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.
@msf makes good points and my take-away is that we as shareholders learn late in the game what a manager’s strategy might be (or was at a point in the past). Most MF prospecti give latitude to permit an active manager to shift back and forth between…
Good point, @MikeW: the Matthews fund, MASGX, has done really well in recent years. Over a five-year span it is tied in total return with the Calvert ESG entry, CVMAX. MASGX made up a lot of ground in the past two years. One of the nice things about…
Schwab has some other perks that I like. The debit card issued with Investor Checking (its ludicrous to call it HY) has no foreign transaction fees and ACH transfer fees (nominally $25) from the brokerage account are waived. Just paid quarterly taxe…
Thanks for starting this thread, @stillers. SCV is definitely volatile as a glance at the charts of the three ETFs I reviewed: CSB, DES, and VRB. The first two pay dividends monthly while VRB pays quarterly. I bought CSB for its compact portfolio an…
Many good suggestions already posted. Even though it’s new, I think Matthews is a good shop and that MEGMX has a good chance of riding the EM updraft. For small and micro caps EM, GPEOX is worth a look. I have never owned DRESX, Driehaus EM SCG, but…
@racqueteer: I have some « play » money in AARK. While the fund may be risky, it’s not like some other whacky ideas I’ve chased in in the past. Anyone remember the FlavrSaver tomato or SureBeam (the ones who sold a produce radiation system to prolon…
My parents carried Puritanical anti- gambling attitudes from their parents (one grandfather ran for office on the Prohibitionist ticket) into raising me and my siblings. I have a prejudice against lotteries, probably ingrained. Without pre-judging b…
If it were my kids, I would go with a Russell 3000 ETF, and I’d probably go with the lowest ER instrument. FWIIW I have one of my kid’s account in VIG, AKREX, and PTIAX. It’s a little more conservative now as she may need $ for med school.
@MikeW: I tried to get a discussion going a couple of weeks ago about Distillate Capital, the company running DSTL and DSTX. Kiplinger's put me onto checking out this manager in its listing of the best ETFs for 2021. DSTL figures in the list and it …
The article highlights the thematic ETFs that ran the table last year, including those from the Ark shop. Zweig cautions that these funds are as risky as story stocks and cites research that showed that thematic funds underperformed conventional fun…
From what I can tell, MIOPX and MFAPX have a couple of differences in their portfolios. The former has about 11% in US stocks, the latter about 4%. MIOPX has a greater allocation to developing markets, approximately 37% vs. 22%. Heugh seems to be ab…
@JonGaltill: BCSVX is not an EM fund, but it is a small-mid cap international fund that follows the Brown Capital process for selecting stocks of companies that "will make a difference." The domestic version, BCSIX, and BCSVX are heavily weighted in…
That's helpful, @Derf. One of the reasons I have moved away from GP's funds (Micro and Contrarian) is the number of companies the individual funds hold, to say nothing of the volatility. As many of the firms are very small, it seems to me that the a…
@davidmoran: You had company when you did some selling in the spring. I, too, predicted that the pandemic would cripple the economy and the markets. Had I done nothing, my assets would have weathered the storm. I sold a mid-cap value fund in my reti…
I finally read the GP letter. Lots of trees, not much forest. I could not understand how the head honcho did not address the effects of COVID-19 on the travel his analysts purportedly do in order to visit companies around the globe. He said their IT…
@Baseball_Fan: your spell checker just produced a howler: « tonsure overseas. » I’m sure Laura Geritz at Rondure does not want you to get a haircut as the result of buying her fund. OTOH, we should be aware of all possible pitfalls when we invest, e…
I am probably way behind the 8 ball, but I find it astounding that ESPN broadcasts poker games. That seems to be couch potato squared: sitting while watching others sit and stare at cards.
I believe most global or international funds are not limited to purchasing Chinese equities on the NYSE, but can purchase them in HK, Europe, or on other exchanges. Individual investors who want ADRs of Chinese listings could be shut out.
I have followed this a debate by two astute commentators. I have to wonder if too much hair-splitting is not taking place. For my money (and I have none in AOK or any other allocation fund in the accounts I manage) I would pick a fund run by compete…
I'm glad no MFOer paid attention to what I wrote about Distillate Capital ETFs because the ask prices are not being inflated by purchases of the big machers who post here. I have a couple of toes in the domestic version.
« Gib » turned out to be a sticking point in the negotiations. Seems that Spain did OK, although the Spaniards still want the rock as part of their country. Goods and services will continue to flow and passport and immigration procedures have been a…
I think @Old_Joe is onto something. Forget the F’n stock market and get into passion fruit juice futures! Today is looking very much like a day when stocks are on sale or still hung over from @davidmoran’s wassail bowl. Happy New Trading Year to all.
You are right, @davidmoran, to question a description of a strategy that includes the pointless use of jargon. If the manager sells a lot of shares for a gain, he does not "unlock" capital gains. How, for instance, can a mutual fund "approximate" a …
Very good point, @davfor, about « purity » of EM holdings. The Matthews fund appears to have only Heineken and Louis Vuitton as companies that are domiciled in developed countries. I note also that South Korea is well represented in the holdings. I …
Thanks, @davfor. I have upped my commitment to ARTYX. It's been a bit more volatile than MEGMX while outperforming it. To be sure, MEGMX is a new kid on the block and we won't know for some time how it plays out. I recently added XBUY for exposure t…
@Mav123: I also looked at that jibberish of a sentence and wondered if the English language has a future. String as many nouns (5 here) together as you can find and blast them out into cyberspace in hopes that no one will notice that you are being d…
Your comment, @davidmoran, reminds me of the Herzfeld CEF, CUBA. It’s original concept was to reap the rewards of Cuba opening up to capitalism. One of the big holdings was St. Joe. Somehow the concept proved a cropper.
Thanks, @TheShadow. I certainly could not figure out what happened from reading the legalese. It cannot be repeated often enough, « Only The Shadow knows. »
« 1929 will never repeat... »
When my parents died and their house needed selling, my sibs and I found a pile of stock certificates representing shares in companies that had ceased to exist as result of the Great Crash. It was both fascinating and s…
@LewisBraham makes a good point about KGIRX. David Iben, the manager, had a successful run working for other firms, including ex-Fidelity manager J. Vinik's, before he set up Kopernik, his own shop. I guess all gold bugs have their day in the sun, t…
@fred495: I agree with you regarding CTFAX. Another factor to consider regarding that fund is that it is a fund-of-funds, and all the funds it owns are Columbia. TRP does the same thing with some of its allocation funds, so I guess the charge of inc…
@newgirl: in your list of possible international/global funds, you have several MS offerings managed by Kristian Heugh. I am very high on him and own MGGPX. For EM, I like ARTYX. I have previously opined here that global funds do the job of giving m…
I think @MikeW has it right. AKREX has 20 holdings at present and a enviable record, despite M*'s four-star rating. I cannot think of a concentrated value fund where I'd put my money with anywhere near the same degree of confidence as I have in the …
I think @MikeW has it right. AKREX has 20 holdings at present and a enviable record, despite M*'s four-star rating. I cannot think of a concentrated value fund where I'd put my money with anywhere near the same degree of confidence as I have in the …
You are right, @JD_co. The percentage is not really elevated compared to an actively managed equity fund. I have two SCG funds that should be on CapitalGainsValet’s worst offenders list.
Unrelated to TMSRX, but distributions stories: top-rated MCG …
TMSRX has distributed its holiday fare to shareholders this week. It threw off a big dollop of short term capital gains and a generous slice of income. The secret sauce ain’t cheap if held in a taxable account. Nevertheless, there is much for which …
