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.
I like your approach @Ted and I believe you are correct in your assessment of risk-averse MFOers. Your three top fund holdings revealed in a recent thread show that you walk the walk. For my part, I put a slice of my active portfolio into PTIAX for …
I'm reminded of Commendatore Fanfani, the fictional character based on Enzo Ferrari in Peter Ustinov's zany "reinactment" of the Grand Prix of Gibraltar. The interviewer asks Fanfani about the suspect brakes on his cars. With Italian aplomb, he answ…
Have to say I'm like @AndyJ. Only MAPIX remains in my portfolio and Asia no longer feels like the go-go region it was 25 years ago. Seafarer and Grandeur Peak got my Matthews dough.
Gotta hand it to David. He can come up with a nice list of high-cash funds, type in their names and not comment sardonically on the ridiculous monikers these funds bear: Probabilities Fund? Bullfinch Fund? Bread & Butter Fund? As Sgt Joe Friday …
Wouldn't you know that Jason Zweig's article in the WSJ appeared just a couple of days after this discussion ended? He explains that the TIAA Real Estate fund, and some others, are called interval funds. You can buy whenever you want, but can sell o…
The article mentions two global water funds, PHO and CGW, but fails to mention FIW, which has clocked the former two ETFs. It is not a global fund, but I don't think you need such a fund to profit from world-wide water needs. Domestic companies in t…
I imagine @LewisBraham sitting in front of at least two computers as he went through all the complicated steps on the M* site on the one and then describing what he had just done on the other in order to answer the query. This is real expertise and …
I agree with @Mark that TurboTax takes care of the problem. I too did not like the late arrival of the K-1s. I avoid investments that generate K-1s because of an inheritance from my wife's family that has taken more than five years to settle, partia…
My advisor said TIAA owns property and that their fund differs from ordinary real estate MFs, ETFs or CEFs that invest in stocks and REITs, but don't own property. I did not do any research into this but I guess I have assigned myself a report to po…
In my TIAA retirement account, by far my largest asset, I hold 10% real estate at my advisor's recommendation. This is not a typical investment in REITs because TIAA actually owns RE. Five-year average annual return is 9.03%. Also have a small posit…
Our household watches both TV channels, so we're experts! I have never rehabbed a property for re-sale, but I have put a lot of sweat equity into my dwellings. My reaction to your query is that real estate investing for an individual is a lot of wor…
Thanks for that link, @djchappy. Some interesting info about rate hikes in the 1970's and effect on the market. For a raft of reasons (Nixon, Watergate, horrible market, and leisure suits) I sure hope we never have a decade like that one.
@Nick: While I don't know the figures, many states are moving public employees away from defined benefit plans (the traditional pension) towards 403(b)-type plans for which employees need to make greater contributions and for which they must take a …
The NY Times article cited is really depressing reading for current or former teachers. I may have made this point in another thread, but my view, as a retired faculty member and union officer and the spouse of a retired public school teacher, is th…
Healthcare has been a big winner for investors over almost any long-term period. I happen to access it through HQL, the small-cap growth fund BCSIX, and a smattering of individual stocks (like CELG). HQH is Tekla's broad-based health fund and a good…
Thanks for these thoughts, David. I would like to underscore what I originally heard to be a call for civility and it was a timely call. Other than to praise or thank an individual poster, I think it wise to not direct any comment on the board towar…
BCSIX, closed, is the M* choice for small-cap growth. It's a health science and tech fund and concentrated. One fund that has out performed it over the past few years is GSXAX, more a SC blend and one that is light on health and tech relative to the…
I want to have the WSJ to kick around; without them, how would I know who the enemy is? Maybe I'll dig around in the archives for some oldies-but-goodies such as, "Who Is Vince Foster?"
Never understood this yearly feature in Barron's. A fund family ranking has never influenced me nor, I dare say, has it had much effect on buys/sells of the active investors on MFO. I realize that people have accounts at Vanguard, Price, American Ce…
The NYTimes has made its paywall a success. Both it and the New Yorker allow reading ten free articles before charging to soften the pain. I dropped Barron's recently and I only maintain my WSJ subscription because it has become amazingly cheap, $49…
@openice: No lawyer could have written a non-compete clause in Zhang's separation agreement from BC that could have prevented her from using what she learned at her former employer's shop. The over-lap between the two funds could be seen as a win-wi…
To their credit, FMI managers actually analyse and provide excellent rationales for their portfolio decisions. Compared to the light-weight fluff some funds offer in the their reports, FMI is a model of probity. I do not hold funds that offer no mor…
I agree with @PRESSmUP. Have owned FMIJX long enough to have become weary of the gloomy tone of the mangers' reports. Still, I've added to my holdings with proceeds from another international fund. Maybe gloom sells…
Wow! If I picked a fund on the basis of ads bought by some companies in the fund, I'd take a pass because such companies probably don't know the value of a buck.
The three fund companies, located as they are in an area dominated by one culture, may appear to pass MF managers back and forth like (well..you get it).
