Thanks, Kenster.
Love the data breakdowns he does; it makes it so easy at a glance to see what's going on with the portfolio.
That said, it was very disappointing to me to see AF put significant $ into materials stock. The core, well-considered value approach a la Matthews extended to the wider EM/global world is what I was investing in, and he (hopefully only briefly) abandoned said approach in that case.
As he says, it's very hard to figure good valuations for cyclical, high-cost extractive industries with so much dependence on commodity prices. Avoiding that type of investment for the most part is one of the main reasons his former company Matthews has generally avoided big drawdowns and has outperformed so consistently, with a big advantage in down markets. Plus, with commodities in a longer term downtrend, no hint of momentum change, and global growth not so great, it just was not a good macro time to be plunking down a chunk of change in that sector.
I applaud Andrew's openness about this, and I hope he sticks with the discipline and doesn't let it go again the next time he sees a bright penny on the sidewalk. In recent months I've rebalanced this house's EM-ish allocation a bit, somewhat away from SFGIX and toward WAFMX and MACSX.

John and I had a nice chat over the noon hour yesterday. His general theme was "now we can get back to normal finance topics, rather than 24/7 debt crises." Mine was, "yep, but it's not going to get any easier." John does read MFO (you might be surprised by the wide variety of folks - from the WSJ, Baltimore Sun, NY Times and a slug of fund firms - who scan both the board and the fixed content) and suggested that he'd rather talk first, instead of just "borrowing" ideas.
My suggestion was to look for managers who'd help investors make it through turbulent, rapidly shifting markets. I clustered those into two groups:

• risk conscious managers with experience and flexibility in their investment mandates - Seafarer (SFGIX), F P A Paramount (FPRAX), RiverPark Strategic Income (RSIVX).
  
• risk conscious managers who have a sensible, steady investment discipline that they might actually be able to get investors to understand and buy into - Beck Mack & Oliver Partners (BMPEX), Oakseed Opportunity SEEDX), Frank Value (FRNKX), Bretton (BRTNX), Cook & Bynum (COBYX).

Afterwards, we talked about international travel and John's observation that being perceived as disrespectful was a much bigger problem than not speaking the local language. Romans, he noted, mostly spoke enough English to help you get by and enjoy the city -- unless you were wearing shorts and ball caps and galumphing around.
For what interest it holds,
David

Reply to @MaxBialystock: Hi Max. You have used that phrase before, SFGIX has not 'taken off'. Not sure what your expectations are for this fund. If, and I believe it is, modeled after the Mathews fund MACSX, it probably will never be a high flier leading the EM category in up markets. It will likely be a steady-eddie fund that proves it's worth more in down markets and will shine over the long haul. Over the last year it is rated in the top 20% in it's category. That's pretty good.
The comparison to MAPIX to me is apples and oranges. If you want the manager to decide where value exists over the entire globe, SFGIX is better suited. If you want an Asia only large cap dividend producing stock fund, use MAPIX. SFGIX has a whole lot more flexibility.

Yes, I own both MAPIX and SFGIX. If I had a cash cache (wink) I would be adding to SFGIX in small increments, because it really has not "taken off," yet. It's due. Maybe overdue. I have MUCH more in MAPIX... In SFGIX, I invested only $3,000.00 and have made just 11.84% since sometime last year, when I bought-into it. That's not awful, by any means. But I'm looking for more, and waiting for it to happen.

I got in early with SFGIX (my account number is under 20 - never been that low before) and I've made $20 - up less than 1% on $2500. (Not a lot of $$ in, but I also put my son's 401K in , and I have some non-403b money in a private account.) Bought one of his stocks -SQM, which did poorly, doubled down and still neg, but there's some hope. Fairly early in GPROX (using money from GPGOX - up 46% so far); up 5% in less time. I'd either split the money, were I you, leaving half behind in MAPIX (which I also have a bit of) or split between SFGIX and GPROX (more flexible) or GPGOX (a winner so far). If I did this, I'd give Mr. Foster the smaller amount. Or you could just go with the Grandeur Peak firm; they have a better early record. Active management should matter in the ex-US and small or all-cap segment, but Mr. Foster has some ground to make up.

MAPIX or SFGIX? Currently own MAPIX, but somewhat concerned with Mr. Madsen's departure even though they have a deep bench. I like SFGIX broader investing universe though...and it's small size. It's going in a Roth.

Seafarer still has not risen to a level some might have expected and been waiting to see. It is worldwide, not limited to EM, though. SFGIX.
ALSO: EM debt. It will rise out of its doldrums so long as worldwide equities are not in a swoon. MAINX. I recently added to that one. It amounted to a 33% increase in the dollar-amount I had invested there, originally. Still not a big player in my portfolio.

Must be for the I shares - the S share class, MNEMX, has been around for a while. It's been pretty decent, but lags SFGIX and THDIX, for a couple of examples.

Yes, EM. I'm looking at the Jakarta exchange, in the middle of their trading day over there at the moment (Thursday.) They're up by 4.5% just on the day. Unheard of. Indonesia has been hammered lately, among the worst performers. What a turnaround! .... TRAMX is at a new 52-week high, too. And I see SFGIX leaped 1.68% today.
"God bless us, every one." ---Tiny Tim.

For the single day on Friday, M* tells me that my particular mix was flat, standing exactly EVEN, compared to yesterday, Thursday.
1-week:
DLFNX...flat
MAPOX...1.65
MSCFX.............2.39
MAPIX...2.92
MAINX........... .49
MACSX....1.72
SFGIX...............3.72
TRAMX.....................4.42 (share price tied 52-week high on Friday.)
PREMX...... 1.49
Break a leg, everyone.

Yes, a good number of us are already in Seafarer SFGIX. It had been underperforming. Quite underwhelming, until just very recently. But Foster has a great reputation, and I'm still counting on his acumen to show itself with a rising share price, before too long, I hope!

I agree we may be due for a correction. Not sure what is best to do but I have made a few moves and have plans for others. A 60/40 stock to bond ratio is my target. International is 50% of my stock portion.
I have held on to PTTRX for now and like the new Gaffney fund EVBAX for future purchase in the bond space.
I am scaling back on certain funds and adding others. Took profit in CHTTX and sold all VIGRX. These are the more aggressive funds in 401. Added to RMFFX and ODMAX in 401.
In Roth adding TGMEX a mix of EM stocks/bonds. May add FSPHX with new ROTH contributions.
Keeping FPACX, MFLDX, IVWIX, DIBRX, PCVAX, MAPTX, WAEMX, SFGIX and BUFOX at current levels.
I am taking a big bet on emerging markets at 15% of portfolio for the near future.

I Purchased The Institutional Shares In August Of 2012 After Learning About The Fund On This Web Site, I Believe It Was Scott Who First Mentioned This Fund, I Researched And Liked What I Learned And I Simply Placed My Order, When I Buy Funds Thru Fidelity I Always Test Them to See If I Can Buy The Institutional Shares, Most Of The Time They Dont Accept The Order, But Sometimes They Do. My Other Institutional Shares Are JNBSX - MFLDX - MTOIX. Last Week I Bought Shares Of SFGIX ( i tried the institutional shares first, but got rejected) It Does Not Cost Anything To Try To buy The Institutional, so i always try)

I Purchased Shares In SFGIX Last Week. I Had Been Watching It For a While, And I Needed To Fill a Spot For a Emerging Market Fund To Replace FTEMX Which I Sold 5 Or 6 Weeks Ago.

Reply to @Charles: I Bought Some SFGIX Yesterday, I Was Afraid If I Waited Any Longer It Would Keep Going Up. So I Am Glad To See Your Latest Post About It. I Used To Own FTEMX For My Emerging Market Exposure (but i lost confidence in it)

SQM up big again today (4%). Looks like it may have finally stopped falling. Here's Schwab performance chart showing comparison with 3 and 10 month averages:

Here's same look at VALE:

Let's hope worst over for these two new holdings. And, Seafarer will benefit going forward.
Here's look at SFGIX:

SFGIX is up 1.9% past five days.
Down 3.2% past month. Down 8.6% since May Day. Down 4% YTD.
Up 6.8% past year. Up 10% since inception 2/15/2012.
Fingers-crossed, the improvement continues and Fed and Syria do not send things south again.
Here's reminder of top holdings from Seafarer July conference call:

I'm currently heavy Seafarer.

Increased the holdings MSMLX and SFGIX.
Brought down MAPIX to a foothold as it is a closed now. Nothing against the fund. Just trying to realign EM allocation.
Eliminated AEMGX, my best performing fund ever as I invested in March 2009. Eliminated it as I have too many funds in EM space, though I still like it for EM Diversified space. Would like to invest in Grandeur's EM fund whenever it comes, as it would nicely cover EM smallcap space.
Bought ARTKX in Roth IRA account. I could buy it at TDA as I already hold it in my taxable a/c.
My 401k rollover triggered the review of my entire portfolio and resulted in this hectic activity. I still hold about 15% of cash.

Reply to @ducrow: Of course, the day after I sold JAOSX to buy SFGIX, JAOSX had a great day. But obviously one-day performance doesn't mean much after a couple of months. It is impressive how well SFGIX has outperformed its peer group since inception.

Reply to @expatsp: I Also Purchased Shares Of SFGIX Today. I Was Going To Hold Off Buying, But After Mulling Davids Commentary Over For a Few Days, I Pulled The Trigger Today.

Not sure exactly why, but SFGIX added 1.3% today and MAPIX added 1.86%. WAFMX up only 0.35%, confirming (or at least suggesting) that there is at least some degree of diversification between EM/Asian/Frontier categories.