A little travelling music, sam.

romroc

I really like and look forward to the MFO. Has a ghettoey sound to it, but that just adds to the charm. and it's free, isn't that great? I also like the premise of buying smaller funds. They can turn on a dime as opposed to the battleship funds, where such change is impossible. Expense ratios could be better contained as well, but not always. There is a possible economy of scale to the big shots; sometimes being bigger can be better, that's one reason why they became so huge in the first place. Still, the premise appears valid and I'm game.

I'm wondering about one fund that has been spoken of highly in MFO however: TSELX. In particular, one notable fact of this fund is that it has a NAV BELOW its' initial offerring price. Referring to the graph of this fund, is there any compelling reason to still own this fund? Good management must be tested, eventually. The market has not exactly been a Steady Eddie of late. Past results are no indicator of future results. Quants take heed. In a graphic comparison between this funds' performance and MSCFX, no doubt the latter wins. There are differences between the two, also no doubt. Suggestion: a grand list of all funds recommended by MFO which includes those funds which are no longer at present deserving of sitting at the grand ballroom table. I'm seriously wondering about TSELX however. Are they worth their salt? Is olympic gold real gold?

MaxBialystock

TSELX seems not a BAD option, with a low minimum to get in. But beware the annual extortion fee ("maintenance fee") if you do not hold mucho mucho thousands of dollars in the fund. Anyhow, it's the same everywhere now. I do NOT like the above-average RISK, though it matches the above-average RETURNS. In terms of risk/reward, you can do better. As for MSCFX, it's still a very young fund, so even though I may have advised you not to jump in right away after its big run-up, I think there's a long way to go in terms of how high the share price could climb. You could wait for a dip, but if it were me, I'd just buy-in and watch it go. I bought-into MSCFX in March or May, I forget, after it had already run-up quite a bit... And here I sit, even so: up over 8% in that fund, just in a matter of several months. If you hold it for a number of years, you'll come out ahead. Here's an anecdotal little tid-bit: yesterday, when the Russell 2000 was down a bit, the other small-caps which I track all lost ground, but MSCFX actually rose .02 cents per share. They must have chosen their stocks very deftly, eh?

romroc

I'm thinking that I should jump into MSCFX with both boots on. The company has been around a very long time, since 1931 I think. they have their clients in mind, have that midwestern mind set and invest primarily in companies out that way. Just saw a news report about a farmer who did a start up in Milwaukee now employing 100 people, has written a book about it. Work ethic and Midwest go together like milk and honey. The money must follow. Mairs and Power growth I've owned in the past. If you have to fall in love with an investment this may be the company to supply the ingredients.

MaxBialystock

Diversify. But yes, for the small-cap portion of your holdings, MSCFX is a great candidate. Others that I can recommend also include two from TRP: PRSVX and OTCFX, but between the three, I would choose Mairs and Power. Also look at WSCVX.

"Break a leg!"