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  • @WABAC, Fidelity has a ton of growthy OEFs and ETFs of their own. Even their own core funds can be growthy. Look forward to your pick.

  • Am continuing monthly selloff of FMSDX to go into FZDXX.
  • BaluBalu said:

    @WABAC, Fidelity has a ton of growthy OEFs and ETFs of their own. Even their own core funds can be growthy. Look forward to your pick.

    An Interesting exercise. Four of the candidates ended up being "Great Owls." ILGFX bit the dust first for being quanty, and hugging the index more than the others. It also had the lowest investments by management.

    That left AMAGX, BDAFX, and FUNYX. At the dinky linky is the Portfolio Visualizer backtest.

    The active share for AMAGX and BDAFX is practically equal. AMAGX gets me to the highest allocation to tech. I like the allocation to industrials. It has the lowest allocation to financials, which is OK by me. It also features lower beta and standard deviation while still adding that tech. I like that for the IRA.

    If Fido offered a cheaper version of the Baron Fund it might have been too good to pass up.
  • @WABAC,

    Baron has a lot of funds. Which one do you fancy? When you say cheaper, do you mean ER?

  • WABAC said:

    "Simplification" of the IRA continues. Why the scare quotes? Every time I make progress on the equity side there's some new bond fund popping up. Cleaning up that mess should be next summer's problem.

    Today I sold three different tech funds, TDV, FSCSX, and CCIZX. Proceeds will go into something available at Fido like AMAGX, maybe GQEPX, something growthy, but probably not an index. The growth fund goes with FDVV and FMILX.

    If anyone wants to opine on a good growthy fund at Fido, chime in.

    IMO, the best "growthy fund(s) at Fido" that are Fido funds are:

    FDSVX - Growth Discovery (we own)
    FBGRX - Blue Chip Growth (owned in a/c's we manage)
    FCNTX - Contrafund (have owned in the past)
    FSELX - Select Semis (we own)
    FSPTX - Select Technology (we own FSELX instead)
    FSPGX - Growth Index (we own VIGAX instead)
    Note that FMILX is a LV fund that is currently acting like a LG fund;

    and the best non-Fido "growthy funds" funds are :
    PRWAX - TRP All Cap Opportunities (we own)
    GSIHX - GQG Partners International Opportunities (we own)
  • edited July 9
    BaluBalu said:

    @WABAC,

    Baron has a lot of funds. Which one do you fancy? When you say cheaper, do you mean ER?

    ER, yes.

    In this case I am only looking for a LCG fund.
  • stillers said:

    WABAC said:

    "Simplification" of the IRA continues. Why the scare quotes? Every time I make progress on the equity side there's some new bond fund popping up. Cleaning up that mess should be next summer's problem.

    Today I sold three different tech funds, TDV, FSCSX, and CCIZX. Proceeds will go into something available at Fido like AMAGX, maybe GQEPX, something growthy, but probably not an index. The growth fund goes with FDVV and FMILX.

    If anyone wants to opine on a good growthy fund at Fido, chime in.

    IMO, the best "growthy fund(s) at Fido" that are Fido funds are:

    FDSVX - Growth Discovery (we own)
    FBGRX - Blue Chip Growth (owned in a/c's we manage)
    FCNTX - Contrafund (have owned in the past)
    FSELX - Select Semis (we own)
    FSPTX - Select Technology (we own FSELX instead)
    FSPGX - Growth Index (we own VIGAX instead)
    Note that FMILX is a LV fund that is currently acting like a LG fund;

    and the best non-Fido "growthy funds" funds are :
    PRWAX - TRP All Cap Opportunities (we own)
    GSIHX - GQG Partners International Opportunities (we own)
    Thanks for sharing. Missed FDSVX the first time around. It is closer to what I'm looking for. PRWAX didn't make the first cut because it has only been a four-star fund these past three years. So I'll take a look at FDSVX and the four stars today to see what turns up to run against AMAGX.

    A semi's fund is a consideration figuring a few beans on the side could grow into a largish bean stalk before we need to take distributions. But it would only be a few beans to start with.
  • edited July 9
    Tough choice for us between FDSVX and FBGRX but settled on the former. PRWAX is one of the most underrated LCG funds. We would own any of them over AMAGX.

    Other thoughts:

    Not sure of your situation, but if this is new money, might not be the best time to plow into Growth after its epic, current bull run. FWIW, we have recently reduced overall stock exposure including Growth and may go to all Cash if things start getting ugly en route to Nov. Also, if plowing money in this week, we would at least do some before/after Thu/Fri CPI/PPI announcements. They've been market movers this year.

    We always look beyond 3 years of performance and think that everyone should. If its the same manager(s), not sure why anyone wouldn't.

    Baron's Growth funds can run very hot/cold. We're likely done with that family of funds because of it.

    ERs are important but TR is obviously far more important (to us at least). A great, managed LCG fund will run ~.50-.80, as do the ones I listed. Coupled with a LCG index fund at ~.02 and you're at half that. FWIW, our weighted portfolio ER is .46. If ERs though are a primary driver for you, looks like AMAGX's ER of .91 is the highest of the bunch here and almost double FBGRX's .48.
  • @Stillers, the money was previously invested in tech funds, so moving to growth seems appropriate. Good point about the inflation news, OTOH, if it's good news . . .

    I look at the last three years to see how the funds have behaved since the end of ZIRP. And when I run them through Portfolio Visualizer I'll start the clock at January 2022 for an even tougher challenge. I think the issues of inflation and interest rates are likely to be with us for a while.

    I did have to look at five and ten year returns to insure that the funds I am testing have performed at least as well a AMAGX over those time periods. I then looked for funds with an active share over 50. That left me with FDSVX, PRWAX, and FTRNX which I am examining now.

    I am at 30% bonds, 10% cash. Most of the bonds are low duration floaters. But I'll leave that for another day. That's about as high as it will get for me given what I have in IYK, FSUTX, and GLIFX.
  • Results since 20220101 ("Normalization") dinky linky.

    Results since 20200101 ("Covid") dinky linky.

    I added the covid period because I will look at the Martin ratios for the funds.

    It's down to FDSVX or PRWAX. Tip of the cap to @stillers for drawing my attention to funds I had missed.
  • "It's down to FDSVX or PRWAX. Tip of the cap to @stillers for drawing my attention to funds I had missed."

    If you need further encouragement, I own both. Make sure to check they serve the intended purpose in your portfolio.

    Regarding ER, I would not engage with others about it, but to you - I would not worry about the ER of Baron Growth if you otherwise fancy that fund. The ER is not going to be reason you would be unhappy about the fund if it turns out to make you unhappy.
  • edited July 9
    BaluBalu said:

    "It's down to FDSVX or PRWAX. Tip of the cap to @stillers for drawing my attention to funds I had missed."

    If you need further encouragement, I own both. Make sure to check they serve the intended purpose in your portfolio.

    Regarding ER, I would not engage with others about it, but to you - I would not worry about the ER of Baron Growth if you otherwise fancy that fund. The ER is not going to be reason you would be unhappy about the fund if it turns out to make you unhappy.

    I am looking for something to boost the tech sector given the rest of my portfolio. FDSVX does that better than PRWAX or BDAFX without leaping ahead on standard deviation and beta. In fact, FDSVX and BDAFX are just about tied on those numbers. BDAFX has a ginormous allocation to financials that gives me the willies.

    If I didn't have access to FMILX for my portfolio I would be considering PRWAX to replace it. I may look at it for my wife's portfolio, which I generally don't talk about because it is different than mine for a variety of reasons.

    I'll check the world of active ETF's to make sure I'm not missing anything. But I'm just about done with this exercise.

    I don't disagree with your comment about ER's. I'm pretty sure I don't have anything useful to add to what is generally known about them and fund performance. And I don't need to expand on my idiosyncrasies here:)
  • edited July 10
    @WABAC,

    I did not know about BDAFX. Re its financial allocation, I see Visa, Moody's, SPG, MA, etc. in the top 10. I learned growth is a very broad term and as you implied, one must know where one wants to source or is sourcing growth from. E.g., one could have invested in MRFOX for growth and wondered why it did not work since April.

    BTW, I like FMILX too.

    If you are open to ETFs, Fidelity has a bunch of growth style box ETFs of their own.

    Good luck.

  • It looks like BDAFX is one of the few growth Baron funds that don’t have a huge position in TSLA. Interesting find! Thanks
  • Graust said:

    It looks like BDAFX is one of the few growth Baron funds that don’t have a huge position in TSLA. Interesting find! Thanks

    De nada.

    I think Chinese EV's will bury Tesla sooner or later.
  • WABAC said:

    ...

    It's down to FDSVX or PRWAX. Tip of the cap to @stillers for drawing my attention to funds I had missed.

    Thanks man! We've built what we regard as the best portfolio we've ever had in our 40+ years of doing this. FDSVX and PRWAX are core holdings in it. Here's hoping whichever fund you select is as kind to you as these two have been to us!
  • Art
    edited July 10
    I should lighten up on my TECH stocks, especially NVDA. Tech is 10% of portfolio even with selling 1/4 of my NVDA shares recently. I will hold for now because no place to put it. No other sector looks like a good place to go with new monies. Utilities performance of late has been good but I have 10% in that also. How long can Tech lead?
  • ...Added another baby bite to the "cash" position in Schwab MMF. Today might yet be a breakout day for the portfolio, after some doldrums, just drifting.
  • edited July 10
    Art said:

    ...
    How long can Tech lead?

    Historically, quite a while, e.g., see 2017-2020:
    https://novelinvestor.com/sector-performance/

    And, looking forward, who knows?:
    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/why-nvidia-could-be-headed-for-a-seismic-moment-another-3-trillion-in-market-cap-133122970.html
  • edited July 10
    Buggy whips couldn't reinvent themselves into something else.

    But you do have to keep up with the times. Radios were a big deal once upon a time. So were electric typewriters and main-frame computers.

    Some things are practically commodities, e.g., hard drives, routers.

    And sometimes things take unexpected directions. High-end graphics cards were limited to dedicated gamers not too long ago.

    When I started my taxable position in SMH back in February (thanks again @Stillers) I started small. The way it grows, it won't stay small long. And if there is one of those 30-35% down-drafts in the future, I won't be too bummed out to double down.

    Will chips become commodities? Maybe, RAM pretty much is. But then people keep inventing new things to do with chips, see Nvidia. And they are in all things tech. What will make them obsolete? Biological semis is my guess.
  • edited July 11
    WABAC said:

    ...

    When I started my taxable position in SMH back in February (thanks again @Stillers) I started small. The way it grows, it won't stay small long. And if there is one of those 30-35% down-drafts in the future, I won't be too bummed out to double down.

    Will chips become commodities? Maybe, RAM pretty much is. But then people keep inventing new things to do with chips, see Nvidia. And they are in all things tech. What will make them obsolete? Biological semis is my guess.

    Glad you took the plunge with SMH. Semis are the gift that keeps on giving.
  • On Tuesday I sold out of all the remaining MM funds in the taxable account, and yesterday I established a position in BMQSX along with adding to NAD.
  • edited July 11
    @PRESSmUP Looking at 5 year chart , go for it ! Key word here would be " taxable " ?
    ADDED If Nav goes up , dividends going down ?
  • edited July 11
    In the IRA: Started position in FDSVX. Sold USFR and replaced it with XONE. Sold 2/3's of VRIG and added equal shots of VNLA and GSY.

    Sold TBUX. GSY gives a tad more yield for a tad more duration. I'll be hanging onto VRIG for a while longer.

    I am around 60% short duration, and I don't expect to go lower than that before next year. It could go higher after the dust settles from recent trades. PRWCX, FBALX, MNHAX, and WCPNX account for the intermediate portion.

    Nothing shaking in the taxable. All the deck chairs look good where they are for the time being.
  • edited July 12
    In the IRA: Have finally been able to sell GPGCX and VEXAX that were acquired in the fall of 2021.

    Funny story, to me anyway, the day after I bought VEXAX I was reading a thread here wherein msf and Yogi had a chat about what a lousy index it was. Oy vey iz mir. I'll say one thing for it, it has recovered quicker than FSSNX and NUSC.:).

    I'm pretty well setup where I want to be with equity and sector funds at current valuations, so most of the proceeds will go into XONE (or similar) after I give XMHQ a little bump.

    There is some money set aside for slowly feeding into FDSVX on down days.

    Other than that, I guess I could end up over 40% in bonds and cash unless this rotation rally skyrockets.

    BTW, while I was there I gave a 15% shot to THOPX, MNHAX, and WCPNX as my bonds were already at 68% short duration with more money on the way.
  • @WABAC Back to even with GPGCX I take it ? I still hold this fund & add quarterly. Do you have any Peak funds in your holdings ?
  • Derf said:

    @WABAC Back to even with GPGCX I take it ? I still hold this fund & add quarterly. Do you have any Peak funds in your holdings ?

    Yes, just a little past even. I'm still stuck with Global Stalwarts. Gonna take a heck of a rally to get out of that any time soon.

    IHDG is my foreign fund.
  • @WABAC I swallowed a loser awhile back from Peaks, believe it was the last fund they put forth. Also recently I sold another fund from peaks. Made a few bucks, but not enough to cover the loss from the loser. Guess I should see when next addition comes due to avoid buying at market top.
    Have a good weekend, Derf
  • Derf said:

    @WABAC I swallowed a loser awhile back from Peaks, believe it was the last fund they put forth. Also recently I sold another fund from peaks. Made a few bucks, but not enough to cover the loss from the loser. Guess I should see when next addition comes due to avoid buying at market top.
    Have a good weekend, Derf

    Thank you. You too.

  • Hi guys,

    Old news: July 1st I bought more PPL for Mrs. Pudd's IRA. It's all good. The beer's cold, the sun's warm, the water's blue, and the rate cut(s) are coming! Party on dudes!!

    God bless
    the Pudd
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