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.
Reply to @OregonDan: I love it when funds do this. When Whitney George of Royce handed over management of the Royce Micro Cap fund to his successor (Jennifer Taylor), it was explained "oh, well, she's pretty much been running the fund for about 3 y…
Reply to @MaxBialystock: Not so different in terms in AUM than DODBX, OAKBX, PRWCX and other usual suspects. Not contesting the fact that its bloated mind you, just noting the fact that its AUM compares to a few other obvious choices.
Romick is …
One thing that has struck me as I followed Osterweis over the past few years (reading historical iterviews, etc.) is that they seemed to have had plans to cap the AUM and chop fees for their Strategic Income fund when they hit a specific base. When…
Reply to @David_Snowball: RiverPark Short Term High Yield appears to have lost a bit of money (very little, however) according to my last quarterly statement. Have you noticed this?
Reply to @David_Snowball: Good stuff, David. Thanks.
Can you tell me how Google Finance is using my "portfolio" information? I've always wondered about that as well.
Second the vote for Loomis.
Used to check out Bill Gross from time to time then I simply got tired of reading through 3 pages of tortured metaphor and other clap-trap to glean one nugget of insight.
I also like perusing Blackstone's site once and …
Reply to @BobC: To be clear, I meant "Uncle Jack" ironically. And yeah, his latest "new book" seems like his more recent "new books".
I love the way that M* pals up with Jack, while also being gah-gah over active management. But, that's another s…
Yes, of course. Good luck getting it to happen then.
Still, great point.
Having worked a stint right out of undergrad at a consulting firm that did some executive compensation, I've no doubt the system is gamed. And, its not like CEO pay would…
Reply to @Sven: I'm not sure what your point is. I have nothing against Osterweis. My intent was merely to laugh whenever a fund company boasts at AUM. I do not think mega-AUM is a recipe for success; so we seem to be in agreement there.
Picking up on a note in the Osterweis news: I always get a chuckle when funds boast about how large their asset base is, since its not always a good thing for investors. This is not a slam on Osterweis, but on the industry in general.
Just a guess -- but the market is much more thinly traded, the fund is more conservative, and the portfolio turnover is higher. The segment of the market the fund is devoted to is also likely more highly specialized.
(Disclosure: I'm a shareholde…
Reply to @MourningStars: Actually, my Vanguard options are limited to VFINX, US extended, and international. I have Lazard open for EM exposure, and PIMCO total return as the only bond option. Have Nuveen for real estate.
The remaining options ar…
Reply to @BWG: I've wondered the same thing with regard to size of the farmland position. I think Forbes wanted to talk up some of the unusual aspects of the portfolio (makes for good news), and that's where farmland came in.
I, too, am wary of …
Romick has talked about farmland for a while. I think it came up during a chat about the growth in fund assets right around the onset of the Great Recession. Romick made a comment at that time that without a certain size, the fund couldn't gain me…
Reply to @hank: I recall a conversation I had with my sister-in-law several years ago when she was visiting from Europe. I was looking over a correlation matrix I had generated in an effort to optimize fund choice for my Roth account. She asked wh…
I watch something like this and I'm constantly surprised at the number of people who say things like "...I had this 401k plan that I was putting $xx,xxx into it every year and I didn't look at / can't figure out what's in my portfolio...", or, "...I…
Wonder if adding a full fixed-income guy to the team indicates that Oakmark will be more aggressively expanding the fixed-income universe the fund invests in.
Let's not forget the legislation that lets them claim "inactive accounts". I thank FDA for its mention of this in their 2012 year-end summaries (IMHO every fund company who pretends to put "investors first" should be informing shareholders of this …
Sticking with my current allocation scenarios, and contributing to funds as required to bring back in line.
The crash of 2008 has taught me quite a bit about my deficiencies as an investor at this stage of my investing career; so my portfolio has a…
Great commentary, as always David. Thanks very much for the humor and insight you and your team bring to this site. Its one of my favorites.
Okay, so, Artio Local Emerging Markets Debt (or, whatever its called) is liquidating? Holy smokes, wasn'…
I mean, not just "OMG, look at Cyprus"; but "OMG, it was Cyprus, now Spain", and "what's going on in Greece now" and "hey, wait a minute, Italy's books look funny" and we get a decent 10%+ slide.
My portfolio is of value funds (I personally adhere …
Reply to @scott: Interesting comments as always, Scott.
Romick of FPA has noted the coming student debt crisis for some time. He's not alone. Seems to have backed off of his short positions in that sector, though..
On luxury homes -- sort of an …
Reply to @BobC: Wife is still in Total Return Bond. She forgot to mail her transfer of assets form in. I hope the fund doesn't blow up before we can get her over into something like DODIX.
