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.
@davidrmoran The way PIMIX held up in the GFC is very impressive... but there are lots of funds (I'm thinking of value funds back in the Internet bubble) who held up well in one crisis, then bombed in the next. Of course there are also some that alw…
@fundly I get your (excellent) points about how leverage and subprime holdings could hammer PDI if there's a downturn. It is indeed a risky animal in many ways. Investors have to be confident that the management will continue to manage those risks w…
OK, I'm nervous again. I still think the odds are we get a clean debt-limit hike, but what if Trump decides it's a good day to show'em who's boss and vetoes it?
OK, just saw this, the head of the Freedom Caucus is in favor of a clean debt ceiling hike: http://thehill.com/policy/finance/344312-freedom-caucus-chair-predicts-october-cr-clean-debt-ceiling-hike
Sounds like parts of the Trump administration are o…
I find Cinnamond a lesson in the difficulty of market timing, or of assuming that a measure that worked in one economic cycle will work just as well in the next. The investing world is littered with investors who got one or two big calls right, then…
@Shostakovich Thanks for your thoughts, which are somewhat similar to mine, though at this stage I've also got tax reasons to wait a little bit longer to sell. And as I said, I do believe he's still capable of brilliance. His bond fund FOCIX, despi…
@Shostakovich why have you held on? I'm asking as someone who's still in FAAFX -- I sold my (larger) FAIRX holding about two years ago. FAAFX is about 7% of my portfolio and I figure (very tentatively) that I might as well hold on at this point. I a…
@davidrmoran, do you have any thoughts on PIMIX v PDI? PDI's expense ratio (even excluding interest payments) is a bit shocking... but I like its small asset size and performance.
@MikeM PFIDX looks interesting for my needs. Despite the low duration, it fell far more than PONDX in 2008-9... BUT Ivascyn wasn't managing it then. It might like a good way to get Ivascyn with a tiny asset base.
@carew388. You're right, OSTIX has a transaction fee at Schwab, don't know how I missed that. I'm sorry @BobC hasn't chimed in, I know he's a fan of OSTIX.
@LLJB super thanks for these insights. I'd just glanced at M*'s page and couldn't understand what the derivatives meant for sector breakdown; I also had simply assumed that since this fund is supposed to have a value tilt, it wouldn't be in the FAAN…
Probably wise. Got tax implications to consider... But it makes DSENX/DSEEX's performance all the more impressive, presuming that it would avoid tech as overvalued. Anyway to see how it's currently allocated? It's hard to figure out what all the der…
Based on Trump's actions so far and his cabinet / advisors, option one sounds about right. No serious reforms plus a rollback of regulations may not be good for the country, but it's probably good for the stock market.
@expatsp
How do you think Tillinghast and Danoff and their vast teams should get categorized?
Also, Sequoia was a team, right?
I don't know that there's an answer. D&C may be more democratic than some teams, I suppose.
Hi David,
Plenty of …
Hi Charles,
Thanks for this. I'm a fellow sufferer, bought about the same time you did -- when it just opened. Like you, I'd been happy in FAIRX, which M* sent me to, but yes, this isn't the fund I thought I was buying.
I keep on thinking of selli…
Thanks for posting this, Ted. I read NDR's research on Schwab and was curious how they did in the real world. 1 year ain't much of a track record, unfortunately, but it's a start.
I'm very happy with Schwab and think they meet most criteria you list. One thing I like: they refund 3rd party ATM fees, so I can use my Schwab ATM for free anywhere in the world (and they give an excellent exchange rate on foreign currency.) I've f…
PTIAX looks great, but I'd feel better about it if, like PONDX/PIMIX, it had a record that extended back to the 2008 crisis. I like my bond funds to provide ballast, since I'm not smart and decisive enough to do like Junkster and cut funds loose whe…
So "Carillon Tower" is part of Raymond James, in other words Scout is now part of a publically-traded financial firm with a pretty sleazy history, much as I appreciate Jeffrey Saut's market commentary.
Is David or someone else from MFO planning to reach out to Scout for comments? That shop's culture was appealing. I bought SUBFX based on David's write-up and have been reasonably satisfied with it.
@VintageFreak If you look back at David's original write-up, that strategy is supposed to be 1/3 of the portfolio, if conditions are right, and it's not zero risk. Some of these junk bond issuers could go bankrupt in those 30 days, it depends on the…
I own this, but worry that in the next GFC it may end up like those ultrashort bond funds that cratered, revealing that there was no free lunch: the extra 100-200 bp of return at year came at a risk, at least during a major crash. I do feel like the…
My "go anywhere" funds have historically gone to the wrong places. It's interesting to see these discussions pop up from time to time.
+1. I've found the same with unconstrained bond funds.
In theory "go anywhere" sounds great. In practice the …
I keep telling myself to do this, but greed is winning out over fear. I just don't see any recession nearing, and the likeliest outcome from DC as I see it -- no major legislation passed, but a bunch of regulations stripped away -- is (keeping purel…
