Here's a statement of the obvious: The opinions expressed here are those of the participants, not those of the Mutual Fund Observer. We cannot vouch for the accuracy or appropriateness of any of it, though we do encourage civility and good humor.
Picking up on a note in the Osterweis news: I always get a chuckle when funds boast about how large their asset base is, since its not always a good thing for investors. This is not a slam on Osterweis, but on the industry in general.
Just a guess -- but the market is much more thinly traded, the fund is more conservative, and the portfolio turnover is higher. The segment of the market the fund is devoted to is also likely more highly specialized.
(Disclosure: I'm a shareholde…
Reply to @MourningStars: Actually, my Vanguard options are limited to VFINX, US extended, and international. I have Lazard open for EM exposure, and PIMCO total return as the only bond option. Have Nuveen for real estate.
The remaining options ar…
Reply to @BWG: I've wondered the same thing with regard to size of the farmland position. I think Forbes wanted to talk up some of the unusual aspects of the portfolio (makes for good news), and that's where farmland came in.
I, too, am wary of …
Romick has talked about farmland for a while. I think it came up during a chat about the growth in fund assets right around the onset of the Great Recession. Romick made a comment at that time that without a certain size, the fund couldn't gain me…
Reply to @hank: I recall a conversation I had with my sister-in-law several years ago when she was visiting from Europe. I was looking over a correlation matrix I had generated in an effort to optimize fund choice for my Roth account. She asked wh…
I watch something like this and I'm constantly surprised at the number of people who say things like "...I had this 401k plan that I was putting $xx,xxx into it every year and I didn't look at / can't figure out what's in my portfolio...", or, "...I…
Wonder if adding a full fixed-income guy to the team indicates that Oakmark will be more aggressively expanding the fixed-income universe the fund invests in.
Let's not forget the legislation that lets them claim "inactive accounts". I thank FDA for its mention of this in their 2012 year-end summaries (IMHO every fund company who pretends to put "investors first" should be informing shareholders of this …
Sticking with my current allocation scenarios, and contributing to funds as required to bring back in line.
The crash of 2008 has taught me quite a bit about my deficiencies as an investor at this stage of my investing career; so my portfolio has a…
Great commentary, as always David. Thanks very much for the humor and insight you and your team bring to this site. Its one of my favorites.
Okay, so, Artio Local Emerging Markets Debt (or, whatever its called) is liquidating? Holy smokes, wasn'…
I mean, not just "OMG, look at Cyprus"; but "OMG, it was Cyprus, now Spain", and "what's going on in Greece now" and "hey, wait a minute, Italy's books look funny" and we get a decent 10%+ slide.
My portfolio is of value funds (I personally adhere …
Reply to @scott: Interesting comments as always, Scott.
Romick of FPA has noted the coming student debt crisis for some time. He's not alone. Seems to have backed off of his short positions in that sector, though..
On luxury homes -- sort of an …
Reply to @BobC: Wife is still in Total Return Bond. She forgot to mail her transfer of assets form in. I hope the fund doesn't blow up before we can get her over into something like DODIX.
Reply to @David_Snowball: David, why would you ever touch her dialect !?! Its wonderful. I thought she was Scottish. Regardless, a very pleasant sounding voice and a real find. And, BTW, you did a nice job on the RPHYX conference call. Thanks f…
David,
Great job as always by you and the team. This is a really great web site and resource. Thanks for the many features and materials you've added.
D.S.
P.S. Recently "discovered' the MFO podcasts -- whose voice is on the MFO overview of RP…
Reply to @scott: I think Royce Heritage Fund used to have such a lock up period (couple of years?). The fund seemed to have done quite well back in the day. Royce abandoned the format, however. And now Heritage is just another of Royce's "SMid-ca…
Reply to @Charles:
Charles, yes, I see that. I was surprised that after the tremendous bloat at FAIRX not so long ago, that Bruce would decide that he would now want the flexibility to go so far as to suspend all purchases, even reinvested divvie…
Every once in a while, Bruce does some weird stuff. First, there was fund bloat extraordinaire all while Bruce rationalized his pre-2008 media overexposure as "an efficient way to communicate with shareholders". Then, there was Bruce's stupendousl…
Reply to @MJG:
MJG,
For the record, I was more interested in hearing your thought on how you actually use active funds in your portfolio, than learning your secret list of active funds.
Thanks, regardless; and many happy returns.
D.S.
Hello MJG.
I've also noticed you're being a strong proponent of index funds. I was surprised to read that you held some actively managed funds. I would be interested in hearing how you use actively-managed funds in your portfolio. For myself,…
