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Move Over Bill Gross, You Have Been Deposed by the New King of Bond Funds...

Comments

  • With his interest in porno, perhaps the bond queen.
  • Do not forget M* has a big chunk of the financial porn employer as well. Investment management makes strange bedfellows.
  • edited July 2011
    How does Jeff Gundlach's operational excellence of managing a currently mortgage debt issues bond fund with a name "total" relate to Bill Gross and company? Dan Fuss and several other regarded bond fund managers/teams should be on the list, too; eh?
    Do not misunderstand; as this DoubleLine fund has done well and I recall that the mortgage issue/debt area is his special area of knowledge, but it seems a bit early to place this currently narrow focused fund on a high plateau. The fund, however; would provide a nice balance for this investment area with other bond fund styles. I do not find DBLTX at the top of any YTD listings for total bond funds or any bond fund style...perhaps I missed a list somewhere.

    Regards,
    Catch
  • edited July 2011
    Catch, fyi, here's the original, pretty dated by now, article with the titillating "King of Bonds" headline. There's performance info included in narrative form:

    http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052970204442204576144662301971254.html#articleTabs_panel_article=1
  • Reply to @AndyJ:

    Thank you, AndyJ. I recall several discussions at FA about his departure from the TCW family and starting Doubleline. As I noted in the first reply; I have no doubt about his skills and his bond fund offerings will be a forward consideration...after we find what the current debt debate reactions brings from the global community.

    There are indeed "x" number of folks in the investment world that I will say have the intellect (Gladlach, with math/philosophy) to be able to develop/have a nearly pure intuition using the related data to their field of passion. The majority of us would require a lifetime of trial and error to develop this sense. I apply this to whatever world of achievement one chooses to list; be it music, engineering or any other 1,000's of paths.

    I am able to envision that Gundlach and others like him being given and/or reading and viewing data along with political and other global machinations and to the point of his ability to "see" in his mind of thinking where the monies need to be placed. He and others with these skills do indeed have a 6th sense of ability.

    Lastly, the intellect can not always be directed to investments (our complex brains, eh?). Two people I have know for many years are both very bright thinkers. The type who can quote a passage from a book they read years before (heck, I don't even remember the book titles from two weeks ago...:) ) One is a highly skilled and regarded electronics/network engineer. He also is able to apply his "gift" to investments. The other is a capable attorney; but money/investments and understanding this area are not unlike her attempting to read the WSJ if it were written in Chinese characters.

    Ah, we are indeed complex creatures, eh?

    Thank you again for the article link.

    Take care of you and yours,
    Catch

  • Reply to @catch22: They relate to Bill Gross because both seek a similar risk/return profile and are able to venture wherever they want in the fixed income world. Although Fuss is a phenomenal manager (the whole team at Loomis are really good), they take far more credit risk than Gross or Gundlach.

    As for Gundlach's performance, he is in the 3rd percentile for YTD performance of Intermediate bond funds. And TCW total return, also in the fifth percentile for 10 year average returns. So yea, he's about as good as it gets in the fixed income world.

    Plus, he did all that and still had time for pot & porn! So he manages his time well.
  • Reply to @mobryon:
    Howdy mobryon,
    Thank you for your time with this and the clarification.
    Regards,
    Catch
  • I would never put Dan Fuss and Kathleen Gaffney in the same camp as Gross and Gundlach. Dan and Kathleen are not media darlings, they don't seek out every camera, and they certainly do not pontificate in the way that Gross and Gundlach do. While I admit that the latter two gentlemen have some significant talent, as their records indicate, they are not people I would want to spend my free time with. Fuss and Gaffney are real people, and conversations with them show a personal, warm side that are absent from the so-called kings.

    It's unfortunate that so many really great managers are unknown, while the media darlings, who are able and eager to spout sound bites at every moment, receive all the attention. But then Fuss, Gaffney, Rick Rieder, Carl Kaufman, Michael Hasenstab, David Rolley, and a host of other great bond managers are probably content to be where they are and who they are.

    Does anyone for a moment think that PIMCO would have half the assets it has if their publicity and media departments had not taken the steps they did years ago to create a star? And then along came El-Erian, and PIMCO had another media darling. Articulate, avuncular, and intelligent...what more could CNNfn ask for? PIMCO re-created itself (again), and the once bond-only shop now spouts the politically-correct dialogue of global allocation and their own brand called "new normal". It was indeed a brilliant marketing decision. Gotta give them credit.
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