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We'd have to ask Charles, since he's the closest thing to Data Monster we've got.
A quick glance at the last 15 years suggests that high-yield as a group was not notably better or worse than a 60/40 hybrid. It was much better than pure large cap e…
"micro-cap dominance"?
He's looking at seven weeks' performance. Wouldn't it be fairer to describe "the current micro-cap hiccup"?
I looked at the 10 best-performing microcaps, YTD, which overweight healthcare. Collectively, they earn just under…
Uhhh ...
Take WHIYX's 15 year return (7.95%, per Morningstar) as a benchmark. There are 700 funds with better 15 year returns. Of those 700, 12 are domestic bond funds (Loomis Sayles has the most), with one world bond fund and 15 emerging markets…
I'll double-check my understanding of the proxy with the Aston folks. Here's what I believe to be the case: a fund's board hires Aston to advise the fund. Aston advises the funds but doesn't manage them, instead they hire managers like River Road.…
Hmmm ... two issues, really. (1) Barron's has been cranking out more quantity but perhaps with a bit less thought lately. (2) They're referring to a Vanguard study that took all of the funds in Morningstar's various "allocation" categories and ask…
Reply to @David_Snowball: Eric says:
We will allow the exception to include IRA accounts, but that’s where it is going to depend on whether the intermediary platform can make such a specific exception.
The funds mentioned include MainStay Marketfield (MFLDX) and Wasatch Long/Short (FMLSX), but also fund-of-funds Aberdeen Diversified Alternatives (GASIX), AQR Managed Futures (AQMIX), Arbitrage Event-Driven (AEDNX) and Calamos Market Neutral Income …
Reply to @mrdarcey: Good question. I just passed it along to Eric Heufner, the president of Grandeur Peak. I'll let you know what I hear.
Remember the other exception: funds set up with an automatic investing plan.
David
Dear friends,
I deleted the two recently attached videos, and I'm modestly surprised that they appeared in the first place. It seems to me that Accipiter made an entirely reasonable request, that folks not attach videos to technical threads. His …
For what it's worth, three lines: the S&P500 as a benchmark, the titanic Gateway Fund (GATEX, green) and Bridgeway Managed Volatility (BRBPX, blue). Bridgeway charged 0.94% at $35 million. Gateway charges 0.94% at $8.2 billion. And Bridgeway…
Hi, Mark.
For March, I'll extend by a bit my post on the charms of one-star funds. If turns out that the combination of "short-term" and "high-yield" leads to some funds with interesting performance profiles. Below is the chart for RPHYX (blue), …
Hi, guy!
Welcome.
And no.
That's the official answer, David's and mine. RSIVX has the potential for substantially more NAV volatility than does RPHYX. That's mostly a "mark to market" artifact. As you probably know, a fund's NAV is determined …
Reply to @Kenster1_GlobalValue: Nope. I'm struggling to keep my portfolio manageable. I have 11 funds now and, in general, I try to maintain a one-in-one-out discipline. Ideally, in the year ahead I'll actually reduce the number of funds and inc…
The desire to turn Hulbert into a mutual fund maven strikes me as curious. It's simply not his core competence and a lot of his fund references have that "stapled on" feel. He writes about something and then has been told to list two stocks, two E…
I wonder, sometimes, about 2008 and the weight we should give it. You have a set of circumstances so extraordinary that markets effectively ceased to function at times. There are some strategies that work well during the apocalypse but give up a l…
Just a reminder that we're talking to the guys tomorrow night. Please do let me know if you've got questions or concerns you'd like to pass along. I'm apt to ask about the decision to convert from a hedge fund, perhaps something on the difference …
Reply to @equalizer: A major caveat lector there. You calculate active share by the degree of overlap between a portfolio and an index. The calculation is only as good as the plausibility of fit betwen fund and index.
Which makes the decision to …
Ah, yes. The good folks at the MFWire who managed not to read Charles's original story but who, when Morningstar speaks, raise the red-and-white banner and grab the bullhorn.
(rolls eyes)
David
Bottom Line publishes a number of micro-articles each issue, say 150 - 500 words. This was one of those.
At base, Mark called me and said their readers were fretting about volatility and he asked my thoughts on minimum-vol or low-vol ETFs. I am, …
As I read the survey questions and their interpretation, one thing kept coming to mind: "Market research is done for the purpose of marketing one's products; it is released only when it advances that goal."
The "conservatism" conclude is drawn fr…
Reply to @STB65: An intriguing graph/dataset and an intriguing question.
The Gold standard in long/short investing is BPLEX and they've long claimed that their niche (small cap long/short - they are all cap but few other l/s funds venture into thes…
I second msf's suggestion. TIAA resets rates annually. My dumbest investment decision ever was putting 50% of my retirement money in TIAA Traditional, starting in 1984 when I joined Augustana. It was at the start of The Great Bull and a 100% stoc…
On the "$500 or less," proceed with caution. The list is significantly out of date and prone to load funds. A shorter and modestly more-current list of no-load fund families with reduced minimums is at our (sadly dormant) sister site, Mutual Fund …
Thank you, sir! I am making inquiries with the Little Book crowd. Ed has a friend who wrote one of them and he was going to ask, at an upcoming lunch, about the process. If anything interesting transpires, you'll be among the first to know!
David
The yield is strongly affected by asset growth. A few months ago the fund was small. It invested cash into securities. Those securities may be generating a large income stream, but that stream is now being divided among many more shareholders. …
We've twice profiled the fund: Artisan Global Value. And I own its sibling, Artisan International Value. It's about as good as they come. Active share of 90.5, since we've been mentioning such things.
David
The Total Stock Market Index over the past five years. I'm trying hard to feel panicked but have mostly managed "mildly curious about whether interesting opportunities are finally emerging."
David
Not that such things should make me slightly nervous, but they do. They've made some adjustments to the Amazon Associates program, which haven't greatly impacted us but I am keeping an eye on them.
