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.
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Charles
Thank you sma3! We are spending this summer in northwest again. I have no quiet place I can be before noon eastern (9 am here). Library opens at 9am! I've set up a session for Friday, 2 pm eastern ... posted on board. But, if that does not work, just call me at 805 468 9599 ... if I can pick up I will. Hopefully, can pick a day where you can attended from noon on. Very happy to do! c
Holding my breath a bit on SHLD.
Side note...
Up at 0-dark-30 this morning.
Drove 5 hours from paradise (California central coast) through Cupertino, Palo Alto (Apple, Microsoft, eBay country) with all attendant traffic.
Enjoyed modern SFO airpo…
Hi again dryflower.
Hmmm.
I hear all the correction talk. And, maybe it will happen.
But I remain cautiously optimistic that things are continuing to improve, though I recognize stupid things can always set us back.
Mostly institutions drive the…
HCP having tough time lately.
Down 5-6 percent this week.
But I bought it back in March when it was under $36.
Closed Friday @$40.55. Still couple % above 200d average.
@ VintageFreak.
Nice.
Those who can figure out which while it's happening will make good active investors, especially those that can do it consistently...or at least more often than not.
Mr. Rolfe of RiverPark Wedgewood made great active call wit…
@Junkster.
At least for me, success in trading/investing is how you handle your losers and drawdowns. Your winners require no handling as you simply let them run.
Good stuff!
I chose a B-share (back-loaded) fund to demonstrate a point that mediocre funds are not bought … they are sold! American Funds became the third-largest mutual fund company in the world because stock brokers don’t make commissions from selling no-loa…
@mns and Old_Skeet. My issue with multiple share classes is that investors are paying different fees depending on their association of some kind. I believe AF is among the worst in industry here with an average of something like 12 share classes per…
Good points OJ. I'll try to focus on just calling more attention to the bad practices of loads, high ER, etc. But if I cross the line, please throw the flag.
I do think companies can change. It depends of course on the leadership at the time.
Now,…
Thanks Scott.
You have been our scout of on-line and electronic payment technology for quite some time.
Hate to have compete with Apple on just about any level.
How does PayPal fare in all this? I rarely use Google Wallet or Yahoo Wallet. But I d…
@Desota. I double checked this morning and through June 2014, AF does indeed have 57 funds at least 1 year old. Oldest share class. All impose load, min 2.5%. The 5.75% load is on 32 of the 57 funds. All impose 12b-1, average 0.22%. Average ER after…
Sorry folks.
I offer a counterpoint.
To American Funds and Morningstar fans.
It's no longer 1970.
Today, AF offers some 57 funds. ALL impose front load, 6% nominally.
Would you really recommend to your friends and family funds that take 6% of e…
@Kaspa
We are all attempting to tilt odds in our favor by studying the art, understanding our behavioral limitations, keeping things simple enough to manage, be humble to change when our views turn out to be wrong and have the courage to take manage…
Ouch.
Agreed that I sound like a broken record on this one, but IMHO...it's an important story to tell and keep telling.
Like the Edward Jones tragedy.
And someone needs to help counterbalance M*'s blind coverage in the case of AF.
On the ER sta…
So, through June since inception 3.5 years ago, the fund has returned 7.6% annually...way better than US aggregate bonds.
I see it as a unique conservative allocation fund.
It is better than its M* 1 star quantitative rating for investors more con…
Thanks MJG.
Underneath the emotion, I like to think that markets are driven by fundamentals.
And fundamentals are driven by people, ideas/innovation, resources/capital, legal system, etc.
So different times and different places will warrant diffe…
Absolutely horrible.
Not a single mention of American's prolific use of front load. An indefensible practice today.
Or their excessively use of share classes per fund, another unfriendly practice for shareholders.
This company hawks their loaded …
Hi MJG.
Is regression to the mean a law?
Been wondering about that lately.
And, which mean?
Category mean? Decade mean? Post WWII mean? US equity mean? Etc, etc.
Hope all is well.
c
@VintageFreak.
Actually I think lower numbers are useful.
3 would show how fund does across typical 50% declines
5 would show investor patience justified or not (all those people lamenting investor returns don't match fund returns need to get a real…
