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Hi all. Looking at a new value-oriented balanced fund for my wife. Thoughts on MAPOX? Seems to fit the bill in a lot of respects, but I'm wary of the regional focus (even though there's literature suggesting that regional focus can add value when the region is well understood), and always thought of it as being a solid but not spectacular preformer in the category.
I just bought MAPOX last year and am very pleased. My understanding about the regional focus is that it's not supposed to be a thing which handcuffs the fund managers from investing in something that may live out beyond the Midwest. I do not look for it to light the world on fire. It's BALANCED, with bonds, too. I looked and compared it to BERIX--- which is labelled at M* as "conservative." On the other hand, the "Moderate risk" label assigned to MAPOX fits the bill for me. Its risk/reward profile has been bumped-up at M* also. RISK is now measured as BELOW AVERAGE, and RETURNS are characterized as HIGH. That's a change in the right direction just from last year. I bought it in April, so my stake in the fund is 13 months old now.
GLRBX (which investor mentioned) is a solid, sleep well at night fund that doesn't get that much attention. I don't own it, but I've owned it in the past and it's a fine fund.
MAPOX, BERIX, VWINX, GLRBX have all delivered great absolute returns, but MAPOX has experienced a drawdown of 33%...VWINX and GLRBX about 18%...BERIX 13%. Whereas funds like PTTRX or PGOVX have delivered slightly lower returns while suffering lower drawdowns...much lower for PTTRX at only 6%. So, depends on your timeframe and risk tolerance. MAPOX has highest volatility of the bunch, by far...and with it the highest absolute return, but the worst drawdown, as you would expect.
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