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.
We use Osterweis OSTIX, BlackRock BSIIX, and Loomis LSBDX for mostly domestic, flexible manadate, core holds. Depending on the size of the portfolio, we might include Artio JBGIX, Thornburg THIIX, Eaton Vance ESIIX, or Goldman GSZIX. In taxable ac…
No changes because of the cliff. We might adjust allocations as the picture becomes clearer. We will continue our regular philisophy of real diversification. Currently, a typical 60% stock/40% bond allocation has only about 40-50% in dedicated st…
Oh Mark, you took my thoughts precisely. Face it, that's how these two firms have attracted the huge amount of inflows. Gross and Gundlach are sensational marketers, one being a sort of trancendental guru to whom everyone come for his fount of kno…
There is no question in my mind that inflows to PIMCO, and probably Vanguard and Price as well are due to the large number of fixed-income products they have. And PIMCOs funds run by Bob Arnott have been popular, although the average investor proba…
Reply to @Old_Joe: Sometimes M* does not have the information or does not report what the fund gives them. Most of the time, however, the fund company website will have the duration/maturity/etc information available, either in the most recent fac…
I would not get too excited about what "might" happen to PRPFX. Yes, the fund has benefitted from a long period of declining interest rates and a period of time when Treasuries have been very popular. The total bond allocation has dropped from a…
We agree with those of you who have chosen to invest dollars elsewhere. When I interview managers, a key component I need to take away is TRUST. I just don't get that with Mr. Gundlach. No question he is talented. But we have to trust the folks w…
Hank has a very good point. I do not spend much time looking at average maturities. But I DO spend time looking at durations. A duration of 1.7 is very much on the low side, especially when compared to some typical bond indexes and ETFs. For exa…
His investment skills have been pretty good. But this was such a tacky thing to do. History is full of people who have been done in by their own self-centered actions.
I don't have the numbers to back this up, but my hunch is that, just like mutual funds, the large majority of new ETF dollars are in non-equity investments. ETFs have tracked mutual funds pretty closely in the past.
Virtually EVERYONE has been warning of a bond collapse of some kind over the last three years. Admittedly, I, too, thought rates would be higher by now. But then I actually thought the out-of-control federal spending might do more for real employm…
You might also consider a short-term muni fund, like Thornburg LTMIX, U.S. Global Near-Term NEARX, or even Vanguard Limited-Term VMLTX. If you are going to get a small yield, the added tax-free part has some appeal.
Bloomberg is hardly an angel in this, either. I vividly recall on the day of the FLASH CRASH, one of the commentators on the floor of the stock exchange. In answer to a question from one of the info-anchors of "What should investors do?", the guy …
I would be curious to know just who is on the list of "top" advisors. But it is curious that this is a pretty generic group of enormous funds. Not much in the way of truly different funds that go their own way, might include short positions, etc. …
I recently heard a presentation by Peter Diamandis (founder of Singularity University), in which he said "The media are drug pushers, and negative news is their drug of choice." I have used this several times since. It is spot on. There is very l…
Immediate fixed annuities have a place in some folks' retirement arsenal. But as was already noted, current yields are not attractive enough to make this kind of guaranteed income doable. That will change, of course. It is still amazing to me how…
It is just amazing to me that most of the larger media folk have bought the M* medal ratings. M* says otherwise, but the number of positive and negative category ratings do not often lead to what the final medal rating is. And it is certainly not …
Good question, bee. We have been allocating dollars to more flexible funds, and LSBDX would be one to consider. We like BlackRock BSIIX, Osterweis OSTIX, Artio BJBGX, and Thornburg uses a modified barbell approach with its bond funds such as TSII…
One thing to keep in mind is that fixed-income type securities have had a tremendous run the last few years. So I would not expect preferred stocks, for example, to show the same kind of risk/reward profile going forward. That being said, we have …
There are so many inefficiencies in the EM space, and there are a good number of managers who have staked out a spot for themselves. We use ODVYX and WAEMX for real EM exposure, and MAPIX for pure Asian play, even if most of it is not EM - only abo…
Those of us in Ohio are just anticipating the END of the campaign. Lordy, it's been hideous. Non-stop TV ads bashing opposing candidates, mailboxes stuffed with campaign crap, and clients who tell me their land phone lines never stop ringing. For…
Reply to @Charles: I understand what you are saying, but believe me that this guy is more than capable. If he is not smarter than any other manager we have hired over the years, he is certainly right near the top of the pile. Hasenstab is the rea…
In a post early this month, Jeremy Siegel said "a current buyer of a 10-year TIP is agreeing to receive just 91.6% of his initial investment in 2022, after inflation, with absolutey no interim yield." What he left out was that the measly interest e…
We received a call yesterday morning from Loomis letting us know about this change. It prompted two actions from us. First is to see what fund(s) Kathleen will be leading at Eaton Vance and put them on our watch list for possible addition to our f…
My experience is that small cap funds can have most impressive records when they are relatively new and have a small asset base, but it is much harder to put out great numbers on a consistent basis when the fund is discovered and gets bigger. And f…
Not any more meaningful than other respected groups. The goal of PIMCO and other organizations is to get their name out as much as possible. And PIMCO does as good a marketing job as any. Sometimes they are wrong. Often they are right for the mo…
VTMSX, PRSVX, IYSIX are doing ok. All small caps have struggled a bit in the last 1 month, but those with less tech exposure have lost less than others. This would echo the NASDAQ during the same time period. That's why we have diversified portfo…
Please don't rely on Morningstar for correct allocation on Marketfield (or other funds, for that matter). Your best option is to go directly to the fund's web site or use that most current quarterly report information. Most leveraging nd derivativ…
I'm never one to politicize these numbers, but the fact is that REAL jobless numbers are still above 14% due to the large number of people working part-time for economic reasons. Real non-farm numbers were a realistic 114,000, not the crazy 800,000…
In general, these kinds of funds have disappointed and under-performed per expectations. But that is the problem...what SHOULD an investor's expectation be when buying one of these funds? And, more importantly, if one is convinced that higher infl…
Just a reminder that EXISTING shareholders may continue to purchase shares of MFLDX with no commission, no $5 million minimum at Schwab, Ameritrade, Fidelity, and others.
Impressive short-term record, for sure. They have really loaded up on financial sector bonds, and clearly they will stretch for total return. Investors need to consider these things when deciding on whether to invest in the fund. Have the big gai…
Putting much faith in M* and its ratings can be misplaced. Remember, they still give Artio International a bronze rating. How bizarre is that? Despite DODGX's good 12 months, I have trouble thinking the managers who lost almost 36% in one 3-month…
If you plan to add MFLDX, I would do so in the next few days, while you can still access it. Once the conversion to MainStay occurs, retail investors must buy a new A class version with front-end load. There may be a purchase-at-NAV option with so…
Morningstar tends to hold on to its favorites long after problematic ones have gone to the great beyond. Artio International BJBIX or JETAX is a perfect example of this. The writing was on the wall long before the recent corporate collapse and dec…
We use it as a kind of alternative strategy. It really fits into a sleeve of this we designate Dynamic Allocation. In addition to PAUDX (we use PAUIX), other funds in the Dynamic group would be Ivy Asset Strategy IVAEX, FPA Crescent FPACX, BlackRo…
We would absolute include the traditional TIAA in your overall asset allocation. The fact that you cannot move it to something else and that you can only access it over a period of years (or life) means it is permanent. We would look at it somethi…
I don't know that I would put expenses at the bottom of a screen, but they are an important consideration. Yeah there are a lot of funds that can put up great numbers and earn their expenses. But there is no guarantee that will continue, and in a …
At first glance, you have no dedicated foreign or emerging market bond fund. And there would appear to be a lot of duplication of not-dissimilar domestic bond funds. I would for sure consider looking at Fidelity New Market Income Fund or something…
