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Been away from MFO. A move I just made...

edited September 2011 in Fund Discussions
Regardless of performance, I was just getting tired of the canned answers and stonewalling from the Royce people. Whatever I said or asked about they simply talked past it, and offered me a stiff "party line." So I'm closing it up. It was a 403b. It will be moved into a Rollover IRA I've created at TRP. And guess what? The Royce distribution form does not even allow for a DIRECT rollover. The TRP guy and I were on the phone with a Royce guy who did not have a clue about anything. Finally, the TRP guy offered to have me write a letter instructing Royce to do a DIRECT rollover. Would that not be enough to get Royce to just DO it?

Yes, as long as TRP provided a Medallion Guaranty connected to their own Letter of Acceptance which needs to be sent to Royce. What a load of feces....My TRP small cap value fund PRSVX does not hold enough shares/money to avoid getting dunned for the annual fee---which has been raised 100% this year. The fund PRSVX only mimics the Russell 2000 anyway. So I told TRP to fold that over into my Emerg. Mkt. Bond fund PREMX at TRP and close-up PRSVX entirely. I need more bonds as opposed to stocks, given my age and circumstances. But now I'm too concentrated in the extreme. The new portfolio looks like this:

PREMX (Rollover IRA) 40%
MAPIX Matthews Div. (Trad. IRA) 36%
Pfizer PFE 13%
Foreign gov't bond denominated in dollars, at 5.68% interest rate, matures 01 July, 2013.....6%
MACSX Matthews Growth/Income (Regular taxable account)......5%

Eight holdings, now con-joined into 5. And I know I need some more conservative bonds in addition to the PREMX. Some of you in here have offered your own recommendations, and I've still got those. But recently it seems like only a fool would pass up reaping the .07+ cents per share PER MONTH from PREMX. Geez, Brasil, Turkey, Iraq and Fiji (yes, PREMX even owns Fijian bonds) are better off than we are here in the USA in terms of choking on debt.

DLENX comes to mind. It owns a lot more CORPORATE foreign EM debt than PREMX, but PREMX has been adding more private, Corporate bonds to the portfolio. There's also PRSNX, but it is rather a laggard. PREMX is in the bottom half of its own peer group, but not by much. In a rather risky bond universe, it is relatively conservative. Yield is 6.71%.

I'll wait for the Pfizer dividend this month. It's .20 cents/ share. I hate the stock, despite all the good stuff I keep hearing about Pfizer. Every day it runs hot or cold. Seems volatile......I suppose in a couple of years I will use the maturing bond's proceeds to invest in a more conservative bond fund. I lately put a friend into Dodge & Cox Income DODIX. Tough to find a more reliable one over the long haul than DODIX.... ---END---

And "that's all the news that's fitr to print." Or is it: "All the news that fits, we print."

Comments

  • Hi Max. Glad you're back.

    You didn't really ask for advice, but you did say you were "...too concentrated in the extreme." Since you are going to be with TRP, have you given any thought of using one of their Target Date funds as your core holding? These funds have very good return records. The retirement-target date is about a 40:60 split equity funds to bond funds. Say you put 50-80% into a core fund like that (the 2005 fund is 50:50, 2010 60:40) and then made your sector or regional bets using the Matthews or EM bond funds.

    Just an idea. It is risky, in fact I would say dangerous, to be to focused on sector/regional 'bets' as you get closer to retirement. In my opinion diversification, which is key to target funds, will reduce volatility big-time. Maybe Asia and EM bonds have better prospects over time than the U.S., but I wouldn't bet my retirement on it.
    Just an idea. My 401k is with TRP and I'm very happy with it.
  • Thanks, MikeM. EVERYTHING is in the toilet on this particular day. If I can find another TRP bond fund that measures-up to what I'd like to see in terms of risk/reward, it would make sense to divide-up the PREMX money between that one and whatever other one I might uncover. With the rollover IRA, I'll have more freedom than the 403b and I can even ship a bunch of $$$ out beyond TRP if I want. I don't like to mess around with the portfolio often. I'll keep my eye on some funds in my watch-list. In July 2013 I'll have to find a destination for that money when that item matures---after 10 years. As for the Matthews funds: "never say never." But I can't imagine moving out of them. Matthews does Asia better than anyone else, and the "Emerging" countries are now in the driver's seat. The USA and the Euro Zone have screwed up their affairs royally. And the US government is at this point in time incapable of accomplishing anything good. That claim can be made whether you're a Repub. or Dem or a Martian. The people in the Congress need to learn again---like ALL children everywhere must learn--- how to PLAY NICE WITH EACH OTHER. So, for all intents and purposes, those Matthews funds are my "core" holdings.
  • "Home is the place where, when you have to go there, They have to take you in."
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