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.
Support MFO
Donate through PayPal
rjb112
Well thanks for all your great instruction and telling me about it.
The fund that I bought several months ago and consider an "unconstrained" bond fund is EVBAX - Kathleen Gaffney's fund. It's done gangbusters since it opened.
I wanted to get into Kathleen Gaffney's fund.
But it's got the "Dreaded Load". A load of…
@scott: "due to complacency."
"You mean the complacency caused by the Fed's actions? lol."
I think you hit it right on the nose. You said lol but it's true. By coming right out and saying that the stock market is not overvalued; by continuing to …
Ask all these guys the same question. How much of THEIR fund would they have in a an asset allocation................ How much do THEY have in their fund relative to their net worth? Thanks.
I think that's a VERY important question that all fund man…
I watched the talking heads on Bloomie today and mostly it was on the Fed's decision to slow up on their twist or whatever it is called now. It shows that Janet Yellen has a finger on the pulse of the economy and perhaps with the Middle East trouble…
Just went there. You're right about not having quite the granularity I'm looking for. I entered some sample dates, e.g., 12/31/2012 to 12/31/2013 to check its accuracy on the full calendar year 2013 performance of a mutual fund. Can't get the "bo…
I moved my cash out of the discount brokerage accounts because they weren't paying interest, and have been very happy with an online only FDIC insured bank. You can get 0.87% to 0.95% interest with good online only savings accounts, and easily tran…
Of the value-oriented ones, it's interesting how very much better FLPSX does than HWMIX if you start in the summer of 2007, which is what I always advise.
Do you have a tool or financial calculator that you use to determine the total return of any …
rjb112: Yes, I just tried and had no success.
Regards,
Ted
I've got the reason this tool is not working for us. You're gonna love this one. Here's what Morningstar had to say about it:
"Thank you for writing.
Are you trying to use this tool for …
@heezsafe: yeah, we sure do live in a very different fixed income world. Agree, if we had seen this 10 years ago, it would have evoked a much stronger 'reaction'. Now it's, well, shorting Treasury futures is their way of hedging interest rate ris…
Fees have come down dramatically in the past several years. Pretty easy now to get a managed account for somewhere in the general vicinity of 1% AUM. Lots of competition now. Fidelity, Schwab, even Vanguard all do privately managed accounts. A l…
@rjb112
Another footnote you might what to check out is Footnote (c) under the assets described for D&C Global Bond. It may surprise you. [I'm still quite positive about the new fund, but it may bear closer scrutiny for awhile; be vigilant, a…
Nice article.
"Criminy, wonder how anyone gets away with charging 2%."
It wasn't all that long ago when "wrap accounts" at brokers, charging up to 3%/year were pretty common.
Some very good points, namely:
1. ""Holdings ≤ B were purchased at B or better." This indicates that almost 20% of this fund's assets, since purchase, have been downgraded and have probably lost market value."
Too bad they put this in the "fine pr…
@rjb112: Is this what you are looking for. ?
Regards,
Ted
http://www.morningstar.in/tools/mutual-fund-returns-calculator.aspx
Can anybody get this mutual fund performance calculator to work?
I've had no luck with it ever since Ted posted it.
@Ted? …
@rjb112: Is this what you are looking for. ?
Regards,
Ted
http://www.morningstar.in/tools/mutual-fund-returns-calculator.aspx
@Ted: Yes, looks like it is. How did you find that jewel? Ted, can you get that calculator to work for you?
I tried a few t…
@MJG: Very nice website, thanks for posting. http://www.buyupside.com/
Lots of good stuff there.
On another note, I'm looking for a website that has a calculator to calculate the total return of specific mutual funds from any start date to any end…
@STB65:
Many financial planners and financial advisers will not use high yield bonds in the mix, as they behave more like stocks and not much like Treasuries. They don't diversify away stock risk. And reducing stock market risk and diversificati…
As an FYI, I also own Selected American which has been suffering (relative performance) and recently fired Feinberg. We shall see. I am either patient or stupid (or both).
Does anybody know why Feinberg left or was fired? I haven't been able to fi…
I wonder if a position in high yield bonds might further diversify this portfolio? According to some , like Rick Ferri, high yield is a compelling component.
@Guido: can you please provide a link or URL showing Rick Ferri's position that high yield…
There is still some stability/consistency left at TAVFX. This is from the Morningstar analyst report:
"Victor Cunningham, Michael Lehmann, and Yang Lie remain on the fund's manager roster. They were added in January 2013 as Third Avenue moved furt…
Ted posts a lot of great stuff, including things that a lot of us don't have access to, such as subscription only articles from the Wall Street Journal and Barrons.
I hope Ted reconsiders and doesn't leave
@Crash: Though I would leave MFO with a bang ! Glad you thought it was funny.
Regards,
Ted
@Ted, what do you mean "thought I would leave MFO with a bang"
I hope I'm not interpreting this correctly.
You're not thinking of leaving MFO are you?
Say…
They also have a nice tradition, culture and history behind them. IIRC, Warren Buffett may have purchased his first stock using the Tweedy Browne brokerage?
They're pricey; aside from that, I think the Tweedy crew is one of the few fiduciaries out there.
My sentiments exactly. I like this investing team.
I would have a higher % of my portfolio with them if their expense ratios were quite a bit lower.
Just taking a poll here: How many of us knew the meaning of the word "tendentious"? I know lots of words, but I had to look up that one. (My highly educated wife didn't know it either.)
I had to look it up too!
$2.7 Billion average market cap of this fund, with 41% of the stocks Midcap, and only 9% microcap stocks.
Compare that to what we more typically think of as small cap, the Russell 2000. There is an exchange traded fund that uses the Russell 2000 a…
from their site:
Robert "Chip" Rewey, III, CFA
Lead Portfolio Manager
Years with Third Avenue: 1
Well, I gave him a whole year... I'm out!!
++++++++++++
The press release makes it seem like he just joined Third Avenue today.
http://www.thirdave.c…
Thanks David. Can you find a way to ask Litman Gregory if they would please lower the expense ratio of Litman Gregory Master Alt Strats Inv MASNX? The expense ratio is 1.91% (ouch). Yes, I know that category tends to have high expense ratios, bu…