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.
Today's Times reports that all members of the ship's crew are still on board and working full time to maintain the vessel where it sits. Seems odd to me, but they certainly have enough fuel and provisions to do so.
My Huskies are ready for Alabama. They could have beaten Illinois by 40, but let up a bit in the second half. Hard to beat a team that has a 30-0 run. We could see a fascinating battle of the big men (7'2" Clignan vs. 7'4" Edey) should those two tea…
I’m satisfied with MOAT, but I think Van Eck is guilty of ETF proliferation. Already they sponsor moat funds for international, ESG, global, and SMID, none of which derivative ETFs have done particularly well. Growth and value moat flavors don’t tem…
I looked at four GQG funds and they all have high turnover ratios, although not as high as 200%. Jain seems to be able to make active management work, whereas others cannot. In global growth a few years ago, Kristian Heugh could do no wrong; unfortu…
The creation of the Covid vaccine was surely a high point for our medical prowess; unfortunately, the anti-science crazies soon divided the country by promoting conspiracy theories. Thanks for the reminder, @catch22. Hard to believe four years have …
@sma3: I take an occasional winger on a M* undervalued stock, but the proof of the methodology is MOAT, my largest single equity holding. I note the space devoted to the index/fund in the linked M* article. Other flavors of ETF equity LCB funds have…
I depend on lip reading and am reminded of this when watching CBS, all of whose programs’ images (I.e., the speakers’ lips) are out of synch with the dialogue. My wife is a fan of Colbert, so I sit through about four shows a week understanding the l…
@BaluBalu: I agree that wry humor or irony are almost impossible to convey on a discussion board. As I disdain emojis, I really don’t know how to write with a roll of the eyes or a knowing wink. GP has twisted its underwear in efforts to rewrite his…
That's true, @BaluBalu, but then you'd be paying Grandeur Peak whose overall record leaves a lot to be desired. Since owning Needham I've never received a shareholder letter requesting forgiveness or forbearance for weak performance.
Hearing loss, which afflicts many of the seniors on this board merely because they are seniors, makes a raft of situations difficult. Hearing aids help, but nothing I know of can counteract background noise (whether a crowd or a rowdy table in a res…
Not exactly flying under the radar, because fund is well known to MFO members, but it may be useful to know that NEAIX/NEAGX currently holds 43% in microcaps. The fund’s moniker « aggressive growth » might lead some to think it’s yet another LCG fea…
@WABAC: we both hold XMHQ. I was surprised to find SMCI as its top holding. Surprised because the same stock is the top holding of two of my go-go growth funds. Haircuts ensued last Friday.
Turns out just about every one of my LC funds holds some Mag 7, even CGDV. My biggest single-fund holding, MOAT, has managed to stay ahead of its bogey without loading up on the usual suspects, although it does have just less than 9% allocated to th…
@Mark: you are right. Even so-called value dividend funds have some of the Mag 7 in the top 10 holdings. Unless you own SC and/or international, you have big tech.
GQRPX, Rajiv Jain’s global growth fund, which holds many of the usual suspects in its top ten, still lost only 3.79% in 2022. Funds in the same category dropped an average of 27% that year. Strikes me as an example of active management working excep…
As long ago as 2021, J. Rekenthaler of M* wrote:
"Ten years ago, many pundits foresaw a rebound in emerging-markets stocks, on the theory that they were worthy investments that had temporarily lost popularity. This "fashion argument" has failed the…
@Derf: I meant a couple of puncture flats have been the only times our Hondas ever went out of commission. I changed the tires myself, even though my back protested. Tire wear has been great. Right now, with a steep driveway and MI weather, I have f…
@hank: we have two Hondas, recent enough to be equipped with HondaLink and a way to call for roadside service. I suspect the dealership knew your Accord was nearby, even though you tried to arrive incognito. The only thing that has sidelined our sev…
I noted above that the A320neo uses that P-W engine. Just quickly perusing Airbus's website reminded me that the Europeans significantly improved on a very successful design without screwing things up the way Boeing did when they tried to improve on…
That’s an amazingly disciplined back-up system you have, @Old_Joe. I could do a lot more than what I do. For each of the two iMacs, mine and my wife’s, we have an external drive that backs up files only using TimeMachine. Having a system back-up wou…
@Old_Joe: I did install a new power strip/surge protector. I tried taking the old one apart to see what had burned, but it foiled me. My Macs dislike power outages and recovery is more difficult with an external back-up drive attached.
@hank: I did realize you were quoting the flight crew, but winter boredom pushed me to comment. I never have seen a pilot inspecting the wings from the cabin.
As for winter, we had bad heavy snow here last week that caused multiple power outages i…
English is very flexible and forgiving of new expressions. An old timer like me, might have said that they "trouble-shot," all the while recognizing the clumsiness of the word. I recently heard a person on the radio use the Latin word "caveat" as a …
@MikeM and @Mark: I'm an adherent of the CG ETFs, also. CGGR, CGGO, and CGDV in three different family accounts. I never owned American MFs, probably because of loads, altho I do have access to Washington Mutual in my retirement account. Capital Gro…
MSNBC chart today shows that BA stock price has lost a cumulative 35% over the last five years. I recall visiting the factory prior to that decline. The tour guide touted the then-high share price as evidence of the company’s excellence. Sometimes i…
As a former Bruce shareholder, I forgave the quirkiness while returns were OK. Have to say I'm glad I bailed because I would not now want a "balanced" fund in my lineup that held lots of cash and was way overweight in healthcare and utilities. @Cras…
@Observant1: I have some ARDBX and SFVLX. I think it’s wise to pick a fund based on confidence in the manager or firm. I do have some PZVIX, foreign SCV, but I doubt that I need to cover all the market cap or style factors, especially in internatio…
@WABAC: just happened to close out my TIAA Real Estate position (QREARX) today. Put the proceeds into the Equity Index. My TIAA advisor got me into the RE fund quite a while back. It wasn't a bad choice, but this year it gave up 13%.
Re: your comme…
I’ve been looking at mid-caps and I came across XMHQ, a promising candidate. When researching the « quality » factor for this fund, I found the following description:
The Invesco S&P MidCap Quality ETF (Fund) is based on the S&P MidCap 400 …
My reaction also, @WABAC. I see "quality" showing up in the names of numerous equity funds. For example, VettaFi lists 25 ETFs characterized as « quality factor. » (I don't know about bond funds.) Surely the managers of these strategies differ in…
