I'm finding it rather hard choosing between several fund managers. I've narrowed it down to this select group - ARTGX, YAFFX, FMIHX, MDFSX, and the new PIMCO fund PQIDX. Of these the PIMCO fund is the odd ball because Its history is very short. The Yacktman fund bothers me because of the performance chasing money. At this point I'm leaning towards ARTGX because I already own ARTKX personally and have no complaints. Then there is FMIHX that has done very well for its shareholders.
Any opinions?
Comments
We've saved around 2,700 for this investment. The account is a custodial account at Fidelity.
Some of the my favorite funds are either transaction fee or closed at Fidelity. I personally already own OAKBX, FPACX, PRWCX, ARTKX, etc. My main objective with this money is to start my child with investing early. We plan on adding half her allowance towards her future financial stability. Not that we're going to cut her soda money in hand today - just her bonus for cleaning her room courtesy of dad. This could help with her first house, college, etc. I can only hope that we raise her well enough that she doesn't blow it in Vegas.
VWELX is a really solid fund for sure! But.. we don't have the 3,000. The only similar fund that I can find that invest in value stocks and high quality bonds ( and it is a newer fund ) is JPVTX. The idea of compounding over that many years holds great appeal. I think that is the reason why I keep looking at PQIDX. Just don't know if PQIDX's managers are of the same caliber as the folks over at Artisan ( ARTGX )
I'm always curious about the reason(s) when a successful manager and/or management team bolts from one organization to another or off on their own. I get wanting to make a name for yourself or becoming the 'lead' manager etc., etc., but when you run the same type of fund and just choose PIMCO over Thornburg over fill-in-the-blank is it just simply more money for doing the same thing or what?
In any case, which fund will end up being the performance leader won't be known until a few years down the road. It's a wise decision to start early no matter what so just start. You can always transfer later and at her age and investment level you've already given her a huge head start. I did the same for my grandson putting him into OAKBX. (My accounts are at Fidelity also). I chose the Oakmark fund simply so others could contribute as well to a NTF fund.
Another suggested is to buy one or more of 30 NTF ETF's that Fidelity sponsors. They cover major asset classes very well.
This sounds like an awesome idea. Can I presume that you want to teach your daughter something about investing with this? There are a lot of good funds, but some of them have more communicative managers, transparent processes with long term holdings, good websites, etc. that might make them a better teaching tool. It will hard to say which will do better over a long period of time, and all the funds you mentioned are good funds, so that might be another criteria.
Personally, If I wanted to get the most money out of the fund or maybe teach a teenager something about investing, I would go with the Artisan fund. The fund managers are very clear how they invest, but it is probably to much for a seven year old. Of the list you gave, the Manning and Napier Fund probably is the easiest to understand.
Another option that you might find interesting is the Monetta Young Investor fund MYIFX. It invests about half of its portfolio in index ETFs and the other half in big, recognizable high quality companies like Apple and Disney, so kids can understand what its doing. The fund has done quite well over the last few years and there is really no reason it won't do well over a long period of time. Kids also get an age-based investing kit as (hopefully) a fun thing that will help them learn. My mom did something like this when I was a kid and I got a lot out of it. Here is their website: http://www.younginvestorfund.com/
Hope this was helpful
The only issue I have with the Artisan fund is the high er. Sometimes we get what we pay for. They've learned much from their days with Oakmark. With their willingness to close their funds and my general bias - It shall be ARTGX.
Thanks again...
You asked: " With this many good managers around is there any question why people find themselves collecting mutual funds?"
For our house, if we find particular favor with given sectors; be they equity or bonds of any style, we may move into 2-5 of related funds.
The logic??? All managers have a different take on a given sector within their speciality; and results will very over any given time frame. It is possible that for any given 3 or 5 funds that are in a particular sector, one will outperform, one will underperform and we will attempt to get a decent average among the 3-5 funds.
This method, of course, requires enough monies to move into several funds; versus just one fund in a sector.
My inflation adjusted 2 cents worth,
Catch
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0056&FundIntExt=INT which is a balanced fund with a good record and a low minimum 1k
Regards,
Ted
Ted , you know much more about this stuff than I do but I used that term because while it IS a fund-of funds it behaves like a balanced fund and even benchmarks itself against an average of stock and bond indicies so I used that term so the original postor could reject it out of hand if he wanted an all stock fund.
Anyway thanks for your efforts which help make this a great site.
I've been looking over ( vgstx Vanguard Star ) this morning. I've always knew about this fund.. but it skipped my mind for some reason. It would solve the issue of asset allocation as the account grows. And the fees are very cheap.
With only 2,700 would you pay the 75 dollar fee ( and 5 dollars for every purchase thereafter ) for this fund? This account is at Fidelity so it would cost 75 bucks for the first purchase.
I have not made any purchase yet. The only reason I keep "looking" is the high ER of ARTGX.
Thanks
I will assume, as your handle name here may imply; that you prefer to have a mostly equity holding for your daughter's monies; although VGSTX indicates a moderate allocation, which may be more favorable at this time.
You may already be familiar with this Fidelity compare feature; and it is a handy tool.
Fidelity Compare
VWINX in the compare group is the only one not so correalted to the SP500; but doesn't meet your minimum, having a $3,000 minimum.
Do you plan to move the money from a MM account immediately into an equity fund; or wait to find whether a "sell in May" event takes place? Related to "May" is also in consideration to parking the money in a Fido equity/bond fund style. Although not difficult to move monies around, if the monies remainded at a Fido fund for the summer months, you would not have any delay of a transaction time if you decided to move out of equities for a few months. A similar transaction could have a few days delay if invested outside of Fido.
Another thought, to which, I don't have the answer; is if a fund as VGSTX requires that the minimum amount be maintained. I note this, as if $2,600 is invested in the next month in VGSTX, and the equity markets decline to find the value drop below the $2,500 minimum; will Vanguard require more money be placed into the fund or be liquidated and moved back to Fido? This obviously would require another transaction if Vanguard requires the minimum.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Take care,
Catch
Yes. I also believe that asset allocation helps investors stay invested during bad markets. Just judging from my own portfolio,.. my flexible mutual funds have done very well over the years. So, I think it depends on the person running the fund.
By the way, from what the Fidelity rep told me if we purchased ARTGX and the market tanked below Fidos 2500 min - they'd honor the fund company min of 1000. I don't know if this is true?
"Do you plan to move the money from a MM account immediately into an equity fund; or wait to find whether a "sell in May" event takes place?"
You got me
The Wall Street Ranter