offerings came up (a different fund). As I understood it, the process must be driven by the adviser. At which point Fidelity makes an assessment as to whether there is enough demand to add it to the platform. This would suggest that Fido, as a rule, would not go out and So, unless it is known that Marshfield itself has been trying to make MRFOX available at Fidelity, it would appear unlikely to happen any time soon.
The above information may or may not be valid, since it is probably an operations dept call, but I used this logic when deciding on where/how to buy MRFOX. Ended up moving money around and buying it Schwab.
Do you mind sharing a link to the fund profile you wrote? I would like to learn more about the fund.
The fund currently has $820M AUM. March inflows was the highest in its history. I am guessing it would reach the $1B by September (in six months).
Thanks
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2019/02/marshfield-concentrated-opportunity-mrfox/