November Commentary. Open thread.

JohnChisum

Once again thank you David, Charles, and everyone who works hard every month to bring us an informative commentary.

This month's writeup included SJPNX, The Japan Fund which has had different homes in the past and now will be merged into MJFOX. Many years ago I bought shares in the Japan Fund. It was either independent or was associated with Scudder. All I can remember was that the mailings came out of New York City. I benefited greatly from the dead cat bounces of the Japan market at that time. (Early 90's).

A good read as always.

Ted

Enjoyed reading this month's commentary, along with the seasonal change.
Regards,
Ted

Autumn Leaves: Nat King Cole:

Charles

"...if you want to become wealthy, your goal should be to manage a mutual fund rather than invest in one."

Ha! Love it.

Mark

@ Charles - I suffered similar fates as you described, with some of the attending emotions, until I happened upon dividend growth investing and incorporated it into my plan. Now, for the most part, I don't care what the market values my holdings at as long as the dividends keep rolling in and continue to increase over time. Cut the dividend and I'm out of there.

scott

Mark said:

@ Charles - I suffered similar fates as you described, with some of the attending emotions, until I happened upon dividend growth investing and incorporated it into my plan. Now, for the most part, I don't care what the market values my holdings at as long as the dividends keep rolling in and continue to increase over time. Cut the dividend and I'm out of there.

Seconded. Doing very similar/feel similarly, not concerned nearly as much about the day-to-day.

heezsafe

I don't know whether it's a case of great minds working in tandem, or whether David and I were walking thru piles of leaves at the same time and he "channeled" it to me. But several days ago I had happened upon the SEC speech to which David alluded in his commentary and bookmarked it in my "MFO working folder" for possible posting, with synopsis. Frankly, I'm half-way thru and I don't think a synopsis is gonna be necessary; not too wonky, and anyone with a brain can do it. There is some material on SEC regulatory concerns re. alt funds that is food for thought re. special compliance issues and liquidity. I'll post the link later today once I'm done, so don't anyone waste a moment of time searching for it.

MaxBialystock

David, Charles, Ed: THANK you, once again. I found the Fall photos to be stunning. And this phrase grabbed me, too:
"...The structure of the investment company industry is such that the funds you should consider most seriously are the ones about which you hear the least: small, nimble, independent entities with skilled managers who – in many cases – have left major firms in disgust at the realization that the corporation’s needs were going to trump their investors’ needs. Where the mantra at large companies is “let’s not do anything weird,” the mantra at smaller firms seems to be “let’s do the right thing for our investors.”

That’s who we write about, convinced that there are opportunities there that you really should recognize and consider with all seriousness."

expatsp

Ed's remarks on closed-end funds' structural superiority over mutual funds parallels some of my recent thinking; and with CEFs, if you're brave, you can buy them at a discount.

Aside from the ever popular PDI, anyone have a list of CEFs they might buy in a pullback? I've been eyeing TEI.

And yes, I'm also leaning more and more toward buying dividend-growth stocks...

Ted

@expatsp: FYI: From Harry Domash's Website, High-Dividend ETFs
Regards,
Ted
http://www.dividenddetective.com/dividend_etfs.htm

rjb112

JohnChisum said:

Once again thank you David, Charles, and everyone who works hard every month to bring us an informative commentary.

MaxBialystock said:

David, Charles, Ed: THANK you, once again.

David, Charles, Ed: Thanks for all that you do

Tampabay

My goal is to be CEO of Apple, instead I bought one, I'm not rich but I have a nice computer...tb

expatsp

@Ted Thanks! But I'm also curious about CEFs... Maybe I'll start a separate thread!

Ted

@expatsp: Your wish is my command ! High Dividend CEFs & M* Performance
Regards,
Ted
http://www.dividenddetective.com/closed_end_funds_list.htm
(Click On Show All)
http://news.morningstar.com/CELists/CEReturns.html

JohnChisum

"I listen to the crunching of acorns underfoot and to the anxious scouring of black squirrels. I look at the architecture of the houses, some well more than a century old but still sound and beautiful. I breathe, sniffing for the hint of a hardwood fire."

Brings back childhood memories of fall and the burning of leaves and prunings. It is hard to experience that now, the enviro police are out to stop all burning in the area I used to live in.

expatsp

@Ted: thanks!