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 @Rocky: I'm not exactly sure about this but the wealthy Chinese may have access to funds or ETFs that would give them exposure outside of China. The less wealthy might not have this access. It is known that wealthy Chinese have been buying …
Nope. Everyone concentrates on those couple of empty cities but the vast majority of China real estate is doing quite well. A couple of reasons; people don't have the access we have to mutual funds and other investments. So they invest in land and p…
Reply to @MJG: Good thoughts. Those few funds that are performing well now may not do so well in the future too. The investosphere (a new word) is changing each day. Yesterdays glory hound may well be tomorrows dog.
We are in a transition period …
My AOMIX is feeling the pressure. It is a moderate AA fund. Meanwhile my ACMVX has done very well. Hindsight tells me a lot but only after the facts are in. It makes one wonder if allocation funds are in for a long and tough period of time with the…
Interesting piece. I personally have had no interest in Janus since the tech debacle. It appears that the turmoil continues. Not something I would want going on at my fund company. I was interested to see that Enrique Chang is now at Janus having le…
I read David's article and it is well written and informative. It is really the managers we are buying in these types of funds. It doesn't help either that some of these funds are playing with derivatives. One thing I have noticed is that most of th…
Thanks for the info everyone. I have been eyeing a few of these type of funds including the Pimco product. Usually the ER's on these are on the high side due to the management but Pimco has some lower expenses than most. Schwab also has one, SWHEX, …
My mind is not working tonight but as I recall the list included the two mentioned above plus JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, and the fifth one that eludes my memory at the moment.
I guess I am in the camp of getting my fixed income allocation as short …
I don't give Jimmy Carter much credit for anything and certainly not the WIN campaign. It would behoove younger readers to research the "Whip Inflation Now" campaign started by President Ford.
It is going to be hard to figure what bonds will do in …
Reply to @jerry: I appreciate your comment. You may have a point technically on your salary since it had traded hands and it was yours at that point. I was thinking of the source of the money which is the taxpayer.
This has been ongoing for Detro…
The biggest issue regarding the cost of public employees are the public employee unions. I am biased against unions for a variety of reasons but in this case I do not see any reason why public employees should be represented by unions. The unions ar…
It is a sad commentary on our society how far down the path of destruction we have ventured. By allowing such practices as double dipping and pension spiking, many cities will face this same circumstance. Detroit is the largest so far but it is just…
Reply to @Investor: Yep, healthcare is one of those tricky subjects. Everybody wants it but nobody wants to pay for it. The present system including 0-Care is busted.
Almost every municipality in the US is under strain of their debt. This problem…
Thanks for this news David. I too do not expect any changes in investment style for the fund. Mr. Horrocks will be one of the team and that is good news. I think the size of Matthews plays favorably here compared to say a Fidelity or Vanguard.
Here…
It looks like VWIUX and VMLUX invest 75% of their holdings in bonds within the top three rating tiers. I would guess that Detroit and other municipals that achieved lower ratings or junk may not be included in their portfolio. As for the other 25%, …
Another good topic.
Dr. Sharpe talked about this in his book Investors and Markets. His research pointed out that one could hold a 60/40 allocation of stocks/bonds and get higher returns with very little additional risk versus the traditional 50/50…
Reply to @GregFromBoston: Thanks for this insight. I was not aware of this kind of reporting. Over the years I have noticed that the stories are the same form newspaper to newspaper and across the internet spectrum whether one visits Google, Yahoo…
This seems to be a growing concern at many sites. I used to spend time at Marketwatch but they were also adding in new writers who were promoting their newsletters. Worst part was some of these writers were able to delete unfavorable comments on the…
Then again, Bloomberg has their moments too. Right now on Bloomberg West, they are discussing that Marissa Meyer's approval rating at Yahoo has dropped to 84%. Life as we know it must be coming to an end.
It is early here. Time for another cup of c…
I haven't watched CNBC for several years now, mostly because our cable does not carry it. We have Bloomie instead. There are a few cheerleaders there but no where near the level of CNBC.
Still shaking my head reading that they destroyed mice and keyboards and cameras too. No one thought about Kaspersky or Sophos or the other software companies that specialize in this stuff.
Well, it's the government. They haven't the foggiest idea …
Late 50's and retired. Rejiggered my bond allocation down to 27% with all short term funds. 15% cash at the moment, the rest in equities split almost even between USA and Intl.
I also want to extend my appreciation for the commentaries each month. This month's commentary also answered and verified some of my questions regarding long-short funds. I have been researching these myself and while the concept was clear, the retu…
With the amount of investing time you have I certainly would concentrate on equities over fixed income. The exception would be MAINX as you mentioned in your original post. Also funds weighted to Asia would be a good idea as Asia will continue to be…
Reply to @scott: Yep, I agree. Cash is a losing proposition and bonds are in a tough bind here. It doesn't leave much choice for the average investor, thus the growth in EM and alternative funds.
Thanks Max. I also own some Matthews funds and already have seen a nice bounce off the lows. I wonder how much of the previous selling was due to investors who got into EMs on advice or having read about the gains? At the first sign of volatility th…
Welcome.
One thing that helped me through the years was to make sure I was not overpaying Uncle Sam in my income taxes. If you are getting large refunds each spring, adjust your withholding so that you end up close to even. That money can then be …
Reply to @MaxBialystock: Thanks. I decided to handle my own retirement assets rather than having an insurance company do it which my 403b was attached to. Most workers like the idea of having that steady check each month but circumstances change and…
Thanks for the article link. Timely too as more boomers are retiring. Many of them have 401k's etc that are invested with insurance companies. When they retire , those companies push to have those assets transferred into annuities. Good business for…
Reply to @bee: Ford is doing great business in China. Mullaly seems to be happy as I saw him on Bloomberg talking about Ford and their having sold one million autos in China already.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2013/03/06/ford-races-forward-in-c…
You might get many different answers depending on one's perspective. The market is cheaper than it was a month ago. It is cheap if you bought additional shares at lesser prices than before.
This Fed speak and the financial media interpretation make…
I agree on the Yellen choice. Smooth transitions are appreciated. We will have to decipher the Yellenspeak as time goes by. I have added to short duration bonds and also a bit more into MAPTX with this recent slide.
Reply to @TSP_Transfer: I have no doubt that 12 families control 85% of the wealth in the Philippines. This happened over a long period of time and I believe the same circumstance happens in other EMs too. Thailand has some very rich families for…
