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.
A hedge fund with an odd name from a guy with a record in corporate turnarounds (http://www.webberid.com/profile/info/id/5710) but with no visible record of success in money management? He'll make a bundle. ("For who?" is the unanswered questi…
Reply to @MaxBialystock: David actually thinks of it as a competitive advantage, in the sense that almost no one looking at the demands of such a fund would choose to launch a competitor. His report, which I mentioned earlier but can't recall wheth…
Reply to @VintageFreak: For what interest it holds, the Aberdeen chart dated to the arrival of the current management team and plotted against its peer group and Artisan International Small Cap (ARTJX), Morningstar's only "Gold" fund in this categor…
Reply to @VintageFreak: Indeed? I guess that conclusion isn't consistent with my reading of the data, either year by year or quarter by quarter. And I suppose you could look at the fund's record minus its best year (but why?); when I ran results f…
Here ya go. Seafarer is the blue line. It has returned a touch over 11% since launch. The other four are three emerging market ETFs (SPDRs for Asia, Europe and Latin America) and the diversified E.M. peer group, to give a sense of how much "the ma…
Reply to @MaxBialystock: Yep. No-load at Schwab, at least, and they often set the rules for Scottrade. If a fund has reasonably wide no-load availability, I think it would be worth looking. David
A lot of the problem, for me anyway, is sorting through the sea of load-bearing funds to find ones that are really good and conveniently accessible without a load. WVCCX certainly does seem to warrant a bit more reading, though.
Curious, as ever,
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Kick well, big guy! My son, Will, made it to a high blue belt before his teacher retired (that whole "had another kid, get serious about the family and career" thing) and closed their little dojo. It always seemed like an admirable discipline, and…
For what interest it holds, the distribution of one year and five year returns across all domestic equity funds. The highlights just the funds with the top 10% of returns, not by category but across all domestic equity.
One year shows a clear pref…
Some of the outflows are, I think, statistical anomalies. It appears that some money is flowing from "pure" stock funds to various sorts of hybrid funds (allocation, retirement date, balanced), a category which the Post article seems not to recogni…
I'm not quite sure what to make of the story. Royce created a fund that was impossible for most investors to get into and then was surprised, as it seems the author was, that most investors paid no attention to it.
I've been watching the fund for …
Reply to @MJG: Howdy.
On TIPS, negative 2.7% is labeled as "Annual Real Return over 7 Years." The +/- 1.5% is the "estimated range of 7-year annual returns." I read that as: "we expect TIPS to lose something between 1.2% - 4.2% per year for the n…
Reply to @_AP_: Maybe. The key is that the projections are for "real" return. At 10% CPI, you might earn a nominal 8.5% on TIPS which is still a negative real return.
It might be akin to stocks: if optimistic assumptions are already "baked in"…
Hi, Charles.
As the others have noted, this is not designed to be a low-volatility safe haven. It's a global stock fund with an asset allocation that's designed to excel in high and rising inflation rate environments, but it's still a stock fund. …
Reply to @andrei: Hi, andrei.
Try Googling "Whitebox hedge fund." When I do that, this article appears as the second result. I clicked on it and got in without payment or registration. David
Reply to @Charles: Hi, Charles.
Hedge funds can't publicly discuss their performance, though individual investors in the fund can choose to share information. Funds can voluntarily report to a service like Morningstar's, but I don't seem to have a…
Reply to @claimui: For what interest it holds, following the RPHYX conference call, David expressed a desire to chat with folks about his fund. I think you'd enjoy the experience. He's both sharp and engaging.
David
Any thought about PIMCO Short Asset "D" (PAIUX). I've only just begun the profile of it, but here's the marketing pitch for it: "this is where Bill Gross puts his uninvested cash."
David
You might look at Pinnacle Value (PVFIX). We've got a profile of it. Mr. Deysher has the same skepticism about buying when you ought not be buying, so he often has a cash-heavy small value portfolio. In the long term, it tends to be a lot steadi…
Hi, VF!
Maybe their real asset ETF: SPDR SSgA Multi-asset Real Return (RLY)? SSgA has a fairly serious and useful discussion of the topic (http://www.ssga.com/definedcontribution/making-retirement-work/our-point-of-view/real-assets.html) but I d…
Reply to @msf:
"Duplicity"? Uhhhh ...
I was trying to be both quick and careful, a tough balanced act. You're certainly right that the bottom number is going to be contested. In general, I screened for "distinct portfolios only" to eliminate a …
Thanks, VF! Not sure on the transcript piece, but I did - as you'll see - try a summary and I'll incorporate more into an updated profile for October. As always, I'll give the manager a chance to fact check my profile so we'll be a close to his in…
Reply to @claimui: Sorry about that. My system defaulted to posting things to the invisible-to-you "enhancements" board and I didn't realize for about 24 hours that that's why no one was reading the durn thing. Fixed now. David
Hi, claimui.
The Dow Jones article contributes to the discussion of your first question and I'll be happy to raise it.
The second question strikes me as entirely sensible and, likely, Schaja's call.
And yes. They'll have a recording of the call …
Reply to @Old_Joe: Yep.
Of all funds launched in the past 10 years, 152 now carry five-star ratings. Of the 156 Fidelity (Fidelity, Fidelity Spartan, Fidelity Advisor, Fidelity Series, Strategic Advisers) funds launched in 10 years, I can find t…
Reply to @VintageFreak: Sorry about the clipped response. I was pecking away on a cellphone at the time. So far as I can tell, Provident Trust simply bought the fund back from FMI, effective 8/31. I don't know why. Neither the FMI nor the Provid…
Wintergreen (WGRNX) qualifies as a "new fund"? Uhhh ... 2005? $1.6 billion in assets. If Morningstar's database is to be believed, there are 4465 newer funds.
Some of the funds in the essay were profiled here some while ago (Grandeur Peak Glob…
Reply to @VintageFreak: Hey, VF!
I mostly think of insider ownership of a mutual fund in pragmatic rather than moral terms. While it's always a nice symbolic gesture to have the manager and trustees in the trenches with you, the place where the ru…
Reply to @Investor: Hi, big guy!
FundReveal is currently refining its business model and website. They're interested in continuing their collaboration with us, but need a bit of time to get other stuff straightened up first. I'm just waiting quie…
