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.
For better or worse, I can tell you that MFLDX management has the final say on whether the fund is open or closed. That does not make the current situation any better, but it might remind shareholders the fund makes huge macro bets with its long-te…
I agree with davidrmoran. If I look at the last 30 days or the last 60 days, I can find a whole lot of funds that did better than the S&P 500 and better than the funds that were mentioned. But to conclude that what happened to any fund in the…
Find out who has the final say in whether a fund remains open or closes. If the answer is NOT the management team, be very careful. This information is almost never available in any fund document. It must be obtained by speaking with someone from…
Rest assured the deal was a BIG deal monetarily for Janus. They are betting there will be an enormous inflow of assets so they can keep Mr. Gross in the luxury to which he is accustomed.
In most cases, the only thing this does is provide positive publicity for the fund managers and marketing material for the companies. It is truly meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but it is one more way for M* to hoodwink people into belie…
There are going to be some very, very large distributions this year by some funds. Surely it will have an impact on investors selling some of these holdings prior to the ex date. I know we are watching these very carefully, especially in light of …
Unheralded but great bond fund OSTIX has had Carl Kaufman at the helm since the fund started. He is right up there with Dan Fuss and his team. And another is Michael Hasenstab with Templeton Global Bond TGBAX.
It would seem to me that judging any fund based on a one-week period is very short-sighted. Yes, the premise is that long-short funds should have some upside participation and should have limited downside. Just what those amounts are is certainly …
No more irrelevant than all the other business tv channels. They all aim for the lowest denominator, with seemingly a goal to be more ridiculous than the other. I do not watch any of them.
If you are going to own actively-managed funds, it would seem to me that concentrated portfolios and investment flexibility make a lot of sense. For example, why would I pay for active management in a fund that has 200+ holdings and is essentially …
I would be cautious about owning core bond funds when we are in a period of rising interest rates. Flat-to-lower rates are ideal for core bonds, but when times are less sure, hiring experienced, unconstrained bond managers seems to make sense. Ev…
How wonderful for Mr. Gundlach. As we have seen before, it really is all about the money, isn't it? At least he won't miss our client money that will not be going to him.
I don't grasp why institutional groups would bail out of PTTRX at this point. If they were acting on their fiduciary responsibilities, they would have bailed 2-3 years ago. That is when bad calls and blooey commentary really started to affect the …
While I realize there will be individuals and some institutions who will follow Mr. Gross, his sauce was not secret any more. There are numerous other fixed-income options available to investors that do not have a so-called star manager in charge, …
Re Social Security. We have found that, unless there are health issues or cash flow issues, it is almost always better financially to wait until age 70. The annual 8% increase in benefits to age 70 can be huge. And, if someone is still working fu…
But there are a good number of talented fund managers who successfully handle concentrated portfolios of 30-60 positions. For sure, I would not attempt to do this on my own.
Television on Saturday? Why, oh why? Life is too short for that garbage. Get outdoors, go to a ball game, to the local market, work in the garden, even read a book. Television? You gotta be kidding!
So what will take over? Certainly not the euro, and it will be quite a while before the yuan can be in a position to become a reserve currency. Maurice is right about the oil thing. We are practically energy independent, and will be if we do it r…
OSTIX is a no-brainer for folks looking for decent yield but very low volatility. Current duration is less than 2.0 years. Manager Carl Kaufman's track record is one of the best. With only150 holdings and only one-fifth the size of DLTNX, this is …
I would not worry about style boxes. Spend time drilling and researching the managers. You are hiring managers, not buying funds. Value, blend, growth...these can and do morph over time.
Who knows if Mr. Fuss will be right about the timing of his moves. But he is acting on convictions, and that is good enough for me. It is darned hard to argue with his record. We have essentially been out of core bond funds for the last 3-4 years…
I never understand the kind of allocation advocated, where every piece of the pie gets equal treatment. And the 25% in 'alternatives' could be problematic. Then there is the 8.3% in cash. Is this for planned withdrawals? If not, perhaps a ultra-…
While I admit being put off by the Windhaven plug (perhaps some of it a necessary disclosure), the rest of her commentary was quite succinct and consistent with her 2014 views made previously. Translation: We are in a secular bull market, but under…
None of these are particularly aggressive. In fact Templeton, Fidelity and Loomis are among the more conservative international bond funds, and Loomis has almost 35% in domestic bonds. PIMCO uses their typical derivative hocus-pocus to reduce vola…
We have no problem using funds to build income portfolios. Aside from the many bond funds that are well-run and offer acceptable yields (and that are not loaded with long-term junk), there are a number of low-octane, diversified stock funds and wha…
The difference in expenses is about 0.29%, so darned close. PID has a broader market cap, while IVFIX is gonna be large cap. And surprisingly, IVFIX has a much lower turnover than PID. All statistical measures are pretty even except for Kurtosis,…
Forget the 3-month period. That's not long enough to judge anything, and during selloffs, correlations tend to congeal anywhere from a little to a whole lot (2008). The short-term correlations (1-year and less) reflect what we have seen over that …
The names marketing people come up with are so user-unfriendly. Does anyone really understand what the name of this fund means? Of course not, at least not until you read enough to figure it out. But if it sounds complicated, it must be good, rig…
It's all about marketing. What is the next hot investing idea, and how quickly can we get it to market? It is much easier for companies to roll out an ETF than a mutual fund. Both have a lot of regulation, but logistically I have been told on man…
I would be VERY cautious about buying any individual preferred stock. While the company might look very secure now, things could change quickly. We had a client who loaded up on GM preferred stock years ago. Why not, after all GM was America's co…
Ivy International Core Equity IVVYX or ICEIX would be my first choice, given John Maxwell's outstanding record since he took over in 2006, but the fund is often not available without a commission, and the I class shares are usually out of reach for …
These are horrible options, unfortunately. MetLife and Valic are the worst. TIAA-CREF is passable, but tell your DIL to NEVER put dollars in the TIAA guaranteed option. Once dollars are in that account, they cannot be moved to the CREF side. The…
It is interesting that the manager with the most experience here is Mr. Fuss, who also happens to be least likely to be quoted or appear on camera. I implicitly trust him, while I find Mr. Gross and Mr. Gundlach shills for their companies. The may…
M* medal ratings attempt to do what M* said could not be done, which is make a prediction on how the fund would perform in the future. Yeah, I know there is more to it than that, but it is essentially what the medal ratings do. They are another ma…
Even a blind squirrel will find an acorn once in a while. So will Hussman be 'proved right' at some point. In the meantime, his disastrous management has cost shareholders dearly. It is amazing his Strategic Growth fund has any assets at all, let…
