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.
Most of our assets are held at Wellstrade, mainly because WT offers 100 free trades of stocks, bonds, funds, or whatever per year for qualifying accounts ($25K invested with them, including a portion of a mortgage held with WF). It gets better: you…
Hi David,
Your best advice which all of us should consider embracing:
"But for most people, the best thing they can do is to find a boring investment. Find something that does not excite them at all. A balanced fund or a life-cycle fund that is o…
Reply to @MikeM:
I'm using PGDIX (mix of poorly correlated assets, great upside/downside capture ratio), two institutional class risk parity funds (AQR, Invesco), PAUIX, and BIP. I always check out correlations of investments at http://www.assetc…
Scott, thanks for providing the link to this great interview. Arnott is definitely one of the smartest investment managers out there. I think that most of us focus too much attention on having the best equity and FI funds in our portfolios (two pi…
Reply to @scott:
Hi Scott,
You may already know this, but the institutional class of the A-Q-R fund (expense ratio 0.95%, no 12b- fee) is available for purchase in retirement accounts at Fidelity with no minimum but an initial $75 transaction fee…
Hi Max,
Obviously, these are both great funds, and one cannot go wrong owning either or both.
Like you stated, the yield difference is a wash. The AUM and expense ratios are also a wash (MAPIX: $2.3B, 1.14%; MACSX $2.9B, 1.13%).
Concerning standa…
Reply to @andrei:
I am very comfortable with MFCFX/HAFLX, as this fund has had attractive Upside/Downside capture ratios, returns, standard deviations, and sharpe ratios as I detailed here:
http://socialize.morningstar.com/NewSocialize/ViewPost.a…
I would take a look at MFCFX/HAFLX which uses both "top-down" and "bottom-up" approaches:
"In selecting investments for the Funds, the investment
adviser uses an approach that combines “top-down”
macro-economic analysis with “bottom-up” security
se…
Reply to @scott:
The daily trading volume of JSHLY has really picked up over the past few months, which makes this thinly traded stock a little more liquid. BRAQ looks interesting as a multi-cap play on the Brazilian consumer, but it has very low d…
"Shame on M*: they list the inception date of FEHIX as 11/19/2007, which is actually the inception date of ODHYX. FEHIX also adopts the performance of ODHYX, with no asterisk or qualifying statement by M*."
Fact: the inception date of FEHIX was not…
Reply to @Kenster1_GlobalValue:
Hi Kenster,
EMF has indeed done quite well, but it is the outlier among the other diversified EM funds that Mobius manages which have had underwhelming performance, including TEDMX, TABRX, TEMMX, and TFMAX.
My E…
Here are the announcements:
http://firsteagleinstitutional.com/news/details/0
http://www.pionline.com/article/20111005/DAILYREG/111009957
Here is the manager's old fund:
http://www.fundmojo.com/mutualfund/fund_report/mutualfund/ODHYX
An article m…
Hi DAK,
My favorite and the one I own is HDV. I like its performance relative to competitors, its low cost, and its White Paper:
http://corporate.morningstar.com/US/documents/Indexes/DividendYieldFocusIndex.pdf
Here is a nice review of this ETF:…
Reply to @bee:
If you look at TGLMX and TGCFX, both funds have not been very tax efficient historically, although TGCFX has better tax-adjusted returns over the past 1-, 3-, 5-, and 10-year periods.
Since inception of the DoubleLine funds, DBLTX …
Hi Andrei,
They are both fine funds, but I tend to prefer more diversified bond funds, so DBLFX wins. And if you look at his old funds which have maintained similar bond exposures since he left -- TGLMX and TGCFX -- TGCFX has had more attractive r…
Hi PSA,
There is nothing out there in ETF land that comes close to the performance of Gundlach at TGLMX and DBLTX; the low-cost index fund, VFIIX, comes the closest.
Some folks do not care for his alleged lifestyle, but do you really know the lif…
Hi David,
My thoughts:
Pinnacle Value (PVFIX): Among domestic SCV funds holding a lot of cash, ARVIX is a much more attractive fund, and we own it. ARVIX will close to new investors on 12/7/11. Eric Cinnamond has had a great track record at ICMA…
Reply to @Investor:
The word "greed" is actually more complex than what you acknowledge:
"it may, however, be applied to all avid desires, and need not be always uncomplimentary: greediness for knowledge, fame, praise." (Dictionary.com)
Trust me…
Hey Max, didn't you see the movie "Wall Street," and don't you believe that most of the great things that we enjoy daily in America were products of greed, and not merely greed of material wealth, but greed for innovation, for fame, for historical s…
Reply to @Anonymous:
This $5 fee applies only to scheduled purchases of TF funds in their Automatic Investment Plan after the initial position is purchased for a $75 transaction fee.
Kevin
We continue to hold most of our funds at WT. Granted, the customer service is very poor. But 100 free trades/year for qualifying accounts, and no minimum holding period other than that specified by the mutual fund companies make WT appealing to me…
Reply to @Investor:
This Bloomberg article clearly has a leftward bias. I don't think that more regulations and more bureaucracy will fix the mistakes of Congress as detailed here:
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/274289/dodd-frank-wrong-w…
Outstanding !!! We have been blessed with seven children, and they are truly wonderful. Enjoy them while they are young, because before you know it, they will be teenagers and will prefer hanging with their peers than with you and your wife.
Kevi…
Hi JJ,
From a brief search, the EGShares Emerging Markets Consumer ETF (ECON) may come close to what you are looking for based on the current composition: 49% Latin America (18.4% Brazil) and 13.9% India. Here is the fund's web site:
http://www.em…
Reply to @Maurice:
Hi Maurice,
I have been following FPACX for a while, and it has not experienced a drop in the management fee ever. Furthermore, it has maintained a stubbornly high expense ratio (ER) despite the fund's ballooning AUM: On 3/31/…
Reply to @bee:
The actual ER of MFCFX is 1.49, which includes a dreadful 0.25% 12b-1 fee. The net ER of HAFLX is 1.00% through 2/29/2012. I purchased my shares of HAFLX for a reasonable minimum at Thinkorswim before it was gobbled up by TDAmerit…
Hi Bee,
According to M*, Corydon Gilchrist has not been involved with the management of MFCFX since 1/31/2008. We continue to own HAFLX, a lower cost version of MFCFX.
Kevin
Hi Derf,
The institutional class of this fund, AQRIX, is available for no minimum in Fidelity retirement accounts with an initial $75 transaction fee; additional purchases may be made for $5 each using their AIP. We own a small position in AQRIX,…
I recently called Firstrade, and the representative stated that I could definitely transfer my shares of TGBAX and TTRZX to their brokerage and add to my positions. All other brokerages have these funds listed as a "hold or sell."
Kevin
Hi Scott,
I agree that Steve Romick is one of the best managers of actively managed funds out there. He is flat out brilliant.
However, I totally disagree with you that he is "shareholder-friendly" as he and the fund directors have decided to NOT…
Scott,
Have you found a way of investing in Jardine Matheson or RIT Capital Partners without investing in pink sheets, which have historically low trading volumes ? Apparently Etrade and Scottrade are two brokerages that have direct access to over…
Scott, so you wouldn't compare the fund even with WGRNX, managed by David Winters who used to manage MDISX ?
According to the prospectus for PTHDX, it is clearly an all-cap global allocation fund by design, but its allocation so far has been more …
DODWX and PRGSX are and have been truly laggards in the World Stock category, so comparing them with MDISX is meaningless IMO. DODWX and PRGSX are clearly not among the elite actively managed World Stock funds.
During the period of 1/31/2007 - 12/6…
