Howdy, Stranger!

It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!

In this Discussion

Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.

    Support MFO

  • Donate through PayPal

When it comes to alloaction funds___

are there any better ones than PRWCX, VWINX, JABAX, VLAAX, and CTFAX?
«1

Comments

  • beebee
    edited April 2020
    I use BRUFX for my HSA. For taxable accounts I would consider VTMFX.
    Others that come to mind:
    FBALX
    FPURX
    VWELX
    VGSTX
    JABAX
    CBUZX

  • ABALX ... Is a standout.

  • @Bobpa
    They're all HERE beginning in 2003 (except CBUZX, which couldn't be identified to chart). They're not twins/same style, some have loads, unless you have a way around that (i.e., your brokerage). There has likely been management changes over the years and as usual, some investments are more in the right place at the right time........so, they won't align in returns every year.

    What are you attempting to do???
  • I second VTMFX if it’s a taxable account
  • bee said:

    I use BRUFX for my HSA. For taxable accounts I would consider VTMFX.
    Others that come to mind:
    FBALX
    FPURX
    VWELX
    VGSTX
    JABAX
    CBUZX

    Yes, we just put my wife into BRUFX. Rollover IRA.
  • I like FPURX also, always have
  • Running Fidelity's Mutual Fund comparison tool, RBBAX returns less than VWINX or BACPX but is highly ranked in the 15% to 30% allocation segment.
  • edited April 2020
    Yeah, it's a tough time, and I think going to get tougher, more than is being priced in now.

    Since Feb 23, AOK and VWINX are about even, with the former showing bigger dip / recovery. Down over 5%, but only that. Praise the Lord.

    AOM is a bit behind them, naturally. Two brutal months.

    JABAX, FPURX, VLAAX, VWELX, and now VALIX are all bundled back around about the same point today, down 10% plus or minus, with the last one having the greatest dip and recovery over the last 2mos, the others closely tracking and less of a dip.

    Of course all have different allocation proportions, but then almost everything has swung in step during this time.

    You could conclude that you were simply going to put everything into some mix of AOK and AOM from now on, as someone recently recalled attention to, heading into a dicy future. But as msf and others have pointed out, you could probably do better with some effort and more than some luck. (Famous last words.)

    I did not have the energy tonight to plot all of these allocation funds against my bespoke combo of CAPE, VOOG, and BND, so there.
  • What are you attempting to do??? Simplify!!! I have finally realized my investing skills are not serving me well. I only need 2-3% at the most from my portfolio to supplement my other income at this point, so even the choices I am moving into may be more aggressive than I need.
  • edited April 2020
    Hi @Bobpa, My portfolio generates more income than I presently need. With this excess I continue to invest it back into my portfolio and grow my investment farm. At one time, I thought I'd reduce my asset allocation to produce just my my current income needs. But, as Lee Iacocca use to say ... "Lead, Follow or Get Out of the Way!" So, if you are not growing your principal you are losing to inflation. With this, I looked at what a conservative asset allocation (30% to 50% equity) would produce over time and I came up with somewhere between 4% to 6%. Trade around the edges, as I have done, and perhaps get up to 8%. I use to do a good number of spiffs from time to time. I see you list CTFAX as one of your choices. I like the fund and now, I let CTFAX automatically do some of my spiff positioning, for me. As you can recently see in this stock market volatility it has proved it's metal as it adjust its equity allocation based upon the movement of the S&P 500 Index. I plan to buy more of CTFAX after it makes it's June distribution.

    You might also want to look at convertible securities funds. The one I use is FISCX.

    In addition, my asset allocation is as important, to me, as the funds that I hold within my portfolio along with my investment strategy. My base line allocation is 20% cash, 40% income and 40% equity. From there I can tweak this up of down + (or -) five percent and generally rebalance at + (or -) two percent from my target allocation. When stocks go on sale why not own more of them? Currently, my temporary asset allocation while I'm playing this stock market pullback is 15% cash, 40% income and 45% equity. I recently let my equity allocation peak at 49% and then booked some profit reducing it to 47%. I'll be booking some more profit soon and I will be trimming equity back to 45%. From here I'll let it again move upward as the stock market recovers and trim again booking some more profit. And, keep on keeping on by repeating the process.

    Something to ponder? Yes.

    I wish you well with your investing endeavors.

    Old_Skeet
  • edited April 2020
    @carew388, Hey I took a look at BACPX which is listed as a 20/80 target asset allocation fund. Do an Instant Xray on the fund and you will discover it can short as well. I just added it to my buy list. Thanks again for posting your discovery. It is indeed appreciated. I'm going to soon pair it up with CTFAX in my hybrid income sleeve. A draw back, for me, is that it does come up a little short on income generation but pays better than cash.
  • Thank you for all the responses and suggestions.
  • @catch22, thanks for the chart link. Shows what an incredible fund PRWCX has been through the years and various markets. Chart begins a bit over 3 years before Giroux took over PRWCX.
  • edited April 2020
    Great discussion .... I'm still quite happy with PRWCX as my sole allocation fund at the moment, though I've considered adding one of VG's Global Welly fund to my mix but not pulled the trigger yet.
  • edited April 2020
    Hi guys, I keyed all of the ticker symbols that Catch22 used in his graph into my fund analysis & review sleeve with fund performance numbers through 04/23/2020. I looked at each fund for its 1 month return period, a year to date period, a one year period, a three year period, a five year period, and a ten year period. For each period the best performing fund was awarded three points, the second best two points and the third best one point. For this study the best performing fund was PRWCX with a total of nine points. The second best was VLAAX with a total of eight points. And, the third best was CTFAX with a total of seven points. Interesting, there was only one fund that had positive returns for all periods and that fund was CTFAX.
  • o.s.: why wait until CTFAX's distribution to buy? is this money taxable? meanwhile, in the ETF world, might want to have a look at SWAN, a so-called growth and treasury fund that uses options. so far, so good, and up YTD.
  • edited April 2020
    @linter. Thanks for your question. I hold a good slug of CTFAX in my taxable account. Overall about 65 percent of my investments are held in taxable accounts since I have been an investor for the past sixty plus years from the age of twelve. And, simply stated ... I feel I'd be buying the distribution if purchased now. Yesterday, CTFAX sold down equities from an allocation of 70% to 40%. This sell activity will no doubt result in a sizeable capital gain payout in the upcoming June distribution.
  • CTFAX's M* review states that their methodology was unproven. Last updated in 2019. Will be interesting to read the update. I do recall an article about how Columbia'starget retirement funds did things differently with the equity sleeve.
  • From what I can tell, CTFAX performs similar to an average conservative balanced fund until the crap hits the fan like we just experienced, at which point it shined. This sell-off certainly skews all the comparative return data.

    Protecting principle might be the best reason to own it I suppose and that's a pretty good reason, especially for conservative or retired investors. Just understand it will have it's day (like now) and could look very ordinary in most other markets.
  • @old_skeet you're very welcome. And thanks for posting your experiences with CTFAX I've added the fund in my taxable and retirement accounts at Fidelity and Schwab.
  • @bee can you please how you able to invest our HSA in BRUFX???
  • @MikeM2 If M* saying something like that, there is a good chance it is good fund. That's my experience.
  • Are there any global allocation funds you would add to what has been suggested
  • no precisely sure what you mean, but AOR (and its ilk in different proportions) is over a third foreign:

    https://screener.fidelity.com/ftgw/etf/goto/snapshot/portfolioComposition.jhtml?symbols=AOR
  • Bobpa said:

    Are there any global allocation funds you would add to what has been suggested

    RPGAX TRP. 30% fixed. 26 US stocks. 30 non-US stocks. 11 "other." 3 cash

    Down -11.29% YTD, still.
    https://www.morningstar.com/funds/xnas/rpgax/portfolio
  • edited April 2020
    @BobPa: For my global allocation funds held within the growth & income area of my portfolio I have three asset allocation funds with each playing different roles within my portfolio and each having different investment strategies. For total return I use CAIBX. For income generation I use TIBAX. And, for deep value investing I use TEQIX.
  • @bee can you please how you able to invest our HSA in BRUFX???

    I simply set up an HSA account with Bruce Fund...I believe this was a paper application through the mail. I use my bank accounts billpay service to make month contributions electronically.

    There website is spartan, but functions simply. No cash position. I am always invested 100% in BRUFX. I will eventually open another HSA with Fidelity where I can widen my fund choices and hold near cash.

    I have done withdrawals from BRUFX for medical reimbursements, but I do this very in frequently. I consider the fund my Long Term Care policy which will hopefully fund / offset much of my healthcare costs in retirement.
  • GAOAX and RPGAX are two I'm invested in. SGENX is disappointing now so I can't recommend it. MDLOX may be a substitute for SGENX .
  • If you have a Vanguard account, you can purchase the CTFAX institutional version COTZX (lower er / no 12b-1 fee).
  • edited April 2020
    Hi guys. Another asset allocation fund that I like ... but, do not own is SFAAX. They use to be more transparent with posting their positioning but now they just list their baseline asset allocation as a 40/60 (bond/stock) portfolio. However, I know it gets jockeyed from time to time based upon the manager's read on the makret. I have learned that its stock allocation can range from a low of 45% upwards to a high of 75% while its bond allocation can range from a low of 25% to a high of 55%. It is another fund that has performed well in this recent stock market downdraft. In checking it's performance I'm finding that it is down year to date by -2.65% with a ten year average total return of +9.39% as of 4/24/2020. And, as I write, it is off it's 52 week high by 6.68%. In comparison, the S&P 500 Index is off its 52 week high by 16.2% with a ten year average return of around 11.0%. With this, the fund does employ and offer some downside risk measures while providing excellent returns for an asset allocation fund.

    MFO list this as a moderate asset allocation fund with a risk level rating of 3 and with a performance rating of 5. And, yes it made MFO's Honor Roll.

    Anybody on the board own this fund? If so ... perhaps, you would be willing to report its positioning from its latest shareholder report? And, make some additional comments. I'd be most interested in learning of your comments and thoughts.
Sign In or Register to comment.