@thundley459 and @slick,
thanks for sharing your thoughts on GQGPX and also PRIJX. Morningstar doesn't cover either. Can I ask what draws you to PRIJX? I see that its a top performer over the last 3 years. For GQGPX, I'm assuming Rajiv Jain's track record is the driver. thanks so much.
@AndyJ and @davfor.. thanks for providing your funds too.

Vanguard. JP Morgan for a rollover IRA. American Funds for 529 direct.

Recently started positions in both iras for GQGPX, run by manager Rajiv Jain who left Virtus to start his own boutique firm in 2016. Owned his Virtus fund for 5 years prior to his leaving and it had an excellent record there. David highlighted his fund recently. I also own GSIHX which he subadvises, that one has a small portion in emerging markets, mainly foreign large growth.
I initially bought GQGPX at td Ameritrade last year until it was available Fidelity late 2018. Am adding to it each month.

Might I ask. - What is the “series”? They already have FSKAX. - https://fundresearch.fidelity.com/mutual-funds/summary/315911693

@MikeW: I sold SIVLX in December to take a tax loss and immediately replaced it with PZVEX. Its a low turnover holding as was SIVLX.
Here is a link to the latest Fact Sheet for PZVEX:
https://snl.com/Cache/1001247182.PDF?O=PDF&T=&Y=&D=&FID=1001247182&iid=4162576

@MikeW: As you requested here are my thoughts along with a barometer report. As of market close today Old_Skeet's market barometer which follows the S&P 500 Index indicates that the Index ... based upon its metrics ... is in the overvalued range on the barometer's scale with a reading of 140. With this, Old_Skeet would not be a buyer of the Index at this time. Coming off the December lows the Index has gained more than half of what it lost from its recent high. I'm thinking the next half will take a good bit longer to regain what was lost.
The time to have been a buyer of the Index based upon the metrics of the barometer was during the last week of December and first week of January. Back then the barometer had reading of 182 and 183 respectively indicating that the Index was extremely oversold and due for a rebound (or throw back rally).
Remember, a higher barometer reading indicates there is more investment value in the Index over a lower reading. In addition, there has been a recent increase in short interest for SPY over the past week or so. So, as the Index has recovered and risen in its valuation some investors are now increasing their short positions in the Index over the past couple of weeks. Short interest as measured in the number of days to cover has risen from 1.1 days to cover to 1.8 days.
I'm thinking ... and, this is just a scientific wild ass guess (SWAG) ... we will see the markets pullback some once we get through 4Q2018 earnings and revenue reporting. After all, forward earnings growth projections for the Index have, of late, been on the decline. Also, remember there is a lot of "hot" money that frequently gets reposition in the markets form time-to-time through computerized trading systems. Since stocks have recently had some good upward momentum during January here comes (or came) the fast money. And, how long will it be before the FOMC again begins to bump interest rates? They are still low by historical standards and I'm thinking although they say they are on hold for now their actions might be quite different in a few months, or so. Perhaps, they have raised to far and to quickly and this is the true reason for their pause.
For me, I'm watching the yield on the US10Yr Treasury as a clue of what might be ready to happen with stocks. Today, it closed with a yield of 2.64% which is way down from its October high yield of around 3.23%. Seems, the US10yr is still in good demand. Since, bond values and their yield generally move in opposite direction of one another ... Well ... I'm thinking ... the time to again become a buyer of stocks will be when investors begin to flee bonds and their yield begins to rise. Right now cover seems to still be sought by some investors with their demand for bonds.
So, emerging markets just might be the near term ticket since both domestic stocks and bonds seem to be overbought, from my perspective, and explains why they are catching investor interest. After all, both of my emerging market funds are up nicely thus far this year and their P/E Ratios are quite low compaired to other choices. Plus, they are both off their 52 week highs by better than 10%. Remember, though, the hot money crowd also chases after opportunity.
I hope my thoughts @MikeW have been helpful.
Old_Skeet

Hi @MikeW: I have two emerging market funds with the American Funds Group. One is their New World Fund (NEWFX) which I have owned for better than ten years. The other fund of theirs that I own is their Developing World Growth & Income Fund (DWGAX). I recently purchased my first buy step (of four) in this fund and I plan to continue to add to it through a postion cost average approach until I have the position fully built.
I have other funds that I own that have some exposure to emerging markets; but, these are the two funds that I own that are considered to be emerging market specific.
Also, I found an interesting article written about emerging market funds that might be of some interest. It is linked below for easy reference..
https://www.morningstar.com/articles/740785/5-top-emergingmarkets-funds-that-look-beyond-emerg.html

Thanks very much for sharing your holdings Skeet. New World fund is one I'm evaluating now also. Can I ask how you plan the timing of your buy steps into your funds? Is this something that you plan to do once on the same day each month until you get thru the 4th buy step? Or do you plan based on your market barometer and when its giving you a undervalued rating?
thanks for sharing the article too.

Hi @MikeW: I have two emerging market funds with the American Funds Group. One is their New World Fund (NEWFX) which I have owned for better than ten years. The other fund of theirs that I own is their Developing World Growth & Income Fund (DWGAX). I recently purchased my first buy step (of four) in this fund and I plan to continue to add to it through a postion cost average approach until I have the position fully built.
I have other funds that I own that have some exposure to emerging markets; but, these are the two funds that I own that are considered to be emerging market specific.
Also, I found an interesting article written about emerging market funds that might be of some interest. It is linked below for easy reference..
https://www.morningstar.com/articles/740785/5-top-emergingmarkets-funds-that-look-beyond-emerg.html

Here's the full paper: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3075023
My take from the ETFStream summary is that, to answer @hank 's question, volatility is reduced by rebalancing. This comes from the statement that the Sharpe ratios for rebalanced portfolios was superior (i.e. smaller denominators [standard deviations], assuming the returns were similar).
The paper (again, inferring from the summary) is that this applied only to a portfolio with no flows in or out (or at least no flows out). I'm curious about the impact of rebalancing on one's spend down phase. To put it another way, does rebalancing increase or mitigate sequence of return risk?

“While the buy-and-hold strategy has a greater standard deviation of ending wealth than the rebalancing strategy, ... “
I’d suggest “end wealth” would be clearer in above statement. :)
Anyone catch whether the rebalancing strategy provides a more stable (less volatile) ride? That’s been the assumption I’ve operated under in the “post-50” years. But it may well be a faulty assumption.
Total return has always been secondary to me compared to the “sleep well” component which in turn promotes a “stay-invested” attitude, compared with a more volatile ride from which many decide to jump at the worst possible times.

FYI: The ETF industry is defined by only two consensuses. One: to index is better. Two: to rebalance is better.
And to that end, portfolio rebalancing is recommended by virtually every ETF provider, advisor and planner. According to Vanguard, rebalancing can provide 35 basis points of alpha a year. BlackRock rebalances its model portfolios every quarter. While most planners and advisors actively militate for rebalancing.
But does rebalancing add value for investors? Perhaps not, an important new research paper has found.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.etfstream.com/news/6074_new-research-casts-doubt-on-benefits-of-rebalancing

FYI: Remember that the best hitter in baseball this year will fail 65 percent of the time.
— George Will
Mookie Betts hit .346 in 2018, failing 65.4% of the time. Mr. Betts reached base more often than his batting average indicates due to walks. His on base percentage (OBP), was .438, decreasing his failure rate to about 56%. Stocks, in the long run, have a similar failure rate.
Recent research from Hendrik Bessembinder of Arizona State¹ shows that from 1926 to 2016 just 42.6% of stocks provided lifetime returns that beat one month treasury bills. Fifty seven percent of stocks destroyed value over that ninety year span. If such a low percentage of stocks outstripped the return of a t-bill, how is it that stocks provided an 8.5% return over t-bills from 1926 to 2015? Back to baseball.
Regards,
Ted
https://globalinvestmentstrategy.wordpress.com/2019/01/28/baseball-and-stocks-games-of-failure/

Three month Treasury auction is projected to yield 2.37%. I'm not convinced it's worth going out another 15 months to pick up 1/8 of a percent. (Certainly not in a taxable account if you're in a state with even a 5% income tax.)
Really flattening yield curve now.

Hi @MikeM: I am much like you in using cash alts such as money market mutual funds plus I have built a nice CD ladder within my investment cash sleeve. I have a 1.55% cd maturing in a couple weeks; and, I plan to roll most of it into another 18 month cd with a yield of around 2.5% to 2.6%. However, I most likely will cut some out of it and put this money into an income generating mutal fund held within one of my income sleeves. Funds I'm considering are PONAX with a yield of 5.23% or PMAIX with a yield of 5.82%. I'm thinking of shifting some more money that was targeted to the cash area of my portfolio into the income area. For me, all bond funds are part of my income area.

You're looking at performance for Jan 29th, and on that day, VFINX dropped 0.14%.
Edit: The D&C own website says:

Daily Prices
as of  January 29, 2019 	  	Price 	  	Change from Previous Day 	  	
Stock Fund 	  	               $185.02 	  	+$.12 	  	
Global Stock Fund 	  	       $11.81 	  	+$.02 	  	
International Stock Fund 	  	$39.56 	  	+$.16 	  	
Balanced Fund 	  	                $97.86 	  	+$.08 	  	
Income Fund 	  	                $13.41 	  	+$.03 	  	
Global Bond Fund 	  	        $10.45 	  	+$.01 	  	

Read the full analyses. The current one (almost a year old) has the summary line: "This remains one of the more independent-minded, idiosyncratic funds around, but this hasn't led to outperformance in recent decades."
Let that sink in. Hasn't outperformed in recent decades. Now look back at the analyst report not decades ago, but merely three years before current one was written. That one gave the fund a Silver rating.
What changed? The fund had a really bad past three years. But it was with the same people, who had been there, as M* noted, for decades. So why downgrade the people? M* says it's because they had a couple of high conviction misses. That goes to performance, or is M* saying that people it loved suddenly became more stupid?
M* also downgraded the performance pillar. That would be perfectly reasonable if this were a rating of past performance. But it's a judgment of how M* expects the performance to be in the future. So is M* admitting that after praising the people and the fund for years (it started giving out analyst ratings in 2011 with Gold for this fund), it completely missed the boat and is now just projecting more of the same?

https://money.usnews.com/investing/investing-101/articles/best-cash-equivalents-amid-rate-hikes
Consider these liquid assets for your portfolio.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/806636/000119312519022093/d678081d497.htm
497 1 d678081d497.htm 497
LONGLEAF PARTNERS FUNDS TRUST
SUPPLEMENT DATED JANUARY 30, 2019
TO PROSPECTUS DATED MAY 1, 2018
References to Longleaf Partners Fund in the Table of Contents and on page 23 of the Prospectus should now indicate the Fund is open to new investors.
LONGLEAF PARTNERS FUNDS TRUST
SUPPLEMENT DATED JANUARY 9, 2019
TO PROSPECTUS DATED MAY 1, 2018
Effective January 1, 2019, Ross Glotzbach became CEO of Southeastern Asset Management, Inc. (“Southeastern”) and a Portfolio Manager of Longleaf Partners Global Fund. The Prospectus and Statement of Additional Information should be updated accordingly. Mason Hawkins remains Chairman of Southeastern and a Portfolio Manager of all Longleaf Partners Funds.
On page 30, under Purchases and Redemption through Brokerage Firms and Other Authorized Intermediaries:
A broker may charge a commission to its customers on transactions in Fund shares, provided the broker acts solely on an agency basis for its customer and does not receive any distribution related payment in connection with the transaction.
LONGLEAF PARTNERS FUNDS TRUST
SUPPLEMENT DATED OCTOBER 1, 2018
TO PROSPECTUS DATED MAY 1, 2018
Under the Additional Investments section on page 26:
Online Transactions: Once you have opened an account, the Fund’s website, longleafpartners.com, can be used to make subsequent purchases. Choose “Account Log In” and follow the instructions. Payment for shares purchased online may be made only through an ACH debit of your bank account of record. Only bank accounts held at US financial institutions that are ACH members can be used for online transactions. Online transactions are subject to the same minimums, maximums, and investment restrictions as other transaction methods.
When you buy or sell shares over the Internet, you agree that the Longleaf Partners Funds are not liable for following instructions believed to be genuine. The Funds use certain procedures to confirm that your instructions are genuine.
Under How to Redeem Shares on page 27:
Online Transactions: Once you have opened an account, the Fund’s website, longleafpartners.com, can be used to make redemptions and exchanges. Choose “Account Log In” and follow the instructions. Redemptions will be paid only by check, wire, or ACH transfer and only to the address or bank account of record. Only bank accounts held at US financial institutions that are ACH members can be used for online transactions. Online transactions are subject to the same minimums, maximums, and investment restrictions as other transaction methods. Daily online redemptions are limited to $100,000 per Fund.
When you buy or sell shares over the Internet, you agree that the Longleaf Partners Funds are not liable for following instructions believed to be genuine. The Funds use certain procedures to confirm that your instructions are genuine.
LONGLEAF PARTNERS FUNDS®
ADVISED BY SOUTHEASTERN ASSET MANAGEMENT, INC.
6410 Poplar Avenue, Suite 900
Memphis, TN 38119

HSGFX had an uncharacteristically good 2018. For 1 year it’s ahead 7.5%. However, it’s lost in excess of 5% yearly over the past decade. For holders of this fund I’d suggest forgetting about drinking scotch and instead buying a bottle of Old Crow for around $8.99.
I agree these types of funds are prone to poor returns if for no other reason than their typically high fees. But it should be noted that almost by definition an “alternative” investment is expected to perform contrary to equity and bond markets (ie: go up when they go down). Since bonds and equities had a stellar decade, underperformance of alternatives was expected.

Hard to know what to say here. I don't find these arguments especially compelling.
I mean, yes, we know AI is here and it's going to take over the world. I don't see AI customization creating 150mm separate portfolios for 150mm separate retail investors, but maybe I'm missing the author's point.
Financial advisors are already using "really, really, really smart" software to make allocations for clients.
Now, whether or not all fund companies go AI, is another matter...is TROW or Fidelity, for example, going to largely do away with its human analysts in 10 years or so?