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.
That Institutional Investor article is a great help, @Mark. From what I read there, a conventional asset manager owner might well be uncomfortable with Wood's open style of sharing research and her refusal to assign analysts to traditional niches. S…
@Mark. I like ARKK, also. After your previous mention of changes facing the firm, I read a couple of articles. Do you think new owners would adversely influence the investment strategy? The woman in charge of the funds, Cathie Wood, was quoted as ob…
@hank: I seem to recall in the mid-80's that 14-15% interest rates on savings were offered at local Ann Arbor banks. I know we took advantage of them. OTOH, mortgage rates soared to 20+%, so who came out ahead in the Volker era?
@wxman123: can you point to any period in the history of our planet during which "...cars, planes, or electricity..." were present and when there was no rise in the temperature of the earth?
@MikeW. Good to hear from you. MATFX is one of those Matthews funds affected by manager departures, but the long-time lead manager, Michael Oh, continues. I do like the prospects of the companies currently held.
@CaryRaleigh: almost any of the growth funds that have done well this year hold huge dollops of technology and healthcare companies, as much as 70%. You might be able to achieve your goal by picking an actively-managed growth fund along with a narro…
@Old_Joe: Exxon Mobil's record on concealing what its scientists knew about the damage the oil industry was doing to the environment is more than lamentable, its criminal.
One jarring difference between the Obama and Trump administrations was the lack of scandals, firings, resignations, etc. during the former. (See @hank's link, above.) The Obama people, and Biden was one and is hiring some of them, carried out meticu…
@little5bee: on a M* fund profile, click on “Parent” and you will find fund flow stats for the entire MF company. Under the graph on the “Quote” tab that shows growth of $10k, you’ll find a smaller graph that shows fund flows by quarter for the indi…
With the help of an MFO profile and discussion by @hank and others here, I put a big chunk of my MMF holdings into TMSRX. Even my timid daughter did the same with some of her cash. She kept asking me why her MMF was generating only pennies a month. …
I used to own WSVIX, after having been referred to Walthausen by Kevin O'Boyle who had had a fine stint at Meridian Value before founding his own fund, the Presidio Fund. This SCV fund was also a fine performer. When O'Boyle decided to close the fun…
Thanks for that link, Lewis. I wish the current nativist, conspiratorial, anti-intellectual uprising has as short a shelf life as the Know Nothing movement. The latter appears to have flamed out quickly.
Maybe MS wants to clip the wings of its successful manager. I assume he gets a cut of all the AUM. Just sayin' (maybe the dumbest idiom to come along in some years).
Right, @Old_Joe: probably only a few oldsters here would get the allusion to, “The facts, ma’am, nothing but the facts.” Too bad things aren’t as simple any more. Have a great Election Day!
@LewisBraham: apparently the bogus charge of "socialism" was thrown at Abraham Lincoln during the 1860 campaign. Maybe it's time for as revival of the know-nothings party I recall from a US history course.
Flashback to this week in 2016. I was totally convinced that if Trump won, the markets would tank. I didn't share that opinion then and I have no opinion to share today, for obvious reasons. I will, however, be trying to follow either John King or S…
@msf: I don’t know how to avoid the fees, either. MS certainly complicates matters by offering multiple share classes and, even more confusing for me, giving their funds names that are so similar. Here are some of the names: Global Franchise, Counte…
We are free and clear of our mortgage for the first time since we bought a house. Some will recall another thread on the question of paying the mortgage off. “Fait et dit,” or said and done. For some reason the French expression appears to have the …
I believe MGGPX has had a single manager, Kristian Heugh, from its inception in 2008. It's true that Alex Umansky had co-managerial duties at Morgan Stanley, but not with Heugh. OTOH, BGAFX is a winner and I own some.
Turnover for AKREX has always been very low, with M* pegging it a 4% currently. One consequence of this, I assume, is the amazing low tax bills presented to shareholders at year end. AUM have risen commensurate with the fund's great success since 20…
I thought we had found the elusive MFOer who throws millions around at a time...
@davidmoran: Buying and selling CAPE requires a lot of attention as I have found a wide disparity between what the current price is and what the bid/ask prices are. I'…
@Crash: this fund does have a good record since new management took over. One thing I noticed is that it holds no FAANG stocks, whereas my fave in the category, MGGPX, does hold them. For istance, AMZN is the latter's top holding representing 6%+ of…
@sfnative: You have a sharp eye to spot that increased AUM. Most of the active posters on MFO routinely throw around that kind of dough, so the culprit could be hiding here behind his/her clever moniker, all the while pretending to hate $49.95 trans…
@Crash: I use M* to determine fund flows. Not sure if you have to be a subscriber, but the “Parent” tab for the fund provides the data. For Seven Canyons, which has only two funds, it’s a simple matter to see that up until the most recent quarter, t…
Thanks to all for your valuable comments. I didn’t know if the subject held interest for the group so I did not provide personal info that could have informed the advice offered.
We are in our late 70’s and have 10 years to go on a 15-year mortgage…
One stock advisor I follow is somewhat maddening in selecting growth companies on the basis of their future prospects (generally tech or health). He has done a great job of picking winners over the years I have subscribed. What irritates me is his c…
M* calibrates the outflows on a fund family basis. In 2017 Matthews managed $29.6B and in 2020 assets are down to $20.5B while the number of funds during that time period did not change. The people leaving may not constitute an “exodus,” but the AUM…
Yes, I was intrigued at the inception of MEGMX about Matthews’ chances with a diversified EM fund with new management. I decided to take a position in it and at the same time commit to ARTYX, in hopes that EMs would recover. Both positions made grea…
My only Matthews fund was MEGMX, although I had been strongly committed to their funds several years ago. I decided to take good profits and put them into ARTYX. I was concerned about all the turnover of managers, then the news of the outflows pushe…
https://www.vaneck.com/insights/blogs/moat-investing/moat-index-review-value-is-in-facebook-is-out
I hope the above link is right. The one I posted was truly ugly. Sorry I inconvenienced you.
@Mark: What do you like about THQ and BME? I held HQL, another Tekla fund, for quite some time, and BME in 2019. Right now I don’t own any healthcare funds but I am overweight in the sector as the result of getting a slug of BMY when CELG was acqui…
It's probably not significant, but I wonder why these guys left Artisan previously and then decided to come back. FWIIW, I hold ARTRX, APFDX, and ARTYX. Maybe value will have its day in the sun.
I, along with several others here, endorse the enforced period of silence, equivalent to the time-out we have kids observe when their behavior no longer respects our norms. I am no student of the media, or politics, or social norms, but I do recogni…
IIRC, the guardians were appointed after a period of quite poor performance by many GP funds. At the time, I questioned the practice and I still don't get it.
