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.
Reply to @Old_Joe: Yep.
Of all funds launched in the past 10 years, 152 now carry five-star ratings. Of the 156 Fidelity (Fidelity, Fidelity Spartan, Fidelity Advisor, Fidelity Series, Strategic Advisers) funds launched in 10 years, I can find t…
Reply to @VintageFreak: Sorry about the clipped response. I was pecking away on a cellphone at the time. So far as I can tell, Provident Trust simply bought the fund back from FMI, effective 8/31. I don't know why. Neither the FMI nor the Provid…
Wintergreen (WGRNX) qualifies as a "new fund"? Uhhh ... 2005? $1.6 billion in assets. If Morningstar's database is to be believed, there are 4465 newer funds.
Some of the funds in the essay were profiled here some while ago (Grandeur Peak Glob…
Reply to @VintageFreak: Hey, VF!
I mostly think of insider ownership of a mutual fund in pragmatic rather than moral terms. While it's always a nice symbolic gesture to have the manager and trustees in the trenches with you, the place where the ru…
Reply to @Investor: Hi, big guy!
FundReveal is currently refining its business model and website. They're interested in continuing their collaboration with us, but need a bit of time to get other stuff straightened up first. I'm just waiting quie…
Reply to @Shostakovich: The international piece is almost impossible to judge. On face, PRAFX has 50% more international than PRNEX (45 vs 30%). But that assumes that owning Exxon counts as 0% international. A better answer would include the sour…
Reply to @Shostakovich: I think that's a valid and relevant observation. Three quick notes:
1. MACSX was, is and likely will continue to be one of your two prime Asia options, along with MAPIX.
2. SFGIX is a very different creature. It currently…
All of the FBR funds were acquired by Hennessey, but only three of them are being merged. Balanced was not, when last I looked, going to be merged.
For what interest it holds, there's a discussion of the mergers, and a guess about who wins, in my …
Yep, that certainly is a striking feature of the fund. The fee is structurally high in the sense that it's driven by a 1.5% management fee; that is, the managers' cut of the action. In a hedge fund it would be 2% of assets plus 20% of net profits …
Hi, Nick.
I was not looking for a concentrated fund per se; I just track lots of interesting small funds. Several Observer readers wrote and asked me to look into this one in particular. I did, it was striking, and so we ran the profile.
Does th…
Hi, big guy!
"this fund will lose value as it did last October." I think the manager would argue that the decline is a transitory fiction. The bonds in his portfolio are marked to market each day; that is, he has to assign the price he'd get if h…
Reply to @claimui: Yep, though the question is still worth pursuing. There are two variables that affect it: (1) market conditions which dictate the behavior of the bond issuers and (2) related strategies which he could pursue but hasn't yet - most…
This is not a decision that I immediately respect. The fund has nearly $19 billion in assets, which is a huge, ungainly mass regardless of a fund's orientation. The fund also has a billion more than when it narrowed access, though it's also not fa…
Hi, A!
Thanks for the heads-up. I covered the problem in my August essay, with credit to you for discovering it. The short answer is, Yahoo's incompetent.
David
They haven't launched yet but will, in theory, be available on August 1. Companies can delay planned launches for any number of reasons, and Manning delayed this one by a few weeks so far. No new filings other than the delay.
David
For what interest it holds, I offered Mr. Waggoner four funds for his consideration:
1. Wells Fargo Absolute Return (WARAX - great ticker symbol) - which is the retail version of GMO Benchmark Free Allocation. Downside: 5.5% load plus Wells double…
Wow. I'm guessing that you've had electricity and reasonable temperatures and everything? Not conditions uniformly available here on vacation in our nation's capital. I met a family of Maryland refugees in the lobby last night - after three days …
Interest rates are set at auction: if buyers bid high for Treasuries, the interest they receive will be low.
Auction prices are set by anxiety: if buyers are in a panic, they'll buy Treasuries regardless of how low the interest is (they're even wil…
Hi, Catch.
The Analytics, Vanilla and Mail Chimp programs generate a lot of data, much of it in real-time (as I write, for example, I know there are six people on-site including one from Geneva, Switzerland, and that four of them are visiting the b…
Reply to @Hiyield007: Thanks for the kind words. They are a lot of awfully bright and good folks who post on the board. I mostly contribute by my shameless willingness to pick up the phone and call fund managers with other folks' good questions. …
Reply to @Hiyield007: Hi, HY!
At the risk of repetitive redundancy, I'll note that RPHYX has essentially nothing in common with the portfolios or profiles of short-term high-yield bond funds. The manager's strategy is to invest a large fraction of…
Reply to @Maurice: Hi, Mo. The manager tells me that almost all of the turnover reflects the final redemption of his holdings. I'm on the road and don't have my notes at hand, but my recollection is that the fund has $100M AUM and that he makes so…
Reply to @andrei: Good question. Apparently Mr. Romick either recruited them or at least endorsed them, which implies the possibility of a relationship but I'll have to ask to be sure.
The Tech Value situation was crazy, which I sort of mentioned in the essay a couple months ago. Six private holdings + 75% cash = 170% return in under four months. NAV moved something like 3%, market price by 170%. When I asked a rep what sense t…
Reply to @Old_Joe: I suspect we're all stuck with the same press release until the formal filings occur. And the release said nothing about expenses or minimums. I'll keep an eye out at the SEC's website. David
Hi, bee.
Walked through it. The software concluded that both the hypothetical investor (Robin) that Junior and Johanna used in this month's "Best of" column and I are in deep doo-doo. Robin needs to save $1100/month and I need to park away $2600…
Hi, guys. Sorry about the delayed response - chip and I were both out of town on business for the past four or five days, and so were a bit less vigilant. Her guess is that our site was not hacked but that our server (that is, the folks who host u…
