Though a bit shorter than usual (six stories instead of seven or eight) because I suspect it will be a bit hard to be heard above the clamor of the election. Just finished reading a story on
coping with election anxiety which made good points even if it's a bit hard to chill out.
Devesh, as I note in the publisher's letter, has been called back to active service in the world o' finance. I will miss his voice even though I cheer for his opportunities.
Lynn continues to humble and inspire me with the breadth of his post-retirement vision and engagement. That continues this money with his advice on living paycheck-to-paycheck and his work with a group that helps folks facing that exact challenge.
The unifying theme on the three fund specific pieces might be "
a redemption story."
AlphaCentric has been mightily troubled, into which CrossingBridge might bring an island of calm and strong performance. David Sherman is very sure that "approach with caution" is good advice for folks interested in AlphaCentric Real Income. His team is working to create a smooth portfolio transition and a valuable tool for you, but both with take time.
Bridgeway is one of those groups whose culture is utterly admirable (from capping executive comp to donating half of their earnings to charity to have the senior people answer the phone when you call) but whose performance is streaky. Back in the days of Brill's MFI we used to have portfolio contests judged on monthly performance. If you wanted to use, toggle Bridgeway Ultra-Small with Bridgeway Ultra-Large and a soupcon of Technology Value was nearly unbeatable. For a long while Aggressive Investor (and not-quite-as Aggressive Investor II) were golden. Then ... In any case, they think they've found a powerful tool in their Intangible Capital Intensity metric, they've been running private money successfully with it and the lead manager built a $15 billion practice at QMA using a similar discipline.
Even
Tweedy, Browne has elements of redemption. They're 100 years old now, deeply committed to value and famously authors of
What Has Worked in Investing. Except that it hasn't worked quite as it used to which has led Tweedy in the direction of "value in a new century" research. High dividend was one move, insider alignment (along with value) is the next. They rarely take impulsive steps, so I'll be curious to see how things play out.
And The Shadow is chronicling a lot of active ETF from mutual fund guys and fund-to-ETF conversions, signs of a reorienting industry.
Finally, you'll note our podcasting foray. Let me know if there's any gain there, and we can try using the tech on investing-specific articles. In theory it's just "upload and stand back." In practice, it takes five or six sets of revise-and-resubmit to get the "podcast hosts" to catch our meaning and direction. That said, if it works for folks, we'll do it.
Cheers.
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