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.
Thanks for the query @rono. I really like BIAWX as a sustainable growth fund. As I am a plant-based food eater, I am concerned about how conventional food production may be harmful to us and to the planet. No meat, no dairy, no chemicals if possibl…
Thanks @stillers for the memories. Because I moved to MI in 1970 I don’t get to see the NYG games on tv unless they are getting national coverage. As a reward I get the Lions, who managed to add yet another chapter to a long-running serial devoted t…
While I have no experience in selling land, I think I would contact a real estate company with a nationwide presence. Berkshire Hathaway signs are popping up in SE MI where I live, but there are other franchises as well. @Old_Joe's idea about workin…
@carew388: a member tipped me off to AIEQ the other day. It bears watching. An MFO search on the symbol reveals that @Ted, our late colleague, mentioned the fund when it came to market in 2018. Your comment wasn’t off-topic.
I wonder, @msf, if the success utilities had starting in the 70s might be related to the southward and southwestward movement of the US population. As you correctly point out, ignoring climate change and an unswerving faith that the Colorado river w…
Wonder why it ever closed. $1B in assets spread among 535 or so stocks, mainly LCV. The only thing it ever left in its dust is 8 former managers/analysts but not its bogey.
If, in fact, the proposed legislation aims to levy CG taxes on the big traders and big financial firms that benefit from the tax loophole, I might favor it. OTOH, if the individual shareholder, “the little guy,” were to bear the burden of yearly CG…
It’s hard to expect our elected senators and representatives to enact regulations governing the trading of stocks by public officials. Look at how the Senate did nothing about Burr of NC and his flagrant violations of rules on securities that benefi…
@David: when you put the managers names on the marquee, as you did, they remind me of some law firm that has its crappy office near a traffic court and a bail bondsman’s hole-in-the-wall.
I’ve been watching this discussion hoping for some insight on EGFFX, a fund unbeknownst to me. From what I can see looking at the holdings it’s a pure growth vehicle that has avoided the relative drop that affected so many growth funds this calendar…
I have never tried the short game. If you pull up the DOG performance chart on M* you'll see the fund has had one year in the black since 2011, while $10K invested in DOG dwindled to $1000+ while the index tracking the Dow grew to almost $46K. Then …
Agree with previous comments regarding OEF holdings disclosures from TRP. There is not a lot of advantage for an individual investor to be gained from rather stale lists of stocks held. For ETFs, as @hank alludes to, the problem for the managers is …
I tend to agree with those who find the credit card business somewhat shady. OTOH, I have been a fan of AKREX for as long as it has been around and that fund is a huge holder of MasterCard and Visa. Repeatable, compounding businesses that even the m…
FWIIW, I had my risk-averse 30 yo daughter switch some funds out of TMSRX into both PRSIX and RPGAX. She’s just getting into investing, but I had to agree with her observation that the ER for TMSRX is too high. I still have a little bit of it, but I…
Today’s Barron’s has an article on international value funds: Kopernik, Oakmark, and the Polaris SCV fund. I was able to read the article using incognito on Chrome. « These 3 International Funds Will Shine in a Global Recovery. » The Kopernik Intern…
One type of Chinese tech stock got really killed yesterday, the companies offering after-school tutoring, the biggest of which is TAL. Declines of 65% were seen after the Party announced it might move to regulate or curtail such academic instruction…
Setting aside the question of whether the OP is asking a question worthy of our consideration, I get the sense that the person is tired of making decisions about his family’s finances. If so, I think the whole enchilada ought to be turned over to a …
I closed out my SCV positions over the past couple of weeks. CSB, AVUV, and CALF have all had 1-month and 3-month declines, and the SCV index, IWN, has performed similarly. Bought more FRTY and FIW.
I own ARTYX as well. It’s had some rocky going this year. The other EM MF I have is PDEZX managed by PGIM Jennison, a really good growth shop. Downside protection for EM may be hard to achieve. Some think the new Dodge and Cox EM fund will do the tr…
There are other actors in the water "space," including my favorite FIW. According to the index author, "FIW, is based on the ISE Clean Edge Water Index and is sponsored by First Trust Advisors." ISTM that companies that make money selling water are …
My daughter recently had a hard time getting a couple of modest 401-k accounts rolled over fo Fidelity. Her employer was bought out, the retirement plan changed hands twice and wound up in the hands of Transamerica. I believe part of the delay was c…
AVDE, the Aventis international etf holds 3600 stocks, and AVUV almost 1100, so for me, at least, they are close to being index funds. Another SCV I hold, CALF, has only 100 stocks, selected according to proprietary rules.
@msf is right about the r…
I am also a fan of the Aventis funds. DFA attracts massive assets, but their performance compared to funds from the other big boys seems so-so. The NY Times lists performance figures for the 10 largest funds in the day’s given category and the DFA e…
I'm an Apple user, but I subscribe to Dashlane, an excellent password manager. As we have several devices, it's worth the $60 annually. I have not explored the iCloud Keychain. Firefox has a great bookmarks manager.
@hank: GLFOX, a global infrastructure favorite, has several of its 27 holdings domiciled in Europe, with Spain and Italy well represented among the utilities.
@billr et al: Alger makes it tough to get into its mutual funds, especially the small and mid cap focus strategies managed by Amy Zhang. She helped make BCSIX a success before decamping for Alger in 2015. Just this year Alger opened an opaque (my ed…
