Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

In this Discussion

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

SSGA Real Asset

edited September 2012 in Fund Discussions
This fund suddenly popped up in my sucky 401k plan. However I cannot find any literature on it anywhere. Anyone have any idea what this is?

Comments

  • Hi, VF!

    Maybe their real asset ETF: SPDR SSgA Multi-asset Real Return (RLY)? SSgA has a fairly serious and useful discussion of the topic (http://www.ssga.com/definedcontribution/making-retirement-work/our-point-of-view/real-assets.html) but I don't see a particularly clear link from the discussion to the product.

    For what it's worth,

    David
  • edited September 2012
    If it's the ETF, it's a fund-of-resource (both commodity stocks and commodities)/hard asset/inflation-related-etfs (holdings - https://www.spdrs.com/product/fund.seam?ticker=RLY)
  • edited September 2012
    I did a Google search. I have found references of SSgA real asset fund in several company 401k summary. It does not look like a mutual fund with a ticker you can query at mutual fund sites. This seems to be one of those funds specifically designed for 401k use. Your plan administrators should be able to provide info about it.

    Update:

    The following PDF has some info on its composition at the time the PDF is prepared.
    http://www.esghr.com/Portals/2/hrp_pdf/401k Materials_3-9-2011 8-53-02 AM.pdf

    SSgA Real Asset (6/09)
    Managed by State Street Global Advisors Funds Management
    30% Wilshire DJ REIT, 25% S&P GSCI Commodity, 25% MSCI World
    Natural Resources Stocks, 20% Barclays Capital Inflation Notes

    This fund has ER=0.5% but seems to be a fund of funds with underlying funds ER=0.3% So, you are paying about 0.8% for this mix in total.

    Here is another plan document that includes this fund:
    https://fulfillment.lfg.com/CF/LFG/EF/26198/DIR-INV-BRC007_Z12_VIEW.pdf

    SSgA Real Asset Non-Lending Series
    Seeks to match the returns of a composite benchmark of the REIT
    Index (30%), S&P GSCI Index (25%), capitalization-weighted MSCI
    World Natural Resources Stocks Index (25%), and Barclays Capital
    Inflation Notes Index (20%).

    In this document underlying fund ER is 0.22 so total ER=0.5+0.22=0.72%
  • Reply to @Investor: I see this sort of "specially packaged" funds more often in 401(K). Sometime annual reports are not available for these funds. Tracking performance is thus nearly impossible.
  • edited September 2012
    It's not an ETF for sure. I'm guessing from all the replies it is something packaged for 401ks. Maybe someday they will open it up for retail investors sorta like TRP did with PRAFX.

    I'm not sure if "real assets" means actually buy underlying asset/futures or do what TRP fund does which is simply buy stocks. I don't see PRAFX as real assets fund at all, it is just buying bunch of natural resources / materials / energy stocks IMHO., I

    Bottom line I wanted to look at the portfolio and compare and see how the fund has done. But my 401k plan literature does not offer any history or information and its held at Fidelity!!! If Fidelity cannot do this, then...
  • Reply to @Investor: Dunno how you do this. I didn't know I sucked at "google" until now. Thanks much.
  • I got a similar offering in my old 401K a month ago. It is not run by SSGA, but a similar inflation fighting concept. It is, basically, a commingled fund of funds, with allocations spread among 4 asset classes and about 10 managers. The asset classes are: TIPS, Commodities, REITS, and Infrastructure. Please note that Commingled trust structure is cheaper than that of a mutual fund, but is only available to ERISA investors (and our 401Ks are example of those). I moved my assets into this offering a week ago, and together with a separate Pimco TIP fund, and a closed end fund CEF, these constitute my "CPI+" investment bucket.
  • Okay so what is the typical percent of portfolio we think needs to be in such a fund? 10%? 25%?
  • edited September 2012
    I'd say 5-10% for the average person in a real asset/inflation fund (like this, PRPFX, etc.) Depends on your risk tolerance and outlook, really.
  • Reply to @VintageFreak: i have it just under 10% of the total portfolio.
Sign In or Register to comment.