FYI: Your broker still doesn’t have to be on your side, but he’s getting pushed in that direction.
Regards,
Ted
http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/03/20/while-regulators-fiddle-avoid-getting-burned/tab/print/

FYI: Smart-beta ETFs use machines to outperform humans and now account for $400 billion, but some can be less than brilliant.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-16/smart-beta-etfs-attract-billions-with-critics-blaming-dumb-money

"With a flock of ‘fallen angels’ from Russia and Latin America re-shaping the euro-denominated high yield bond market, investors are scratching their heads about whether they are a blessing or a curse. [...] With every Russian corporate bond issued in euros now rated as junk by both S&P and Moody’s, BofA Merrill Lynch anticipates that in a few weeks the Russia corporate market will be 100 per cent HY. [...] The new arrivals are shifting the composition of the European HY market, traditionally shaped around telecoms – the largest sector with 23 per cent – plus metals and manufacturing, towards financial and commodity-based business."
"A bigger problem is that bond managers may be prevented from buying many of the new Russian names. Russian banks already feature on the restricted list issued by European regulators, meaning bond managers can buy existing bonds but can’t buy new issues."
"Alongside the $333bn European (ie euro-denominated) HY sector, which includes many emerging market bonds, the EM HY sector is now more than 40 per cent of the size of the $1.6trn US HY market."
http://blogs.ft.com/beyond-brics/2015/03/18/fallen-angels-changing-the-face-of-high-yield-bond-market/

I can't really complain about how HQL has performed but this stuff just doesn't sit well with me. @scott, if you take the initiative to write and get a response you will have done very well because at this point I think I'd do a bad job of writing any constructive.
@BenWP, I did participate in the share issuance last year and even over subscribed. I haven't gone back to compare their specific performance since then to healthcare generally, but HQL is up in the neighborhood of 50%. They're fully invested now from what I can tell so maybe @mns is right, its just keeping the option open. But it's sending a bad message to me.

@Sven, they both look like apples to me, just different. SFGIX actually has more EM exposure according to M*, 68.37% vs. 65.97% for THDIX. SFGIX is definitely more multi-cap (average market cap $3.5B vs. $13.2B) and has more of a value bias. Finally, SFGIX has higher sharpe ratios over the past 1- and 3-year periods, and a higher sortino ratio over the past 3-years. Go Heels !
Kevin

FYI: Yesterday, we sent out a report to clients looking at how the S&P 500 has traded so far this year and compared it to the index’s pattern in prior years through 3/18. With the years that started off the most similarly to 2015, we then looked to see how the market traded for the remainder of those years. In the report we also looked at the performance of the S&P 500 during the third year of the Presidential Election Cycle and how those returns compared so far to this year. Finally, we also highlighted the peculiar trend of the S&P 500 to do well in years ending in the number five.
Regards,
Ted
https://www.bespokepremium.com/think-big-blog/years-ending-in-five-and-other-patterns/

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
https://us-mg5.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?action=showLetter&umid=2_0_0_1_180011_AIa/imIAAb6hVQuNjQV+QH8uziU&box=Inbox&src={src}&.rand=2126062234&referer=finance.yahoo.com

FYI: How to stop being scared of volatility and instead welcome it.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/two-antidotes-to-stock-market-volatility-2015-03-20/print

FYI: Real estate funds, attractive to investors for both capital appreciation and income-producing properties, have outperformed the average dividend mutual fund and the S&P 500 in the past 15 years.
If you had $10,000 lying around to invest on Dec. 31, 1999, and you invested it in the average real estate mutual fund, your investment would have grown to $57,241 by March 17 this year, according to Morningstar Inc. data. The same amount invested in the average dividend fund would have grown to $25,068 by St. Patrick's Day. You'd have only $18,873 sitting in an account invested in the S&P 500.
Regards,
Ted
http://license.icopyright.net/user/viewFreeUse.act?fuid=MTkxMjE4MzY=
Enlarged Graphic:
http://news.investors.com/photopopup.aspx?path=webLV0319_1K.png&docId=744157&xmpSource=&width=1000&height=1063&caption=&id=744158
U.S. News & World Report Ranking Of Real Estate Funds:
http://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual-funds/rankings/real-estate

Catch - the pictures tell the story better than any words I could say and I would love to see and hike the country w/o looking through the scope of my M-16 or twin 50-cal's. Besides I only rode rivers before, time to dock the boat. If I was going to return to previous places it would be Australia/New Zealand or the Japanese countryside in a heartbeat.
As for investing, a health/bio ETF would be my choice. I use HQL a CEF.

Various video clips of the cave.......
Still images and video choices, the cave
A beautiful place, indeed.
So, @Mark ; you know that I must ask why this location.
Likely we all have a special place to visit or a re-do. If I had my time machine in working order, I would re-do Taiwan and Morocco.
Okay, I'll just throw the $50K at a 3x bio etf or something similar. Go for the gold, so to speak, eh? :)

If I had $50K to throw at anything it would be on a trip to explore Son Doong cave in Vietnam. Priceless!

Excessive Funditis was not cured. Funds taken down by virus. I wish Royce takes a vaccine. Oh but wait, Legg Mason owns them. Another 5 funds to come. Let's take a gander.
Royce Rising Rates Opportunity
Royce Inflated Protected securities
Royce Gold Trust
Royce Frontier Markets
Royce Global Macro allocation
Let's just wait till they hire the latest MBA with Marketting.

news.morningstar.com/all/ViewNews.aspx?article=/BW/BWIPREM20150319006229_univ.xml
The fund announced today that its Board of Trustees has renewed the authorization to repurchase up to 12% of outstanding shares. In value terms this is in the neighborhood of $60MM. It was only last September that they issued new shares the value of which was a little more than $70MM.
There are a number of us here who have investments in this and other Tekla funds, and this doesn't make any sense to me. None of these activities, issue shares then buy them back, are cost free and I'm pretty sure we as shareholder's are the ones bearing those costs. I'm pretty sure part of the rationale for issuing new shares last year was the belief there were additional investment opportunities that they wanted to take advantage of. What happened to those? Part of the rationale now is "to enhance shareholder value and potentially reduce the discount between the market price of the Fund’s shares and the net asset value per share". Since early January, however, the fund has been trading at a premium to its NAV.
Is there something I'm missing that makes all of this make sense? Or are these guys playing games with our money that might have more to do with their bonuses or something else than with anything related to shareholder value?

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
WSJ Slant:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-stock-futures-edge-lower-1426767281
Bloomberg Slant:
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-19/u-s-index-futures-decline-after-stocks-rally-on-fed-optimism
Reuters Slant:
http://www.reuters.com/assets/print?aid=USKBN0ME02J20150319
MarketWatch Slant:
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-stocks-futures-slip-after-fed-fueled-stock-rally-2015-03-19
WSJ Markets At A Glance:
http://markets.wsj.com/us
Sector Tracker:
http://www.sectorspdr.com/sectorspdr/tools/sector-tracker
Current Futures:
http://finviz.com/futures.ashx

Were I indexing in this area I would strongly consider 50/50 RPG and RPV instead, an approach I discovered thanks to this forum.

FYI: We highlight the five best funds in a crowded field.
Regards,
Ted
http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=689560&SR=Yahoo

Hi Catch 22,
For me, currently my three overweights, major sectors, within the S&P 500 Index, are Financials, Technology and Healthcare. In addition, I think some of the emerging markets look attractive along with Greater Europe and I am seeing some money move to Japan as well.
Within my own portfolio I strive to carry at least a nine percent weighting in the major sectors and at least a five percent weighting in the minor sectors for all the broad sectors of the S&P 500 Index. I look at emerging markets as a minor sector and I am neutral there at about a five percent weighting. In Greater Europe, I am carrying about a twenty percent weighting.
A "come line" bet for me is in the energy and materials sectors where I have been buying, of late, as I believe they are oversold.
So, I guess ... with this ... Old_Skeet is good to go.

FYI:Albert Nicholas, who tops our annual ranking of mutual funds, defies those who say stock pickers can’t outrun indexes—or machines.
Regards,
Ted
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-03-18/fund-manager-ab-nicholas-has-been-beating-s-p-500-for-40-years
M* Snapshot Of NICSX: http://quotes.morningstar.com/fund/f?t=NICSX&region=usa&culture=en-US
Lipper Snapshot Of NICSX: http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/Fund/NICSX?countrycode=US
NICSX Is Ranked #3 In The (MCG) Fund Category By U. S. News & World Report:
http://money.usnews.com/funds/mutual-funds/mid-cap-growth/nicholas-fund/nicsx