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Where Active Fund Investors Were Flocking to & Fleeing From in 2016
Interesting ... Seems a lot of Edward Jones advisors must be pushing their firms Bridge Builder Small/Mid Cap Value Fund through selling their firms Advisor Solutions Program.
Seems, Jones is on the move towards managed money. As I understand, this fund can only be purchased through thier advisor; and, only if you opt to be a part of their Advisor Solutions Program. To me, this fund, as well as other Bridge Builder Funds, could potentially suffer from asset bloat.
I use to own WASAX (Ivy Asset Strategy) years back when it was nimble enough to reposition from time-to-time towards the faster moving market currents without market dislocations. Overtime, this fund, because of its good performance, became asset bloated and began to falter. So, I moved away from it into another world allocation fund years back after the 2010 Flash Crash where Ivy Asset Strategy allegedly flushed a large number of S&P E-Mini contracts into the system. When buyers dried up the flash crowd computers began massive sells and the markets crashed. Now, it seems, others are moving away from the fund. Currently at 5 Billion in assets I'm thinking it is still too large to run the type of strategies it did when I owned it. I might invest in it again if it were to reach a size where it could become more nimble moving back towards a more aggressive style of positioning.
And, what's up with folks moving away from Dodge & Cox Stock Fund? Is it asset bloat?
And, furthermore, seems likes Americn Funds has some good funds getting kicked to the curb as well.
Perhaps, too many investors chase good performance rather than position for it.
I sometimes wish people (not the OP or folks here, obvs) would make a distinction between "passive" funds that have very low turnover and are quite cheap and "low-cost index" funds that by their very definition are passive once constructed. My sense is when we see "passive" mentioned in the media/punditocracy it's really referring to "low-cost index funds."
@Old Skeet said, "And, what's up with folks moving away from Dodge & Cox Stock Fund? Is it asset bloat?"
I haven't a clue. Might have just fled to the indexes. However, wonder how much of that $$ coming out of their stock fund stayed at DC and simply shifted into their less aggressive funds (DODBX & DODIX in particular).
I've done something like that over the past year. (Unfortunately, my small amounts wouldn't make much of a ding in their totals.)
I had a Roth IRA in Ivy Asset Strategy since the late 90's, but transferred it to First Eagle Global a couple of years ago, glad I did. WASAX had $35 billion in assets a few years ago, and now is down to $5 billion - wow! There is nothing a manager can do when the outflows are that large. A lot of times a fund will do well again after significant outflows, but it's hard to buy again once you get burned!
Seems to me that there are many possible shifts to consider. Some include: -from active management to index (passive) -from self-managed accounts to firm/advisor managed accounts -wealth transfer as heirs inherit previously held assets -and possibly some performance chasing
@Old Skeet said, "use to own WASAX (Ivy Asset Strategy) years back when it was nimble enough to reposition from time-to-time towards the faster moving market currents"
@briboe69 WASAX had $35 billion in assets a few years ago, and now is down to $5 billion - wow! There is nothing a manager can do when the outflows are that large.
@Old_Skeet I think Edward Jones plan for addressing asset bloat with it's Bridge Builder Funds is just to add subadvisors....For the small/mid value they currently have Vaughan Nelson, Robecco, Blackrock, LSV...among others. Their funds are really just funds of funds...without the extra layer of costs.
@hank in regards to where D&C investors....here is where they were going...and those fleeing due to short sighted view of 2015 performance clearly made a mistake.
I looked up the ticker symbol for Bridge Builder Small/Mid Cap Value (BBVSX) and have linked its Morningstar report for those that would like to take a look. Indeed it has a good number of managers (19 listed). Interestingly, it stock positions total 1,972 under portfolio holdings. Click on the management tab to view a blurb about each advisor. In addition, from review of the fund in Instant Xray it looks more like an all cap fund, to me, with 17% in large caps, 46% in mid caps and 39% in small caps. Notice the percentages total 102% (I guess this is because of rounding).
While 3 D&C funds gained assets, that doesn't nearly equal the outflows from 3 others.
The increase in DODIX is however interesting. A lot is probably hot money chasing an outperforming fund. (Although the 2015 rankings suggest otherwise).
A small bit of that is money that I've gradually shifted in from DODBX over the past year.
Comments
Interesting ... Seems a lot of Edward Jones advisors must be pushing their firms Bridge Builder Small/Mid Cap Value Fund through selling their firms Advisor Solutions Program.
Seems, Jones is on the move towards managed money. As I understand, this fund can only be purchased through thier advisor; and, only if you opt to be a part of their Advisor Solutions Program. To me, this fund, as well as other Bridge Builder Funds, could potentially suffer from asset bloat.
I use to own WASAX (Ivy Asset Strategy) years back when it was nimble enough to reposition from time-to-time towards the faster moving market currents without market dislocations. Overtime, this fund, because of its good performance, became asset bloated and began to falter. So, I moved away from it into another world allocation fund years back after the 2010 Flash Crash where Ivy Asset Strategy allegedly flushed a large number of S&P E-Mini contracts into the system. When buyers dried up the flash crowd computers began massive sells and the markets crashed. Now, it seems, others are moving away from the fund. Currently at 5 Billion in assets I'm thinking it is still too large to run the type of strategies it did when I owned it. I might invest in it again if it were to reach a size where it could become more nimble moving back towards a more aggressive style of positioning.
And, what's up with folks moving away from Dodge & Cox Stock Fund? Is it asset bloat?
And, furthermore, seems likes Americn Funds has some good funds getting kicked to the curb as well.
Perhaps, too many investors chase good performance rather than position for it.
Makes me wonder?
Skeet
I sometimes wish people (not the OP or folks here, obvs) would make a distinction between "passive" funds that have very low turnover and are quite cheap and "low-cost index" funds that by their very definition are passive once constructed. My sense is when we see "passive" mentioned in the media/punditocracy it's really referring to "low-cost index funds."
I haven't a clue. Might have just fled to the indexes. However, wonder how much of that $$ coming out of their stock fund stayed at DC and simply shifted into their less aggressive funds (DODBX & DODIX in particular).
I've done something like that over the past year. (Unfortunately, my small amounts wouldn't make much of a ding in their totals.)
-from active management to index (passive)
-from self-managed accounts to firm/advisor managed accounts
-wealth transfer as heirs inherit previously held assets
-and possibly some performance chasing
Derf
10% of the time: buy low and sell high
10% of the time: sell high and buy low
Just my humble opinion. Good luck!
@briboe69 WASAX had $35 billion in assets a few years ago, and now is down to $5 billion - wow! There is nothing a manager can do when the outflows are that large.
@kevindow had a good thumb nail on WASAX's former manager's new fund in this post from last week
@TSP_Transfer,
Thanks for the tip on CCAPX, which is an interesting global allocation fund, but really not in the ALT space. The CCAPX manager, Ryan Caldwell, served as the assistant manager of WASAX when it was on top of the world (1/2007 - 6/2014), and during his tenure, this fund beat the heavy hitters like MALOX and SGIIX, and even the wannabes, like WGRNX.
Test trading for CCAPX indicates that it is not available at Scottrade and Wellstrade, but it is available in TDAmeritrade and Fidelity retirement accounts with no minimum + TF. At an actual 1.15% expense ratio, this fund has very reasonable expenses.
Kevin
https://www.chironfunds.com
https://www.chironfunds.com/Data/Sites/3/media/docs/Chiron_FactSheet.pdfhttps
https://www.chironfunds.com/Data/Sites/3/media/docs/Chiron_Portfolio_Composition.pdf
http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/comment/84694/#Comment_84694
@hank in regards to where D&C investors....here is where they were going...and those fleeing due to short sighted view of 2015 performance clearly made a mistake.
Thanks for commenting.
I looked up the ticker symbol for Bridge Builder Small/Mid Cap Value (BBVSX) and have linked its Morningstar report for those that would like to take a look. Indeed it has a good number of managers (19 listed). Interestingly, it stock positions total 1,972 under portfolio holdings. Click on the management tab to view a blurb about each advisor. In addition, from review of the fund in Instant Xray it looks more like an all cap fund, to me, with 17% in large caps, 46% in mid caps and 39% in small caps. Notice the percentages total 102% (I guess this is because of rounding).
http://www.morningstar.com/funds/XNAS/BBVSX/quote.html
Now, I am starting to wonder? Is this an all cap fund?
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/allcapfund.asp
Seems, to me, that it could indeed be one based upon the above defination.
While 3 D&C funds gained assets, that doesn't nearly equal the outflows from 3 others.
The increase in DODIX is however interesting. A lot is probably hot money chasing an outperforming fund. (Although the 2015 rankings suggest otherwise).
A small bit of that is money that I've gradually shifted in from DODBX over the past year.