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I sunk an initial position into the Aston fund ARLSX a couple of weeks ago. I'd been very skeptical of L-S funds in general, but decided that I like the Aston guys' (detailed!) process and the risk containment. So far it's had a 70-55 up-down captur…
If you mean something else in the short junk line, have a look at OSTIX ... mainly short junk + busted convertibles, 2-3y duration, 5%-ish yield, lost 5% in 2008. It's conservative within the universe of HY and HY-emphasizing multi-sectors.
Here's info on a criterion you didn't mention, but which correlates pretty well with a couple of the ones you did. It'd be one of the first things I evaluated if I were in the market for a new town, just to be sure I wasn't dooming myself to spendin…
Reply to @kevindow: I've been thinking about pairing QUSIX with HSCSX as a global small value combo, but the trigger finger hasn't come down with the requisite itch yet. Homestead is sort of blend-y, but the metrics much of the time are in the value…
Reply to @goldenwaterox: He's got the same two co-managers with him now on all three existing funds, and they'll be with him on ARTWX too. But yes, I think being overextended is at least a mild concern.
I don't know or follow all the funds you list, but my thought would be to keep BBTEX and SEQUX, and think hard about why you'd need four large-cap mostly-U.S. funds. BBTEX is very, very good, and it's closed to new investors, so I definitely would n…
I'll limit my comments to your bond sleeve. You appear to be fairly conservative in investing, so consider these ideas with that assumption in mind.
I'd reconsider going all but entirely to cash, as it looks like you may do. None of the funds I me…
I think the article overstates the case, in search of a catchy headline. BOND was explained and reported on as a pure version of the Gross strategy, not as an ETF clone of PTTRX in the same way most of the Vanguard ETFs are clones of the pre-existin…
Reply to @Ted: My question was actually for the messenger ... about posting it here at all if it's of questionable value. Do you not look at the articles you post, or not care whether they're useful? Just curious; it seems like most people post lin…
Tomorrow's one of his DBLTX/DBLFX web casts, 1:15 Pacific time - he usually gets fairly specific on overall outlook, not so much on strategy for the funds. Anyone interested can register on the web site.
Last two weeks, all tweaks, no big-picture portfolio changes:
* Sold short-term tactical-trade shares in VPU, utilities, for a modest gain; ~ 2-3 times a yr. I do a sector trade like that one, limited to max. of 5% of port. Nice entertainment value…
I don't think there's a looming disaster in bonds, but that total returns are going to fall pretty significantly from these amazing levels of return we've had the last few years. At the same time, stocks aren't cheap either, so IMHO, the conditions …
Reply to @BobC: Hi Bob, just to be clear, I've got just as many barbs for M* as the next guy; they don't exactly treat their retail customers like they give a whit (the constant complaints on the discussion board about web site functionality and bad…
Reply to @hank: M* agrees with you, Hank. Here's the punchline from the glossary entry "Morningstar Rating for Funds":
"Ratings are objective, based entirely on a mathematical evaluation of past performance. They're a useful tool for identifying fu…
Doctor Doom's outlook is short-term bullish, long-term catastrophic:
“The risk of the end game from QE is not going to be goods inflation, it's not going to be a rout in the bond market,” Roubini says. “The risk is ... (that) ... we could create an…
Reply to @MaxBialystock: That would be the apartment on the dark side that's next door to Royce. Not that I think these launches are evidence that it's really going to go that way, but it would be a very big disappointment por moi if it did.
1. Agree that mid-caps are in the sweet spot a lot of the time, but like Mark says, take a look at your large & small & it's likely you'll have a chunk of mid-caps between them. One of the "large blend" funds I own has ~ 30% in mid-caps.
2.…
FMI International, FMIJX? I get from the 'fund family' and 'management' pages on M* that it was launched in 2010, and the other four funds in the family came out in 1981, 1986, 1996, and 2001.
I mentioned the about-to-launch low volatility small and mid-cap ETFs from Powershares above, and it turns out they're launching today, as XSLV and XMLV:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/low-vol-goes-small-111412943.html
I agree with Andrei on small …
If this wasn't announced before, it's really unusual for TRP ... they normally plan & announce manager changes well in advance, as they've done in recent times with PRNHX and the Spectrum funds.
PARMX is an OE mid-cap you might take a look at; nothing to add to previous posters' suggestions about small-cap OEFs. If you like the low volatility-themed ETFs that have been the talk of the town over the past year or so (like SPLV and USMV), Powe…
Reply to @scott: I saw the other day that Jardine (I think both Matheson and Strategic?) have been on a tear lately. I'd read up on them a year or two back, but never hit the buy key. My loss ... like you've said here on occasion, they're a great ca…
Reply to @rono: "... Matthews is the best house for Asia on the planet."
Yep, you can say that again. (Matthews is the best ... yeh, yeh, just a figure of speech.)
I think that's a good plan, Rono. Balances emerging and developed Asia-Pac, and a v…
Reply to @andrei: Second the motion; good question. So far the Seafarer distributions don't amount to much, but the strategy makes it sound like they could be more significant than they have been.
I have rolled over a 401k once and IRAs several times where I received the funds via a normal check made out to me, and then reinvested the distribution amount with a new custodian. I've never had anything withheld on any of the distributions.
Sta…
Igno, I can think of a few things you could do to maybe mitigate the drama if that's a worry:
* See if the administrator will ACH the funds into your bank account, which would reduce the lag time;
* Move the 401k funds into a short-term bond fund…
"Rollover" can mean a change of custodian, in the case of your receiving a distribution of funds from a former custodian and moving them yourself to a new custodian. It's often referred to as a "60 day rollover" because that's the amount of time you…
I wouldn't reduce DBLTX at this point in favor of a stable value fund yielding ~ half as much; if you follow the fund closely, you've seen that NAV movements are very little to nil with the portfolio built as it is now. If that changes & it does…
Reply to @Ted: If you've owned it for the past ten years, Ted, then you didn't pay the current price for it. It's on my buy list for the next correction, but not now.
Just another point of view, from a value/GARPy perspective ...
Dollar-denominated EM sovereigns are getting pretty well whacked; PCY and EMB are both down ~ 3% YTD, more than U.S. core bond funds. They did have quite a run in '12 ... PCY was up 20% or so.
Same reasoning reported in M* Fund Times, first story in the post here:
http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=583113
I don't follow these guys, but maybe they learned something in 07-09?
