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There is an interview with Kathleen Gaffney in M*, http://www.morningstar.com/cover/videocenter.aspx?id=595337, so I checked and found that her new fund suddenly jumped more than 4% during the last month. It is a very small fund, about 40M, and almost 60% is (or was) in bank loans. As she says, "Right now with my size, I’m very nimble and looking for great opportunities."
I just checked and EVBIX is not available for less than a $250K minimum at Fidelity, Scottrade, and TDAmeritrade. Firstrade does not recognize the symbol and this fund is not available for online trading at Wellstrade.
There is no reason to invest with Kathleen Gaffney. We have had this discussion on this board when she left for Eaton Vance. I think if and when Dan Fuss retires from Loomis Sayles Bond fund, the other two co-managers who have been working with Dan/Kathleen for 10 years will do fine with the fund.
Eaton Vance funds are available at Fidelity with a load, but they are waived at Schwab.
Reply to @Sven: I agree with you that there isn't a big reason to follow Gaffney. But I for one did decide to significantly reduce my LSBDX holding after Fuss announced his retirement (there is no "if". he said he's going) and when Gaffney left Loomis Sayles. I was invested in LSBDX because Fuss and Gaffney were the proven co-leaders. The remaining managers "may" do just fine, but... being a good analyst does not guarantee good lead management.
There are plenty of good-proven bond fund managers and management teams out there. I decided to move most of my LSBDX money and invest with Ivascyn, PIMIX. I've also held MWTRX for quite a while. Great proven management investing in higher quality bonds. So I have no compelling need to hire Gaffney (as if I could or would invest $250k in one fund.
The information provided was based on a test-trades I made in my retirement accounts at the brokerages I listed. Such test-trades usually represent reality, especially at Fidelity.
Looks like all of the Eaton Vance "A" class funds are NTF with LW at Fidelity except for EVBAX. Since this is new fund, I suspect that it is also NTF, LW, but interested folks will need to investigate further with a phone call to Fidelity.
Reply to @MikeM: I am not as concerned if and when Dan Fuss retires. The other two co-managers have been working with Fuss and Gaffney for well over 10 years. My opinion is that Fuss's investment process would likely stay intact when Fuss moves to retirement. Hence the fund would do fine afterward.
Right now I am not familiar with Ivascyn, but will do more research on how his approach differs from Bill Gross's PTTRX.
After my previous post, I called Fidelity twice and asked why EVBAX was the only Eaton Vance "A" class fund without the load waived. They said they would look into it. Well today I check Fidelity's web site and see that EVBAX is now NTF/LW.
Reply to @kevindow: Thank you. Schwab has been offer many A share funds as load waived. Fidelity should do the same if they want to compete in the same space. For now none of Templeton A shares are load waived. I will give Fido a call and let them know of Schwab's policy.
Comments
I'm a couple of zeroes short of the $250,000 minimum...any thoughts?
Kevin
Eaton Vance funds are available at Fidelity with a load, but they are waived at Schwab.
There are plenty of good-proven bond fund managers and management teams out there. I decided to move most of my LSBDX money and invest with Ivascyn, PIMIX. I've also held MWTRX for quite a while. Great proven management investing in higher quality bonds. So I have no compelling need to hire Gaffney (as if I could or would invest $250k in one fund
The information provided was based on a test-trades I made in my retirement accounts at the brokerages I listed. Such test-trades usually represent reality, especially at Fidelity.
Looks like all of the Eaton Vance "A" class funds are NTF with LW at Fidelity except for EVBAX. Since this is new fund, I suspect that it is also NTF, LW, but interested folks will need to investigate further with a phone call to Fidelity.
Right now I am not familiar with Ivascyn, but will do more research on how his approach differs from Bill Gross's PTTRX.
Kevin
Hi Kevin, Good to see you posting here. Miss your posts in M*.Hope you are doing well!