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.
Rhetorical tropes are tricky. I've read apophasis as more allusive than paralipsis. "I won't mention your misadventures as a young adult" as opposed to "we needn't dwell on my opponent's criminal past, neither will we speak of her convenient lapses …
Both share classes, on September 30. It's a soft-close and it's one of several strategies for flow control that Mr. Foster had been noodling over.
Seafarer hit $1.5 billion, which was at the lower end of the possible-closure range, but flows into E…
I can check. Her claim is that Morningstar fundamentally misunderstood her position and that her plan was to eliminate currency effects to the extent she can. She has a copy of the profile and I've invited her feedback on it. If I hear back, I'll ce…
Perhaps there are two types of investors, those who want to get rich and those who want to stay rich? Gundlach, with a net worth of $1.4 billion, is certainly in the latter camp. He can achieve his personal goal by staying high and dry, others canno…
Sorry. It's a sort of summer writing slump which I rationalize (in part) with our summer readership slump: readership peaks in winter, troughs in summer. In the interim, I've been trying to off more substantive Launch Alerts for particularly notewor…
Legally, Seafarer can admit only those folks intending to one day reach the $100,000 threshold. Assuming my current rate of investing, that milestone might well be celebrated by my great-grandchildren (and Andrew's).
Mr. Foster's preference is to …
I haven't asked about it. It might be a simple matter of ringing the 800 number on Monday. For now, Mr. Foster is vacationing with family and I'm loathe to intrude.
In general, Andrew really dislikes the brokerages, mostly for the 40 or more basis …
Two quick notes:
On Ms. Geritz: I've reached out to her, but haven't heard back. Nonetheless, I'm pretty comfortable inferring what she's up to. Her LinkedIn profile adds "portfolio manager" for two charitable organizations, both beginning in 2016.…
Hi, Ted.
Sorry, no. I wasn't addressing the question of the fund's total return. Mike's arguments were that the stocks in the portfolio were weak performers and that the fund was both cursed and blessed (depending on time frame) by Mr. Cinnamond's …
Hi, Mike.
I was curious about your observation so went back to check the numbers. The stocks in ARIVX have returned approximately 92% YTD, 50% over the trailing twelve months and 13% over the past three years. For comparison, the Vanguard SCV index…
For what interest it holds, I've been talking with Mr. Cinnamond about the decision. Two quick takeaways: (1) he's sympathetic with critics of the fund who decry a stock fund that's at 90% cash and climbing. (2) Given recent developments, he doesn't…
Nice fund. It looks like it's tightening the closure by tweaking language in some of the exceptions to closure and by eliminating two previous exceptions: for 529 plans and for "approved brokerage platforms where the fund is on recommended list. (Wh…
If you get to Wisconsin, you should really try some of the New Glarus beer. My favorite is Stone Soup but it's out of production now; Spotted Cow and Two Women are nice runners-up. It's been described as the brewery "hell bent on not taking over the…
Andrew says that, for regulatory reasons, he's not allowed to comment on the question. It's certainly the case that the SEC imposed a "quiet period" when a fund is in registration (I actually had a warn a manager recently that he wasn't allowed to t…
I've been wondering about that. I'll reach out to Andrew today and see if he can share his thoughts about timing of the launch.
More as soon as I know.
David
Don't know about the timing question. Here's an answer to the Great Owl question: over the past three years, TRAMX has outperformed the average EM fund by 700 basis points/year. And over the past five years, it's up by 700 bps a year. And since ince…
Hi, guys.
That's entirely my fault. Sorry about the confusion. (Sorrier still if it means that folks didn't read the danged profiles.)
The pre-launch protocol for our monthly issue is really clear: I feed text to Chip in the hours before launch a…
Hi, Ben.
Not sure about the 2-3 year holding pattern thing. They crushed the competition 3 years ago and crushed them 2 years ago then trailed for the first 3 quarters of 2015 then outperformed in the 4th quarter. They're trailing this year. Over t…
from our May commentary on the merger, for what interest it holds:
Putnam Voyager Fund (PVOYX) is merging into Putnam Growth Opportunities (POGAX) on July 15, 2016. Voyager’s performance was rightly described as “dismal” by Morningstar. Voyager’s m…
"But has acted like a story stock"?
Uhhh ... top 3% of all global funds for the past three, five and ten years. It trailed its peers in 2015 by 1.3% and YTD by 3.5%. Their argument is that they favor firms that generate lots of free cash flow, whic…
Hi, ep1.
A lot depends on what you're looking for, beyond "small and midcap." Some folks like deep value, some seek low-vol, absolute value or concentrated portfolio. I ran a quick screen through MFO Premium for SC/MC value sorted by highest Sharpe…
"Cunningham said Thursday that he is retiring due to a health issue of a family member that requires his attention."
And, too, assets under management have declined by $13 billion - 25% or so - in three years.
David
A queer and wonderful trail though, Ted. Bernie Klawans - an aerospace engineer, right Charles? - ran it for decades, from 1971-2011, likely out of his garage. One-page website, no 800-number, no reports or newsletters or commentaries. Brought on a …
Hi, Mark.
The question, at least for me, isn't "one lousy call." The question is whether there was a profoundly dysfunctional culture which led to a series of decisions which profoundly damaged Sequoia's shareholders. The media reports suggesting t…
Greetings.
In general, Ted's right: the ownership data for both trustees and managers is reported in each fund's Statement of Additional Information. It's likely available through the higher-end products from Morningstar and Lipper but we don't hav…
Hi, Mona.
Because risk moderation is generally tax-inefficient and for some of the asset classes that interest me (Asia income, for example) there aren't any tax-efficient vehicles. You could try to invest in low-beta stocks and a low-turnover fun…
I agree with the folks: there aren't many better options than Seafarer. You might imagine Mr. Foster's mantra as "safe and sane." If you wanted more of the same, you might consider DRESX, which offers hedged exposure to EM small caps, or FTEMX, whic…
The prospectus text, which is unusually clear on the subject:
Payment of Redemption Requests
Unless otherwise prohibited by law, the Fund may pay the redemption price to you in cash or in portfolio securities, or partly in cash and partly in portf…
One might note that John's argument - "it's all management by committee these days" - describes the small subset of large funds that Morningstar notices rather more than it describes the entire universe of funds.
David
"a low tolerance for risk"
Ummm ... you might reflect on that conclusion in light of the positioning of my portfolio, which I publish annually. In the non-retirement portfolio, about 50% of my money is in equities and 50% in income-producing securi…
Hi, Ted.
You can get a sense of how close the call is when you visit Morningstar. The retail share class (RPHYX) now appears as three stars on its Morningstar profile page which the institutional share class (RPHIX) remains at four.
David
Right, the change simply reflects the fact that the average high-yield bond fund made 2.5% in the first quarter while RPHYX made 1%. As it turns out, this fund has virtually nothing in common with the average high-yield fund (the correlation between…
