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.
Hank, you asked about which international markets we favor. Personally I would not favor any specific market, and for that reason would leave the decision to a successful, active manager. Favoring one region/country over another is something I pre…
The expense ratio increase is troubling. It is higher now than any time in the last 10 years. It was 0.69 in 2012 with $713 million. Now it is 1.01 with $1.43 billion in assets. Something is not right.
1. Use shares of this appreciated asset to make charitable gifts rather than write a check. This way you avoid realized taxable capital gains, you get the charitable deduction, and the charity pays no taxes when they sell.
2. Sell shares to reduce …
We don't battle our clients at all. For better or worse, we have tended to overweight international stocks compared to other firms. Fortunately, things have turned, and investors are being rewarded nicely. Yes, we got some griping over the last f…
Again, it really depends on the fund and how the management is structured and what strategy is being employed. But any significant management change should be noted and followed closely. Price funds have done an exceptional job of handling managem…
Region specific overlap is OK by me, since both funds are managed for conservative growth. MAPIX has geographic restrictions, and SIGIX is actually weighted pretty close to the MSCI EM benchmark, a bit under in Europe and a bit higher in Latin Amer…
Fund manager changes, especially lead managers and solo managers, should absolutely raise a red flag. There have been many instances where I can look back and say that I should have reacted to manager changes sooner. The fact that a fund is team m…
Both are well-run funds that strive to limit downside risk. For conservative, total return investors, these are good options. Dow capture ratios are 65.0 for SIGIX and 45.1 for MAPIX, both really good. And both have very strong alpha numbers and …
Vintage, so very glad to know you and your family are ok. I agree with others that say there was no real fault at all, except for whomever tossed the bottle, and that could have been months ago.
I do not disagree with you, Vintage. The analyst rating has to include, formally or not, a recognition of the manager's former success at Thornburg, although I doubt this would be admitted. Otherwise, I agree with you that there is no way to concl…
I figure every day has a 50/50 chance of going up, or going down. Historically there have been a lot more up days than down. We are wired to remember the down days and "forget" the good days. So the moral (IMHO) is to create an allocation that al…
Personally not buying/selling anything right now. I'm comfortable with current 401k allocation of 20% bonds, 18% alternative, 30% domestic stocks, 22% internationl/emerging market stocks, 5% in a global equity ETF, and 5% in a medical ETF. I have a…
Vintage, according to what I see, ARTZX is rated a 3* fund, but yes, no Analyst Rating. It's as if ARTZX doesn't exist anymore. Still has only about $47 million, compared to ARTYX $1.4 billion. Clearly the parent company is pushing the newer fund…
Ted, I am with you. I thought this would happen a long time ago as folks become more educated. But the fact is that even though there are many fewer brokerage firms than there were twenty years ago, the ones that remain are mostly enormous. They …
here in Central Ohio the building boom is going full speed. Builders cannot put up new single-family, apartment, and condo homes fast enough. Even the massive apartment complexes are mostly leased before they open. We are having bidding wars over e…
I would suggest carving a separate part of your portfolio for these kind of funds that have the ability to change their allocations as world economies and interest rates change. We call these "Dynamic" funds, and do not try to parse their holdings …
Know what you mean about incessant Buckeyes enthusiasm. All other sports take a backseat to OSU football. That could change, however, if the Blue Jackets make a run in next year's Stanley Cup playoffs. People here are very knowledgeable hockey fa…
I can't vouch for other areas of the country, but here in Central Ohio the building boom is going full speed. Builders cannot put up new single-family, apartment, and condo homes fast enough. Even the massive apartment complexes are mostly leased …
Appreciate your insight. I suppose that it is possible, but it seems unlikely there will be many small accounts in the fee platform, unless they are just one of multiple accounts for the same client household. On another note, I have colleagues wh…
We use TIBIX, MALOX, and RPGAX. Expenses for these are 0.86%, 0.79%, and 0.98%, all below 1%, which is ok for an active allocation fund. For expenses, look for NET expense ratio, since this is the actual expense investors pay. It is always availa…
It's worth mentioning that LPL also has a fee-based open-architecture platform, so it isn't accurate to suggest that all advisors who use LPL are commission based.
You are correct, but the clients in the "fee-based" (Lordy, I hate that term. It's e…
Heaven forbid LPL act as a fiduciary and have NO commissions. Does anyone think salespeople who receive a one-time only commission with no trails will bother to spend any time with those clients, most of which will be very small potatoes? It will …
Reminder that with PRPFX you are paying an active management fee for almost no active management. This fund historically has done better than equities alone during bear markets, during periods of stable interest rates, and when gold is soaring. An…
We currently don't own a dedicated small cap value fund. As you likely know, we make no attempt to fill in style boxes. At this point, we use SWSSX or SCHA as a core hold, then build around it with IYSIX and/or VTMSX. And I would not expect any s…
I have no reason to believe Foster has suddenly taken dumb pills. He has ably managed dollars for my clients and me for about 10 years, first at MAPIX and with SIGIX since he started that fund. I frankly do not care if the fund under-performs duri…
There are a lot of funds that have relatively strong performance compared to the index in bear markets. Seems to me the discussion should be about owning an overall allocation that enables you to sleep at night during complete market cycles. This …
These studies happen all the time, and my takeaway is that there are places at both ends of the COL range that are unattractive to different people. For example, there are places I think are wonderful to visit, but you could not pay me enough to li…
Not sure why 3-month returns are of any consequence. Any fund can have a terrific quarter, but that is no reason to own it. ARTIX had a good quarter as noted, but it has struggled terribly the last 3 years. My concern is that the large number of …
>> Unless TRP is willing to absorb that cost,
Is this not invariably the case? In 45y I have never seen an NTF fund on Fido (or elsewhere) whose ER was not the same as buying directly from the fund family. OAKBX (say) through Fido same cost…
Just understand that Fidelity did not make this change out of altruism. TRP is paying them to get on their NTF platform, probably in the neighborhood of 30-35 BPs, which is the standard cost to get on brokerage NTF platforms. Unless TRP is willing…
I really disagree about LTC insurance being only for the wealthy. The truly wealthy don't need it. They can pay for those expenses out of pocket. It's the middle class that risks losing everything, and LTC insurance, while not cheap, can be tailo…
I learned a lesson many years ago. I cannot control the markets, I cannot time the markets, I cannot pick an individual stock portfolio and hold it, I cannot control the U.S. economy, I cannot control the world's economy, I cannot control the weath…
With average maturity at 13+ years and duration at more than 6, Gaffney's fund is not for the faint of heart should a credit crisis develop. By comparison, LSBDX looks tame, and it is not.
We use TGBAX as a core hold in many accounts, with GSDIX for some larger accounts. Although TGBAX is not EM per se, Hasenstab uses a lot of EM currencies and has not been afraid of owning EM bonds (currently about 60%). It is clearly the "chicken"…
