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The Merrill Lynch High Yield Master II Index (junk corporates) Then again, were I younger, poorer, less risk averse/ more aggressive SFGIX would be my cup of tea. Congrats to all the MFOers in that one in 2015.
@Junkster Yes. SFGIX has been on a roll. But, I still keep comparing it to MAPIX -- Andrews Fosters old home base -- and have yet to find a reason to switch horses. MAPIX has outperformed since SFGIX was born and is keeping up YTD. I know they have somewhat different mandates....but the results haven't varied too much so far.
@Junkster & @davfor- best of both worlds- I kept MAPIX despite the lack of dividend last qtr, and also have SFGIX. Both of those, as you mentioned, thanks to many years of good info from folks here at MFO & FundAlarm. About 5% of our portfolio for those two.
@Old_Joe Yes, SFGIX appears to be a good choice for general EM exposure. But, when I sold LZOEX three years ago, I was looking for a FM fund with good exposure to Africa so I bought WAFMX (which I learned about at MFO). That got supplemented with MEASX when it became available for more FM Asia exposure. MAPIX, ARTJX, WAFMX, and MEASX give me about 6% EM exposure out of 50% in stocks (20% foreign, 30% US).
@JohnChisum: thanks for the patronage, John! Keep it up!
@davfor: I also bought WAFMX for the African exposure. Not so hot this year, but I'm going to keep it unless it really goes off the deep end: 2.6% exposure on WAFMX.
We don't talk much about American Funds here on MFO, because they still have that unwarranted front load of 5 or 6%. We were able to purchase without the load, though, and so there is an additional FM exposure of 6.2% with SMCWX (up 8.3% ytd), CWGIX, @5.4% (up 5.6% ytd), and ANEFX, @6.6%, (up 6% ytd).
Finally, we also have GPROX @5%, (up 6.2% ytd) and ARTGX @1.8% (up 2.3% ytd).
All told, World & EM Equity Funds = 33% of portfolio. That section didn't do squat last year, but so far this year, looking very nice. You never know...
@Old_Joe Thanks for your list of additional funds. I will check them out. My motivation for dipping my toes in the frontier markets pond involves their growth potential over the coming decade or so. I expect the short term performance of MEASX and WAFMX to differ from my other more mainstream foreign stock funds (FMIJX, SGOVX, MAPIX, and ARTJX). That's a plus in my mind. Last year, MEASX was by far my best performing foreign stock fund. It was up 17.4% vs second place FMIJX at 4.6%. So, MEASX's YTD slow start doesn't concern me. Also, given the weakness in commodity prices and the slow down in China, the current slump in WAFMX appears well contained. I am keeping my eyes open but see no reason to jump ship on that one either!
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@davfor: I also bought WAFMX for the African exposure. Not so hot this year, but I'm going to keep it unless it really goes off the deep end: 2.6% exposure on WAFMX.
We don't talk much about American Funds here on MFO, because they still have that unwarranted front load of 5 or 6%. We were able to purchase without the load, though, and so there is an additional FM exposure of 6.2% with SMCWX (up 8.3% ytd), CWGIX, @5.4% (up 5.6% ytd), and ANEFX, @6.6%, (up 6% ytd).
Finally, we also have GPROX @5%, (up 6.2% ytd) and ARTGX @1.8% (up 2.3% ytd).
All told, World & EM Equity Funds = 33% of portfolio. That section didn't do squat last year, but so far this year, looking very nice. You never know...