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.
CIPSX's five year returns are below average, but since inception, as Charles's charts show, it's beaten the S&P by 2.8% a year with below average risk. According to M*, since inception on 11/30/2004, 10K in CIPSX has grown to $25,131, vs $19,581…
VF,
I've held CIPSX since 2006, and I was happy for a while (especially in '08!) but I have been thinking of selling as part of a general move to lower my equity exposure a little and consolidate into fewer funds. Could you give me the reasons why y…
I too would get rid of FSCRX, because of its size. It's probably not a bad time to dial down on small caps anyway. I hate to pay taxes, but a concern with WSCVX is that its manager is also nearing retirement age (born 1945), so it's probably not one…
I'm relatively bullish too. For me, near the end but not quite there yet means another couple years, and probably another 200-400 points on the S&P before we get another bear. But considering how far we've come, even 400 points would stil put mo…
Birinyi sounds about right, as he's been for a while. Traditionally, when individuals start to pile in, we're near the end but not quite there yet. The economy also looks closer to the middle than the end of the business cycle.
I agree with Bee. If this has been your main small value fund, you've missed out on one of the great bull markets in SV, and unless we get another 2008 style crash (which Cinnamond, in the above article, makes clear he is expecting), you'll never ma…
I'm going to do it: swap from PIXDX into DSENX in my Roth IRA. I like the smaller asset base, I like Schiller, and I'd rather get away from Pimco these days. I would still be cautious about this fund if not held in a tax sheltered account. I just do…
Anyone done any research into the likely tax cost of DSENX/DSEEX? The Pimco Plus funds had massive tax costs (abut 7 p.p. a year according to M*), I imagine because they had to pay capital gains every time they rolled over a profitable derivatives c…
@davidrmoran, please share with us your conclusions when you finish studying the PLUS series in comparison to DSENX. I'm getting tempted to swap PIXDX, part of that series, for DSENX, since I think Gundlach is better than Gross, plus DSENX has a muc…
DSENX does look interesting. I wonder if, like PIXDX (which I own in my Roth IRA), it will be highly tax inefficient due to the mix of bonds and derivatives?
Compare RGHVX to VMVAX (Vanguard midcap value) which IMHO should be its benchmark, given its investment style. Certainly RGHVX's 34% drop in 2008 doesn't make its hedging look particularly impressive. Anyway, point is that it underperformed VMVAX si…
When I tried to open an account at Vanguard and they said they couldn't, the phone rep said it was because of the Patriot Act. Though of course he could have been misinformed.
I hate watching videos, so I don't know the details, but the Patriot Act made it very hard for us expats to buy U.S. mutual funds, at least unless you have a U.S. address. Vanguard would not even let me open an account, and this is going back years.…
Everyone, many thanks for the wise words.
@heezsafe, you have steadied my wavering resolve. Yes, perhaps the glorious past returns wowed me and I hoped to get those, soon, but my rational reasons for buying it were not a dividend stream (I don't ne…
Hi Ted, I'm very aggressive right now: about 85% equities, 10% bonds, 5% cash. No health care funds. I expect I'm about 30 years from retirement and I did manage during the last market crash to hold tight and add when things looked bleak -- that's h…
Good points, everyone. I may add an toehold in ARTFX too, I am only hesitating because of my desire not to have too many funds...
According to M*, ARTFX is 46% cash, (or was at the end of March) so if that's still true it's probably not a bad place…
Congrats on buying BRUFX. I've been eyeing it forever, waiting for it to underperform some of my other funds so I can swap into it, but that never seems to happen.
Hi Charles,
I don't have a separate checking account with them, I just have checks that draw on the money market fund in my brokerage account. A few years ago they tried to get me to migrate my cash to a separate checking account with Schwab Bank, p…
I use Schwab as my sole bank, for checks, cash, everything. They're not as cheap as Vanguard but I've been really happy with their service on the banking side of things and their fees have always been clearly stated--no surprises anad no pettiness, …
MAINX is also short Treasury futures. David asked MAINX's manager about it, who explained it as a hedging strategy to protect against a possible rise in interest rates in the US: http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/11612/matthews-a…
Hi David,
Let me just echo and perhaps give a slightly different slant to Andy's and Ace's questions about ARTFX: what does he see as the outlook for high yield at current prices? Near-term is hard to guess, of course, but are there long term value…
Charles,
Thanks for your contribution to the commentary and for your post here (as well as all your other posts). You are a model of thoughtfulness and gentlemanly behaviour.
I too hope cman does not go! His contributions have been extraordinarily…
The number-of-funds question on this site seems like a matter of bedrock belief; I don't think anyone will convince anyone else.
But let me put a thought experiment out there. Obviously, your best possible strategy is to find the single best fund…
It does look like an interesting fund. It has done as well as HUSIX (since HUSIX's founding) but with less volatility. How do we make a suggestion to David to profile a fund?
@heezsafe
I'm glad to hear you suggest it (and congratulations on your good calls!) but I'll probably just sit tight for now. I want to hold on to my cash (which ain't much) in case something more dramatic happens in either the stock or bond market…
Yes, Junkster, great to see you back! SUBFX is suffering from this development. I am right now regretting having swapped out of LSBRX, but of course the story might be different in a year.
Tough crowd indeed. I'm with Charles.
He did close FAIRX for a while, then opened it after it got hit with redemptions and he saw an opportunity in Fannie and Freddie. He opened FAAFX for smaller investments and closed it promptly. It's only got $…
I'd noticed that about EVBAX. For some of the more aggressive bond funds, I wonder if their strong correlation to the stock market will continue if there's a correction.
For several years Bill Gross was on record predicting that higher inflation and interest rates were just around the corner. That presumably led to some bad bets. It can happen to the best of them. I'm in SUBFX which is underperforming for just that …
She's been right for a while, so too soon to criticize her. The true test will come if she turns bearish/cautious on the right time.
Sure, a strategist at a brokerage is probably going to lose her job if she tells the firm's clients to sell everyth…
What can I say, I've drunk the kool-aid, I'm sticking with the guy. I've been in FAIRX long enough (8 years) that despite the underperformance of the last 5 years, I'm up a lot compared to the S&P. You certainly can't accuse of him of index-hugg…
