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.
Reply to @johnN: Not that there aren't kernels of truth in places on the site, but you do realize, John, that anybody can write an article for Seeking Alpha? It's not all expert opinion, by any means. Not to ignore it, but it certainly goes into the…
According to this piece (a Yahoo-Breakout interview with Lee Munson):
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/breakout/warren-buffett-investor-trader-115118306.html ---
Buffet hasn't stopped using CDS on munis, he's cut his position in half. Per the articl…
What I've never understood is the duration positioning of HSTRX: why, if he's been thinking stocks are dangerous, would he have a mostly-bond fund in such short duration? He's had the tools at his disposal, but has largely missed this run in bonds. …
Reply to @romroc: Just curious, romroc, but do you mean your son the banker thinks the stock market is about to tank, and if so, did he say why he then would be selling "his bond fund"?
Another lower volatility possibility, if you want to stay wit…
Reply to @kevindow: Not a problem; thanks both of you for the replies. I can't quite square the (short term) higher standard deviation of AQRIX (1 year = 10.3 vs. ABRIX at 8.1, per Google Finance) with the portfolios - seems like from the asset make…
Reply to @kevindow: Kevin, as someone who owns both, do you have a sense of the different approaches and strengths/weaknesses as you've observed them? TIA, Mac
Good catch, Scott; definitely one for the read, research, and watch list. There'll be a fairly large 401k rollover at this house in the next year or so, & I'm working on a shopping list for a Fido IRA.
PB,
It is a tough decision, so much so that I've got both for now, with SFGIX in audition mode as a small position.
I agree with you on the pros and cons ... he made a good case for his approach, I thought, in the conference call, and the divers…
Reply to @Old_Joe: Great context, OJ. It's easy to forget how rare really good, easily available investment information was, of the kind this board gets into daily, only say 15-20 years ago.
While I don't see a compelling case for this particular fund, I also really appreciate David's, and MFO contributors', efforts to keep the board current about new, small, unique, and/or under-the-radar mutual funds. Thanks.
Reply to @MaxBialystock: The D'Line funds all allow a $5k minimum for the cheap shares in an IRA, if you have any of that space available.
Imho, M* isn't on top of what JG's doing at D'Line; I'd take their narrative reports on his funds with a tubf…
Reply to @MaxBialystock: Hey Max, DBLFX/DLFNX is a good core bond fund, not just for "rates up, cost down," but core as in, buy in and stick with it. Has T's, but it's not going to shoot to the moon when T's go up in price; has a lot of mortgages of…
Hi Dian,
I came into an unexpectedly large inheritance a few years ago (the inheritance itself wasn't unexpected, but the size was), and the lessons I learned were to take my time figuring out how to integrate it into my life, and not to get marrie…
Reply to @hank: Yup, got it, thanks ... see additional posts below where the prospectus and boilerplate are discussed.
TRP changed their methodology about a year back, to a vastly simpler trigger than they previously used: if you sell shares of a…
Cathy, BOND dividends aren't being reinvested in Vanguard accounts either. The brokerage people say it's because it's only 5 months old and they require a year's worth of steady dividends before they'll reinvest. (It doesn't matter, I asked, that it…
Reply to @Sven: Just fyi, I'm in the process of making the switch - selling PTTRX, putting half the proceeds into BOND and the other half into a smaller existing position in PDIIX, Pimco Diversified Income.
I already had filled-out positions in DB…
Hey Mark, for outdoorsy-wildlife folks, there's the beautifully restored Audubon home and gardens right in KW:
http://www.audubonhouse.com/aboutah.htm
and Dry Tortugas NP, out at the end of the chain of reefs west (70 miles) of KW, accessible by f…
Reply to @claimui: The prospectus language parallels what you're saying about it, claimui. As far as brokerage restrictions, if it's available thru Fidelity, they've cut the NTF holding period to 60 days, which would be a setup maybe a little more a…
Reply to @Skeeter: Actually, I'm just mildly curious if an investor can really run it in a portfolio as a "cash sub" as it seems some are doing, a strategy that wouldn't really work if there are restrictions such as round trip limitations or redempt…
Interesting. He's apparently Stephen, son (I think) of Jerome D., founder of Parnassus, where Stephen worked till he decided to hang up his own shingle.
Lots of financials in the port, but not so many of the usual suspects ...
Has anyone run acros…
Similar portfolio? No. Too much overlap? Depends ... on the rest of your portfolio, and what you want your portfolio to look like.
See the up-to-date portfolio breakdown here: http://www.doublelinefunds.com/funds/total_return/statistics.html -- Ju…
The very popular S&P 500 low volatility etf SPLV distributes a monthly dividend; just from memory, I think the annual yield is something like 2.8%. It's really concentrated - ~60% in utilities & staples, so be sure to check out that aspect o…
I'm about 50-50 between BOND and PTTRX and have been thinking about going all BOND for the past 2-plus months. The reasons I haven't yet are the higher dividend yield of PTTRX and the fact that the performance gap has narrowed some in recent weeks. …
Reply to @Sven: Good catch on the two new co-managers. The M* management page says they're with Yockey on all 3 of the Artisan funds he runs. Hamker is apparently French, and presumably the European specialist on the team. The team sounds pretty att…
I've got a small position in SFGIX, in audition mode only for the time being. I've been impressed with the shareholder communication and with his investment theses, and may add more later, but two things give me pause: the E.R., and his clearly stat…
Reply to @Investor: I read somewhere that the ARTIX turnaround of the last year or so was fueled by a big shift toward consumer staples stocks, and see also that ARTHX is pretty heavy in the category, too. I think Yockey used to be really growthy in…
Any VGK-euro thesis is complicated by the fact that about half the companies in the fund are domiciled in countries that aren't part of Euro-land ... the UK is 35%, Switzerland 12%, a percent in Norway, etc. It's not really a clean play on a thesis …
Reply to @MikeM2: Hi Mike, to explain further, the way I do the portfolio is a bit complicated because I vary the stake in risk assets within the band I mentioned. Right now I have 22% of my total portfolio, aggregated at the fund level, in risk ass…
Reply to @Mona: Depending on how much you're investing, the difference in E.R. could offset the transaction fee in a reasonable amount of time.
In my case, I have an IRA directly with DBL, since I'm as sure as I ever am that they'll have a fund I …
Reply to @MaxBialystock: Hey Max, EM bonds & stocks in the mid-00s were where I've made the most $ ever in la vida without actually having to work for it. May that cycle repeat before I reach the nursing-home stage.
On the original topic, I have 40% of my small-ish stock/stock-correlated bond allocation (22% at this point, varies from 15%-40%) in EM stocks and bonds, all of which are in relatively conservative choices in the space. (Age 63, semi-retired, a fair…
Reply to @Mona: Hi Mona, just one thought on the DoubleLine fund: you can get the cheaper DBLEX shares if you buy the fund in an IRA with a $5k minimum versus $100k in a taxable account. The difference in E.R. is 0.3%, so IMHO definitely worth it.
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Just stumbled across this thread. My "low worry quotient" funds* are VWIAX and PRBLX (and most recently, ARIVX) in U.S. stock, ARTKX, MACSX, and MAPIX in foreign stock, and PIMIX, PTTRX/BOND, DBLEX and DBLFX,** and the various Vanguard muni funds in…
Agree with Mark - Yahoo Finance works pretty well with Chrome. I run Chrome and Firefox, and with FF, Yahoo pages are constantly freezing up, but it's usually smooth with Chrome.
Like Investor says, M*'s Portfolio Manager works fine for me, with a…
