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.
It makes sense to be cautious when high equity valuations are considered.
I rebalanced my portfolio in late 2020 / early 2021 to lessen risk.
The current conditions don't necessarily preclude the "U.S. Market" from performing well this year.
The st…
Thanks for the info!
"The actively managed ETF will be separate from but have a similar strategy to that of the $16.0 billion Vanguard Ultra-Short-Term Bond Fund (Investor Shares: VUBFX; Admiral™ Shares: VUSFX) and will be managed by the same portf…
Dodge & Cox has a high manager retention rate and manager tenure is very high.
Many of its managers/analysts choose to work at the firm for most (if not all) of their careers.
Here are a few examples:
Charles Pohl - nearly 40 years
Dana Emery…
IJR tracks the S&P 600 index. VTMSX is an actively managed fund which tracks the same index while attempting to minimize taxable gains.
VSMAX tracks the CRSP U.S. Small Cap Index.
It has more holdings and a higher median market cap than S&P…
SIGIX (SFGIX) was a disappointment to me. Not a disaster, but I did get out of it. He is a good communicator, but eventually, I tired of him admitting to mis-timed decisions or just bad investments in particular stocks.
As a former SIGIX investor, …
Trump's overall job approval rating was 34% according to a recent Gallup poll.
His job approval rating by Republicans was 82% in the same poll. Link
The Pew Research Center indicates that 68% of U.S. adults disapprove of the way Trump
is handling…
VONE* has outperformed VFIAX and VTSAX** over the trailing 5 Yr. and 10 Yr. periods ending on 12/31/2020. You may also want to consider VTCLX. It is an actively-managed mutual fund which tracks the Russell 1000.
Its unique approach attempts to trac…
I'm very concerned about what may transpire in the coming days.
There are many disgruntled citizens who actually believe the presidential election was "stolen".
Neo-nazi groups are also trying to take advantage of the situation and start a race war…
The following article was written before the current president pressured Georgia's secretary of state to change the outcome of a free and fair election and before he fomented an insurrection. Link
After fair trials are conducted, the following puni…
QQQ is not very diversified since its allocation to the technology sector was 48.21% as of Sept. 30, 2020.
Technology stocks in general have performed well over the past decade.
What happens when tech stocks incur steep losses (e.g. 2000 - 2002) i…
Global stock funds can be a viable alternative to a combination of discrete domestic and foreign stock funds.
An investor will need to determine if the foreign asset allocation (often approx. 50%) is appropriate for their particular situation.
I re…
The shortages will be rectified I imagine within the next few months. What might be harder is to rectify people's psychologies so that everyone is willing to take the vaccine. My impression is this will only really work if something like 80% to 85% …
"President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr., racing against a surge in coronavirus cases and the emergence of a new variant that could worsen the crisis, is planning a vaccination offensive that calls for greatly expanding access to the vaccine while using…
I use M* Portfolio X-Ray (Stock Intersection) to check holdings across my portfolio.
It provides a decent "quick and dirty" view.
However, it shows only the top 50 stocks overall and a fund's portfolio may be several months old.
Hi Jon, I would look at expense ratio. You can buy the NASDAQ 100 cheaper than RYOCX. Turnover on the Fidelity fund is higher than I like. Are they that smart?
I would also look at the structure of the fund family. I lean against publicly traded co…
@Crash, #25 and #14 take time to exercise and there is less than 14 days left. If he has the decency, he should just leave NOW just like Richard Nixon. Nixon was told he has lost all support and was about to be impeached and remove from office. …
Attempts to maintain my chosen level of asset diversification are defeated by the constant increases in equity valuations. It's a nice problem to have.
Yes, indeed!
Cheap money and those investing on margin..... I don't have any data about how much hot money is in the market place; using margin or otherwise.
"Margin debt—the amount of money borrowed against stockholdings to play the market—hit a record $722 b…
Some people are requesting their $2,000 stimulus checks from Mitch McConnell's Venmo account.
Citizens took to Twitter to document their attempts as well as to encourage others to do the same. One, claiming McConnell has a Venmo account tied to …
I noticed MEASX several years ago.
The fund performed exceedingly well within its category the first three full calendar years.
12-31-2016
3 Yr return: 10.9% (top 2% of category);
standard deviation of 8.91%
MEASX seems to be in a slump since 201…
That's a good point - I don't know how the author arrived at 6%.
As you mentioned, the D&C Fact Sheet from September 30 indicates that 19.8% of the fund's assets are allocated to emerging markets. The Semi-Annual Report from June 30 implies that…
I have been disappointed with Dodge’s international strategy. DODFX has been an average performer for some time. I am skeptical about an EM offering unless they are looking to bring in a new team.
"The following are listed on the filing as managers…
Fascinating to track how it remains the barest hair ahead of VONE over all large intervals from 10y on in --- so consistent. How dey do dat?
From M* Fund Report by Venkata Sai Uppaluri:
"The fund samples the Russell 1000 Index to
minimize taxab…
VTCLX is an actively managed fund that tracks the Russell 1000 Index while minimizing tax effects.
The fund has performed well and may be worthy of consideration.
ARK Innovation ETF is discussed in the following blog post.
Other "hot" funds from the past are also mentioned.
A Short History of Chasing The Best Performing Funds
PRCNX lands in Morningstar's Foreign Large Blend category although its investment style was classified as Foreign Large Value in 2019 and 2020. The fund's trailing 3 Yr. and 5 Yr. returns were average while its risk was below average (according to M…
I think @LewisBraham makes a good point regarding holding high quality stocks in concentrated funds.
For example, PRILX is a relatively concentrated fund with 38 holdings as of 11-30-20.
It has a good long-term record and has performed well during…
I forget if it was exactly a 10-bagger, am thinking more, but I invested with him through his heyday and it was the single best financial decision I ever made, and then I got out
Nice!
CGMFX was too volatile for me so I never considered purchasing …
I haven't heard much about Ken Heebner in years.
He was a real "cowboy" investment manager back in the day.
The trailing returns for the CGM Focus Fund occupy the bottom percentile (100) in the Large Blend category for the 1,3,5,10, and 15 year peri…
From M* support
“Hope you are doing well.
I apologize for the wrong choice of words.
What I meant was that the issue you highlighted as effected all Morningstar users.
As informed this is been taken has a high priority case .
Best regards,”
…
Morningstar has a good desciption of share classes. PDF
Some mutual fund firms offer funds with a veritable alphabet soup of share classes.
American Funds is one such firm.
For reference, look at the New Perspective Fund. Link
This was a very sophisticated cyber espionage campaign.
Russia's foreign intelligence service, the SVR, is believed to have carried out the hack.
Malware was inserted into a service which provides updates to the Orion software platform used to monit…
@Mark,
Thanks for mentioning Heather Cox Richardson.
I just read several of her informative blog posts and then subscribed to 'Letters from an American'.
The president can only issue pardons for federal crimes.
The Southern District of New York has several active investigations into Mr. Trump's business dealings.
Since these investigations fall under state jurisdiction, pardons are irrelevant.
I hop…
