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Devesh has spent rather a lot of time thinking about international investing in these past few months and has come to the surprising conclusion that active management might actually be worth your money. As part of his due diligence, he's been speaking with Amit Wadhwaney - the latest in a long line of experienced managers he's spent time with - and shares a bit of what he's learned.
Lynn Bolin addresses some of the concerns we all have about the topsy turvy state of the markets and the economy and, separately, looks at whether he needs to pare down some favorite funds.
The Shadow does what only The Shadow can do.
And our newest writer - ChatGPT - weighs in on actively managed EM funds, including its assessment of three. (I'm a bit concerned about the easy proliferation of mindless robots on the web, and we wanted to share both an example of what you might expect and three safety tips).
Finally, I worked for a while identifying funds that have the propensity to handle rotten markets well while still delivering peer-topping longer term returns. Some are humble ultra-short bond funds, a few are young and flexible (unlike me) winner and even fewer have managed to get it right for a quarter century or more.
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Regrets for the delay. A horrendous week was punctuated by my tripping over a student's backpack and taking ... let's call it, a great fall.
Thanks so much David, Lynn, Devesh and the Shadow! We can't thank you enough for the wonderful research and writing you all do for us in the community...
Hmmm ... I may have lost my claim to being a Weeble ("Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down!") but I'm still moving forward more than back.
Working on setting up manager interviews. Seafarer Value (the only EM fund that didn't crash last year, top 3% since inception), Osterweis Strategic Income (they're one of the shortlist for my rebalanced toward bonds, RSIVX would be an option but I like spreading manager risk a bit), Leuthold Core (in an ongoing effort to give folks an option in a market that refuses to make sense; their portfolio makes frequent small shifts in response to outputs from their quant model) and Standpoint Multi Asset (for about the same reason, just with a shorter track record).
I need to think about what I need to ask. My worst screw-ups come when I simply listen to the sweet song of a passionate manager or become enchanted by "the story." My better work starts with getting the facts down then pursuing the two or three questions that the public record doesn't allow me to answer.
Then there's a mystery of North Star Microcap, a fund that Morningstar agrees has a micro-value portfolio but which, in the face of that, they moved to small-core. Up until 2022, they booked double-digit absolute returns in the prior two years when they had bottom tier relative ones. Then 2022 and a complete dump. Hmmm ...
Oh, right. Also grading, rebuilding the Honors program and meeting a new faculty member and three student research groups today!
Comments
The March commentary is now available.
Devesh has spent rather a lot of time thinking about international investing in these past few months and has come to the surprising conclusion that active management might actually be worth your money. As part of his due diligence, he's been speaking with Amit Wadhwaney - the latest in a long line of experienced managers he's spent time with - and shares a bit of what he's learned.
Lynn Bolin addresses some of the concerns we all have about the topsy turvy state of the markets and the economy and, separately, looks at whether he needs to pare down some favorite funds.
The Shadow does what only The Shadow can do.
And our newest writer - ChatGPT - weighs in on actively managed EM funds, including its assessment of three. (I'm a bit concerned about the easy proliferation of mindless robots on the web, and we wanted to share both an example of what you might expect and three safety tips).
Finally, I worked for a while identifying funds that have the propensity to handle rotten markets well while still delivering peer-topping longer term returns. Some are humble ultra-short bond funds, a few are young and flexible (unlike me) winner and even fewer have managed to get it right for a quarter century or more.
- - - - -
Regrets for the delay. A horrendous week was punctuated by my tripping over a student's backpack and taking ... let's call it, a great fall.
David
Hmmm ... I may have lost my claim to being a Weeble ("Weebles wobble, but they don't fall down!") but I'm still moving forward more than back.
Working on setting up manager interviews. Seafarer Value (the only EM fund that didn't crash last year, top 3% since inception), Osterweis Strategic Income (they're one of the shortlist for my rebalanced toward bonds, RSIVX would be an option but I like spreading manager risk a bit), Leuthold Core (in an ongoing effort to give folks an option in a market that refuses to make sense; their portfolio makes frequent small shifts in response to outputs from their quant model) and Standpoint Multi Asset (for about the same reason, just with a shorter track record).
I need to think about what I need to ask. My worst screw-ups come when I simply listen to the sweet song of a passionate manager or become enchanted by "the story." My better work starts with getting the facts down then pursuing the two or three questions that the public record doesn't allow me to answer.
Then there's a mystery of North Star Microcap, a fund that Morningstar agrees has a micro-value portfolio but which, in the face of that, they moved to small-core. Up until 2022, they booked double-digit absolute returns in the prior two years when they had bottom tier relative ones. Then 2022 and a complete dump. Hmmm ...
Oh, right. Also grading, rebuilding the Honors program and meeting a new faculty member and three student research groups today!
Life's a party.
David
Group's Funds LCORX (also ETF cousin LCR), GLBLX, GRZZX.
https://advisors.leutholdgroup.com/research/special-reports/2023/03/13/in-memoriam-steve-leuthold.24112
https://www.startribune.com/obituaries/detail/0000452560/?fullname=steven-carl-leuthold