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.
@Sven: LOL, probably, yeah.
I believe JP Morgan's (the guy, not the firm) market advice from the 1920s is still valid: "Markets will fluctuate."
"of the major asset classes, emerging markets remain the cheapest and we recommend tilting portfolio…
Hank - no offense taken! And yes, the modern Templeton isn't Sir John's, that's for sure. :/
In their defense, I've held their tax-free FKTIX in my portfolio since (I think) the late '80s, and also think their utility/income funds were pretty g…
Points taken about Templeton - I don't necessarily disagree w/the counter-arguments there, although I was referring to the firm and not just a specific fund.
I'd go with Templeton. Not just because I finally sold out of TGBAX last month after several years, but the firm just seems to be way behind the times in terms of offerings, fees, loads, and so forth. I was also less enthused by the firm's proces…
Whenever I see managed futures coming back into fashion, it tells me to tread carefully -- ie that people are getting a bit exuberant and that the next market 'top' may be coming into view. Not that I like managed futures myself - if I want to us…
Which is funny b/c the same day a few inches below that article was a questionably-written M* piece saying that specialised / sector / niche funds (ie health care) were not really a good idea for investors. (They are, if you know what you're doing…
That's not surprising. I do think many of his voters/supporters are in for a rude awakening when they find out that a) he can't do all he promised, b) some types of jobs are simply obsolete and NOT coming back, and c) what he does may well end up…
Getting the SARs and ARs from TGBAX, I haven't been on the Franklin website in ages -- but in poking around there this evening, I see the following items/updates, which were NOT distributed to shareholders via the same channels we get 'regular' fund…
Don't know, didn't ask! I won't worry much ... if I can't, I can dump it and buy GIM if I want the exposure.
Are you sure you can buy more shares? I've spoken with a few brokerages who have said that they'll let you hold these shares, they'll eve…
Reduced considerably my multiyear holding in TGBAX (pretty much a scratch trade, made a tiny profit as I recall) and I'm down to a 6K toehold. Holding mainly to keep access to that class of the product for when global/EM bonds return to favour.
Ha…
Each AF manager is responsible for a given 'sleeve' of the portfolio based on their expertise and have the discresion to act independently of the other managers. (I think ... think .... they only really compare notes when there may be the potential…
I'm not a BH or indexer but these quotes are all solid words to live by. Though surprised Merriman didn't include a "costs matter!" quote as well ... but that might be from Charlie Ellis maybe.
Clearly you missed the entirety of what I (and others) were saying over there -- posting the same link in multiple forums just is not polite, and it makes David/MFO look bad, too! As I said over there and will say here as well, I do appreciate many…
These robo advisors and algos are great until they're not. Waiting for when they all simultaneously freak out and move clients into/out of positions, churning their accounts, roiling markets, and more. Robos work nicely in trending markets -- b…
At the moment I'm stalking a bunch of equities - GE, BCE, VOD, NHI, several others, including some smaller utilities. Hopefully they'll hit my buy points (which I established in April) during any election-related volatility.
I plan to move more …
MJG - good points. I sure wasn't intending to paint all fund companies w/that sentiment! Some, like VG, TRP, and others, are indeed quite responsible in such outreach, I think.
Hi Rforno,
Thanks for your post. Not all professional organizations a…
More like why the fund marketing departments will love these rolling averages. Remember how responsible FAs and others (ie, MFO readers) were saying in 2013 beware of the 5 year returns being hyped once the '08 crash 'fell off the radar' on that c…
Or just burn through a few thousand more airline miles for a 'new' subscription. I do that every few years with Barrons.
After your $52 subscription is over, you'll get an offer to pay the corner-office rate.
TD has minimum buys of 100 and 250 on the low-end for many funds I've stumbled across over the years, so I think you'd probably be okay.
@LLJB. I've successfully gotten over falling in love with ANY fund. So I don't want my shares to be grandfather…
Ohhh! Do they come with frequent flyer points or AMEX rewards? I'm so in.
rforno, at some point, I am sure an F-8-E share-class will be offered. As to whether it will have the cost attributes you specify, it may! -- Or you may need to hold ou…
I'm holding out for them to roll out the F-8-E class shares. You know, the ones that have no load, no 12(b)-1, cost under .10 ER, and give you 5 extra shares each month as a shareholder bonus. :)
Oh no offense taken! :)
Sorry rforno.....I did not intend to infer that you purchased this due to the name. I also purchased a fund (SCHD) due to the similar underlying characteristics.
The marketing staffer who thought up the moniker "Low Volatility" for the fund description most likely got a nice bonus check though.
Probably yeah. And I'm sure many flocked to it (and other similarly-named funds) because it had those words in th…
I agree the ever-expanding # of AF share classes is an exercise in excessive extremes.
However, I do appreciate their multi-manager approach, and it's served me well over the years.
VMVFX has been doing quite nicely imho. But then again, I don't jump in and out of things because of their title or stated goal, but rather for its holdings, allocation, costs, and how it fits into my overall portfolio.
Yawn.
I can see them having 20-30 positions, getting a sudden inflow of cash, and then, not finding any value stocks, just dump the extra AUM into an index fund it holds to remain 'fully invested' LOL
(x-posted to M*)
After much thought, I closed my sizable multiyear position in PRBLX last night at approx breakeven.
Reasons:
- Waiting for the WFC thing to settle, it's their newest #1 holding. (For an ESG fund, let alone on trust issues I'm not…
If the ER was lower I might ... might consider a dram. But with 24% in DEO, just buy that and a few other of its major holdings individually and forget about the ER. :)
I hold a few others as well, but CAIBX, CWGIX, RWMGX are some of the AFs I've come to respect.
GBLFX looks interesting as a global allocation fund, too.
Fair enough. I for one think their multimanager approach is a valid one, and offers a bit of a sanity check between them in their analysis. Is it perfect? Nope, but I appreciate it and their approach has served me well in the AFs I've owned since …
F-2 class have lower ERs and no 12(b)-1 fees. (Edit: Presuming you don't *want* to hold ETFs. For some things I prefer an OEF.)
One has to believe AF managers deconflict purchases so that (to use your hypothetical) if 4/9 managers all want to own…
As I posted at M* this afternoon, "Good move by AF. I'd prefer to own the F-2 shares that don't have 12(b)-1 fees but this is a welcome move and will let me re-consider some AFs that I like but refused to buy due to loads."
I already hold several…
I would stay away from thematic niche ETFs which tend to be very thinly traded and/or fail to attract enough assets and end up shutting down.
For a long-term growth portfolio, much of what TSP_Transfer said isn't too bad - own PRGTX and PRHSX mysel…