FYI: The Columbia Contrarian Core fund may not always look contrarian, but that's because of manager Guy Pope's strict buy-and-sell discipline.
Regards,
Ted
http://online.barrons.com/news/articles/SB50001424053111903684104580024382471486608#printMode
M* Snapshot Of LCCAX: http://quotes.morningstar.com/fund/lccax/f?t=lccax
Lipper Snapshot Of LCCAX: http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/fund/lccax
Fund Is Ranked # 83 In The (LCB) Category By U.S. News & World Report:
http://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual-funds/large-blend/columbia-contrarian-core-fund/lccax

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
http://online.wsj.com/articles/u-s-stock-futures-edge-higher-1405081647#printMode
Markets At A Glance: http://markets.wsj.com/us

FYI: The answer, so far, is yes; cultural constants preserve the firm's uncompromising ethos.
Regards,
Ted
http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=655356

Hi Bee. You know as well as anyone that, as goes gold and treasuries goes PRPFX. It's positive history over the past 10-15 years is due to positive trends in those categories. I believe those days are gone, so I sold this fund about 2 years ago. Could be a good short term hold to park money, but there are better conservative vehicles for longer term investors, IMHO.

Added to DSEEX ( thanks for the initial heads up davidrmoran ) and to SFGIX ( thanks for the initial heads up to David Snowball. Researching small cap Permian producers.

Glad you mentioned the ticker, MS; I'd forgotten that Dbl I shares can be had with a low minimum ($5k) in IRAs.

FWIW, here is a relatively recent and long article on Onex.
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-26/gerry-schwartzs-private-equity-firm-onex-thrives-in-the-shadows

Added to Oaktree (OAK). Considering the following Canadian companies:
Onex (Private Equity)
Dundee (Holding Co.)
Dream Unlimited (REOC) and
Boardwalk REIT
Also, pondering MONIF.
Would appreciated comments from others on any of these names.
GLTA

I like Oaktree and have been adding a bit in the upper $40's. It is a long-term holding.
I'm not familiar with Onex, but Dundee, Dream and Boardwalk (I own CapREIT instead of Boardwalk, but Boardwalk is a good company) are all solid choices.
I've owned Monitise a few times. Once I did well, once I didn't and the last time was very brief about a month or so ago and was out flat. I think the company has potential still, but the change in business model recently really has caused expectations to be re-set lower - the stock's down about half since the high earlier this year and was down 20+% a day or two ago after earnings were disappointing. It's definitely a volatile stock.
The new co-CEO situation looked promising, but the stock gained no traction on the news. You have Visa (Visa Europe and Visa owning around a combined 11-12%), Mastercard (small investment) as investors and Omega (Leon Cooperman's hedge fund) owning over 10%. Capital Research (the American Funds) now appearing as large shareholder with almost 3%. Doug Kass is also highly bullish on Monitise.
That said, stock is down nearly 10% again this morning. I still think the story eventually ends well for Monitise, but the journey now appears longer (a lot longer, perhaps?) than expected. I'm not looking to get back into it (getting in at this point at probably around 75 cents or wherever it opens this morning may be work out great, who knows, but I'm just not looking for another go-around with it) and instead just focusing on things that are less speculative/ long-term holdings - FIS (and I'd consider FISV too, if it paid a dividend), V, MA and AXP.
Cooperman is apparently going to be on CNBC's "Delivering Alpha" next week and I'd guess he will try to talk up the company. While CNBC's ratings are in decline, if he does talk up Monitise, that will likely be good for a move higher but it becomes whether or not that move is sustainable.

JimH, will be all in cash sooner than later if this keeps up. I haven't liked stocks all year and then just recently start dabbling in two equity funds???? If that is not the sign of a top (when bears throw in the towel) I don't know what is. Luckily I had NHMRX this year albeit after today may be completely out of that one. Today the junk ETFs are getting hit a bit. They have been very resilient during past selloffs and Katy Bar The Door for everything if junk bonds finally turn. I watch my drawdown more than anything and still a tad under 1% in my entire account and won't let it get above 1.25% (if that) before 100% back in cash. Good luck.

I'm finding myself thinking more about capital preservation these days.
I have also noticed Precious Metals (more so) and LT Treasuries (to a lesser degree) seems to be acting as uncorrelated assets to equities more often than not. At times like these, I use a fund like PRPFX and compare it's relative performance against my other funds and look for signs of weakness (where my equity fund crosses over or underperforms relative to a fund like PRPFX).
In the past I have often scaled back on my equity position putting a larger weighting in a fund like PRPFX (or a multisector bond fund like PONDX) as a way to protect assets. PRPFX is up 6% YTD and 11% over the last 1 year time frame. Over a 3 year time frame is has provided capital preservation at best while many sectors of the markets roared ahead of this fund by as much as 60%.
If we are headed for a revision, a fund like PRPFX is not a bad place to be. If we are merely consolidating, a PRPFX like fund is still not a bad place to be.
Here's a chart showing PRPFX vs. VFINX (S&P 500 index) over the last month...VFINX is still out performing PONDX (my multisector bond fund), but having trouble outperforming PRPFX. Obliviously this is a short timeframe, but the relative out performance of PRPFX is, to me, worth noting. In this case PRPFX's PM and LT treasuries are serving an important role at this particular moment.
Are you using any funds for these stated purposes...either capital preservation or as a fund that protects on the downside?

Both approaches sound good to me. Suspect one needs to take more of a long term view with funds. As several have pointed out above, valuations can stay above average for quite a while and folks can get frustrated (eg., ARIVX, COBYX). Longer term, I believe value wins out. Here's chart from GVAL book:

Added to Oaktree (OAK). Considering the following Canadian companies:
Onex (Private Equity)
Dundee (Holding Co.)
Dream Unlimited (REOC) and
Boardwalk REIT
Also, pondering MONIF.
Would appreciated comments from others on any of these names.
GLTA

I like Oaktree and have been adding a bit in the upper $40's. It is a long-term holding.
I'm not familiar with Onex, but Dundee, Dream and Boardwalk (I own CapREIT instead of Boardwalk, but Boardwalk is a good company) are all solid choices.
I've owned Monitise a few times. Once I did well, once I didn't and the last time was very brief about a month or so ago and was out flat. I think the company has potential still, but the change in business model recently really has caused expectations to be re-set lower - the stock's down about half since the high earlier this year and was down 20+% a day or two ago after earnings were disappointing. It's definitely a volatile stock.
The new co-CEO situation looked promising, but the stock gained no traction on the news. You have Visa (Visa Europe and Visa owning around a combined 11-12%), Mastercard (small investment) as investors and Omega (Leon Cooperman's hedge fund) owning over 10%. Capital Research (the American Funds) now appearing as large shareholder with almost 3%. Doug Kass is also highly bullish on Monitise.
That said, stock is down nearly 10% again this morning. I still think the story eventually ends well for Monitise, but the journey now appears longer (a lot longer, perhaps?) than expected. I'm not looking to get back into it (getting in at this point at probably around 75 cents or wherever it opens this morning may be work out great, who knows, but I'm just not looking for another go-around with it) and instead just focusing on things that are less speculative/ long-term holdings - FIS (and I'd consider FISV too, if it paid a dividend), V, MA and AXP.
Cooperman is apparently going to be on CNBC's "Delivering Alpha" next week and I'd guess he will try to talk up the company. While CNBC's ratings are in decline, if he does talk up Monitise, that will likely be good for a move higher but it becomes whether or not that move is sustainable.

Well, yeah, maybe, but who says that you have to put all of your bond allocation in that one fund? You can spread out your sector allocations any way that you want to (as Skeet, with some 52 funds, would be the first to tell you). I'm less than impressed.

Agreed Old_Joe. Even John Bogle, who I believe 'invented' the first bond index fund, agrees with the author that this index is too heavily weighted toward US government bonds. So Bogle's solution is very simple: he says couple the total bond index fund with a corporate bond index fund, and you have the problem solved. Bogle also entertains the idea of 'fixing the total bond market index', but feels the resistance to that would be too great, as the Barclay's Index is very much ingrained in the financial world. So he says take one third to two thirds of the money you would have in the total bond index and put it in a corporate bond index. Now you own two bond index funds, with a more correct aggregate weighting of government vs. corporate bonds.

@Charles: thanks for your take on this with individual stocks.
For someone not purchasing individual stocks, but taking an approach with stock index funds or exchange traded funds, how would you let the Shiller CAPE ratio influence your investing decisions?
One approach some take is to let the Shiller P/E influence their asset allocation, backing off on equities when the Shiller P/E is elevated. Based on this (Shiller P/E way above long term historic levels of 16.5), some only have 50% or so of their normal allocation to equities right now. Another possible approach is choosing funds that have lower P/E ratios, such as GVAL, the DoubleLine DSENX, the exchange traded note CAPE, investing in the 4 U.S. stock sectors with the lowest Shiller P/Es, and choosing a traditional value fund (based on low P/E and low price/book ratios)

Hi Jungster,
Thanks for joining the commentary.
I’m not sure if this will disappoint you, but I’m not a “walking encyclopedia of stock market platitudes”. But I do try to integrate appropriate ones into my MFO postings.
Since I usually document my market prospective with a heavy dose of statistics and academic references, I feel that these posts tend to the dry end of the writing spectrum. I feel that the addition of market wit and wisdom helps to make these posts more entertaining and more enjoyable as well as educational. That’s just my opinion of my own writing style.
I surely am not an encyclopedia of investment sayings. I get many of them from a Mark Skousen book titled “The Maxims of Wall Street”. I extracted the Ellis quote from Chapter 5 of the Roger Gibson book titled “Asset Allocation: Balancing Financial Risk”. I thought Ellis’ comment was pithy.
Take care.

Historically, there is a bond returns pecking order: short term government bonds generate about 0.5% annually above inflation, short term corporate bonds deliver 0.8%, long term treasuries produce about 3.0%, and long term corporate bonds reward 3.5%, all reported annually and all incrementally above inflation rates.

@MJG, thanks for the link to the Vanguard study, just saw this post.
Interesting info about bonds, and the expected return of each category above inflation.
Very much appreciate if you happen to have a reference for that bond info. I've been looking for that type of info, but haven't found it
thanks

>>>The most powerful weapons in an investor’s arsenal are time and patience. <<<
You are a walking encyclopedia of stock market platitudes. Not a criticism, just an observation. Let's see, when I was approaching my 38th birthday in the spring of 1985 I was unemployed and had around $2200-$2300 in my account. I actually had a negative net worth if you take into consideration credit card debt, etc. Taking your beloved index approach with my account coupled with "time and patience" would put me about where almost 30 years later? Not in a very secure financial situation that's for sure.
Edit: Stock market platitudes aren't all that bad. For instance, I think the best wealth creation tool out there is the tax free compounding of your capital over time (but please no patience as that leads to subpar returns) You talk to some of the traders on the trading forums and tax free accounts ala IRAs etc are foreign concepts to them.

Hi Guys,
Again, my abridged response to the bond questions follow.
My bond commentary was simply grounded in historical data considerations, no special insights. Historically, there is a bond returns pecking order: short term government bonds generate about 0,5% annually above inflation, short term corporate bonds deliver 0.8%, long term treasuries produce about 3.0%, and long term corporate bonds reward 3.5%, all reported annually and all incrementally above inflation rates.
If inflation remains in the 3% range, as postulated in my original posting, even the subdued annual returns projected for equities outdistances likely bond returns. My original statement was based on this simplistic logic.
The big danger in all these forecasts is the possibility of investor overreaction to unknowable Black Swan world events. Such overreactions destroy forecasts and happen frequently. But the marketplace has demonstrated strong recovery resilience.
The MFO website refuses to accept my full response.
Best Wishes.

Hi Guys,
Sorry for the delay, but I've been captured in some sort of continuous loop when trying to reply on this subject. I can only post a short message.
Thanks for your enthusiastic interest in my post.
Here is the Link to the Vanguard study that I mentioned:
https://personal.vanguard.com/pdf/s338.pdf
The most powerful weapons in an investor’s arsenal are time and patience. As Charles Ellis observed in 1985, “Time is Archimedes’ lever in investing”
Best Wishes.

Guido,
To give you the quick answer - yes 100% equities would have performed better
than a portfolio that held bonds.
As an example using some Index Exchange Traded Funds -
Since its inception (Sept. 29, 2003) AGG has returned 4.38%
During this same period SPY (S&P 500 Index) has returned 8.51%
Any percentage of bonds would have reduced your total return.

"So when you buy the Vanguard index fund or a similar fund sponsored by another firm, you’re investing 70% of your money in government debt. That’s a giant allocation -- way too much, in my view."
Well, yeah, maybe, but who says that you have to put all of your bond allocation in that one fund? You can spread out your sector allocations any way that you want to (as Skeet, with some 52 funds, would be the first to tell you). Other than the one sentence stating that these indexes are heavy on government, the rest of the article is garbage. These guys get paid for this stuff and then complain about other Wall Street ripoffs. I'm less than impressed.

FYI:Managers who actively pick stocks outperform indexes and rivals.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/10-top-stock-funds-with-a-secret-to-success-2014-07-09/print?guid=8BDF175E-06D8-11E4-BD5F-00212803FAD6