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.
@Benwp . thanks very much for providing info on the new fund and manager. The domestic version looks very interesting as large blend fund. By the way, since you are looking at more value oriented funds take a look at IAI which gives you nice exposure to financials domestically. Very strong and consistent performance.
Found this thread to be very informative to me when selecting Foreign / World funds for a portfolio. Returning to this thread after some time has passed. When looking at the performance this year - it appears that Foreign Large Growth has outperformed World LG. Note: I own MGGPX and MFAIX and PRGSX. Anyone own any of these funds? Thoughts on performance and future?
I bought into MGGIX (MGGPX) before it soft-closed. It's tread water to been slightly up over the past year, but I'll continue to hold it until I feel otherwise. After all, barring blatant weirdness or idiocy, one 'bad' year after a multi-year multi-bagger streak doesn't make a trend in my book.
I took some profits in MGGPX because of its overweight in my holdings, then I added PWJZX. I also reduced ARTYX a bit. As has been noted here before, ARTYX has a big chunk of US stocks, so it can be seen as a global fund.
I think there may be some interest in a discussion on World and Foreign Stock funds or International as some were mentioned in @KHaw24 thread on Large Caps and @MikeW and @Observant1 weighed in with some good commentary on LC and Foreign.
So, I asked about a few above and will repeat below. I'm interested in WCMIX and maybe more now that Observant said its going to soft close on 11/30. Most of mine is in MGGPX and now PRGSX. Are there any other favorite International funds or ETFs? After all, it's 20 percent or so of my port. Thanks @BenWP and @rforno for commenting as well.
WCMIX has $29B in AUM and is quite concentrated, maybe a red light. My preference is PWJZX. For Global, I'd put new money into BGAIX, not MGGPX. Heugh's fund also may have become too large, prompting the soft close. The Baron fund has scorched just about everybody in recent years.
I could not identify an international LB fund I would really want to buy. Back in the old days, Harbor International was great. It's hard to beat an index over the long haul. In my retirement account I have a healthy allocation to TIAA-CREF International Equity Index (TCIEX).
In the Foreign Large Blend category, I like SCIEX and MIEIX*. The SCIEX management team also manages 30% of VWILX. MIEIX has below average costs, low turnover, and usually provides good downside protection. Mr. Ling started managing MIEIX on 10/01/2009; Mr. Webber began managing SCIEX on 03/01/2010. Portfolio Visualizer Results from Mar 2010 - Oct 2021
*Morningstar fund category was Foreign Large Growth prior to 2020
A couple of more to consider. Blackrock International is a foreign large blend that scores in the top 10% across most time frames for its category. Impressive fund. Grandeur Peak Global stalwarts has had a very nice couple of years in the Global Small/mid cap space. David has written a lot about this fund family. Thanks for the advice on MIEIX @Observant1. Wasn’t aware of that one. Great candidate for a taxable account too. I’m personally leaning to starting an account with WCMIX. I will be reading up more on these other funds too. BGAIX is also interesting but it’s very high PE multiple gives me pause.
Thanks for replies…between posts from OP to now, plenty of good suggestions. PRGSX has been a good recent add for me. Will do more research on funds suggested.
@Observant1: the PV charts are really helpful. I had noted MIEIX and SCIEX as good performers when I looked rapidly for LB international funds. What strikes me is how relatively poorly the investor in international equities has been rewarded over the past 10 years and beyond as measured by the Vanguard Total International index on your linked chart. Very revealing.
I'm glad you found the PV chart helpful. PV Analysis Results allow users to easily compare important metrics (CAGR, max. drawdown, Sortino, etc.). I've found PV to be very useful during the fund evaluation process.
Have run a few PV on all foreign/world funds mentioned in thread and cannot find one that outperforms MGGPX or PRGSX on LT basis solely using results from PV. Doesn’t mean they are best but interesting nonetheless. Also find the US Mkt Correlation tab helpful.
@JonGaltlll All have have to offer, I've seen more than one winner become a loser. I'm not saying this is going to happen, but ...... one needs to keep their eyes open. Enjoy your Sunday, Derf
I have owned general global funds in the past. And I have been getting rid of them. The last to go will be DODWX from my IRA sometime very soon. Then VMNVX from my taxable account just as soon as I can harvest a tax loss.
My feeling now is that global funds dampen any opportunity to rebalance from foreign to domestic, or vice versa. Then too, it is not unusual to find a few foreign stocks in my domestic funds, and a few domestic stocks in my foreign funds.
The funds that breaks this rule are GPGCX and GGSYX. I couldn't buy any more of GISYX, or any of their other funds at my IRA broker. So I bought what was open to me.
- If I were very young and saving for 25+ years out, a good actively managed time tested global fund is what I’d use. Heck, with a 25-35 year time horizon until even the first withdrawal, that’s about all I’d use. TEMWX was a great fund in the 70s and for several years beyond. (Went downhill after Franklin took over).
- Here’s one of the first things I learned from our plan’s advisor (whom I don’t begrudge for the 4% commission he was raking in). Says Bob: “Global’s better because if the U.S. becomes overvalued they’ll simply take the money and move it to other areas of the world that aren’t overvalued.” Made sense to me than and still does.
- You might already be invested in a global fund without realizing it. Recently I looked at the Lipper stats for sedate conservative PRSIX which I’ve long held. It’s currently invested 61% in North America. I can pin down about 25% shown to be on other continents. Doesn’t add up to 100. Might be that the fund’s substantial cash & “other” holdings aren’t assigned to any particular geographic area.
+1 Yes-you could have done a lot worse than paying the 3 and 5% load on FCNTX and SGENX in the early 1990's and staying in those fund sthe last 30 years !
@hank: good point about use of a global fund. Although we don’t know what our daughters are doing with the college money we give to our grandchildren, my advice for the MI tuition savings plan is to use the TIAA global equities option.
Grandeur Peak closed funds are "hard" closed to all existing investors who use intermediary services, i.e. brokerages. One can get around that by transfer the closed fund to Grandeur Peak and go from there. I believe Wasatch funds have the same policy.
@Sven - thanks for mentioning and including the comment on Wasatch. I noticed that with WAMCX I can add to the fund in Fidelity but it has a $250.00 minimum investment. No issue there. Unfortunately, this Wasatch fund no longer appears in Fido research. So, it takes a few extra steps for me to continue to monitor performance.
I added to GISYX last week at Fidelity. The fund has been soft closed at brokerages for a while. GPEOX (not mentioned here) is hard closed at brokerages. Both were announced at the same time if my memory is still good.
Here is some trivial info - When they allow existing shareholders to add, they mean literally. I tried to buy investor class and convert into institutional class but upon my last such gimmick, I did not retain any investor class shares and so I was forced to pay the transaction fees and add to the institutional class.
@Jongaltlll, my first post was to provide info to @WABAC in response to their post mentioning GISYX.
I added to GISYX last week at Fidelity. The fund has been soft closed at brokerages for a while. GPEOX (not mentioned here) is hard closed at brokerages. Both were announced at the same time if my memory is still good.
Here is some trivial info - When they allow existing shareholders to add, they mean literally. I tried to buy investor class and convert into institutional class but upon my last such gimmick, I did not retain any investor class shares and so I was forced to pay the transaction fees and add to the institutional class.
@Jongaltlll, my first post was to provide info to @WABAC in response to their post mentioning GISYX.
Is GISYX eligible for Fido’s Automatic Investment Plan? That would be one way to reduce the transaction fee to $5 per trade.
Comments
I am very interested in thorough analysis!
MikeW thank you for your suggestion regarding FSEAX, which my wife has in her 401(k) and we are very pleased as you would imagine.
That may be a better way to augment my foreign/EM allocation. This way I have greater control of that asset allocation.
I have to admit, I think the US is still the best place to invest, but a dash into foreign/EM could be very beneficial.
As I said previously, I’ve been previously burned by investing in this area on calls for a “rotation”.
Thx. Matt
Foreign LG:
PWJZX +22.04
MFAIX +20.00
BUFIX +19.94
WCMIX +19.11
World LG:
PRGSX +16.70
BGAIX +15.73
MGGPX +8.85 <-- Not a great YTD (at all).
Edit Add: Since thread mentioned FSEAX ... that's one fund I'm hoping to exit soon. I also own ARTYX and may keep position there for a tad in EM.
So, I asked about a few above and will repeat below. I'm interested in WCMIX and maybe more now that Observant said its going to soft close on 11/30. Most of mine is in MGGPX and now PRGSX. Are there any other favorite International funds or ETFs?
After all, it's 20 percent or so of my port. Thanks @BenWP and @rforno for commenting as well.
Foreign LG:
PWJZX +22.04
MFAIX +20.00
BUFIX +19.94
WCMIX +19.11
World LG
PRGSX +16.70
BGAIX +15.73
MGGPX +8.85 <-- Not great.
I could not identify an international LB fund I would really want to buy. Back in the old days, Harbor International was great. It's hard to beat an index over the long haul. In my retirement account I have a healthy allocation to TIAA-CREF International Equity Index (TCIEX).
The SCIEX management team also manages 30% of VWILX.
MIEIX has below average costs, low turnover, and usually provides good downside protection.
Mr. Ling started managing MIEIX on 10/01/2009; Mr. Webber began managing SCIEX on 03/01/2010.
Portfolio Visualizer Results from Mar 2010 - Oct 2021
*Morningstar fund category was Foreign Large Growth prior to 2020
I'm glad you found the PV chart helpful.
PV Analysis Results allow users to easily compare important metrics (CAGR, max. drawdown, Sortino, etc.).
I've found PV to be very useful during the fund evaluation process.
Enjoy your Sunday, Derf
My feeling now is that global funds dampen any opportunity to rebalance from foreign to domestic, or vice versa. Then too, it is not unusual to find a few foreign stocks in my domestic funds, and a few domestic stocks in my foreign funds.
The funds that breaks this rule are GPGCX and GGSYX. I couldn't buy any more of GISYX, or any of their other funds at my IRA broker. So I bought what was open to me.
I am not averse to buying global funds in sectors that appeal to me. I am happy with GLFOX. And in the near future I will be buying some globally oriented funds in the green economy. Anyone interested can read my comments here:
https://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/58867/climate-change-funds#latest
- If I were very young and saving for 25+ years out, a good actively managed time tested global fund is what I’d use. Heck, with a 25-35 year time horizon until even the first withdrawal, that’s about all I’d use. TEMWX was a great fund in the 70s and for several years beyond. (Went downhill after Franklin took over).
- Here’s one of the first things I learned from our plan’s advisor (whom I don’t begrudge for the 4% commission he was raking in). Says Bob: “Global’s better because if the U.S. becomes overvalued they’ll simply take the money and move it to other areas of the world that aren’t overvalued.” Made sense to me than and still does.
- You might already be invested in a global fund without realizing it. Recently I looked at the Lipper stats for sedate conservative PRSIX which I’ve long held. It’s currently invested 61% in North America. I can pin down about 25% shown to be on other continents. Doesn’t add up to 100. Might be that the fund’s substantial cash & “other” holdings aren’t assigned to any particular geographic area.
Here is some trivial info -
When they allow existing shareholders to add, they mean literally. I tried to buy investor class and convert into institutional class but upon my last such gimmick, I did not retain any investor class shares and so I was forced to pay the transaction fees and add to the institutional class.
@Jongaltlll, my first post was to provide info to @WABAC in response to their post mentioning GISYX.