Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
Support MFO
Donate through PayPal
Wanted to buy ACINX Acorn International and First eagle SGOIX at Fidelity today & ran into a problem
ACINX appears to be available for $1K minimum in retirement accounts at Wellstrade according to a test trade I just made. SGOIX is available for $1K minimum in retirement accounts at Thinkorswim, according to recent reports on the M* forums. And a M* forum member reportedly made a $10K purchase of SGOIX recently in a WT retirement account using a WT rep.
I would own only one of these funds, and I would definitely prefer SGOIX due to better performance over the past 3-, 5-, and 10-year periods with much lower standard deviations over these periods.
Kevin SOIGX is available but only with a 5% front end load. that is what I do not want. Yes it is a great fund. There is a class C no load but its ER is almost 2%.
Regarding comparison w/First Eagle - one fund has a value bent, one a growth orientation. Looking at 5 year category returns for foreign small/mid value vs. foreign small/mid growth, one sees a difference of 0.22% in value's favor - this could go a fair amount of the way toward explaining the 0.59% difference between the funds' performance. Acorn offers a much smaller cap portfolio (about 3/8 as large an average market cap). I'd say it comes down to the kind of fund you're looking for, more than one of these being clearly superior.
Burt, SGOIX is the institutional class of First Eagle Overseas, so it does not have a 5% front end load.
Going forward, both SGOIX and ACINX will likely have low exposures to foreign SC due to their respective AUM of $10.6B and $6.5B. Granted, SGOIX has more of a value bias than ACINX, but I regard that as a good thing. And SGOIX has had much lower standard deviations and much higher sharpe ratios over the past 1-, 3-, 5-, and 10-years, and better performance over the past 3-, 5-, and 10-years.
If I wanted to boost my portfolio's foreign LC and MC exposure, I would choose only one of these funds, and that fund would be SGOIX. Of course, this is only my opinion, and I am sure that you will perform your own due diligence in selecting funds for your own portfolio.
At Fido First Eagle Overseas Inst CL (SGOIX) has a transaction fee of $75, but it doesn't have a load. I tried a test buy, but it says "The selected mutual fund has a minimum investment requirement of $1,000,000." There are two other share classes available at Fidelity.
SGOVX FIRST EAGLE OVERSEAS FUND CLASS A FESOX FIRST EAGLE OVERSEAS FUND CLASS C
Both have a 1,000 min in an IRA and a $2,500 min in taxable.
Maurice, I tried it in a taxable, regular IRA, and a Roth IRA.
Trade Message (003908) The quantity you specified is less than the minimum required to buy shares in the mutual fund you selected. The selected mutual fund has a minimum investment requirement of $1,000,000.
Comments
ACINX appears to be available for $1K minimum in retirement accounts at Wellstrade according to a test trade I just made. SGOIX is available for $1K minimum in retirement accounts at Thinkorswim, according to recent reports on the M* forums. And a M* forum member reportedly made a $10K purchase of SGOIX recently in a WT retirement account using a WT rep.
I would own only one of these funds, and I would definitely prefer SGOIX due to better performance over the past 3-, 5-, and 10-year periods with much lower standard deviations over these periods.
Kevin
SOIGX is available but only with a 5% front end load. that is what I do not want.
Yes it is a great fund. There is a class C no load but its ER is almost 2%.
Burt S.
http://research.scottrade.com/qnr/Public/MutualFunds/Summary?symbol=ACINX
Regarding comparison w/First Eagle - one fund has a value bent, one a growth orientation. Looking at 5 year category returns for foreign small/mid value vs. foreign small/mid growth, one sees a difference of 0.22% in value's favor - this could go a fair amount of the way toward explaining the 0.59% difference between the funds' performance. Acorn offers a much smaller cap portfolio (about 3/8 as large an average market cap). I'd say it comes down to the kind of fund you're looking for, more than one of these being clearly superior.
Going forward, both SGOIX and ACINX will likely have low exposures to foreign SC due to their respective AUM of $10.6B and $6.5B. Granted, SGOIX has more of a value bias than ACINX, but I regard that as a good thing. And SGOIX has had much lower standard deviations and much higher sharpe ratios over the past 1-, 3-, 5-, and 10-years, and better performance over the past 3-, 5-, and 10-years.
If I wanted to boost my portfolio's foreign LC and MC exposure, I would choose only one of these funds, and that fund would be SGOIX. Of course, this is only my opinion, and I am sure that you will perform your own due diligence in selecting funds for your own portfolio.
Kevin
SGOVX FIRST EAGLE OVERSEAS FUND CLASS A
FESOX FIRST EAGLE OVERSEAS FUND CLASS C
Both have a 1,000 min in an IRA and a $2,500 min in taxable.
LAIAX Columbia Acorn Intl CL A
LAICX Columbia Acorn Intl CL B
LAICX Columbia Acorn Intl CL C
LAFAX Columbia Acorn Intl Select CL A
LFFBX Columbia Acorn Intl Select CL B
LFFCX Columbia Acorn Intl Select CL C
BUT, B share classes are closed to all investors.
I tried it in a taxable, regular IRA, and a Roth IRA.
Trade Message
(003908) The quantity you specified is less than the minimum required to buy shares in the mutual fund you selected. The selected mutual fund has a minimum investment requirement of $1,000,000.
Thanks,
Brian