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 @Maurice: Thanks, Maurice. I'm also glad that M*'s calculations include reinvestments, especially since I reinvest all in my Portfolios. But, in this case, I wanted to calculate the returns if all distributions were taken in cash, which w…
Reply to @Accipiter: Thank you for your input, Accipiter. Yes, I meant if all distributions were taken in cash during the course of the investment, which would mean the cost basis of the investment was just the original cost. It does seem like a s…
Reply to @johnN: Thanks, John. I am keeping my gold exposure to low % of Portfolio totals. But even that percentage has certainly helped my total Portfolio gains so, at least for now, I am happy with having what I have in this. I just haven't ex…
Reply to @catch22: Wow, Catch, sounds like a nervewracking experience. You would have to have a good knowledge of physical metals to be able to determine pricing - which I certainly don't. But I'm happy with my IAU and PRPFX investments - so far …
I have owned BERIX for over a year now to help give me some "up" side during good markets, with significantly less downsides during bad markets. So far it seems to have continued to do that well.
I don't know whether opening the fund is a good t…
Thanks, Scott. I have PRPFX and IAU in the metals. I do like the Agriculture idea, but hadn't wanted to get into too narrow an investment category before. But I do make notes and add lots of suggested good funds to my "test" portfolio in M*, so …
Reply to @catch22: Thanks for your input, Catch. Looks like my timing for this question about right. Gold up to 1785 and still looks like buying in Pre-Market data - and with recent announcement re Bank of America's modeling study that "Chance of…
Reply to @scott: What surprises me most is the direction of some of the stocks I would have thought would be holding on well during these bad times - like Best Buy (especially with close of 2 of their largest competitors) - and Target (with 0.5% 3 y…
Reply to @Investor: Thanks for your input, Investor. While my overall philosophy is to not have a portfolio concentrated into only a few investments, it's ok with me if the manager of one of my smaller percentage funds does - especially if he turns…
Reply to @scott: Thanks, Scott. Since the choice of investment manager for most of Mom's trusts was made almost a century ago as part of the Trust Agreement - and this particular trust is a large Family Trust - there are also the concerns of the ot…
Reply to @scott: Reasonable explanation, Scott, thanks. But, even if he's right, he would need to outperform its class substantially just to make up the negative differences obtained during the transition period. Still, he knows what he's doing a…
Reply to @scott: Thanks, Scott. Good to know you and others have faith in YACKX's long-term investment decisions as I would really like to keep what I've invested there.
Reply to @MikeM: Thanks for your input on this, Mike. I don't plan on making any changes to my YACKX investment - but do want to watch it more closely in case it's another PTTRX situation which held so long at the top of its field, but has fallen …
Reply to @scott: I'm with you, Scott. When I worked for the Chancellor at UC Davis, I had a "new" machine called MTST (Magnetic Tape Selectric Typewriter). We were amazed that the typewriter actually recorded the keystrokes and could be edited. …
I just rechecked YACKX top holdings on M*. With their 10% in Newscorp - with HPQ, both which have recently suffered from negative news, it makes me less confident in their newest purchase of RIMM. Should I be more cautious about this fund?
Reply to @scott: Thanks, Scott. This whole investment seems odd to me - especially since, if this IS a real estate investment (either equity, land, etc), then their putting this investment under their heading of "NON-Real Estate Partnership/LLC" do…
Reply to @scott: I have been emailing USB head of this Trust with my strong concerns over the investments in this Portfolio. He has scheduled a conference call with me that includes head investment manager of this Trust to "explain" their position…
Reply to @scott: You are amazing! THANK YOU SO MUCH for taking all that additional time to research this for me! This investment seems to get more and more strange and I have lots of caution signs for investments that seem so hard to find full disc…
Reply to @scott: I just wish we knew how much further downhill we will go before somebody in power wakes up and actually sets plans to fix this mess.
P.S. I didn't think anyone else was up except me during these very early hours - can't remember w…
Reply to @scott: Sorry if I was confusing. The specific investments of IDR CORE EQ RE 2010 LP NET CAP BAL is listed under USB's HEADING of Misc Assets-Non-Real Estate Partnership/LLC (like they have headings for Domestic Common Stocks, Corporate O…
Reply to @scott: I completely agree. I tried to explain to my Mom what was going on in the world - and our government. But it sounded so appallingly implausable that she couldn't believe it. I wouldn't either if I hadn't been reading and hearing …
Reply to @scott: Thanks, Scott, you're great! I am so appreciative of your continuing to take the time to respond to my questions - THANK YOU! Very interesting response here (as usual). I will check out your link and the books, which sound very i…
Reply to @rono and Scott: I got so distressed I emailed Bernie Sanders (copied below - hope it's ok to include it).
"THANK YOU SO MUCH for all your tireless efforts in fighting for the poor and middle class - and trying to bring reason to BOTH …
Reply to @scott: Right on, Scott. There was a great segment on Jon Stewart about investigation of S&P - well worth watching (but can't find link to include here).
Reply to @David_Snowball: Thanks, David! Very interesting background on this fund - sounds like it has had no idea where it should go, but mimicing PRPFX sounds like a pretty good idea. It's even outbeat that fund over last 3 months, but after rea…
Reply to @scott: I'm still keeping PRPFX, but glad you think MPERX isn't awful for my very small investment in it. Today looks like another possibly 2%+ drop and GOLD STILL GOING UP! That is unbelievable to me. Will be interesting to see how much…
That's what seems so strange. M* shows 10 year history on this with returns that long. But, as I'm checking further, I read this: "this fund's investment structure or legal structure substantially changed as of 05/31/2010. Prior to that date, the …
Reply to @scott: Very interesting article, Scott, thanks for the link. I don't understand much of it, but enough to watch this currency's movements over the next few months.
Reply to @scott: Thanks, Scott, for your added information. You are sooo way over my head in your knowledge of these type of investments that it sounds like a whole new learning process for me to even digest the basics of some of these type. But …
Reply to @MikeM: Thanks, Mike, always nice to hear from you. I am definitely keeping my shares in PRPFX at 5% of total Portfolios. I found that was the best percentage for me to not worry about any ups and downs in that fund. I did, however, giv…
Reply to @scott: Thanks, Scott. I admire you for your continual learning process. But I'm a little too overwhelmed by all this lately to try and take on more right now. I've actually been happy with my Portfolios throughout this 2-week mess, so h…
Thanks for your input, Scott. I started to try and learn more about currencies, but that market seems much more suited to day traders (which I definitely am not) so I didn't want to try and stuff more data into my brain if I wasn't going to get inv…
Reply to @hawkmountain: Thanks for your follow-up, Hawk. I'm sorry to hear that you're also having problems with M*s dividend amount. It does mess up our evaluations, doesn't it. Let me know if they ever fix your problem.
Reply to @Investor: Thanks, Investor. I have accepted and accounted for the end-of-the month delays M*'s portfolios have in not updating some dividends in the Portfolios until a day or two after. But since I have several brokerage accounts that I …
Reply to @David_Snowball: You're right, I wasn't very clear. I do know that M* shows Shareholders in pure stocks. But I'm trying to find a site that shows the same type of information for ETFs and mutual funds -one being your example of PRAFX. I…
Reply to @Investor: So sad and infuriating, isn't it. I think the worst part of it is that the proportion of Democrat-leaning voters who even have any idea what's going on that haven't bothered to pay attention to anything that's happening are so …
Reply to @Investor: Yes, data was from day before, but even incorrect then. Emails I received showing data for Friday's returns (for correct date) even worse. Showed almost 1/2 of funds returns incorrectly (i.e., showed PRIIX -1.60 when actually …
