FYI: (Click On Article Title At Top Of Google Search)
After a huge 2013, shares of small companies come back to earth, and so have mutual funds that specialize in them. How Buffalo Small Cap and Invesco Small Cap Growth have fared.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.google.com/search?newwindow=1&site=&source=hp&q=small+cap+stocks+barron's&oq=small+cap+stocks+barron's&gs_l=hp.3...1283.13667.0.14024.25.25.0.0.0.0.154.1669.23j2.25.0.ehm_nts...0...1.1.58.hp..1.24.1606.4_UOe4S1B-c

FYI: Frost Total Return Bond fund’s manager, former Navy cryptologist Jeffery Elswick, discusses strategy and choices with Barron’s.
Regards,
Ted
http://online.barrons.com/articles/cracking-the-code-of-fixed-income-investing-1415436200#printMode
M* Snapshot Of FATRX: http://quotes.morningstar.com/fund/f?t=FATRX&region=usa&culture=en-US
Lipper Snapshot Of FATRX: http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/fund/fatrx
FATRX Is Ranked #1 In The (STB) Fund Category By U. S. News & World Report:
http://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual-funds/short-term-bond/frost-total-return-bond-fund/fatrx

FAAFX up 6.6% today.

c

Don't see other winners sufficient to propel the fund to a 6.58%, unless the weighting in SHLD is a lot higher than the stated 8.48%
My guess is that the weighting in SHLD could be much higher than stated.

++++++++++++++
Berkowitz was buying Sears over the last couple of weeks and that is probably not reflected - that may have contributed.
++++++++++++++++++++++
I did a rough calculation:
14,212,673 : number of Sears shares in FAIRX
880,900 : number of Sears shares in FAAFX
15,093,573 : total Sears shares FAIRX and FAAFX combined
992,400 : new Sears shares purchased in October (added up all the purchases in Scott's post, subtracted the shares sold)
He increased his Sears position by 6.58% total shares. We don't know how they were distributed into FAIRX vs. FAAFX vs. any other location. I believe he also has a hedge fund.

Sorry they Both stink! 1.7% for Harvard and 3.3% for Yale, and you want me to tell you which University has the best endowment fund investors ? Even the other Universities got at least Double those returns. Maybe they could call Bogle, or my wife, either would double their returns...

7.1; 6.8; 5.0; 5.1; 4.9. Those are the distribution %ages Yale took from its endowment between FY2009 and FY2013. While still returning 3.3 total%.
But hey, if you or your wife could do better, Yale is hiring.

@Maurice.

Maybe it is time to sell.

What other money managers do you think will make more money for retail investors than Bruce Berkowitz, over say 3-5 year period?
I'm almost afraid to ask... =).

FAAFX up 6.6% today.

c

@Charles, I wonder if the FAAFX portfolio holdings or weightings have changed?
I sketched out the math and can't see how it went up 6.58% today.
Should have gone up 2.63% just as a result of Sears alone....and I can see an increase of to a total of roughly 3% for FAAFX, as CHK, LE, and HOFD all had nice gains.
Don't see other winners sufficient to propel the fund to a 6.58%, unless the weighting in SHLD is a lot higher than the stated 8.48%
My guess is that the weighting in SHLD could be much higher than stated.
Any ideas?

Berkowitz was buying Sears over the last couple of weeks and that is probably not reflected - that may have contributed.

FAAFX up 6.6% today.

c

@Charles, I wonder if the FAAFX portfolio holdings or weightings have changed?
I sketched out the math and can't see how it went up 6.58% today.
Should have gone up 2.63% just as a result of Sears alone....and I can see an increase of to a total of roughly 3% for FAAFX, as CHK, LE, and HOFD all had nice gains.
Don't see other winners sufficient to propel the fund to a 6.58%, unless the weighting in SHLD is a lot higher than the stated 8.48%
My guess is that the weighting in SHLD could be much higher than stated.
Any ideas?

You might have done better with pumpkin futures. :-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homer_vs._Patty_and_Selma
"Homer vs. Patty and Selma" is the 17th episode of The Simpsons' sixth season. This episode was originally broadcast on February 26, 1995. Homer attempts to earn some money through investing, and decides to invest in Halloween pumpkins."
Homer: "This year I invested in pumpkins. They've been going up the whole month of October and I got a feeling they're going to peak right around January. Then bang! That's when I'll cash in"

Hey there Hank- My condolences on "Stuck here in a airport (4-5 hr delay) so feeling kinda "crusty"."
Been there & done that. Totally crummy! Go to the bar, have a drink or two. Expensive at airports, but what the hell...

Hi OJ - Stuck here in a airport (4-5 hr delay) so feeling kinda "crusty". Post some more funny stuff for me to read will ya please?
As you allude, there's a universe of investing cliches - many seemingly opposed. I think that's why it's important to develop a approach that's comfortable for the individual. And yes - I distinctly recall your adding some on the 9.9% downdraft.

Hi Tony,
Actually, not only can you but it's much easier than trying to own actual physical bullion. You can do that in an IRA but it's very complicated and there are easier ways to get precious metals into your IRA - both bullion and miners.
Either of these would be trading vehicles. For longer term holding I'd go with CEF for
bullion as it's 55/45 gold/silver . . . and they really have it on hand. If I was going to play this sucker, I'd hit junior silver miners (like rono is doing currently, TYVM!). That's where the serious leverage occurs.
peace,
rono

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-eke-out-gains-close-at-record-highs-2014-11-07/print
WSJ Slant: http://online.wsj.com/articles/u-s-stock-futures-pause-ahead-of-jobs-data-1415366103
Market At A Glance: http://markets.wsj.com/us

Your kidding right? My wife could beat these returns! with no help from me and her own picks from 5 min.looking over Funds!
Their Real Record during the best (5 yr) market in the last century:
Harvard’s endowment posted annual average gains of 1.7 percent in the five years ended June 30, 2013, according to data compiled by Charles Skorina & Co. That compares with annual returns of 6.8 percent at Columbia University, 5.4 percent at University of Pennsylvania and 3.3 percent at Yale University.

7/1/2008 to 6/30/2013 was hardly the "best five year market" in the last century. The investment in VTSMX from 7/1/2008 - 6/30/2013 turned $10,000 into $14,254.52, an annual return of 7.3%, well below the average yearly return of 11.5% for the S&P 500 from 1928-2013.
That period did, however, coincide with the worst sustained market downturn in over 70 years. and turned $10,000 into $5381.58 on 3/6/2009. (The same investment in VWELX turned $10,000 into an almost identical $14,169.26, an annual return of 7.1%, and only lost 30.5% on 3/6/09.)
Harvard lost ~27% in the downturn. Yale lost 24.6%. As Scott pointed out, endowments that size do not act like individual's portfolios and shouldn't be judged the same way. At the very least, one has to consider that money is constantly being distributed to fund massive research institutions. That David Swenson somehow returned slightly less than the market over the period, with less volatility than the most recognizable 60/40 portfolio in the world, is remarkable.

Not so sure that Craftsman tools are still made here, Ted. Seems to me that I've heard or read otherwise. But they sure as hell were made well, years ago. I've still got quite a few that I bought over 50 years ago.

@scott Why Sears will survive ! Craftman Tools, Made In America, and music to my ears.
Regards,
Ted

Nice going Ol Skeet--- I do recall some discussion about falling knives a few weeks back. Don't know if it was related to the near 10% drop in the S&P. Might have been.
But it might have had more to do with my decision to buy into the NR/commodity areas when they were falling. Actually, despite the hysterical media coverage, the two funds (QRAAX & PRNEX) have held up pretty well over the past 3 or 4 weeks since I bought in - although both are showing big losses YTD. PRNEX was actually up .90% yesterday - far better than anything else that I own or track. I view both as long term hedges against a frothy equity market. So if the 2 funds do reasonably well over the next 3-5 years, I don't particularly care about shorter term performance.
Nice bounce for gold today. Up $28 last check. Energy sector showing strength in recent days - especially nat gas and heating oil due to some pretty extreme weather. Recall seeing 37 and snow flurries in Atlanta few days back.
Apologies to Ol Skeet. My spellchecker preferred Ol Skirt - I've now corrected it. :)

"Your kidding right? My wife could beat these returns! with no help from me and her own picks from 5 min.looking over Funds! "
It becomes what is the purpose of these funds. Is it to hit home runs every year and take a lot of risk or is to try and preserve and gradually grow capital over time? There have been instances in the past of these funds taking risky bets and having it become an issue for the institution - see Larry Summers and his bet on interest rate derivatives at Harvard that went wrong.

Your kidding right? My wife could beat these returns! with no help from me and her own picks from 5 min.looking over Funds!
Their Real Record during the best (5 yr) market in the last century:
Harvard’s endowment posted annual average gains of 1.7 percent in the five years ended June 30, 2013, according to data compiled by Charles Skorina & Co. That compares with annual returns of 6.8 percent at Columbia University, 5.4 percent at University of Pennsylvania and 3.3 percent at Yale University.
.http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-18/harvard-money-managers-exit-on-subpar-private-equity-bets.html

FYI: The past two months have been challenging for stock market investors. The S&P 500 quickly tumbled 9.8% from its Sept. 19 all-time high of 2,019 to as low as 1,820 on Oct. 15.
Because of the way our brains work, most of us worried about the possibility that this correction was turning into an outright market crash. Our instinct was to dump stocks. Surely, many investors sold and told themselves they would "wait out the volatility" on the sidelines. A confident few likely even shorted the market.
However, history shows this is the most classic mistake investors make. So, kudos to those who held on to their long positions.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.businessinsider.com/investors-miss-stock-market-rallies-charts-2014-10#ixzz3HkFGcDuZ

Certainly interesting to watch...

But a lot of altitude to make up given its decline the last 5 years...