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VGHCX has an initial minimum of $3,000 these days. The admiral share class, VGHAX, has a $50k minimum. Neither has a redemption fee.
Bee, M* doesn't show the same result starting with the VGHCX chart: since early 2004, at VHT's inception, the $10k…
Reply to @scott: CVS's direction in this small market w/ a moderately large contingent of retirees is interesting. They bought a toehold in a strip mall from RiteAid ~ 6-7 years ago, and are about to open a new, enormous, 24H location on a very larg…
Given the record of the multi-asset fund, I'm thinking there probably aren't a whole lot of people who've been holding their breath waiting for this launch.
As the article Mark linked says, that trade has already run a very long way with no policy moves behind it, mainly just talk & speculation. At this point, if I were tempted to make a bet on its continuing, it'd be less of an all-in bet ... for …
Reply to @ron: I haven't owned Scout Int'l since 2007, but one thing that speaks well of the fund is that it seems to have always had fairly significant positions in Scandinavia, ~ the most financially stable & sensible region of Europe, IMHO.
My designated equity hedge is PIGIX (fairly rate sensitive, but enough yield to keep it in the plus column so far this year), which I might add to if equities hit the late spring/summer doldrums.
Also sold off a chunk of muni fund holdings in step…
Thanks, Kevin. If you go through their brief risk-tolerance assessment, they show you the exact portfolio they'd set up for you if you were to invest with them. Mine was the basic Vanguard stock ETFs, a small shot of TIPS, DJP for commodities, and t…
I just took a quick look at the site, and couldn't find any sort of prospectus (other than some related info in the FAQs) or any indication of what their neutral and/or current asset allocations are. Anyone know if that info is available anywhere?
Probably a distribution ... think there are mountains of unrealized cap gains at that fund. Check the Vanguard site; ticker in the fund search box, & go to the distribution tab once you're in the fund's pages. M* shows distributions on the quote…
Reply to @ron: But is that insider, "smart" money, or retail, "dumb" money? And which are we? (This comment brought to you by Tongue in Cheek Enterprises.)
I'll be watching mainly for opp'ties to bulk up on EMs, both bonds & stocks, via Matthews, Seafarer, & maybe TGEIX & even PCY if/when it bottoms out. That'd be partly a continuation/possible ramping up of a longer-term plan to build a mu…
I sunk an initial position into the Aston fund ARLSX a couple of weeks ago. I'd been very skeptical of L-S funds in general, but decided that I like the Aston guys' (detailed!) process and the risk containment. So far it's had a 70-55 up-down captur…
If you mean something else in the short junk line, have a look at OSTIX ... mainly short junk + busted convertibles, 2-3y duration, 5%-ish yield, lost 5% in 2008. It's conservative within the universe of HY and HY-emphasizing multi-sectors.
Here's info on a criterion you didn't mention, but which correlates pretty well with a couple of the ones you did. It'd be one of the first things I evaluated if I were in the market for a new town, just to be sure I wasn't dooming myself to spendin…
Reply to @kevindow: I've been thinking about pairing QUSIX with HSCSX as a global small value combo, but the trigger finger hasn't come down with the requisite itch yet. Homestead is sort of blend-y, but the metrics much of the time are in the value…
Reply to @goldenwaterox: He's got the same two co-managers with him now on all three existing funds, and they'll be with him on ARTWX too. But yes, I think being overextended is at least a mild concern.
I don't know or follow all the funds you list, but my thought would be to keep BBTEX and SEQUX, and think hard about why you'd need four large-cap mostly-U.S. funds. BBTEX is very, very good, and it's closed to new investors, so I definitely would n…
I'll limit my comments to your bond sleeve. You appear to be fairly conservative in investing, so consider these ideas with that assumption in mind.
I'd reconsider going all but entirely to cash, as it looks like you may do. None of the funds I me…
I think the article overstates the case, in search of a catchy headline. BOND was explained and reported on as a pure version of the Gross strategy, not as an ETF clone of PTTRX in the same way most of the Vanguard ETFs are clones of the pre-existin…
Reply to @Ted: My question was actually for the messenger ... about posting it here at all if it's of questionable value. Do you not look at the articles you post, or not care whether they're useful? Just curious; it seems like most people post lin…
Tomorrow's one of his DBLTX/DBLFX web casts, 1:15 Pacific time - he usually gets fairly specific on overall outlook, not so much on strategy for the funds. Anyone interested can register on the web site.
Last two weeks, all tweaks, no big-picture portfolio changes:
* Sold short-term tactical-trade shares in VPU, utilities, for a modest gain; ~ 2-3 times a yr. I do a sector trade like that one, limited to max. of 5% of port. Nice entertainment value…
I don't think there's a looming disaster in bonds, but that total returns are going to fall pretty significantly from these amazing levels of return we've had the last few years. At the same time, stocks aren't cheap either, so IMHO, the conditions …
Reply to @BobC: Hi Bob, just to be clear, I've got just as many barbs for M* as the next guy; they don't exactly treat their retail customers like they give a whit (the constant complaints on the discussion board about web site functionality and bad…
Reply to @hank: M* agrees with you, Hank. Here's the punchline from the glossary entry "Morningstar Rating for Funds":
"Ratings are objective, based entirely on a mathematical evaluation of past performance. They're a useful tool for identifying fu…
Doctor Doom's outlook is short-term bullish, long-term catastrophic:
“The risk of the end game from QE is not going to be goods inflation, it's not going to be a rout in the bond market,” Roubini says. “The risk is ... (that) ... we could create an…
Reply to @MaxBialystock: That would be the apartment on the dark side that's next door to Royce. Not that I think these launches are evidence that it's really going to go that way, but it would be a very big disappointment por moi if it did.
1. Agree that mid-caps are in the sweet spot a lot of the time, but like Mark says, take a look at your large & small & it's likely you'll have a chunk of mid-caps between them. One of the "large blend" funds I own has ~ 30% in mid-caps.
2.…
FMI International, FMIJX? I get from the 'fund family' and 'management' pages on M* that it was launched in 2010, and the other four funds in the family came out in 1981, 1986, 1996, and 2001.
I mentioned the about-to-launch low volatility small and mid-cap ETFs from Powershares above, and it turns out they're launching today, as XSLV and XMLV:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/low-vol-goes-small-111412943.html
I agree with Andrei on small …
