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 @Sven:
So far this year, EM equities have been very disappointing. ABEMX has a consistent record of outperforming the EM index with lower volatility, but has recently closed to new investors. THDIX has been an excellent performer since …
Hi Sven,
Right here, right now, I find EEMV to be the most attractive LC/MC EM equity ETF/index fund. I would also take a look at ECON to take advantage of the growth in EM consumer spending, although ECON is a little pricey (net ER 0.85%) and has…
Mr. Ibbotson is a smart guy and professor at Yale, but determining real not theoretical asset allocations and running mutual funds with real money may be outside of his expertise. I have been thoroughly underwhelmed by the performances so far of hi…
I would take a look at one of the Steelpath funds, which were recently acquired by Oppenheimer. We own a position in MLPZX, but I would also look at MLPTX and MLPOX. All of these funds are available with no minimum in Fidelity retirement accounts w…
Hi Andy,
On the main page of their web site, you can get an idea what a model portfolio would look like by selecting the account type and your age. It's a new company so they don't have any actual performance data for the model portfolios. Also, t…
Thanks Ted for this article. Malkiel's Wealthfront looks very interesting: no management fees for accounts under $10K and a low 0.25% management fee for accounts over this level, which includes transaction fees.
Kevin
Reply to @mrc70:
Mrc, I totally forgot about TGSAX, which is indeed a global SCV fund, although currently it has a relatively low 29% exposure to US equities. It is a decent, but not stellar fund which is available for a $500 minimum in Firstrade …
Reply to @mrc70:
Hi mrc,
I am also interested in a global SCV fund, but I have yet to find one. The closest fund combination would be QUSIX (available in Fidelity retirement accounts for a $500 minimum per test trade) and an attractive domestic S…
I'm not sure that an EM sector fund (67% telecommunications) is an absolute necessity for any portfolio. I would rather have a broadly diversified EM equity fund and let the managers decide whether or not to invest in telecommunications. Now if the…
I would advise watching these investment vehicles, but not being an early buyer. As I see it, you have a master cook who is managing other "expert" cooks. The main problem is that every cook in the kitchen is taking their own cut out of the conten…
Reply to @fundalarm:
Between those two funds, you are definitely making a wise decision. With a 1% annual turnover, I am confident that the Aberdeen folks can continue to successfully manage AEMSX/ABEMX. I would definitely ask Fidelity to file a f…
Apparently GEGAX (ER 1.39%) is available NL/NTF at Schwab, and last time I checked, AEMSX (1.28% ER) is available at Fidelity for a low minimum in retirement accounts with an initial $75TF. I have heard of one individual over at M* who was able to …
Reply to @Mark:
It is definitely profitable for brokerages to offer NTF ETFs. BlackRock makes a profit managing the Federal Thrift Savings Plan index funds despite charging an ultra-low 0.025% expense ratio as detailed HERE (use the first WSJ li…
I watched the interview earlier and it was simply awesome ! So much drama and hatred. IMO, Icahn came across as the talking-over, foul-mouthed bully. Oh, and Icahn was rightfully depicted as a hypocrite, as he had publicly bashed a stock he was s…
We sold our position in HAFLX on the day after learning that it would be liquidated. I have been tracking MFCFX (ER 1.43%) since the new managers took over on 7/20/12. If I were to re-enter this fund, I would buy the lower cost CCMZX (ER 1.25%), w…
I follow four RP funds -- MMAFX/MMASX, PDRYX, ABRIX and AQRIX -- and AQRIX has been floating to the top. After reviewing my portfolio, I decided that I only needed one RP fund, so I recently sold ABRIX down to a foothold and increased my AQRIX posi…
Reply to @andrei:
ABNIX continues to be available in Firstrade retirement accounts for a $500 minimum. I bought the fund there and then moved it to Wellstrade where I made additional purchases.
Kevin
Reply to @andrei:
Hi Andrei,
I agree with your concern, but all of the funds fully dedicated to the EM SC/MC space are very volatile, and truthfully, they are too volatile for me. Even the best fund in the space, WAEMX (we own a foothold), lost …
I would take a look at the William Blair Emerging Markets SCG Fund (BESIX/WESNX), which has had attractive performance during its young life (inception 10/24/11) and has reasonable expenses. In our portfolio, we continue to use ABNIX (30+% EM) to c…
According to the most recent prospectus (12/31/12), the net expense ratios of SUBFX and SUBYX are 0.50% and 0.80%, respectively. And SUBYX includes a dreaded 0.25% 12b-1 fee.
SUBFX continues to be available at Scottrade for minimums of $1000 and $…
In our portfolio, we use ABNIX for our MC/SC EM equity exposure. This fund has about 35% allocated to EM countries, which is more than adequate for my risk tolerance; HERE is the latest quarterly report. This fund has had excellent performance and …
Reply to @Investor:
Thanks for the information on IEMG. I actually like this more than EEM due to greater exposure to MC and SC, although the average daily trading volume is a smallish 91K shares. The folks at iShares better be thinking about redu…
Concerning EEM, I really can't understand how an ETF with $50B in AUM (#4 ETF by AUM) has such a high expense ratio of the capped 0.68%. I suspect that EEM is a cash cow for iShares that must be milked. Institutions and high frequency traders proba…
I would consider one of these options:
1. 60/40 mix of VTWSX and VTINX
2. 70/25/5 mix of VTWSX/VTINX/VEIEX
3. 75/15/10 mix of VTWSX/PTTRX/VEIEX
Of these three, I would prefer option #3.
Kevin
Reply to @MaxBialystock:
Hi Max,
The Oppenheimer Developing Markets fund is attractive despite its bloated $28B in AUM. I would try and buy the lowest cost class, ODVIX (net ER 0.89%), which appears to be available for a $1K minimum in both taxa…
Reply to @Derf:
DMLIX has had underwhelming performance since inception, and there are other far more attractive WA funds out there.
Granted, JG is smart, eccentric, gives inspiring speeches and made the right call on AAPL/natural gas, but that…
Have the WT rep contact the mutual fund trading desk which should confirm that there is no minimum in a retirement account. If that fails, ABNIX continues to be available in Firstrade retirement accounts for a $500 minimum.
Kevin
I don't own SPLV, but since its inception on 5/5/2011, it has significantly outperformed the S&P500 (VFINX) as shown HERE. Using EZBacktest, since inception the respective standard deviations and sharpe ratios are 9.5/1.63 for SPLV vs. 16.9/0.6…
In the LC/MC EM space, I continue to like EEMV which has a rock-bottom net expense ratio of 0.25% and attractive back-tested performance as shown HERE. Among actively managed funds, ABEMX/AEMSX continues to float to the top, and HIEMX under Rajiv J…
The RP space is clearly not Utopia, but so far so good for the RP funds we own, AQRIX and ABRIX. Since inception, both have outperformed their bogey -- a 60/40 portfolio like VBINX -- with attractive downside participation relative to the bogey and…
