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.
@heezsafe,
Thanks so much for those eye-opening articles. I had no idea. Right now I am definitely leaning toward EMLP, which does not appear to have the same tax issues as AMLP. Simon Lack has a nice mutual fund -- MLXIX -- but I cannot buy it at W…
@mcmarasco
I totally agree with Ted ! Fewer funds is better, and no more than 10 positions even if you have large total assets. My minimum position is 5-7.5% and maximum is 20% for extremely high conviction funds. We currently have 7 holdings, but…
Thanks to all for the excellent advice.
As a pure short-term trade, I bought AMLP on 2/18/16 merely because it gave me decent exposure to the MLP space and most importantly, it was very liquid.
I have purchased CEFs before, but I never was comfo…
Very few investors have owned FPACX for the past 20 years. According to BrightScope.com, FPACX had only $37M in AUM on 12/31/1996, and only $1.4B on 12/31/2006. As for VWELX, it had $16B in AUM on 12/31/1996 and $29.6B on 12/31/2006. So for me, the …
@willmatt72: I agree with the article linked by Ted. For a core fund which may and currently does venture into foreign and emerging markets FI, I would take a look at PIMIX. As of 3/31/2016, this fund has about 41% of the porfolio allocated to devel…
@Sven
Hopefully, your question was sincere and not rhetorical. As I'm sure you realize, those ETFs were not in existence in 1993 (the inception of FPACX), in 2000-2002, or in 2008. One would have to come up with some other fund combination which wo…
@Ralph
Dr. Snowball very politely exposed the weaknesses of FPACX, and the responses from the FPACX reps were essentially "FundSpeak" as far as I am concerned. I honestly do not care how actively managed fund managers justify huge cash positions, a…
@prinx:
SFGIX is currently the most attractive actively managed EM equity fund. But to avoid manager risk over the next 10-20 years with the additional kicker of a significant cost advantage, I would favor the inexpensive EEMV (0.25% ER vs. 1.15% n…
"In May we’re also hoping to provide new profiles of two old friends: Aston River Road Independent Value and Matthews Asian Growth & Income."
My take: no passive or actively managed fund should become an "old friend." Such attachment may result…
@NumbersGal,
With all due respect to you and David, I continue to see absolutely nothing attractive about ARIVX or ICMAX. With current 82% and 67% cash positions, respectively, an investor in these funds are paying dearly (1.42% and 1.40% ER) for f…
@Alex
I would consider a portfolio consisting of: VMNVX (50%), GLIFX (20%), and QMNIX (30%). As a whole, this portfolio would provide relatively low volatility and reasonable returns. Other funds that I would consider would be VMNFX and QLEIX. The …
@willmatt72,
In 2016, I am sticking with my core fund, PRWCX, currently at 20% of our portfolio. For our foreign exposure, I continue to like GLIFX, as it has currency hedges and is avoiding energy. Currently we have a 12% allocation to GLIFX.
Th…
VF, I see nothing broken about this fund, although I see no compelling reason to buy or hold this ALT fund. In my portfolio, an ALT position is definitely not a buy and hold/forget holding. In this space, I think that it is wise to go with what is…
VMNVX continues to be my preferred "world in one fund" with a greater exposure to MC and SC equities than VT (average market cap of $7.4B vs. $30.3B for VT/VTWSX), and a more attractive standard deviation/Sharpe Ratio over the past year of 7.57/0.97…
I would not be an early buyer of this fund, but would prefer to watch and wait for an attractive track record to develop. As M* likes to err on the side of mutual fund companies and not investors, M* will likely post the relatively attractive perfor…
Like Chinfist, I like to spread my exposure to ALT funds with at least a 5% position in each investment, preferably 10%.
There may be select pockets for attractive FI exposure going forward in an increasing interest rate environment, but they will…
And, in a freakish development, the fund with the second-largest stake in Valeant is up 16.5% YTD. That's Tanaka Growth (TGFRX), with an 11% Valeant position.
David
TGFRX benefited by its position in FING B Fingerprint Cards, up 123% over the past…
@mcmarasco
"Does anyone know anything about the Voya versions (virtual clones) of PRWCX (ITRAX / ITRIX / ITCSX / ITCTX)? They are open according to M*, but can the average investor purchase them???"
According to test trades I just made, these clo…
Matt, if you don't already own PRWCX, I would consider asking a friend if they would gift you one share of this fund in a taxable account. I know that some folks have a moral issue with gifting, but I don't if the fund company allows it. This is the…
Eric Cinnamond is not a great ... or even good ... or even average stock picker. He is a stubbornly subpar stock picker.
Currently, ARIVX has a whopping 85% in cash. To be fair and objective, this fund has had as little as 47% cash since incept…
How the heck do mortals invest in Timber? Fidelity Paper and Forestry Products?
Fidelity Select Paper and Forestry Products (FSPFX) was merged into Fidelity Select Materials (FSDPX) in 2009. Looking at the top 25 holdings of FSDPX, I don't see any m…
@Old_Joe,
Does the fact that one can ignore or not participate in an unnecessary and subtractive part of MFO justify its existence ? Roy Weitz is a smart guy -- why exactly didn't he see the need for an Off-Topic forum on a Mutual Fund Forum ?
@d…
@David_Snowball,
I appreciate all of your hard work and wonderful contributions at Fundalarm and MFO, but if you want "civil, amiable and respectful," then you and your trusted moderators must enforce Roy's Rule from FundAlarm: "Commercial, off-t…
ETIHX (available in TDAmeritrade retirement accounts for $10K minimum with TF) has an average market cap of $1.69B, as compared with FBIOX's $8.3B, so these funds are clearly operating in different market cap spaces making comparison very difficult.…
@kevindow. I have sworn off all things AQR. They are not a retail investors friend.
PS How are you able to by institutional shares?
VF, I always hunt for brokerages which offer access to targeted institutional funds at a reasonable minimum. QLEIX i…
Gifting one share of a closed fund held in a taxable account at a given brokerage to another shareholder's taxable account held at the same brokerage is too easy, and only a matter of faxing a one page document. I have done this several times for fa…