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.
Reply to @goldenwaterox: Good question. Scottrade shows MISGX as no-load, retail but not (yet?) open for purchase. I'll see if I can get an answer for you.
David
Reply to @golub1: You might check our profile of Global Reach. The short answer is that Grandeur Peak invests in a single pool of stocks (small cap growth, worldwide) and sort of apportions shares out to the appropriate funds. They have a sense of…
Here's ARIVX against its small cap value peers:
His returns since inception trail his peers by 18%, a deficit entirely generated since February 01 of this year - a period when the average small cap popped 22.5% and ARIVX rose only 4.5%.
And his …
Reply to @MarkM: Nah, just distracted by chaos on campus. We do winter mid-terms just before Christmas, so the kids are panicked. And all of the administrators seem, simultaneously, to have realized that, with regard to all of the meetings / retre…
Reply to @msf: Thanks! I'll look at ANJIX. Cost would preclude Forward and firm size might make the investment committee chary of Buffalo, though I do like their work.
David
Okay, I'll say it: I actually feel pretty danged smug about the lead story in our January 2013. The intro, as you no doubt recall, focused on new investing terms which might prove useful:
We’ve been listening to REM’s “It’s the End of the World (as…
Thanks, Andy!
Can you tell that David finds this stuff really, really engaging? The phrase "I could talk all day about Canadian special purpose bonds" isn't hyperbole. I'll try to cover the opening in a "highlights" post in just a bit. I was wri…
Here's the short version of a 17 minute chat.
The available research points to three conclusions:
1. we could close 80% of all mutual funds without any noticeable loss to anyone other than the managers.
2. more and more money is pouring into doom…
Too, there is the question of how consistent Mr. Olstein has been able to accomplish his reachable goal. Roughly speaking, he's outperformed the market in five of the past ten years. Over five years, his returns have beaten 90% of his peers. Over…
Reply to @Charles: Close, so very close.
I argued that buying (or holding) VDAIX was entirely sensible, but only if you did so for the right reason. Dividends are used for one of two distinct purposes: as a signal of a company's underlying strengt…
Wow. Who knew?
I'm speaking with Chuck today (Thursday) but he hadn't mentioned when it would air.
Here's the general script: chit-chat, a word about the Observer's fund selection criteria, a favorite fund or two, then a buy/sell/hold round of li…
Reply to @TSP_Transfer: The word "Fund," like the abbreviation "FPA," is read by the system as fund tickers. The linkage is inadvertent and I've broken it now.
David
Maybe but, if so, this fund wouldn't be evidence of it. RiverNorth hired M&N to manage a portion of the RiverNorth fund in the same style that M&N uses on their Dividend Focus Fund (MNDFX). MNDFX is just over five years old. Two of the fo…
We wish you well with it. I really think the "comfortable partnering" piece is the key. Every fund, strategy and manager is going to go through periods of sub-par performance and every one is going to be plagued by the occasional high-visibility m…
Reply to @reids: Of course, but that's true of any small business.
Two investment professionals in the field: Andrew and Kate Jaquet, whose background is in Latin America and fixed income. Michelle Foster runs the business end, but has pretty seri…
Reply to @VintageFreak: (rolls eyes)
Andrew worked for Mr. Maeck, in Hong Kong if I recall correctly, before he joined Seafarer. He served as Seafarer's trader and part of the "if Andrew gets hit by a bus or he's out of contact and Stock X rises t…
The two most common reasons for "liquidating" a fund are linked: wretched performance and too few assets to remain economically viable. Occasionally strong funds or economically viable funds are also eliminated for personal or business reasons, but…
Reply to @STB65: Sorry about the abrupt response. I was on cell and my phone is antiquated (think: crank handle on the side).
The balance seems to be between making the fund accessible (which they're happy to do) and diverting their time and atten…
Reply to @STB65: on the 12b1 fee, you might check point 4 in my original note.
On benchmarks, our prototype reports - the stuff Chip, Charles and Accipiter (CCA) are working on - include a medley of them.
David
Reply to @MikeW: Hi, Mike.
They think that the small cap space is egregiously, unsustainably overvalued and they see few attractive opportunities in the emerging markets. Cash is growing as a result of two factors: continuing inflows and few stock…
Reply to @Sven: I'm not sure how big the Acorn or Oakmark analyst teams were. When Messrs Samra and O'Keefe left Oakmark to join Artisan, they seemed to be operating pretty much on their own (though they now have two or three analysts). Greg and J…
This strikes me as pretty consistent with the grumbles I've heard from small managers: little guys pay something like 40 bps to Schwab because they need Schwab while brand-name funds pay less because Schwab needs them. Managers don't want to price …
FBN has hired a fair number of CNBC personalities since its 2007 launch. Bartiromo's contract was up. CNBC is posting its worst numbers in 20 years but still leads Fox Business by about 2:1 in viewers while trailing Fox News nearly 10:1. Which is…
Reply to @chrisblade: Hi, Chris. They've always been pretty adamant about the former, but I'd be happy to pursue the latter - especially given their VC experience.
David
Hi, nath.
With the exception of Charles's profile of FundX Upgrader (FUNDX), I choose and profile all of the funds (albeit with really valuable input from readers who've been generous about sharing leads and suggestions).
In general, "stars in the…
I spoke with Forward's CIO. At base, Forward believes that the Cedar Ridge management team was better positioned for an environment where spreads were large and opportunities abounded. They were asked to "de-risk" the portfolio, suffered a substan…
Yes, I really like the essay - if only because it lines up so closely with my own prejudices.
My cheap summary is that it makes two arguments: (1) you're best off investing with a high-conviction, independent manager and (2) large funds almost ne…
Uhhh ... "Matt Lynn is a British thriller writer and a financial journalist. As Matt Lynn, he is the author of the 'Death Force' series of novels."
Which might explain his challenged logic: "As the trackers and ETFs take over, it will be possible t…
Not new funds so much as rich folks' share classes of tepid existing funds. In exchange for accepting a $100,000 minimum, the rich folks get to pay around 1.5% instead of around 1.7%.
The thing I find most disturbing is the management fee breakpoi…
(nods)
Ted earlier provided the link to Rekenthaler's response to the WSJ article. Let's just say he's not convinced: http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discussions-3/#/discussion/8958/will-individuals-ruin-the-stock-market-
David
Reply to @linter: Chip and I, separately, bought shares as soon as they became available through Scottrade. That said, I'm not particularly banging the drum for the fund because it is distinct enough that it's going to take some time to understand …
