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.
We continue to like and own the lowest cost institutional class of this fund, ABNIX, which is available for a $500 minimum in Firstrade retirement accounts with a transaction fee, and appears to be available with no minimum in TDA retirement account…
Just had a PTSD flashback to Ron Insana, a "journalist" who thought he could be an investment manager. FWIW, HERE is his firm's web site -- I have a feeling that mean-spirited folks might be tempted to call him "tweedledum," but of course I would r…
Thanks catch for the link. Although I own only a small position in WBMIX, it is always nice to see who is actually managing your money. I wish the Bloomberg folks would have asked more insightful questions, including the obvious ones like how does…
Like I have stated before, I think that Brookfield's strength lies in owning and managing assets -- like real estate, toll roads, timber, shipping ports, energy transmission -- rather than managing a mutual fund, responsible for picking stocks in th…
Reply to @VintageFreak:
WBMIX is definitely available in Firstrade retirement accounts for a $500 minimum with a TF per my actual trade. Also, it appears that this class is available in TDA retirement accounts for no minimum per their web site. O…
Reply to @andrei:
I follow 4 RP funds -- AQRIX, ABRIX, MMAFX, and PDRYX -- and own 4% positions in the first two which have clearly outperformed the last two. Truthfully, I couldn't decide between AQRIX and ABRIX, so I bought equal amounts of bot…
Unlike his "mentor" Michael Price, Mr. Winters and his fund directors have provided very poor fund stewardship by not significantly reducing the expenses paid by investors as the fund has grown to the current $1.6B AUM. And his initial and current …
Reply to @CaryRaleigh:
As you know, GPGOX has a high ER of 1.75% which is a headwind for future performance. If you are OK with the ER, this fund has had an attractive 15.3 standard deviation and 0.99 sharpe ratio since inception using EzBacktest.
I continue to like the diversifying benefits of the RP funds, as they continue to be poorly correlated with most asset classes. We own 4% positions in both AQRIX and ABRIX, which only have a 0.73 correlation to each other over the past two years. …
I would take a look at TASVX, which continues to produce, beating the SCV index over the past 3-, 5-, and 10-years with lower standard deviations and higher sharpe ratios than the category over these time periods. This fund appears to be available …
Reply to @Sven:
Using EzBack Test, since the inception of PQIIX on 12/14/11, it has had a lower standard deviation (9.2) and higher sharpe ratio (0.95) than TIBIX (11.5, 0.84). Also, during the downdraft of 5/1/12 - 6/4/12, losses were as follows…
Reply to @Sven:
The EM data was obtained from M*, although PQIIX's EM equity allocation is currently 17% as shown HERE. With such different allocations to EM, obviously they have different viewpoints about the value of EM equities.
Mrc, I am in your position with total return being a priority, of course with some downside protection which all of these funds provide. From this mix, I selected PQIIX due to the proven managers, much lower AUM, higher exposure to EM, and the acce…
Reply to @BWG:
PQIIX and TIBIX are definitely in the same space as they are committed to a growing income stream which is important for retirees. As for FEBIX, it is committed to a "sustainable income stream," which is quite different.
Also, F…
Reply to @mrc70:
As you know, PQIIX and PTHDX are in different spaces, as the first is an income-builder and committed to a growing stream of distributions, and the latter is a global equity fund focused on total returns. They both try to provide…
GTSOX is in the Buy-Write space, and funds with longer track records include GATEX, BWV, and PBP. I would not rate any of these funds as adequately attractive for me to buy.
Here is an old WSJ article which might interest you:
http://online.wsj…
I like and own PQIIX, the lower cost institutional class available for low minimums at TDA and Scottrade. Although this fund is very young, the managers are rock solid, and are responsible for the great long-term record of TIBIX. As compared with …
I just spoke with a representative at River Road Asset Management. She stated that the management had reserved $200M in capacity for an unspecified initiative for the SCV strategy managed by Mr. Cinnamond, and recently decided not to pursue this ini…
Reply to @scott:
Scott, thanks for your thoughts as always. BIP has been pulling back recently, and will likely continue to do so in the near future as valuations have gotten stretched. If we get a 8-10% retreat from the high, I may add to my po…
Reply to @Investor:
Amen ! Common investors like us need to focus most of our attention on having diversified global exposures to equities and FI. Then, when the core of the portfolio is shipshape, one should add exposures to the traditional div…
I continue to believe that most investors do not need a dedicated L/S fund. There are very, very few long-term winners in this space (only BPLSX and MFLDX), and the space has inherently very high actual expense ratios which serve as stiff headwinds…
Thanks for the heads up on FMGEX, which looks like a solid, concentrated fund. I really like the investment philosophy of the MFG Global Fund (inception 7/1/2007), which is almost identical with FMGEX:
http://www.magellangroup.com.au/magellan-fund…
MXXVX holds only 22 positions in the very volatile LCG space, and has a whopping 17% invested in Apple according to M* data. Even though I am having to redo my vegetable garden due to Apple's ownership of the rectangular shape, I think it is a grea…
I would take a serious look at LSWWX. This fund definitely has a growth bias, relatively low AUM, a low ER, and attractive Upside/Downside capture ratios in all periods that I have studied. Plus you get Dan Fuss as the manager of the FI sleeve.
T…
Hi Mrc,
I sold my position in HAFLX the day after Harbor announced that they would be liquidating the fund. If I owned MFCFX, I would definitely sell it immediately. Marsico is hemorrhaging talent -- both managers and analysts -- and I would not …
Here is an interesting recent article by Andrew Redleaf:
http://advisorperspectives.com/commentaries/Whitebox_81511.php?WT.rss_f=CommentaRSS&WT.rss_ev=a&WT.rss_a=Bullish_on_America
Kevin
Reply to @AndyJ:
The exact methods these funds use to select securities are sophisticated and complex -- especially the case for AQRIX -- and may be perceived to be essentially black box investing by common investors like us. That being stated, I…
Reply to @AndyJ:
Sorry for my delayed response as I was at work and busy.
I agree with Scott's comments. These funds have a few more important differences. Unlike ABRIX, AQRIX may have long and short positions in all asset classes, has a targ…
I continue to like the RP space, and have 4% allocations to both AQRIX and ABRIX. These funds are poorly correlated with all asset classes that I have studied at assetcorrelation.com, and they approach RP differently, as shown by their 0.7 correlati…
Reply to @BWG:
Well, BIP was a definite buy back in 2008-2010 based on valuations. Now, not so much. But I really don't think that it will go on sale anytime soon. It's like waiting for a new Porsche to go on sale -- it's not going to happen.
R…
Dan, I own BIP in my retirement account, and according to my research, in such accounts, the K-1 amount is treated like any other money earned and taxable only when you start withdrawals.
Kevin
My favorite in this space continues to be SGOVX which is available NL/NTF at Schwab for minimums of $2500 and $1000 in retirement and taxable accounts, respectively.
Kevin
Hi Dan,
As I see it, Brookfield's expertise lies in owning and managing assets, and that is why I own BIP, and have owned BAM in the past. They are likely smarter than the average bear in operating a CEF or OEF consisting of other infrastructure c…
Scott, thanks for the links, and I will place these funds on my watch list. As you know, I continue to own and like AQRIX. Now the trick is to find access to the lowest cost class of these funds for reasonable minimums. Noticed something funny abou…
Here are my sticky funds and thoughts:
1. SGIIX (mega AUM but still delivering, SGENX/SGOVX available NL/NTF at Schwab)
2. PAUIX (mega AUM $20B and pricy 1.42% ER but delivering; PAUDX has a whopping ER of 1.82% and I would never, ever buy a "D" …
I will state once again that it is misleading and unethical for the SEC, PIMCO, and M* to include the past performance of the predecessor "privately offered fund" as a de facto representation of the past performance of the publicly traded mutual fun…
