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I really don't pay much attention to fund families in general, unless they do something really stupid or illegal (yeah, Janus comes to mind here, along with a select few other groups). There are some fund groups that continue to surprise me they are even still operating, and Putnam is the classic case, along with Pioneer. Oppenheimer as a whole is a disappointment, although ODVYX has been an exception. Also surprised that Invesco and Harbor are still going. The disappointing fund families for my own experience are no longer in existence, having been bought out and eventually disappearing: Fremont, Nicholas-Applegate,
If it were not for the commission brokers, American Funds would never have grown so large. It's recent ability to continually add share classes has been a brilliant marketing move.
Interesting note to prior comments on TGBAX: just when many had written off Mr. Hastenstab, his management once again has brought the fund to the top of its group. Hot money flowed in, hot money fled. In 2010, the fund had about $18 billion in assets, which grew to $37 billion in 2014, and is now at $21 billion. The fund now is again top decile for 1, 5, 10, and 15 yrs. The manager's ideas often take time to pay off, but like all great managers, Hastenstab might have 2-3 years of under-performance then it's back to the races. We'll see.
Oh man! I posted this before heading out for vacation. Was not accepting such a response. Thank you very much.
I have to read the thread in its entirety to absorb. I skimmed it a bit and would agree Fidelity, Calamos, Wasatch are overrated. I reached this "conclusion" myself over past few years.
I would offer Royce is overrated too. I see a Third Avenue style disintegration when Chuck hangs his boots.
And Brandywine but they have been absorbed by AMG I think.
Little surprised to see Matthews being overrated. I thought they were the best bet out there.
Matthews, in my opinion, is still the cream of the Asia funds, so I don't see where over rated applies. If there is a problem with the fund family itself, I think they just have to many funds in their stable. How much can you slice and dice a geographic sector?
FWIW, I don't own any Matthews funds now, only because owning an Asia-only fund doesn't fit with my desire to simplify the number of funds that make up my self managed portfolio. Makes more sense to me to hold a good EM fund that will decide how much Asia to own. Asia or any specific region won't always be a good bet. Asia-only hasn't been a good hold for a number of years.
I agree with msf about FPA funds. I still own both FPPTX (when it was load fund and got in before it closed the last time) and FPACX (never had a load). FPACX is expensive and bloated. Once Bob Rodriguez stopped managing FPPTX, the fund went downhill. Problem is the fund has been closed for many years...it may be another Sequoia Fund (prior to its fall) less the performance of Sequoia.
Comments
If it were not for the commission brokers, American Funds would never have grown so large. It's recent ability to continually add share classes has been a brilliant marketing move.
Interesting note to prior comments on TGBAX: just when many had written off Mr. Hastenstab, his management once again has brought the fund to the top of its group. Hot money flowed in, hot money fled. In 2010, the fund had about $18 billion in assets, which grew to $37 billion in 2014, and is now at $21 billion. The fund now is again top decile for 1, 5, 10, and 15 yrs. The manager's ideas often take time to pay off, but like all great managers, Hastenstab might have 2-3 years of under-performance then it's back to the races. We'll see.
I have to read the thread in its entirety to absorb. I skimmed it a bit and would agree Fidelity, Calamos, Wasatch are overrated. I reached this "conclusion" myself over past few years.
I would offer Royce is overrated too. I see a Third Avenue style disintegration when Chuck hangs his boots.
And Brandywine but they have been absorbed by AMG I think.
Little surprised to see Matthews being overrated. I thought they were the best bet out there.
FWIW, I don't own any Matthews funds now, only because owning an Asia-only fund doesn't fit with my desire to simplify the number of funds that make up my self managed portfolio. Makes more sense to me to hold a good EM fund that will decide how much Asia to own. Asia or any specific region won't always be a good bet. Asia-only hasn't been a good hold for a number of years.