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.
Scary.
One of the big selling points of ETFs was that one could supposedly sell when the market is open, without being locked in until the market close. That advantage now appears to be illusory.
What will happen if we go into a 2008/2009 cras…
They probably need to attract new money to cover their redemptions (and they may be having trouble liquidating some of their Asian holdings). I'm not ready to invest in China. I sold most of my Mathews funds months ago.
Old_Skeet: I appreciate your comments. Focusing on prior earnings makes sense to me. Even that can be a challenge. Too often, market commentators fail to tell us if they are using operating or reported earnings, or some other method. It can be c…
Peter Lynch recommended a 100% approach in one of his books. He claimed he had his analysts calculate what would happen if a retired person placed all assets in the market and concluded that a 7% withdrawal rate would work even if the market crashe…
I would suggest using the Morningstar Fair Value chart with caution. I tried using it when the market crashed in 2008/2009 as a way to judge when to put money into the market [and I used their fair value calculations to determine when individual st…
According to the N Y Times, 75% of the mutual funds tracked by Morningstar own some Puerto Rico bonds. The article suggests that one of the reasons Puerto Rico was able to amass a debt it could never repay is because mutual funds were engaged in co…
"Yet, for their own selfish interests a tiny few think this is a social site where anything goes including tabloid material, politics, religion, or whatever. That just drives away folks who come here for mutual fund news, commentary, and fund views.…
Years ago, when Eddie Lambert took over Sears, Jim Cramer said Lambert was a genius and that everyone should buy at least one share of Sears to get rich. For that matter, Morningstar recommended St Joe, and that didn’t work out so well either.
David, thank you for your additional comments. I know I don’t know either. I know a lot less than you, which is why I value your monthly commentary. And I often don’t know what I don’t know (2008 proved that a lot of us didn’t have a clue).
A fe…
The problem is most of us are still twitchy from the 2008 crash. Our commitment to buy quality funds and hold them for the long-term was severely tested.
I think David’s philosophy of holding 50% of his investments in stocks (funds) through thick…
The newsletter Fidelity Monitor & Insight has just increased its investment in this fund. Some of the reasons they give for recommending FARNX are 1. the manager has placed all of his wealth in the fund (shows conviction); 2. the manager is on…
Bee: I've been thinking for some time that Health Care is going to come back to earth. High valuations/high percentage of GDP/ possible reductions of Affordable Health Care Act, etc. But so far I've been wrong. But it's too risky for my money.
I took another look at the article, and the author's previous article which further described the study, and I think the point is that just because a fund had a great year, doesn't mean it will persistently have great years. Bill Miller did it for …
I've set up some "perfcharts" at Stockcharts.com to compare my carefully chosen funds against SPY, RUT, and MSCI. Those indexes have been soaring away from my funds during the last five and two-year periods.
Hopefully, my funds' defensive characte…
Hank: Sorry if I hijacked your thread. I'm sitting on the beach in Maui, so I guess I should be more mellow. I was just talking in general terms and disappointed there is so much division in our country. But I guess that's what makes human natur…
Ted: just look at the polls or voting results, especially in the south. Or listen to some of my relatives! Scary! Or listen to Fox News. Race still matters in this country. Someday it won't matter, but it does today.
I love our president and his family. Too bad it became so fashionable to hate the black man. We would be a stronger country if we had all stood with him.
An example of a fund that started with a great track record, and then the manager got too clever for his own good ( and his shareholders suffered the consequences).
I've believed for years that oil had been manipulated to unrealistically high prices, so it's nice to see it heading to a more realistic number. [An interesting fact is that Germany now uses wind/solar for 30% of its energy needs, and autos continu…
I like most of his choices. But I’d offer a few caveats:
1. Many of the Fidelity funds are behemoths, so it’s difficult for even its talented managers to outperform the market. Low Price Stock has a great record and a great manager, but it’s ove…
I use to read his weekly letters (when the stock market was doing its crash and burn; 2008-2009). The interesting thing is that when the market was finally hitting bottom, Hussman turned bullish for a bit. He provided optimistic projections of how…
Yikes! No thanks! Some years back, T Rowe Price started an African fund. Sounded interesting, lots of interesting sales literature, Price has conservative reputation, what could go wrong? So I invested. Lost more than 50% in the blink of an eye…
I've been a long-term fan of The Chartist Mutual Fund Newsletter. It has often topped Hulbert's risk adjusted ratings (Hulbert's top letters rotate positions as the markets rotate--most of the letters get their day of fame at one time or another). …
The only reason I've owned a phone the last few years is because my wife insists on it. She wants to be able to get ahold of me when she wants (she's a wonderful woman, who looks out for me). But even though I rarely use a phone, I threw away a ch…
I've owned Mutual Global and Mutual Quest for decades. Great investments. But only those of us who were shareholders before Michael Price sold to Franklin Templeton get the low fees and no sales load. There have been manager changes which create …
I just added some additional money to this fund. It's up about 9% this year, despite the hit small cap stocks have taken. I invested when it first opened, taking advantage of the legacy shares lower fees for long-term Matthews investors.
I'm a …
I invested with this fund when it first opened (I already owned the flagship fund--Mutual Series). I'm glad I did.
I admit I was nervous when Michael Price sold his funds to Franklin, but Price made sure his funds would be well run for the long …
I invested in Wintergreen when it first opened. Its a long-term investment that shouldn't be judged over a short period. A fund that holds cigarette companies and Coke isn't going to lead the pack during a long steady climb. But it will earn good…
I purchased RSIVX based on the very favorable write-up it got from MFO in January. I'm retired and have placed money in this fund to balance some of my equity holdings. Should I move to a better fund? What conservative income funds would you reco…
rjb112/cman: The Chartist does go all in or all out, based on his buy signals. It has worked for him. That doesn't mean he'll beat the S&P all the time. At the moment, he is all in. He doesn't trade very often. He tries to hold for the long…
Brian Rogers (T Rowe Price) also placed a bet on gold this year. In the Barron's Round Table, he recommended Newmont.
Before reading that article, I had expressed my opinion on the Discussions Board that gold would keep falling. But after I rea…
rjb112: Yes, as a matter of fact, he did steer his subscribers out of the market during the 2008/2009 crash. He uses a moving average approach (it used to be based on 3 indicators, but he's tweaked it over the years) that keep him out the market du…
Over the years, I've been a market letter junky. The one that I have renewed more than the others is The Chartist (and its mutual fund newsletter). It was highly rating by Hulbert over he years. But what I admire is that it has always maintained a…
I've had mixed results with funds that invest with concentrated portfolios. My investments in Longleaf Partners funds blew up in 2008/2009 [I know, they have bounced back--but I left them for less volatile investments]. And Fairholm is certainly n…
