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.
I like several funds in the context of this discussion: OSTIX, PONDX, BSIIX, LASYX, and LLDYX. TGBAX, for those who can handle some longer periods of under-performance. For those looking for yield outside of bonds, KIFYX has some attraction despit…
I really don't pay much attention to fund families in general, unless they do something really stupid or illegal (yeah, Janus comes to mind here, along with a select few other groups). There are some fund groups that continue to surprise me they ar…
JohnChisum is correct...we do not invest in index funds to beat the market. True index funds are designed to mirror the returns of their benchmark, minus their expense ratios. Some funds will, by design, employ some special sauce to enhance their…
High yield bonds continue to do well. Low-risk OSTIX is up 10.5% YTD. I will take that anytime. Folks taking about buying TIPS, but with those prices already in the stratosphere, it make no sense at this time. PONDX also looking good. Munis did…
Don't really care that much. We have been "expecting" a pullback for some time now. But the lack of one has really only affected those who have had cash on the sidelines waiting for a drop. The past year has proven to be one where the so-called ex…
Edmund makes a good point. If the fund were truly actively managed, the expenses might be justified. But truth is there is very little change in holdings. Some trimming of positions now and then, but very little real change. So when performance …
I can tell you that when an American Fund rep visited us when the F-class shares were introduced, he said they wanted to penetrate what they saw as a growing RIA landscape, access fee-based accounts (that term is such a crock), with lower-expense op…
Hi, Alban. This is not related to your question, but I am wondering what your plan for buying American Funds is. Given the options available to you, such as T. Rowe Price, Vanguard and many other no-load fund companies, I am simply curious why you…
The Poobah speaks, and the earth trembles at his all-knowing, all-seeing, all-thinking ability. I though Mr. Gross had the world's biggest ego a few years ago, but I was wrong. Mr. Gundlach, er...the Poobah is clearly the winner since Gross left PI…
HSTRX - are you kidding me? It has been so long since that one came up, I thought perchance it had been liquidated. Not only has it lost almost 85% of its assets since 2011, it has increased its expenses by about 8% from that year, too. I really …
I do not recall ever reading a book by any of these so-called experts. As one of them told me years ago, "I wrote my first book to generate some publicity for my business (he was an advisor back then). My second book got me on some talk shows and …
These surveys are disappointing in a number of ways. First, they point out that there are still more than a few so-called "advisors" who stick to one or two fund families, no matter what. The survey confirms the inability or laziness of many commi…
Just a comment that we track about 85 fixed-income funds and ETFs. Of that, only 20 are positive for the last three months. And only 8 are up more than 1%. My observation is that investors should be in relatively short durations, since with few e…
I for one am not surprised at all. I have never seen any action by the SEC, DOL or other agency that reduces paperwork, lowers overall expenses, and makes sense. At least 50% of my daily mail consists of hard copies of prospectuses and other requi…
For me, the commentaries were worth the time to read and digest. For actively-managed funds, I believe it is important to know what a manager is thinking, publicly and privately. My only guess is that there is some compliance reason (i.e. CYA) for…
This is a little late to the party, since EM stocks are up about 17% YTD. The way to participate is to have a diversified mix that has an allocation to EM stocks. If you can't stomach the higher volatility, own something like SFGIX or NWFFX that i…
They could also just go with one share class: no-load, no 12b-1. If their creation of this new class is the response to fiduciary rules, why not accept the role of fiduciary in all they do? It is hypocritical at best.
But remember that most public employees also have a pretty generous pension plan that is far better than Social Security. Why else would the politicians not be a part of SS? Our experience has been that public employees who also have contributed t…
Davidmoran, could you provide more information on the "subpar performance" of the low-vol funds? I am not challenging your comment, but the ones we follow, specifically SPHD and SPLV, have out-performed their benchmarks rather nicely. Although SPL…
Those of us who are on Medicare and earning more than the government thinks we should are also getting shafted with much, much higher premiums for Part B and Part D to help prop up this un-affordable disaster. We are paying considerably more, actua…
Oh, yeah. And remember the 1,000+ pages of the new regs were crafted by....you guessed it...attorneys! Yes, the rules are supposed to establish a "fiduciary" standard. But already, there is legislation to allow annuities back into the picture (th…
When a combined $58 million in lobbying dollars from the financial industry are targeted to the Senate Finance Committee ( for 2016 PACs and individual campaigns), I do not have to think very hard about whether money talks. Like another poster at M…
As mentioned earlier, politics is all over the new DOL regs. Just last week, the Senate Finance Committee unanimously approved legislation that would make it easier for advisors/retirement plan sponsors to add annuities to their programs. The bill…
I did go back to read my original comments. You are right, I did say the rules do not apply to IRAs, and that was incorrect. Should have just said personal/trust accounts. Thanks for pointing out my error. I do not disagree with your general comm…
No confusion on my part. The b/d community, especially the second-tier companies like State Farm, found their bread and butter in 401k rollovers. The big BDs like ML have essentially dropped clients with small-value accounts already. IRA or 401k …
It's not that a lot of advisors are getting out of the business. The fact is that their broker-dealers are restructuring their business lines and are choosing to move away from the rep-sold fund and annuity business. For example, State Farm recent…
But the millenials, from what I have read, now outnumber the baby boomers. And many are not yet in spending mode. That will come later. Does that mean the economy is destined for a major upswing in the next 10 years? I don't put much store in t…
We have been working with clients for more than 30 years and have seen a boatload of changes in the fund industry. As one poster noted, advisors have been able to use F-1 shares for many years, but individual investors could not. But the fact is t…
Real estate can be a very good "alternative" investment, and has always been a good diversifier. We would allocate no more than 5-7.5% to this asset class, since many index and actively-managed funds will own real estate, too. I would consider CSR…
On the contrary, the fund is exactly what most advisors expect. Those who saw Mr. Hasenstab's unique style and were early to the fund have done well for their investors. Virtually every manager will have a period of 2-3 year span of underperforman…
Worrying about a brokerage firm going belly up, especially one like Schwab, is not really warranted, Vintage. Your holdings are protected under SIPC, even cash up to a very high amount. The issue I have with the smaller firms (like Scottrade) is …
The one comment that strikes me is Bogle's "Hold a bond portfolio percentage equal to your age". That makes no sense at all, especially in a period of rising interest rates, unless you are continuously buying and selling short-term bonds. If bonds…
I've learned not to put much into all the many rankings of colleges and universities. There are so many variables that can skew rankings, and every study puts different weightings on the variables it chooses to include. I have seen rankings for so…
Like virtually all other bonds, munis have enjoyed the many years of lower rates. I check individual muni prices regularly, and seldom if ever find an investment-grade muni that is not selling 2-3% above par. While I won't say there is a bubble, i…
I agree. Parnassus should unwind their position in WF as quickly as they can. Not doing so attaches the WF stain to Parnassus. If the fund company had discovered that WF had been refusing to hire African Americans or had quietly been letting LGBT…
I am not sure many folks appreciate the many, many hours of work Chip, David and their team put in for MFO. Not just the daily grind, but the much time spent on the upgraded look. And keep in mind that they have full-time "real" jobs, too. This i…
