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 @STB65: WIth an approximate 30 year horizon, my retirement funds are currently around 10% domestic/5% EM bonds. The EM is there strictly for diversification. The domestic side is there for the mild diversification/volatility mitigation, b…
Reply to @Vert: It's a fair question. Particularly with the proliferation of so many indices in ETF format. The more products are out there, the more they start to seem like active quant funds. But there is a difference.
All indices are defined …
Reply to @scott: Not sure Amazon would be interested. One of the problems BKS faces going forward is that their stores are far too big for a product that is expensive to ship and store and has an absurdly low margin at point of sale. They've basic…
I'm sure most everyone has seen this, and Ted will/has probably posted it, but M*'s take on the Healthcare sector and the ACA is up: news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=611713
They seem to echo what most are saying here: increased vol…
Reply to @catch22: Ha! In 1985 my grandfather spent a comparable amount on one of these bad boys: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_512K. They sold it as "portable" and it came with a case.
Now 87, my grandfather has been a mac/Apple consumer ever…
So I suspect three things possibly going on here:
1) China puts a huge premium on sending officials and their kids to Western universities. On top of the prestige of going to Harvard, Yale or Stanford, the best Chinese universities don't really c…
Reply to @PRESSmUP: This is the key point and needs to be repeated ad nauseum.
What does the ACA do? It mandates an individual have health care; banishes some insurance practices like preexisting condition bans/premium hikes; sets up marketplaces …
Reply to @David_Snowball: Thanks, I appreciate it. Not really concerned about Matthews. Just sort of stood out, especially for an income fund that pays quarterly.
Speaking of Ms. Kong, anybody have a guess why the MAINX distribution was so small yesterday? .027 per share is around 1/4 of what it has normally been.
Reply to @bnath001: SEQUX is closed to new investment through third parties.
It is open through the transfer agent or to existing shareholders.
http://www.sequoiafund.com/ht-buy-shares.htm
Reply to @MJG: Just wanted to say a quick thanks. The discussion has been fruitful for me at least, and I hope maybe for others. It is definitely necessary to think outside of one's assumptions and comfort zone.
At the end of the day I expect tha…
Yale has a bunch of course lectures, with appropriate reading materials, recorded and put on YouTube for free. There is a Robert Shiller course on Financial Markets along with many, many others.
oyc.yale.edu/
MJG,
I've been sitting on this a couple of days, digesting the SPIVA data on performance and persistence. I'm happy to see this, then. I don't at all think this is an overdone subject if people can discuss in good faith.
When I started investing…
Short answer: Yes, management fees, trading expenses and 12B-1 fees are figured into M* returns, as are dividend and capital gains distributions. Loads and redemption fees are not. If you look at a chart for VFINX/FUSEX you will notice a slight di…
Wait. Are those hedged currency funds (and what is that?) or currency hedged equity funds? Because if its the latter, how is that different than TBGVX or FMIJX, which actually take currency speculation out of the equation?
MJG, sorry to be late to the party here, but as a somewhat newer investor (a little over a year) this distinction has taken up a large amount of my free time and I wanted to ask something that has been on my mind. My answers to your two questions a…
Reply to @Charles: You mean I had to read the instructions? Boo!
I first thought about this when comparing PRBLX and VDIGX. As soon as i asked, I realized it would be impossible to do the basic research as well as moniter changes for every fund on …
I had problems with this too. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but this is basically one of those times where M*'s peer groupings create confusion. M* recently moved FPNIX to the "Nontraditional Bond/Flexible Income" grouping, after FPNIX stat…
Reply to @MJG: But has anyone scored the accuracy and reliability of their far ranging forecasts?
Yes: public.econ.duke.edu/Papers//PDF/GMO_Predictions1.pdf
4. Conclusion
The GMO predictions are prescient enough to be a useful input into investme…
