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.
Michigan can be complicated, especially for this transplanted New Englander. Despite having an Ann Arbor address, I share a driveway with a guy who flies the Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” flag. We have never talked politics and may never, notably beca…
It is frightening news. I read "Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster" a couple of years ago. A much worse disaster could be set off by a single missile strike.
The phenomenon of unintended consequences at work in my mind: the graphic @davidmoran posted resembles the depiction of an invasion. Napoleon’s doomed invasion of Russia was depicted on a similar graph by Edward Tufte, showing how many troops reache…
From my perspective, one needs to be a bit geeky or nerdy to get into CEFs. I tried and mostly disappointed myself. One advantage equity CEFs used to have was that they were the only game in town for certain asset classes, particularly sector, singl…
France has relied on nuclear for a long time, with 70% of its electricity produced by its own reactors. France also exports its nuclear technology and reactors. Macron recently announced an expansion of reliance on nuclear a pledge that turn out to …
In May 2020 it was announced that Mr Beini Zhou ex-Matthews was going to run a SCV fund for Artisan. Does it normally take two years to get a fund up and running?
Thanks, @Ben. What you quoted is total gibberish and prods the cynical me to wonder what management is trying to hide. One of the strengths and the weaknesses of the English language is its capacity for stringing together nouns that lose meaning for…
@MikeW: your comment about the Ukraine situation reminds me that they don’t ring a bell at the top or at the bottom, nor do they say when there’s enough blood in the streets to justify buying.
@Mona: good thought on currency hedging. I think I’d see what the FMI managers had to say about the differences between their two funds. I believe FMIFX is newer.
@Starchild: It has been a rough ride for holders of MGGPX, but BGAFX (Baron) has been even rougher for the past two years. APFDX, also a global growth fund, has had a smoother go of it and I have kept it in favor of the other two. Foreign large grow…
@carrew388: thanks for the lead on PDBC. Do you or @MarkM or @yogibearbull have an explanation for what the fund did in 2021 to generate such a massive distribution? I assume the managers trade a lot, but I wonder if trading commodities contributes …
Thanks all for adding to my understanding. I knew K-1’s were an annoyance, but they could be much more than that for certain high rollers. I recall owning Blackstone (BX) for a short time and having to deal with the K-1. Talk about an opaque form…
@MikeM: I assume you will receive a K-1 form from DB for the 2021 tax year. I do my own taxes, so I’m curious.
I subscribe to a stock picking newsletter that has been advocating for DBA and DBC over the last few years. It has turned out be be goo…
@davfor and @Charles: Since you both mentioned CBLDX, I wonder if you stacked that fund up with the other one that made the "no drawdown" list, ICMUX? Both are short duration corporate high yield funds, despite M*'s categorization of both as multise…
Mike Holland appeared on Rukeyser’s show fairly often. His advice, IIRC, was all anyone needed was a good balanced fund. His own fund did not shoot the lights out, but the advice makes sense. I really ought to leave my heirs such a simple portfolio …
My first computer ever was an SE 20, purchased with an Apple dot-matrix printer, for a grand total of $3000. Other than a Mac clone, I’ve never owned anything but Apple products. I wish I could say I bought Apple stock back then and never sold.
@Shostakovich: I don’t get “metaverse” either, having been born in the middle of WW II. I do like a conspiracy theory as well as the next guy. To wit: the FB team saw the terrible earnings numbers looming and invented a smokescreen or a diversionary…
@stayCalm: thanks for running these numbers. My immediate thought on reading the OP was that there may be good global allocation funds, but that they don’t have a single “genius” manager in charge. They seem to divide equity and fixed income respons…
Thanks, @hank. I do hope the money gets to public education. I didn't intend to sound moralizing; I wouldn't buy a lottery ticket, but I do roll the dice on some questionable investments.
We are inundated here in SE MI by TV ads for several online sports books. All of them appear to offer “risk free” wagers to the newcomer. The fine print at the end of the ad gives a phone number for those who have a problem with gambling.
From what I can determine, SVXAX is NL NTF at Schwab, but not available to MI residents. SVXFX is NL with a TF. No availability at TDA, it seems. Maybe availability will change if AUM increase.
MGGPX: reduced
BGAFX: reduced
ARTYX: sold
The first two funds had massive inflows in 2020 during run-ups; the opposite is true for 2021 when outflows are seen. The charts are ugly. ISTM that the managers will have a hard time reversing recent misfo…
@bee: there are 7 share classes, but the 2 main ones are SMVLX and SVFAX. I own the latter, the A shares sold NLNTF at Schwab. MFO Premium has the nice feature of listing all share classes, but M* seems not to.
Smead Value was up 2.4% over the last week, COWZ 0.82%; the rest of the portfolio not so great. The weakness in healthcare really hurt (and surprised) me: BHCFX and RYH took it on the chin.
@JonGaltill: one more factor to throw your way is the record of the fund manager(s) in their other vehicles. In the case of DVSMX, the 2 main managers are responsible for the very good micro-cap growth DMCRX, which has a longer record. I have not lo…
