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.
Changes to portfolio:
1. Scaling out of individual equities. Had been holding a basket of 20 stocks (20% of portfolio - 1% position in each) but sold 1/2 of them (all with less than 1% losses at time of sell order) over the course of the day. Wil…
A very sobering and frightening PBS Frontline program. I am firmly convinced that many people will never experience a "retirement" and geriatric poverty will be the new norm in the U.S. within the next several decades.
Whatever valuation method or metric he is using to decide that the market is "obscenely overvalued" is clearly not working and it has been ineffective for over five years. Ever portfolio manager can have an off year or two but when the market tells…
Reply to @MikeM:
Ding! DIng! DIng! We have a winner here.
Precisely my thoughts and sentiment regarding most of these long-short, alternative investment, hedged futures, mumbo-jumbo-gumbo funds that have proliferated like weeds over the past two…
For anyone buying individual stocks I would avoid VZ and VOD like the Plague. I have yet to see one of these mega-mergers bring value to either of the companies involved and it usually marks a high point in their rate of stock price appreciation. …
Frankly, I think you can take the entire "second category" and eliminate it. I have been underwhelmed by all of these "tactial allocation" "alternative investment" and long-short funds, with the possible exception of Marketfield (MFLDX). They inva…
MarkM:
You are creating an issue that doesn't exist. FPACX has always had a flexible mandate and has used it responsibly ---- and investors in FPACX understand this and invest in FPACX for precisely that reason. As long as the fund managers rema…
Funds I own with superior managers (imho) and superior results (in their category niches):
FPACX (Steve Romick)
WSCVX (John Walthausen)
EAASX (Charles Reed)
BPAVX (Duillo Ramallo)
POAGX (Theo Kolokotrones)
GPGOX (Robt. Gardiner & Blake Walker)
Reply to @Investor:
The difference in our calculation for the maximum drawdown is indeed due to the dividends, which I did not account for. Your numbers are correct.
Our "debate" is really a matter of viewpoint ---- is the glass half full or hal…
Reply to @Investor:
You didn't read my post carefully. I stated that the Yacktman funds had a drawdown of over 50% during the 2007 to March 2009 bear market. These are the relevant NAVs for both funds:
YAFFX: 10/05/07: $17.07
03…
Bitzer:
I do not know where you got the impression that Yacktman's funds were defensive. Both YACKX and YAFFX suffered horrific drawdown in the last bear market, shedding over 50% of their NAV from 2007 through 2008. In fact, I believe they lost …
I am going to take the contrarian (and maybe it is NOT contrarian) view of all this and state that the bond and fixed income slaughter than began in mid-May was, for me, a warning shot across the bow. I held a basket of top-notch unconstrained and…
Rono:
If Detroit is the first major U.S. city to declare bankruptcy, Illinois will undoubtedly become the first state to declare bankruptcy. There are a number of highly unfavorable circumstances, laws and politicians in Illinois that have created…
Bitzer:
Under the discussion thread entitled "Efficient Sectors and Indexing", the MFO member 'fundalarm' does an excellent job of suggesting where ETFs will work best and where actively managed MFs will outperform. Worth a read. IMHO, both ETFs …
Yawn.
Time to dust off the old canard about how wonderful buy-and-hold index funds are and how "foolish" actively managed mutual funds are. Please tell me how wonderful index funds are after they have lost 50% of their value twice in the span of…
Ted:
Berwyn is a bad idea for this investor. It is a balanced fund and not a small cap fund. If he is unhappy with the performance of HRVIX he most certainly will be unhappy with Berwyn.
Single country CEFs = easy way to lose a lot of money very quickly. May as well go to Las Vegas; at least you get some free alcohol and entertainment for your gambling money.
Haven't we heard this nonsense before, ad nauseum? Hasn't Africa been "on the rise" for the past 30 years? Maybe it's just me, but the appeal of investing in a continent engulfed in never-ending tribal warfare, radical Islamic movements, corrupt r…
Charles:
You must have been reading my mind (or vice versa) because that is precisely what I did yesterday (6/10/23). I had a 30% to 35% weighting in bond funds that were, for the most part, multi sector or unconstrained with little to no exposure…
Bought PDI --- Pimco Dynamic Income Fund, the CEF version of PIMCO's PIMIX, both managed by Daniel Ivascyn, a superb bond portfolio manager. PDI was trading at an unusual discount to its NAV, something quite rare for nearly all PIMCO CEF's, and thi…
Several comments regarding you query:
1. If you are truly serious about wanting to "put my cash in 5 to 10 funds or ETF's and just leave it there", you should reconsider owning ANY ETFs or index funds. These funds will lose 35% to 55% of their val…
Some general comments on your motley collection of large cap funds:
1. In many of your funds, the paltry dividend they offer is offset by their higher-than-average expense ratios. Makes no sense to me.
2. Many of these funds are too new for me to…
Snake oil comes in an infinite variety of viscosities. P.T. Barnum is more of a visionary than he ever imagined. Ultimately, it is OUR responsibility to raise a skeptical eye toward all of these get-rich-quick hucksters with improbable schemes to …
Since the end of 2007 until present, if you had invested $100,000 in HSGFX (Hussman Strategic Growth Fund) it is now worth $78,917. If you had invested in the S&P 500 ETF (SPY) over the same time period your $100,000 is now worth $121,900. 'Nu…
38% in fixed income. Certainly not a bad idea in a mature bull market that is now over four years old. I have 8% in PIMIX (Pimco Income Instit.) with the rest evenly divided between ADBLX, MWCRX, MWTRX, RNSIX, and SUBYX. As with several other pos…
Not surprising in the least. The steady stream of right-wing and libertarian nutcases that dominate CNBC's reporting and business coverage have taken its toll. Most people with a modicum of sanity find this impossible to sit through.
One additional comment/thought:
Consider large upscale suburbs (populations of over 100,000) near culturally rich, diverse cities. The school systems will be excellent and you will have easy access to world class cultural facilities without the cr…
States which consistently rank highly in K-12 education that also have excellent universities in state include: Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Virginia, and Ohio. Consider the following cities:
Maryland: Silver Spring, Rockville, Germantown
…
Kudos to MikeM;
That is EXACTLY what I was thinking of and looking for!! The term that was eluding me was "capture ratios" and not only does M* do this for each fund relative to the S&P 500 for 1, 3, 5, and 10-yr periods but it ALSO gives the …
Ted:
No, I am not thinking of beta, per se. Beta gives you the volatility, i.e., how magnified its moves are in both directions. What I am looking for is something that compares the beta during bull markets to the beta during bear markets and ide…
If O. Mason Hawkins thinks Dell is worth $24 per share he is in for a rude awakening. Zeke Ashton, the manager of TILDX (Tilson Dividend fund) is another investor who purchased a substantial stake in Dell at much loftier prices and rode it all the …
Very impressive research and post. This will take several days to fully digest but will be well worth the time, especially since several of these funds are current holdings of mine.
Thanks, Charles.
