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I bought and sold WWNPX as well but my biggest disappoint came out of the momentum of the 1990s. Most funds got piled into after the money had been made...I fell victim to the classic "chasing a falling star" syndrome. There are a lot of these situations and funds we should try to avoid. Bill Miller's Legg Mason fund(s), Hebner's CGM Focus Fund, and most recently Bruce Berkowitz and FAIRX.
This was also the case with my choosing Vanguard US Growth fund, VWUSX, back in 1998. I rode this fund up its last ascent and like most investors felt comfortable with the mantra of "buy and hold". As this fund bottomed so did the market and I tried to better educate myself as an individual investor. I stumbled across Roy's website FundAlarm and his "alarm system". I took my losses with VWUSX and moved the proceeds into "new" ideas. I also learned that selling is actually part of the "buy and hold" process. Selling is the realization of a gain or a loss. When I sold these shares I made other investment choices...I continued to hold investments...just not this "three alarm" fund. I came out of the 2000-2002 bottom holding better assets than if I had just held VWUSX. I owe FundAlarm, its contributors, and some luck for this.
I linked Yahoo finance's chart which is merely a price chart, not a price and dividend chart. It paints a picture that we all wish to avoid. I included my "switch to" fund at the time, VHCOX, so that a "rear view mirror" comparison between the two funds could be illustrated. Again, Yahoofinance does not include dividends so these are not perfect performance charts but they do illustrate my point. By switching from VWUSX to VHCOX it provided me with better performance...larger gains...than if I had just "bought and held". I guess I am a "buy and and try to upgrade" type of investor now.
Select "max" to see the funds 20 year performance comparison:
Remember that wealth is something we try to realize at the top of a markets (...only if we sell...take profits). Opportunity is what an investor looks for at the bottom of markets.
T. Rowe Price Global Stock (Prgsx), a bad fund that probably needs no introduction. I had hopes at one point of owning 2-3 no-load, low-minimum global stock funds as the stock part of the portfolio, but gave up on that idea and decided to go the route of good, more focused funds - and of course that means more funds overall.
Pgvfx, Polaris Global Value, was another global fund I owned during part of that experiment that failed, but I see it's rebounded a bit in the last couple of years. Its 5-year report card, though, is still a loser.
No rebound for Prgsx though. These days, it's sporting the inverse of the perfect M* return-risk rating; Prgsx rates as Low on return, High on risk. And somehow, it still has managed to hold onto half a billion bucks of investors' money.
I bought it during the dot come meltdown. Wow, I have never lost money so fast as I did in that fund. Bought in '01 and sold in '04. Painful, just painful.
Similar to "Bee's" posting, I once held WWNPX, CGMFX and FAIRX. Sold them all years ago, no looking back. The only one of them that caught me for a loss was CGMFX - Heebner's luck had long since run out before I had finally bought in. Not my brightest purchase.
But NARFX was my most disappointing because I had so hoped to find a long-short that worked. (Only TFSMX ever filled that bill, and I've even sold that fund).
Most recently PAUDX, of which I purchased only a tiny amount, has been very regrettable. Every fund manager runs out of luck eventually, even Arnott.
Reply to @JoeNoEskimo: LOL. NARFX is doing well now bud. It was supposed to be my tax loss candidate for this year, but if things continue the way they are, I might just hold on to it.
Started buying MFLDX as a replacement as I announced on the board. Could have timed my entry better, but MFLDX is "firming up" as well.
Buying the Fidelity Real Estate fund on 2/5/2007. Actually, that was more of a timing thing, buying right at the peak. Up to that point, it looked great...
Regret: JAMNX (James Market Neutral). Think she's a goner now anyways. Really speaks to the difficulty of making this concept work. Have owned some other "all weather" funds, including GATEX, CVSIX and HSGFX. Still hold that last couple. Don't regret these other ones. However, none have lived up to expectations.
BRAIX, I thought the volatility of the fund will be to my advantage, Bought in 2005 and added heavily in 2008 but never reaped any benefits, Went down 55% in 2008 and came back up only 30% in 2009. TAVFX, Really bought into "Safe and Cheap" mantra and never thought of losing 45% in this fund. DODGX, Fooled by performance from 2000-2002 by thinking that it will not loose much in future but 2008 came again as surprise.
Well, maybe midsx gold fund. Not sure yet. I started putting a little in last December. Seemed better than the stinky Christmas club at the credit union that paid no interest. It has gone down but I still add to it when I can. I shall wait one more year to see if it does better. It's the first fund I owned in a long time. Husband does most of the investing. Thank goodness.
Comments
I bought and sold WWNPX as well but my biggest disappoint came out of the momentum of the 1990s. Most funds got piled into after the money had been made...I fell victim to the classic "chasing a falling star" syndrome. There are a lot of these situations and funds we should try to avoid. Bill Miller's Legg Mason fund(s), Hebner's CGM Focus Fund, and most recently Bruce Berkowitz and FAIRX.
This was also the case with my choosing Vanguard US Growth fund, VWUSX, back in 1998. I rode this fund up its last ascent and like most investors felt comfortable with the mantra of "buy and hold". As this fund bottomed so did the market and I tried to better educate myself as an individual investor. I stumbled across Roy's website FundAlarm and his "alarm system". I took my losses with VWUSX and moved the proceeds into "new" ideas. I also learned that selling is actually part of the "buy and hold" process. Selling is the realization of a gain or a loss. When I sold these shares I made other investment choices...I continued to hold investments...just not this "three alarm" fund. I came out of the 2000-2002 bottom holding better assets than if I had just held VWUSX. I owe FundAlarm, its contributors, and some luck for this.
I linked Yahoo finance's chart which is merely a price chart, not a price and dividend chart. It paints a picture that we all wish to avoid. I included my "switch to" fund at the time, VHCOX, so that a "rear view mirror" comparison between the two funds could be illustrated. Again, Yahoofinance does not include dividends so these are not perfect performance charts but they do illustrate my point. By switching from VWUSX to VHCOX it provided me with better performance...larger gains...than if I had just "bought and held". I guess I am a "buy and and try to upgrade" type of investor now.
Select "max" to see the funds 20 year performance comparison:
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=VWUSX+Interactive#chart2:symbol=vwusx;range=my;compare=vhcox;indicator=volume;charttype=line;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=on;source=undefined
Remember that wealth is something we try to realize at the top of a markets (...only if we sell...take profits). Opportunity is what an investor looks for at the bottom of markets.
bee
Pgvfx, Polaris Global Value, was another global fund I owned during part of that experiment that failed, but I see it's rebounded a bit in the last couple of years. Its 5-year report card, though, is still a loser.
No rebound for Prgsx though. These days, it's sporting the inverse of the perfect M* return-risk rating; Prgsx rates as Low on return, High on risk. And somehow, it still has managed to hold onto half a billion bucks of investors' money.
I bought it during the dot come meltdown. Wow, I have never lost money so fast as I did in that fund. Bought in '01 and sold in '04. Painful, just painful.
But NARFX was my most disappointing because I had so hoped to find a long-short that worked. (Only TFSMX ever filled that bill, and I've even sold that fund).
Most recently PAUDX, of which I purchased only a tiny amount, has been very regrettable. Every fund manager runs out of luck eventually, even Arnott.
Started buying MFLDX as a replacement as I announced on the board. Could have timed my entry better, but MFLDX is "firming up" as well.
TAVFX, Really bought into "Safe and Cheap" mantra and never thought of losing 45% in this fund.
DODGX, Fooled by performance from 2000-2002 by thinking that it will not loose much in future but 2008 came again as surprise.
Sold all of them in spring of 2010.