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.
Hi, Ron.
The Navigator just aims people at (mostly) external pages. Is the problem that you're getting 404 - page not found errors or external pages that seem stale? I used Seafarer as an example and clicked through all the links. USA Today and US …
Hi David.
Hmmm ... my concern is the implication that your total return in the current market cycle is 231%. That comes about because the bull market is disconnected from the bear portion of the cycle. From 2000-2010, the market's net return was ze…
"Most important," "most misleading," it's a hard call.
You'll notice that all of Mr. Edelman's up periods begin at zero, they don't begin at the negative point where the "little itty bitty down" finished. Somehow he assumes that if you rise 50% aft…
Cheers to one and all. You're among my most active blessings! Cheers, too, to Charles who spent Christmas morning tweaking MFO Premium (I get notices); he must mightily perplex Santa.
Wishing you peace and joy, now and in the seasons to come.
David
Thanks, Ted.
Thanks, too, for the heads-up on the Steadman Funds. He really was a visionary (how many people would devote a fund to ocean nodule mining ... oh, wait! The same folks who'd imagine a fund devoted to 3D printing!) and a crackpot.
I …
Thanks!
The argument about ICMAX is interesting. If your time horizon is short and you can guarantee that the market will rise steadily (a feat that some technicians and timers believe is doable), then you should be fully exposed to the stock marke…
In response to an emailed question, here are the US equity funds with the highest Martin ratios over the full market cycle that began in October 2007:
Reynolds Blue Chip Growth (RBCGX), 1.75
Intrepid Endurance (ICMAX), 1.67 (which I own shares of, …
My problem is that I subscribe, so the links always work for me. Apparently Google had enforced a "first click free" rule that said something like, "if someone Googles your exact article title, you need to let them in." If publishers didn't agree, t…
Hi, Lewis.
I'd hoped to include a link to your article in the profile, but my understanding is that a new agreement between Google and various publishers makes the paywall rather tighter. Is that about right?
On the asset bloat piece, they're alre…
Hi, Ben.
I had the same concern but spoke with the adviser about it. The turnover is a one-time event linked to the move from being an Allianz fund to being independent. Two factors: Allianz wanted large cap and they pulled all of their clients' as…
Sorry, LLJB, I should have been clearer. I've been reading work on the adviser's site, which is more extensive. https://www.fullerthaler.com/news. They've run the strategy in several wrappers back for a couple decades. Microcap, if I recall correctl…
Dear friends,
I'm delighted that a number of folks joined us this month who we haven't heard from in a while.
Sam Lee reflected on the tiff involving Morningstar and the Wall Street Journal.
Mark Wilson shared some brief and welcome reflections on …
Today's WSJ reports:
1. that he is dating another Fidelity portfolio manager
2. that he had to get an HR waiver to permit him to have that relationship with a junior colleague
3. that he claims that he left, voluntarily and amicably, because he was…
For what it's worth, I notified Morningstar of the manager problem five days ago. Here's what I've heard so far:
Hello David,
Thank you for writing to us.
I apologize for the delay in response and for the inconvenience you may have experienced …
Hi, Ralph.
See Chip's note on the other "broken ticker" thread. At base, our address is now "https mutual fund observer," rather than "http mutual fund observer." We need to find where, in the plug-in coding, our address is mentioned ... and then a…
Yep. We're still working on things. Somehow the security layer broke Accipiter's ticker lookup and we haven't yet made the upgrade to MFO Premium. Both are in the pipeline for this week.
David
You're right. Towle is open to direct purchase, which they say is relatively rare but from welcome investors since those are the folks who are doing something more thoughtful than clicking through a One Source list. Closed through the supermarkets.
…
They actually changed fees on seven major funds, with four seeing higher fees and four seeing lower ones.
Have trouble with 4+4=7? One fund raises expenses on some share classes and drops them on others.
Details in the September issue, for what in…
Right. I'm entirely on board with the claim that the average manager is just a cog in a team-managed, marketing-sensitive team whose mantra is "don't get noticed!" The question is, what useful insight does that convey? One line of argument is "avoid…
They link from the "discuss" tab on the far right of the top bar on the Morningstar homepage. http://socialize.morningstar.com/NewSocialize/forums/default.aspx
Hi, guys.
The moderators can "announce" a post, which pins it to the top of the board. Usually I announce the new issue then, after a week, unannounce it. That means if no one has commented on it recently, it drifts down in the list, though it does…
Hey, Derf!
In Charles's system, blue shading is always the preferred end of the scale and red is always the troubled end.
If you like at a fund's profile and see a line of blue across the board, you immediately know that it's in the top (i.e., bes…
For about 60 years, the nuclear powers have relied on the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction to maintain the peace. The premise is simple: you simply convince your opponents that you're precisely crazy enough to end the world if they push you …
Thanks for the kind words. I'm hopeful of finishing the second edition (which expands the discussions of errors embedded in cross-cultural communication and technologically-mediated comm, both increasingly pressing in a globalized workplace) this fa…
If you're interested, you might look into RiverNorth/Oaktree High Income (RNOTX), which has a $5000 minimum and 1.7% expenses. It's the traditional RiverNorth model: a sub-adviser does their thing and RiverNorth supplements it with the CEF arbitrage…
I read today that the US bans the import of honeybees, which is causing a spiraling problem with inbreeding (just one breeder per hive, remember). Weird.
We've consciously constructed what appears to be a wildly successful pollinators' garden along…
A bit less commentary and rather more profiles this month.
I think the liquidity storm argument, which we've discussed here and which Ed mentions, is pretty interesting. Here's the gist of it: there are now ETFs which are themselves much more liqu…
God bless the automotive engineers. I'm in awe of their ability to design the crumpled boxes from which we walk safely away.
And you, too, big guy. We can't avoid making choices, all of which have consequences but few of which have foreseeable cons…
Research Affiliates are Rob Arnott's group. They've been around 15 years and specialize in smart beta and asset allocation strategies; to their great credit, they've been warning that smart beta strategies (low vol, for instance) got too popular to …
Hi, Ted.
I had the same first reaction as you but, as it turns out, these are two separate funds. The current fund launched in 2010 with the mission of investing in Formula 1 companies, which includes folks who sponsor racing teams or are otherwise…
Walmart did allow the company to buy everyone drinks at a nearby bar. When the CEO complained that the old system (the beer fridge in the office) led to higher productivity since folks drank and talked, then went back to their desks to flesh things …
"... she was horrid."
Maybe. The manager did address this question when I talked with him, and it's reflected in the profile. Bottom line: he was surprised and appalled at '08, and began a thorough review and recalibration of some of their stress t…
