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New Open Thread: What Are You Buying/Selling/Pondering?
Added to PQIDX and a little RYJHX. May add to a stock position or two and am pondering a few EM etfs (and probably have too much in the way of infrastructure already, but may get a little MLPJ), but otherwise I really don't have anything left on the shopping list. No plans to sell anything, either, as the stocks are long-term holdings and many of them provide a nice yield.
I am going to devote a portion of retirement monies to the Market Leadership Strategy that Skeeter has mentioned in the past. Looks like Microcap may be the next category to move to a "buy". Buffalo Microcap(BUFOX) is my choice if I were to buy today. So I will do my research and have a few other funds picked out. Recently as part of this strategy I have added to Aston / Fairpoint Mid Cap(CHTTX) for the mid cap value and I have the small cap value covered with Allianz Small Cap Value(PCVAX).
Now that Fidelity has many LW funds available that has significantly added to my research of funds to add to my watch list of funds to buy. May need to rethink some of my existing funds for replacement.
Added Vanguard Health Care(VGHCX) to the accounts at Vanguard this year.
Anyone have thoughts on IVA Worldwide I(IVWIX)? If I want a new fund in my ROTH this is the one I would sell/reduce.
I have wondered of late what type of funds do people put in ROTH's vs IRA's or is that not a consideration for you? My thought would be to put the riskier/more potential growth, such as Wasatch EM Small Cap(WAEMX), in the ROTH due to the no tax policy on earnings.
Reply to @Art: I am underweight in smaller caps since they seem to be fully valued if not a bit over-extended.
I used to own IVA Worldwide, but moved on the Wasatch EM Small Caps - much happier now, especially it is closed to new investors. IVA managers prove too conservative and they under-performed badly in last several years. Tweedy Browne Global Value is comparable to them, and TB has fared much better.
As for your Roth, it makes sense to hold more riskier assets in Roth for future tax consideration. For now I hold both stock and bond funds in Roth for no particular reason.
Pondering IYR (one of Slick's holdings) and VHT (after recent Hotter Than Hot thread by HiYield, Bee, Andy).
Been paring back ARIVX and RNSIX, buying instead AQRIX and BOND.
Bought more SIGIX.
Speculative stock plays have been bust, of course...more of BAC and CLF, stopped out on both. Still monitor RSH and PC...will unlikely be able to resist if they fall below $3 and $6, respectively. Hate SPLS, but with its dividend holding, hard to sell short.
Tweaks only around this house: reduced a smid-cap index in favor of a mid-value etf, and put some of the cash hanging around from a partial sale of a muni fund into OSTIX, a strategic income/mostly short junk + convertibles fund.
Reply to @Charles: I give anyone credit who can analyze health care co's - with health care, I just went with a fund (HQL). I also own ABT, although that's heavily nutrition after spinning off Abbvie.
I agree on real estate, although I particularly like certain sectors, such as the triple net REITs (WPC, O). Healthcare REITs and some industrial REITs are also interesting (MNR is a large landlord for Fedex - Fedex not doing well lately, but if one thought things were going to turn around, etc.)
It's a more volatile fund, but Barons Real Estate (BREFX) holds real estate and companies like Lowes if you wanted to have some exposure to both (obviously not as much exposure to LOW as if you held it on its own,but - an option.)
Panasonic is really unfortunate - I don't think I've ever been disappointed with a Panasonic product personally.
Reply to @Art: Market leadership strategy is basically a momentum following strategy. If the market has no momentum, or there is frequent change of leadership you get whipsawed. Be careful with generating too frequent trades with mutual funds. They are more suitable for ETF trading.
Are you aware that Vanguard Health Care manager has retired at year end 2012.
I've sold IVWIX in early 2011. It did not leave up to my expectations. Too conservative for my taste. I also got out of ARIVX for the same reason.
During the month of March I continued to trim equities as they advanced. In this way, I have kept my equity allocation right sized within my portfolio during the strong first quarter performance for equities.
In addition, I continued to make adjustments within the income sleeve of my portfolio by adding another short duration fixed income fund with some of the cash that was pulled from equities with the residual finding its way on to the cash sleeve. I also took my 1st quarter distribution that amounted to about 1.25% of the portfolio’s value.
I’ll continue to monitor the markets and I now feel some caution is warranted since the three best performing broad sectors for the S&P 500 Index this past month were health care, utilities and consumer staples … all the defensive sectors. It is interesting, that they were the three best year-to-date performers too. I have historically, over weighted the defensive equity sectors within my portfolio because they are also good dividend payers with low betas. Just the kind you want during a cyclical market shift.
My portfolio’s allocation is towards the low range for me in equities at about 45% while I am at about 30% in fixed income, about 10% in alternatives … and, about 15% in cash. Two years ago I was about 60% in equities and I have since been reducing my exposure to equities as they have advanced upwards in price. Should there be a substantial pull back in equities I’d probably increase my allocation in them while reducing cash and hopefully play the swing.
I feel I am now good-to-go as we move through April.
And … Oh yes the golf game is coming around very nicely. I have been working on my game several hours per day in preparation for my up coming opening season match on April 11th with my golf league. We will then play every Thursday for the next twenty eight weeks with major events coming every seven weeks.
Have a good April everybody … and, I’ll check in again.
Reply to @Charles: Not too unusual. I occasionally dabble in 2x Profunds/Rydex, but it's been a while as I have grown to dislike such "trades". The Japan 2x is a very small bet, and as I've said with what investments I do have with Japan, it's not based on fundamentals, which I think are probably going to get worse, unfortunately. It's really a matter of whether or not the BOJ continues to go all-in - I think it doesn't end well for a number of reasons which I've discussed before, but I remain curious about how it plays out in the meantime.
It's really one of only a couple of speculative trades left. Everything else is really a long-term hold (Kinder Morgan in particular, to give an example) at this point. I had less activity (trading/movement) last year than the year before and I can see there being considerably less activity this year than last year. The assortment of single names pays a very nice dividend yield, and while there may be a slight add or two to a couple of them, that's it, really. I still quite like investing - researching about it, chatting about it, but I think personally I will probably step back from it for most of the year. In other words, I'll still chat here but I can see doing very little for the remainder of the year.
I added to WAFMX. I am not a fan of non-domestic U.S. funds in the present environment and WAFMX has certainly lagged my domestic funds. But it has been one smooth trender ( domestic or otherwise) with about as little volatility as you can get and has been a star among funds outside of this country. I would have a lot more were it not for that pesky 2%, 90 day redemption fee.
Reply to @scott: 2:07 AM The Nikkei (NKY) surges and the yen (FXY) plummets after the Bank of Japan starts firing the heavy artillery in its battle against deflation. Under new Governor Haruhiko Kuroda, the BOJ is changing its target when setting policy from the overnight call rate to the monetary base, which the bank aims to double within two years by purchasing ¥60-70T of assets a year, including government bonds of all maturities and not just short-term debt. The plan is open-ended and was unanimously approved. The Nikkei is +1.3% after being lower earlier, while the dollar is +1.5% vs the yen. (PR) [Global & FX, Top Stories, On the Move] 3 Comments
Reply to @Charles: My investments in Japan aren't much - I have a very hard time making investments in things that I don't think there's a good fundamental case for. Long-term (and quite possibly even mid-term), I have no confidence that what Japan is doing will solve its various problems and the country's fundamentals are not getting better. I completely agree with the Kyle Bass view of Japan. Short-term, Japanese equities will probably continue to do well, at least until other countries get more noticeably pissed with the whole beggar-thy-neighbor policy.
I'm also curious what Japan's plan is when the cost of energy (and they have to import a ton of what they use) and other imported materials goes much higher.
Additionally: 11:03 AM It's a true "regime change" at the BOJ, says Citigroup, commenting on the central bank's new easing measures overnight. Gone is any hint of concern about monetizing government paper, and up next may be additional stimulus in the form of equity purchases and loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (my comment: companies have had no problems with financing vendors in the past, why should countries with random companies?). The yen (FXY -3.6%) continues a whopper of a move lower, the dollar now at a session-high ¥96.38. The currency-hedged Japan stock ETF (DXJ) gains 7.5% vs. the unhedged EWJ +3.8%. [Global & FX, On the Move] Comment!
I am going to sell SUBFX and buy MWHYX. I bought SUBFX as a trading position last December. SUBFX has lost momentum recently. Meanwhile MWHYX seems to have good momentum.
I am also selling ARTRX. I had mentioned this before. I was intending to trade it for ARTWX but ARTWX is delayed. I have more than enough funds in Global/Intl. area so those will be the recipient of the monies.
Reply to @Investor: I have a history with MWHYX as it's a junk bond fund. It's a bit ahead of its category this year but it can have periods where it really lags. Even though junk is insanely overpriced I ventured back in with my all time favorite junk fund - WHIYX. I still prefer the floating rate sector where my largest holding there is NFRIX. I also have been trying to build a position in a great income fund mentioned by others on the board in the past, PGDIX.
Reply to @JoeNoEskimo: Good luck with a pullback in WAFMX. I have a smallish position and it's about a pure a trender up as you can find in an equity fund.
Edit: Sorry, I guess I already posted about its trendiness in this thread earlier.
WHIYX is not available at Fidelity as NTF. It is available NTF at JP Morgan which I have access to via my 401k brokerage option but SUBFX is held at my Fidelity IRA and I need to buy something available through Fidelity.
In comparing WHIYX with MWHYX, I note that WHIYX has some more junkier junks. Duration is also slightly higher. A big chunk is allocated to bank loans within the portfolio. I see MWHYX lagged WHIYX by about 6% in 2011. That is the only one standing out. In other years, when it lagged, it lagged less than 2%. Anyhow, it is a trading position within fixed income allocation for me.
For floating rate funds, you mentioned NFRIX. But I thought you were also investing in LSFYX.
Reply to @Investor: LSFYX, no, I talk about it a lot but never invest in it. I explained once why not. It's probably peculiar to me, but I prefer income funds where the divs accumulate daily and then you see it end of the month in your account as opposed to the ones that pay out here and there over the month and then your account is adjusted end of month downward by the amount of the div. Unless it's a barnburner of an income fund (such as PGDIX) I stick with the daily div accumulators. I also have a smallish position in PSFIX in the floating rate sector but moving much of it into NFRIX.
Sold play positions today in stock ETFs VOE, VXF, and VPL; plan to put about 1/3 of that right away into longer-term holding PRFHX (conservative hi-yld muni) & hang onto the rest in cash for at least a bit. First priorities for near-future adds = FMIJX and SFGIX.
Reply to @Mona: Hi Mona, OSTIX is more of a multi-sector bond fund where the manager has the option to go wherever he feels are the most opportunities in bondland. I haven't looked at its holdings but if he is in junk now he may well be late to the party. Regardless, performance-wise, over the past one, three, and five years WHIYX has absolutely trounced OSTIX. Granted those have mostly been the best of times for junk but it also outperformed over the past 10 years as well. Maybe someone (bee?) can post one of those charts comparing the two funds' performance.
Reply to @Hiyield007: Hi Mona & Former Junkster, Very different funds there. OSTIX is MS, but has been all but totally in short junk & converts for several years. It was originally conceived to serve as the total bond allocation in Osterweis-managed private accounts, so is run very conservatively.
It's in the right ballpark for a longer-term investment focused on low-risk, decent return. Lost 5% in '08 vs. 20% for WHIYX.
On 4/4 sold 50% of my position in MCD, had some very nice profits. It started representing too high % of one portfolio. Also sold INTC. Reinvested those proceeds 4/5 in additions to WAGTX, PKW, IYW and started a position in UTX. Also added to PHSZX, FBTIX and SMGIX as I am still dcaing into those funds. I rebought INTC 4/5 for my taxable portfolio for the dividend income; my tax rate is now lower since I retired.
Comments
Now that Fidelity has many LW funds available that has significantly added to my research of funds to add to my watch list of funds to buy. May need to rethink some of my existing funds for replacement.
Added Vanguard Health Care(VGHCX) to the accounts at Vanguard this year.
Anyone have thoughts on IVA Worldwide I(IVWIX)? If I want a new fund in my ROTH this is the one I would sell/reduce.
I have wondered of late what type of funds do people put in ROTH's vs IRA's or is that not a consideration for you? My thought would be to put the riskier/more potential growth, such as Wasatch EM Small Cap(WAEMX), in the ROTH due to the no tax policy on earnings.
Art
http://investwithanedge.com/leadership-strategy
I used to own IVA Worldwide, but moved on the Wasatch EM Small Caps - much happier now, especially it is closed to new investors. IVA managers prove too conservative and they under-performed badly in last several years. Tweedy Browne Global Value is comparable to them, and TB has fared much better.
As for your Roth, it makes sense to hold more riskier assets in Roth for future tax consideration. For now I hold both stock and bond funds in Roth for no particular reason.
Pondering IYR (one of Slick's holdings) and VHT (after recent Hotter Than Hot thread by HiYield, Bee, Andy).
Been paring back ARIVX and RNSIX, buying instead AQRIX and BOND.
Bought more SIGIX.
Speculative stock plays have been bust, of course...more of BAC and CLF, stopped out on both. Still monitor RSH and PC...will unlikely be able to resist if they fall below $3 and $6, respectively. Hate SPLS, but with its dividend holding, hard to sell short.
I agree on real estate, although I particularly like certain sectors, such as the triple net REITs (WPC, O). Healthcare REITs and some industrial REITs are also interesting (MNR is a large landlord for Fedex - Fedex not doing well lately, but if one thought things were going to turn around, etc.)
It's a more volatile fund, but Barons Real Estate (BREFX) holds real estate and companies like Lowes if you wanted to have some exposure to both (obviously not as much exposure to LOW as if you held it on its own,but - an option.)
Panasonic is really unfortunate - I don't think I've ever been disappointed with a Panasonic product personally.
Are you aware that Vanguard Health Care manager has retired at year end 2012.
I've sold IVWIX in early 2011. It did not leave up to my expectations. Too conservative for my taste. I also got out of ARIVX for the same reason.
I do have sector exposure via conservative fund FRIFX, some stocks, some bonds, convertibles etc. It's an eclectic mix.
During the month of March I continued to trim equities as they advanced. In this way, I have kept my equity allocation right sized within my portfolio during the strong first quarter performance for equities.
In addition, I continued to make adjustments within the income sleeve of my portfolio by adding another short duration fixed income fund with some of the cash that was pulled from equities with the residual finding its way on to the cash sleeve. I also took my 1st quarter distribution that amounted to about 1.25% of the portfolio’s value.
I’ll continue to monitor the markets and I now feel some caution is warranted since the three best performing broad sectors for the S&P 500 Index this past month were health care, utilities and consumer staples … all the defensive sectors. It is interesting, that they were the three best year-to-date performers too. I have historically, over weighted the defensive equity sectors within my portfolio because they are also good dividend payers with low betas. Just the kind you want during a cyclical market shift.
My portfolio’s allocation is towards the low range for me in equities at about 45% while I am at about 30% in fixed income, about 10% in alternatives … and, about 15% in cash. Two years ago I was about 60% in equities and I have since been reducing my exposure to equities as they have advanced upwards in price. Should there be a substantial pull back in equities I’d probably increase my allocation in them while reducing cash and hopefully play the swing.
I feel I am now good-to-go as we move through April.
And … Oh yes the golf game is coming around very nicely. I have been working on my game several hours per day in preparation for my up coming opening season match on April 11th with my golf league. We will then play every Thursday for the next twenty eight weeks with major events coming every seven weeks.
Have a good April everybody … and, I’ll check in again.
Skeeter
It's really one of only a couple of speculative trades left. Everything else is really a long-term hold (Kinder Morgan in particular, to give an example) at this point. I had less activity (trading/movement) last year than the year before and I can see there being considerably less activity this year than last year. The assortment of single names pays a very nice dividend yield, and while there may be a slight add or two to a couple of them, that's it, really. I still quite like investing - researching about it, chatting about it, but I think personally I will probably step back from it for most of the year. In other words, I'll still chat here but I can see doing very little for the remainder of the year.
I'm with you on this choice...fund seems to follow the concept of "offsprings of parent Autonomies" here's the list of the funds top 25 holdings:
A related link from previous discussions:
mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/index.php?p=/discussion/comment/17056#Comment_17056
A study worth reading:
mutualfundobserver.com/discussions-3/#/discussion/2390/emerging-market-companies-having-a-multinational-parent-makes-a-big-difference
Derf
http://seekingalpha.com/currents/post/924751
Short-term positive, long-term the country's various problems aren't going to go away or be fixed by this.
I'm also curious what Japan's plan is when the cost of energy (and they have to import a ton of what they use) and other imported materials goes much higher.
Additionally: 11:03 AM It's a true "regime change" at the BOJ, says Citigroup, commenting on the central bank's new easing measures overnight. Gone is any hint of concern about monetizing government paper, and up next may be additional stimulus in the form of equity purchases and loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (my comment: companies have had no problems with financing vendors in the past, why should countries with random companies?). The yen (FXY -3.6%) continues a whopper of a move lower, the dollar now at a session-high ¥96.38. The currency-hedged Japan stock ETF (DXJ) gains 7.5% vs. the unhedged EWJ +3.8%. [Global & FX, On the Move] Comment!
(Thanks, guys, I now added WAFMX to "funds I might own after a pullback").
I am also selling ARTRX. I had mentioned this before. I was intending to trade it for ARTWX but ARTWX is delayed. I have more than enough funds in Global/Intl. area so those will be the recipient of the monies.
Edit: Sorry, I guess I already posted about its trendiness in this thread earlier.
Also Grandeur Peak is coming out with their version of WAFMX. Matthews is coming out with Emerging Asia Fund too.
WHIYX is not available at Fidelity as NTF. It is available NTF at JP Morgan which I have access to via my 401k brokerage option but SUBFX is held at my Fidelity IRA and I need to buy something available through Fidelity.
In comparing WHIYX with MWHYX, I note that WHIYX has some more junkier junks. Duration is also slightly higher. A big chunk is allocated to bank loans within the portfolio. I see MWHYX lagged WHIYX by about 6% in 2011. That is the only one standing out. In other years, when it lagged, it lagged less than 2%. Anyhow, it is a trading position within fixed income allocation for me.
For floating rate funds, you mentioned NFRIX. But I thought you were also investing in LSFYX.
Why WHIYX and not OSTIX which seems to operate in similar space?
Mona
Maybe someone (bee?) can post one of those charts comparing the two funds' performance.
Very different funds there. OSTIX is MS, but has been all but totally in short junk & converts for several years. It was originally conceived to serve as the total bond allocation in Osterweis-managed private accounts, so is run very conservatively.
It's in the right ballpark for a longer-term investment focused on low-risk, decent return. Lost 5% in '08 vs. 20% for WHIYX.