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Well, as you probably have seen from recent posts, I'm pretty light in equity right now, down to 16%. (Was 17% before recent downturn.) In event of serious pullback will be buying back in, back up to maybe 25%. Bear in mind our age differences and consequent difference in time spans though.
I've just been rearranging a bit over the past month or so: reduced municipals, beefed up my stake in Gross's BOND and Pimco's multisector PDIIX, reallocated some EM from MACSX to SFGIX, and added some to MAINX and DBLTX. All within "the margin of error" in portfolio terms ... no significant change to allocation.
DGS is looking good; I thought about buying but have decided to wait a bit, hopefully for a bit of a pullback. I'm liking the pairing of ARTKX and FMIJX for developed foreign stock, and will add to the latter at some point.
On risk parity funds, after some study, I realized the way my portfolio is set up, as a whole, is at least somewhat similar to an actively managed risk parity approach, so I probably won't be buying a fund of that variety, at least for now.
Reply to @Mona: Hi Mona, I own PIMIX too, but added to PDIIX to bump up $ in foreign bonds, which is more of a core strategy at PDIIX. Since I own both PIMIX and DBLTX, I've got plenty of mortgages ... plus Gross has jumped on the mortgage bandwagon, too.
Reinitiated my trading position in MOO when it last pulled back, then doubled it. Watching PBT for an initial trading position. Also watching CYS to add to my substantial long term position in this mREIT.
Good Question. Am at a loss for good ideas - though like what bee did (& related) earlier. ... I view QE3 as a loose cannon rolling around the deck. Nobody really knows when it will fire or in what direction or what it might hit. (Probably argues for inflation ahead.) It's possible that all markets are overbought (except maybe cash which nobody likes for good reason). A very small addition to PRPFX is in the works. David's made a strong case against this fund in the past - in part based on its position in overbought gold and bonds. He's probably correct. However, with the cannon rolling about the deck, Mr. C's magic box might be one place to be: Aggressive growth stocks, foreign currencies, precious metals, long bonds, real estate. Kind of a "roll the dice fund" (-:
Probably should add that haven't altered course. Still leaning towards equities. Pretty faithful to my benchmark in positioning - TRRIX - which is a pretty easy target. More into preservation at my age. You younger ones can push the limits if ya want.
Reply to @hank: Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater (which I believe is the largest hedge fund in the world, or at the very least in the US) as to his thoughts on Gold and whether he owns it - "Oh yeah. I do. I think anybody, look let's be clear, that I think anybody who doesn't have...There's no sensible reason not to have some. If you're going to own a currency, it's not sensible not to own gold.
Now it depends on the amount of gold. But if you don't own, I don't know 10%, if you don't have that and that depends on the world, then there's no sensible reason other than you don't know history and you don't know the economics of it.
But, I. Well, I mean cash. So cash...view it in terms as an alternative form of cash and also view it as a hedge against what other parts of your portfolio are. Because as traditional financial assets, and so and in that context as a diversifier, as a source of that, there should be a piece of that in gold is all I'm saying.”
I don't like foreign currencies from the standpoint of a currency fund or something of that nature, but I do believe that one has to be diversified globally in terms of investments. In other words, I would diversify amongst foreign currency investments but would not bet on a particular currency or invest in a manner that someone thinks one is better than the other - I don't particularly have a great deal of confidence in most of them and otherwise, the whole thing of betting on currencies in the short-term (to me, at least) would seem like a futile game of musical chairs, as it's less about fundamentals than it is about interventions and whatnot.
No one should be a precious metals fund, either, on the opposite side of the spectrum. I think agriculture has to be a focus for those seeking commodities, and I think water is one that a lot of people don't talk about, but deserves attention.
I think there are some things in tech that are really fascinating too. Gemalto, which I've mentioned on here before, is going to demo their system (Project E-Go) that allows people to pay for things by touching them (a device sends signals over your skin, seriously.) http://www.gemalto.com/ego/index.html
Not sure where to put this: the witching date for Marketfield MFLDX is October 5. The "New Fund" commences operations on October 8, at which point the current investment adviser, Marketfield Asset Management, LLC, becomes the sub-adviser. (I'm still on the fence.)
Back to the more interesting discussion of this thread.
Reply to @scott: Lots here to chew on. Thanks. Re: cash at 0%. Only a "good" investment if everything else crumbles - certainly a possibility. (Than you use the cash to buy up everything at distressed prices).
Reply to @InformalEconomist: Thank you for the note on that, good to know. I'm curious as to what the specs on MFLDX (I'm guessing the symbol doesn't change) will be (NTF/TF, minimum investment) will be after the change.
On the bond side I sold my stake in RPSIX and cut my percentage in a Barclays bond index fund so that I could jump on the band wagon and buy PONDX. I don't know how long this fund can outperform as it has, but this fund seems to good right now to pass up.
I believe diversified EM's will do well going forward though I expect another correction sooner then later. I sold my small position in MAPIX and added it to ODVYX. Also started putting money into PRNEX back in June and July and took a small position in CSRSX recently. PRNEX has done very well. I missed the initial increase in REITs, but I bought to hold over the next couple years.
Last week I sold a substantial percentage (~15%) I had in a T.Rowe Price target date fund, TRRAX, and put it in a low risk short term bond fund. All my moves have taken me from an equity weighting of ~55% during the summer to ~45% now. I'm not to good at timing, but there just seems to be a correction in air. When to put it back to work in equities is always the hard part. Guess I'll keep my eyes open to what Skeeter is doing
Yikes! ... I have nothing in my arsonal that can match this PONDX. Looks like it's up over 17% both YTD and 1 year and sounds quite safe (-: Closest I can get is: PRSGX, EXTAX & DODBX, all up over 14%. Quite a few up around 12% including PRWCX, PRHYX & OPPAX. Congrats to you guys.
1) ADDED to MAPOX (div. paid today, share price down unexpectedly on a rather good UP day for the BIG DAWGS. Normally, the div. per share is 45 cents, except the year-end distrib, which historically looks to be a bit higher.)
2) Finally took the opportunity to BUY into DLFNX. It's my only domestic bond fund holding. My one, single, zero-coupon bond holding will mature and be paid next July. Also, bond-wise, I'm in MAINX and PREMX. By far, my biggest holding is PREMX, though it has shrunk lately, in proportion to my others.
3) bought SFGIX. I am anticipating the day when it will be further diversified beyond Asia.
Portfolio: a) DLFNX 2.7% of holdings
b) Zero-coupon foreign bond, owned now for 9 years, matures in 10 years at 5.68% (This is 5.38% of holdings)
c) MAPOX at 3.21% of holdings
d) MSCFX 2.54% of holdings (up 13% for me just since the Spring.)
e) MAPIX 33.62%
f) MAINX 2.84%
g) MACSX 3.53%
h) SFGIX 2.71%
i) TRAMX 2.72%
j) PREMX 40.75%
.....Ya, I know it's a train-wreck. But I like it the way it is, dammit.
MAPOX is balanced. Equities AND bonds. Apart from that, I have: 49.24% in bonds. ...I'm 58, retired early. Reduced pension, but nice to have. Housing, medical covered these days. If we move to Philippines, I'll have to buy scripts retail. But it's not awful. We've checked out prices. Hospitalization would be something else again. Maybe we WON'T move to Asia? No hurry right now to decide...
As much as I try, I just can't seem to get my arms around the mortgages (other than Vanguard GNMA) and foreign bonds. Too many funds and many appear to be somewhat similar.
Currently I am sitting with high quality short and intermediate term municipals in my taxable account and high quality short and intermediate term corporates and GNMA in my retirements accounts. I am on the short end of everything and no high yield, no emerging market bonds, and all high quality Agency MBS Pass-Through mortgages. In other words, seem to be in the wrong place to benefit from any QE and I am not generating any yield.
I have 5%-10% of my portfolio that I want to put in one or two multisector bond funds. I looked at PIMIX which seems to fill one hole. When I look at PDIIX, I think I see where it is adding foreign (11.26% for PIMIX vs 33.97% for PDIIX under Corporate Bond on M*?), but I can't quantify if that difference justify a second multisector fund, especially with an ER of 35 basis points higher.
And when I look at DBLTX in relation to PIMIX, I do not see a lot of differentiation. I am looking at the data, but I am not getting it.
So, maybe approaching this a different way will work for me. Again, I have high quality short and intermediate term municipals. I have high quality short and intermediate domestic corporates. I have some Vanguard GNMA as well as some TIPs. With the 5%-10% that I can allocate to bonds, I would like to pick up some yield and in assets classes that I currently do not have.
What one or two funds in combination should I at for mortgages (other than Agency MBS Pass-Through) and foreign bonds?
Currently, for me, my risk tolerance is right so I am sitting tight within my asset allocation which roughly bubbles at about 50% equity, 30% bonds and 20% cash. Within equities I am overweight the defensive sectors of utilities, healthcare and consumer staples along with communications, real estate, energy and materials.
Those that have been reading my post know I feel a storm is brewing and in spite of the efforts of the central bankers I see the equity markets becoming stormy in the near term as earning season soon approaches and I feel investors will be disappointed. Then there is the fiscal cliff along with Europe that is still much broken from my thoughts plus a gaggle of other things which include the Presidential election.
My investment strategy is to buy low and when I sell … sell towards 52 week highs. Since, I have already sold equities down to the mid point in my equity allocation I am sitting tight while I await a new buying set up to where I can reload equities at more attractive prices. In addition, I tend to buy investments that in some form or fashion kick off an income stream while I await appreciation.
Currently, I am finding the most value in financials, energy and communication services but have yet to deploy any new capital to these areas. In review of the S&P 500 Index I am finding it to be fully valued and selling at a Price to Earnings Ratio a little North of 16 on trailing earnings. My buying philosophy is to buy value so I will not become a buyer until the P/E Ratio retreats. Perhaps the anticipated approaching storm will blow some value back into the market.
I have linked a song called "The Whipsaw Song" produced by the Trading Tribe … and, one of its lyrics might be fitting ... "When your stops are in there is noting to do.”
Reply to @MaxBialystock: That's pretty wild that you're considering moving to the Philippines. Are you looking forward to that at all?
Your portfolio is still heavily weighted towards a couple of things, but you've started to diversify more. If you move to the Philippines, what's the situation in terms of owning US mutual funds, I wonder? You could open and Etrade account and buy London investment trusts.
Have you thought about Panama? The nice thing is it's a 2 1/2 hour flight to Miami and the US$ is the currency. Good medical care.
Colombia may be an option as they have done good job cleaning up the problems. Far less expats than Panama, in a larger country, and spread out. Just stay away from their borders with Panama, Ecuador, and Venezuela.
Reply to @Mona: Hi again Mona, DBLTX and TCW's TGLMX are all-but-entirely mortgage funds, and both do a AAA/junk barbell act to limit price fluctuation while providing pretty remarkable yield. I'd say you could safely and profitably trade in all your pure GNMA exposure for one or both of those funds and be set in the mortgage arena for whatever happens in those markets. Look at their Sharpes, standard deviations, and total returns to see what I mean.
Pimix has a ton of mortgages too, but it's a true multisector fund, with IG, HY, EM, and so on ... which D. Ivascyn has substantially tweaked in the last couple of months, so he does do tactical/strategic portfolio tweaks, and has proven to be very good at it. While it's not risky as multisector funds go, it's still riskier than DBLTX or TGLMX, partly because of the asset mix, partly because of the Pimco derivative strategy that functions as effective leverage. (They do know what they're doing on that, though.)
Multisectors with a substantial stake in foreign bonds: PDIIX and FSICX are two that come to mind. PDIIX had ~ half of assets in foreign bonds as of 8/31. You could also consider a global bond fund like LSGLX or PGAIX, or a less risky EM fund like DBLEX or FNMIX.
For portfolio info on Pimco funds, M* is not a reliable source; for better info, go for example here, on the Pimco site:
and pick "Portfolio Statistics" in the middle column of links, where you'll be routed to the monthly Excel spreadsheet showing the breakdowns for most of the Pim funds.
Earlier this week purchased JSD and my state muni closed end fund - funded partially with cash, and partially with reducing FSICX. Earlier today -- replaced a long-time position in JPS with PDI.
Reply to @Mona and Scott: Wifey is a USA citizen now. Orig. from Phils. That's why I mentioned that country, specifically. We have asked and inquired of others, and the thing to do (IF we do it) would be to basically take-up residence there but keep a USA address. we've been told by others who are doing it that in order to avoid Philippines-related headaches, you must just LEAVE---briefly--- and come back, once a year, at minimum. (You could just fly to Saipan for a day or two, you know? USA flag there.) Electronic transfers can be used to put money in a local account over there....We are already landlords there, after a fashion: we bought a very basic, cheap house for some family members to live in. We could always go there if things do NOT go well. But for ourselves, we had in mind to buy an American-style home, though they are all scaled-down over there. It can be done for the US equivalent of $40,000-$50,000. Then there are taxes, utilities, etc. ...Scott, in your final paragraph above, I think you've characterized my holdings very well. Yes: "Your portfolio is still heavily weighted towards a couple of things, but you've started to diversify more."
Reply to @hank: Hi Hank. I certainly didn't get that 17% YTD return on PONDX. I'm just hoping my jumping on the band-wagon isn't the catalyst that ends this funds good results. Personally, I don't like PIMCO funds. There are just to many of them and it's hard to figure out how one differs from the other. And every time I read an interview with Bill Gross, it sounds like a info-mercial to go out and buy his funds. But I put my dislikes for PIMCO aside and bought into a really good manager.
On another note, I have been thinking about switching my PRNEX to PRAFX since you had a post on it a while back. What I like is that PRAFX diversifies into natural resources and energy like PRNEX, but also holds real estate. Problem with me switching now is that I already added CSRSX to complement PRNEX if and when inflation hits. But thanks for the idea.
Reply to @MikeM: Hi Mike - Good points. Hope you do well with this one. Will watch it with interest in the future. The enthusiasm evident reminds me a bit of Heebner's CGMFX in the heyday - though the two are about as dissimilar as you can get - this one's certainly less risky. No intention of buying. - Dinosaur that I am, the $$'s directly with 6-7 houses. In the early years, feared moving it around all the time if with a brokerage. Less of a concern today, but satisfied with how things evolved.
I'll say there are a limited number of ways an income fund can produce outsized returns. Would surely dig a deep hole for myself speculating further - so won't. What seems remarkable is the fund beats long held PRHYX by 5-6 points YTD. Checked to make sure there hasn't been a manager change at Price. Nope - same fellow that's run the fund for 15 years - always done a good job.
Good to see more folks adding to SFGIX. It's doing quite well this year. But Max for the life of me I will never understand why you own three similar Matthews funds and SFGIX! But, if you're happy, I'm happy.
I recently doubled-up on AQRIX selling all of RPHYX. I love the way parity handles risk and while I think David Sherman's RPHYX strategy is superb, my investment horizon is longer than appropriate for this good fund.
I also sold off two thirds of FAAFX after its recent run up, wanting to tame volatility...my horizon is longer than two months, but not ten years! I purchased more RNSIX with the proceeds. Hard to find a higher return at such low volatility than this income fund.
Current portfolio then is 60/40 slanted toward fixed income: RNSIX, AQRIX, FAAFX, WBMIX, SFGIX and DODBX. I also have small equity holding in BAC. Four of the funds I first learned about on MFO. Will be looking to cut one maybe two funds in months ahead, since I can never shake Bogle's guidance to KIS.
You know, this thread (and a lot of threads, but this thread is an example) is a really strong example of the quality discussions that go on at MFO. Thank you all for sharing some really terrific ideas throughout this thread.
Maybe this is something we can do on MFO a couple of times a month?
Comments
I've just been rearranging a bit over the past month or so: reduced municipals, beefed up my stake in Gross's BOND and Pimco's multisector PDIIX, reallocated some EM from MACSX to SFGIX, and added some to MAINX and DBLTX. All within "the margin of error" in portfolio terms ... no significant change to allocation.
DGS is looking good; I thought about buying but have decided to wait a bit, hopefully for a bit of a pullback. I'm liking the pairing of ARTKX and FMIJX for developed foreign stock, and will add to the latter at some point.
On risk parity funds, after some study, I realized the way my portfolio is set up, as a whole, is at least somewhat similar to an actively managed risk parity approach, so I probably won't be buying a fund of that variety, at least for now.
Cheers, AJ
AJ,
Why PDIIX instead of say PIMIX?
Mona
I'm also looking at Freehold Royalties (FRHLF) in Canada
Probably should add that haven't altered course. Still leaning towards equities. Pretty faithful to my benchmark in positioning - TRRIX - which is a pretty easy target. More into preservation at my age. You younger ones can push the limits if ya want.
Now it depends on the amount of gold. But if you don't own, I don't know 10%, if you don't have that and that depends on the world, then there's no sensible reason other than you don't know history and you don't know the economics of it.
But, I. Well, I mean cash. So cash...view it in terms as an alternative form of cash and also view it as a hedge against what other parts of your portfolio are. Because as traditional financial assets, and so and in that context as a diversifier, as a source of that, there should be a piece of that in gold is all I'm saying.”
I don't like foreign currencies from the standpoint of a currency fund or something of that nature, but I do believe that one has to be diversified globally in terms of investments. In other words, I would diversify amongst foreign currency investments but would not bet on a particular currency or invest in a manner that someone thinks one is better than the other - I don't particularly have a great deal of confidence in most of them and otherwise, the whole thing of betting on currencies in the short-term (to me, at least) would seem like a futile game of musical chairs, as it's less about fundamentals than it is about interventions and whatnot.
No one should be a precious metals fund, either, on the opposite side of the spectrum. I think agriculture has to be a focus for those seeking commodities, and I think water is one that a lot of people don't talk about, but deserves attention.
I think there are some things in tech that are really fascinating too. Gemalto, which I've mentioned on here before, is going to demo their system (Project E-Go) that allows people to pay for things by touching them (a device sends signals over your skin, seriously.) http://www.gemalto.com/ego/index.html
Back to the more interesting discussion of this thread.
On the bond side I sold my stake in RPSIX and cut my percentage in a Barclays bond index fund so that I could jump on the band wagon and buy PONDX. I don't know how long this fund can outperform as it has, but this fund seems to good right now to pass up.
I believe diversified EM's will do well going forward though I expect another correction sooner then later. I sold my small position in MAPIX and added it to ODVYX. Also started putting money into PRNEX back in June and July and took a small position in CSRSX recently. PRNEX has done very well. I missed the initial increase in REITs, but I bought to hold over the next couple years.
Last week I sold a substantial percentage (~15%) I had in a T.Rowe Price target date fund, TRRAX, and put it in a low risk short term bond fund. All my moves have taken me from an equity weighting of ~55% during the summer to ~45% now. I'm not to good at timing, but there just seems to be a correction in air. When to put it back to work in equities is always the hard part. Guess I'll keep my eyes open to what Skeeter is doing
1) ADDED to MAPOX (div. paid today, share price down unexpectedly on a rather good UP day for the BIG DAWGS. Normally, the div. per share is 45 cents, except the year-end distrib, which historically looks to be a bit higher.)
2) Finally took the opportunity to BUY into DLFNX. It's my only domestic bond fund holding. My one, single, zero-coupon bond holding will mature and be paid next July. Also, bond-wise, I'm in MAINX and PREMX. By far, my biggest holding is PREMX, though it has shrunk lately, in proportion to my others.
3) bought SFGIX. I am anticipating the day when it will be further diversified beyond Asia.
Portfolio:
a) DLFNX 2.7% of holdings
b) Zero-coupon foreign bond, owned now for 9 years, matures in 10 years at 5.68% (This is 5.38% of holdings)
c) MAPOX at 3.21% of holdings
d) MSCFX 2.54% of holdings (up 13% for me just since the Spring.)
e) MAPIX 33.62%
f) MAINX 2.84%
g) MACSX 3.53%
h) SFGIX 2.71%
i) TRAMX 2.72%
j) PREMX 40.75%
.....Ya, I know it's a train-wreck. But I like it the way it is, dammit.
MAPOX is balanced. Equities AND bonds. Apart from that, I have: 49.24% in bonds.
...I'm 58, retired early. Reduced pension, but nice to have. Housing, medical covered these days. If we move to Philippines, I'll have to buy scripts retail. But it's not awful. We've checked out prices. Hospitalization would be something else again. Maybe we WON'T move to Asia? No hurry right now to decide...
AJ,
Thanks for your reply.
As much as I try, I just can't seem to get my arms around the mortgages (other than Vanguard GNMA) and foreign bonds. Too many funds and many appear to be somewhat similar.
Currently I am sitting with high quality short and intermediate term municipals in my taxable account and high quality short and intermediate term corporates and GNMA in my retirements accounts. I am on the short end of everything and no high yield, no emerging market bonds, and all high quality Agency MBS Pass-Through mortgages. In other words, seem to be in the wrong place to benefit from any QE and I am not generating any yield.
I have 5%-10% of my portfolio that I want to put in one or two multisector bond funds. I looked at PIMIX which seems to fill one hole. When I look at PDIIX, I think I see where it is adding foreign (11.26% for PIMIX vs 33.97% for PDIIX under Corporate Bond on M*?), but I can't quantify if that difference justify a second multisector fund, especially with an ER of 35 basis points higher.
And when I look at DBLTX in relation to PIMIX, I do not see a lot of differentiation. I am looking at the data, but I am not getting it.
So, maybe approaching this a different way will work for me. Again, I have high quality short and intermediate term municipals. I have high quality short and intermediate domestic corporates. I have some Vanguard GNMA as well as some TIPs. With the 5%-10% that I can allocate to bonds, I would like to pick up some yield and in assets classes that I currently do not have.
What one or two funds in combination should I at for mortgages (other than Agency MBS Pass-Through) and foreign bonds?
Mona
Currently, for me, my risk tolerance is right so I am sitting tight within my asset allocation which roughly bubbles at about 50% equity, 30% bonds and 20% cash. Within equities I am overweight the defensive sectors of utilities, healthcare and consumer staples along with communications, real estate, energy and materials.
Those that have been reading my post know I feel a storm is brewing and in spite of the efforts of the central bankers I see the equity markets becoming stormy in the near term as earning season soon approaches and I feel investors will be disappointed. Then there is the fiscal cliff along with Europe that is still much broken from my thoughts plus a gaggle of other things which include the Presidential election.
My investment strategy is to buy low and when I sell … sell towards 52 week highs. Since, I have already sold equities down to the mid point in my equity allocation I am sitting tight while I await a new buying set up to where I can reload equities at more attractive prices. In addition, I tend to buy investments that in some form or fashion kick off an income stream while I await appreciation.
Currently, I am finding the most value in financials, energy and communication services but have yet to deploy any new capital to these areas. In review of the S&P 500 Index I am finding it to be fully valued and selling at a Price to Earnings Ratio a little North of 16 on trailing earnings. My buying philosophy is to buy value so I will not become a buyer until the P/E Ratio retreats. Perhaps the anticipated approaching storm will blow some value back into the market.
I have linked a song called "The Whipsaw Song" produced by the Trading Tribe … and, one of its lyrics might be fitting ... "When your stops are in there is noting to do.”
Hope you enjoy ...
http://www.seykota.com/tribe/essentials/index.htm
Have a Great Day and Good Investing,
Skeeter
Your portfolio is still heavily weighted towards a couple of things, but you've started to diversify more. If you move to the Philippines, what's the situation in terms of owning US mutual funds, I wonder? You could open and Etrade account and buy London investment trusts.
Have you thought about Panama? The nice thing is it's a 2 1/2 hour flight to Miami and the US$ is the currency. Good medical care.
Colombia may be an option as they have done good job cleaning up the problems. Far less expats than Panama, in a larger country, and spread out. Just stay away from their borders with Panama, Ecuador, and Venezuela.
Mona
Pimix has a ton of mortgages too, but it's a true multisector fund, with IG, HY, EM, and so on ... which D. Ivascyn has substantially tweaked in the last couple of months, so he does do tactical/strategic portfolio tweaks, and has proven to be very good at it. While it's not risky as multisector funds go, it's still riskier than DBLTX or TGLMX, partly because of the asset mix, partly because of the Pimco derivative strategy that functions as effective leverage. (They do know what they're doing on that, though.)
Multisectors with a substantial stake in foreign bonds: PDIIX and FSICX are two that come to mind. PDIIX had ~ half of assets in foreign bonds as of 8/31. You could also consider a global bond fund like LSGLX or PGAIX, or a less risky EM fund like DBLEX or FNMIX.
For portfolio info on Pimco funds, M* is not a reliable source; for better info, go for example here, on the Pimco site:
http://investments.pimco.com/Products/pages/290.aspx
and pick "Portfolio Statistics" in the middle column of links, where you'll be routed to the monthly Excel spreadsheet showing the breakdowns for most of the Pim funds.
Best o' luck, AJ
Wasatch Emerging Market Small Cap, WAEMX
Templeton Global Return, TGTRX
Reduce positions:
Apple, AAPL (took profit when it peaked over $700)
Pimco Total Return, PTTRX
We are entering earning season and market can react poorly with the slowing economy. Better entry points will present themselves later this year.
Wifey is a USA citizen now. Orig. from Phils. That's why I mentioned that country, specifically. We have asked and inquired of others, and the thing to do (IF we do it) would be to basically take-up residence there but keep a USA address. we've been told by others who are doing it that in order to avoid Philippines-related headaches, you must just LEAVE---briefly--- and come back, once a year, at minimum. (You could just fly to Saipan for a day or two, you know? USA flag there.) Electronic transfers can be used to put money in a local account over there....We are already landlords there, after a fashion: we bought a very basic, cheap house for some family members to live in. We could always go there if things do NOT go well. But for ourselves, we had in mind to buy an American-style home, though they are all scaled-down over there. It can be done for the US equivalent of $40,000-$50,000. Then there are taxes, utilities, etc. ...Scott, in your final paragraph above, I think you've characterized my holdings very well. Yes:
"Your portfolio is still heavily weighted towards a couple of things, but you've started to diversify more."
On another note, I have been thinking about switching my PRNEX to PRAFX since you had a post on it a while back. What I like is that PRAFX diversifies into natural resources and energy like PRNEX, but also holds real estate. Problem with me switching now is that I already added CSRSX to complement PRNEX if and when inflation hits. But thanks for the idea.
I'll say there are a limited number of ways an income fund can produce outsized returns. Would surely dig a deep hole for myself speculating further - so won't. What seems remarkable is the fund beats long held PRHYX by 5-6 points YTD. Checked to make sure there hasn't been a manager change at Price. Nope - same fellow that's run the fund for 15 years - always done a good job.
Researching PONDX led to a new website (Fund Mojo) which looks quite interesting in giving simple snapshots. May be useful to you or others. http://www.fundmojo.com/mutualfund/fund_report/mutualfund/PONDX
Good to see more folks adding to SFGIX. It's doing quite well this year. But Max for the life of me I will never understand why you own three similar Matthews funds and SFGIX! But, if you're happy, I'm happy.
I recently doubled-up on AQRIX selling all of RPHYX. I love the way parity handles risk and while I think David Sherman's RPHYX strategy is superb, my investment horizon is longer than appropriate for this good fund.
I also sold off two thirds of FAAFX after its recent run up, wanting to tame volatility...my horizon is longer than two months, but not ten years! I purchased more RNSIX with the proceeds. Hard to find a higher return at such low volatility than this income fund.
Current portfolio then is 60/40 slanted toward fixed income: RNSIX, AQRIX, FAAFX, WBMIX, SFGIX and DODBX. I also have small equity holding in BAC. Four of the funds I first learned about on MFO. Will be looking to cut one maybe two funds in months ahead, since I can never shake Bogle's guidance to KIS.
Here's a video interview from M* with some Mutual fund "experts" and their thoughts as to what they like right now.
Morningstar Fund Experts Name Their Favorites
Maybe this is something we can do on MFO a couple of times a month?
Mike,
I too am thinking of buying PONDX Monday or Tuesday. If I do, it's time for you to get out!