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While my focus is strategy as opposed to distribution, I have seen our expense ratio fall as our AUM has risen. In that sense, a rising tide lifts all boats.
@hank: Very prescient comments about Verlander; two long balls give the Dodgers a 3-1 lead and someone else had to win the game. I watched JV with the Tigers as you did.
@PBKCM: Given what Old_Skeet said above about unrealized gains and high turnover of your fund, do you have any idea what you'll be paying out in distributions for 2017? Thanks.
@PBKCM: Given what Old_Skeet said above about unrealized gains and high turnover of your fund, do you have any idea what you'll be paying out in distributions for 2017? Thanks.
Hi @BenWP. We expect to make a distribution in mid-December. I'll update when I know more.
Wow @Roy - you got an early start! Let me take a wild guess - did you invest in Fidelity Magellan?
I don't mean to be evasive and I wish I could go into more detail, but compliance asks that I refer all questions about the fund to our website (which Ted linked to earlier in the thread). The website addresses your question.
And our fact sheet, found on the website in the Investor Toolkit section, lists the total number of positions as of 9/30, as well as the top 10 positions in terms of size.
@PBKCM: Has your fund ever held assets other than stocks? At present, it doesn't seem to merit the moniker "multialternative" assigned by M* because it holds all stocks.
In 1982 either Forbes or Fortune listed, with savvy-for-the-time analyses, the best, most solid equity funds for the long haul, and Magellan was not on that last or even close. Still, many familiar names: Century Shares Trust (insurance), Contrafund, Janus, D&C Stock, maybe Sequoia, maybe something TRP, CGM something, I believe, Lindner maybe, and probably a Vanguard. I had been investing, though not heavily and not parrticularly successfully, for over a decade already, and through my father the mfund salesman-adviser (Channing) and newsletter MA chart grapher. I did have a good slug in Lindner. It was a brutal time, seemingly unending.
Wow @Roy - you got an early start! Let me take a wild guess - did you invest in Fidelity Magellan?
I first started investing via mutual funds through Prudential-Bache. I believe the first mutual fund my account executive put me in was Templeton Growth. It was probably 10 years later I withdrew my account and invested directly via no-load funds, mainly Janus and Acorn at the time. Today, all of our investments are with T. Rowe Price, Pimco and Grandeur Peak via online broker TDA. What a head spinning evolution!
@PBKCM, can potential share holders buy the Institutional class shares of your fund directly from your company at a low initial investment (e.g. $2K) with a monthly AIP commitment like some other mutual fund houses (e.g. Seafarer, Grandeur Peak, Rondure, etc.) do?
With the trend towards passive investing as it is, do you feel a publicly traded investment firm such as T. Rowe Price will be forced to go private eventually given they are not at all interested in competing for passive investors? Our current long-running bull market has benefited them in raising AUM.
As a stock over the last 20 years, TROW has generally performed well in bull markets and poorly in bear markets. I believe this to be an investor sentiment phenomenon as opposed to a passive investing issue.
TROW has $22B in market cap. They are a long way from being forced to go private IMO.
Frankly, I think passive investing/robo advisors etc. may be the ones hurting most if we enter a long term bear market. The better active managers have a chance to outperform the stock market by a wider margin in that environment than they do in a relentless bull market.
Congrats to you and all the people of Houston. on the Astros’ World Series Championship. I was too tough on JV. He pitched his heart out. Glad he finally has a WS ring to his credit.
Also NTF at E*TRADE with the same $100 minimum, institutional class not available, which I only checked because sometimes the minimum is a lot lower than published and I'd rather pay a transaction fee than the 12b-1.
@LLJB thanks again for letting us know about E*Trade. I am told E*Trade is setting up KCM Macro Trends Institutional (KCMIX) this week and will be available by Monday at the latest for purchases.
In order to check my current funds owned at Charles Schwab to see if they could be moved I was directed to an investor link that I have tried to link on the board for others to use; however, it has to have some kind of wall that keeps it from being linked. Anyway, KCMTX is available at Schwab for as little as $100.00 min for those interested.
I plan to open an account at Schwab in the near term and KCMTX will be one of the funds purchased. I most likely will leave exisitng funds at current broker's firm since I am and have paid for investment advice through commissions and ongoing 12b-1 fees on existing funds owned.
At one time, I did use two brokers but consolidated to one after one of my brokers retired.
As @MikeM says ... Schwab has some good funds some of them that I can not purchase through my present broker as they are not on their platform. But, their office is near me and I can get in front of them when warranted. So, I'll be keeping what I've got with them and some of new purchases will be at Schwab.
Also, the minimum of $100 you noted is for the R-1 share class. This class is not likely available to you with new money; as this class is designed for offering inside of employer retirement accounts. This link is for the fund info from Kerns web site.
Thanks for making comment. I'm thinking I read it correctly because the Schwab fund summary reads as follows ...
KCTMX is shown to be open for purchase with an initial purchase of $100.00 in basic, ira, and custodial accounts. I'm taking the basic account being a taxable account and any ira account being just that and custodial being for minors. How Schwab can make it available with the $100.00 minimum is beyond me because the fund's fact sheet, itself, reads $5,000.00 is the min. which is more in line with my expected purchase. Below is the link with this information.
Anyway, the fund is on the Schwab platform open for purchase. It will be the after the first of the year before I move on this. So, they have some time to correct the summary information, if wrong.
I think you can buy KCMTX at Schwab, but the ER is 1.62% for the R-1 shares, at a minimum purchase of $100. Schwab sells Driehaus funds at low minima also, even though that company’s website would have you believe the minimum is 10K.
Comments
While my focus is strategy as opposed to distribution, I have seen our expense ratio fall as our AUM has risen. In that sense, a rising tide lifts all boats.
Parker
Thanks for your response. Your humility certainly speaks in your (and the fund's) favor.
Hank!! Warsh yo' mouth out!
Just didn’t come out right!
Welcome to MFO, appreciate your participation and unique perspective. I've been investing in mutual funds since probably 1982 (19 years old).
What all goes into determining position size of an investment in your mutual fund?
Thank you!
I don't mean to be evasive and I wish I could go into more detail, but compliance asks that I refer all questions about the fund to our website (which Ted linked to earlier in the thread). The website addresses your question.
And our fact sheet, found on the website in the Investor Toolkit section, lists the total number of positions as of 9/30, as well as the top 10 positions in terms of size.
I hope this helps. Thanks for understanding.
The answer is "yes." Our process is described at our website and the linked materials there:
http://kernscapital.com/kcm-macro-trends-fund/
One more for my tracker! (and doesn’t cost a dime).
I had been investing, though not heavily and not parrticularly successfully, for over a decade already, and through my father the mfund salesman-adviser (Channing) and newsletter MA chart grapher.
I did have a good slug in Lindner. It was a brutal time, seemingly unending.
Thanks.
Great question. We are not currently set up for that. If that changes, I will post an update.
Many thanks.
With the trend towards passive investing as it is, do you feel a publicly traded investment firm such as T. Rowe Price will be forced to go private eventually given they are not at all interested in competing for passive investors? Our current long-running bull market has benefited them in raising AUM.
Interesting question.
As a stock over the last 20 years, TROW has generally performed well in bull markets and poorly in bear markets. I believe this to be an investor sentiment phenomenon as opposed to a passive investing issue.
TROW has $22B in market cap. They are a long way from being forced to go private IMO.
Frankly, I think passive investing/robo advisors etc. may be the ones hurting most if we enter a long term bear market. The better active managers have a chance to outperform the stock market by a wider margin in that environment than they do in a relentless bull market.
Congrats to you and all the people of Houston. on the Astros’ World Series Championship.
I was too tough on JV. He pitched his heart out. Glad he finally has a WS ring to his credit.
What a thrill ride for long suffering Houston baseball fans. School is closed tomorrow across town, and there will be a parade downtown.
I plan to open an account at Schwab in the near term and KCMTX will be one of the funds purchased. I most likely will leave exisitng funds at current broker's firm since I am and have paid for investment advice through commissions and ongoing 12b-1 fees on existing funds owned.
At one time, I did use two brokers but consolidated to one after one of my brokers retired.
As @MikeM says ... Schwab has some good funds some of them that I can not purchase through my present broker as they are not on their platform. But, their office is near me and I can get in front of them when warranted. So, I'll be keeping what I've got with them and some of new purchases will be at Schwab.
This is a broad based link for the fund you noted at Schwab. Not sure, of course; if this is what you mentioned for an investor link.
https://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investing/investment_help/investment_research/mutual_fund_research/mutual_funds.html?path=/Prospect/Research/MutualFunds/Summary.asp?symbol=KCMTX
Also, the minimum of $100 you noted is for the R-1 share class. This class is not likely available to you with new money; as this class is designed for offering inside of employer retirement accounts.
This link is for the fund info from Kerns web site.
http://kernscapital.com/kcm-macro-trends-fund/
Please correct me if I have misstated.
My 2 cents.
And away I must be.....
Catch
Thanks for making comment. I'm thinking I read it correctly because the Schwab fund summary reads as follows ...
KCTMX is shown to be open for purchase with an initial purchase of $100.00 in basic, ira, and custodial accounts. I'm taking the basic account being a taxable account and any ira account being just that and custodial being for minors. How Schwab can make it available with the $100.00 minimum is beyond me because the fund's fact sheet, itself, reads $5,000.00 is the min. which is more in line with my expected purchase. Below is the link with this information.
https://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investing/investment_help/investment_research/mutual_fund_research/mutual_funds.html?path=/Prospect/Research/MutualFunds/Summary.asp?symbol=KCMTX
Anyway, the fund is on the Schwab platform open for purchase. It will be the after the first of the year before I move on this. So, they have some time to correct the summary information, if wrong.
As I noted in the OP, happy to answer any questions you have about the industry, etc.
Regards,
Ted