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.
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MikeM
I know you are not a fan of his, Mona (understatement :) )
Another Bills fan!!! Junkster just sent me a note saying the same. GO BILLS! They will be right down the road from me when training camp starts next week at St. John Fisher College. But tickets sold out in hours, so I won't be going. Are you from the area, Western NY?
I have to say, I really enjoy the debates between Scott and Investor. Two polar sides; 'the worlds going to fall back into the middle-ages, here is a bunch of quotes to prove it' to 'don't believe everything you read, things are going to be just fin…
I'm in a holding pattern since selling down about 8% equities in February. I think I'm around 40% equity right now, but that percent may be even a bit lower with funds like FPACX, ARIVX and YAFFX holding a good amount of cash.
When we get a correc…
Reply to @scott: Scott, I've heard you often say that the governments CPI numbers are inaccurate and conscious lies, but I never see you give data supporting that. I went searching for some comparison inflation numbers that use food and energy and o…
Hi Hank. The bad news is CNBS will be used for the NBR. The good news is it won't be Fox News.
Let's face it. Today, News shows are now just entertainment shows. The more they can entertain or stir emotion, the better ratings they get from their li…
Reply to @Skeeter: First I heard of this fund was from fellow poster kevindow about a year ago. Looked like a great way to invest in global diversified income. After reading more about it, I started to pull money from PRPFX and put the money into PG…
Reply to @Mark: Hi Mark. Salt in beer might be a generational thing. My dad's family used to own a bar/restaurant when I was a little kid. I can remember men some times putting salt in their beer. My father told me the draft beer in kegs in those da…
Morning Star gives upside downside capture ratios in their 'rating and risk' section. Bring up a fund, hit the rating&risk tab and go to the bottom of the page. It's my favorite thing about the morningstar data.
Reply to @Investor: I have to agree with you investor. This fund may be the greatest thing since sliced bread - or not. Seems like a gamble to me. One that I guess I don't feel the need to take. It may not be as close to a hedge fund as WBMIX, but I…
Reply to @MaxBialystock: The reason for health- care givers asking your age is to protect them "and you" from mistakes. Have you ever heard the stories in the past of nurses giving the wrong medication to patients, some times at catastrophic results…
If you've become disenchanted with the fund and have something better to swap it with, you probably should. Actually, if you are strong on M* ratings, I see they gave it 4 stars and a gold rating.
That said, this is one of my core funds. Some tim…
Would Fairholme fit this description? Berkowitz ran his flagship FAIRX fund for ~10 years before starting FOCIX and FAAFX.
One quick observation form Charles' list; most new funds seem to be global, international and emerging market funds. Others …
Hi Hank. I'm guessing you feel pretty good about dropping HSGFX. I know I do. I got out around the '09-'10 period. I think from this fund, I learned if results don't match a managers philosophy, the philosophy isn't worth investing in. As another p…
Reply to @Charles:
Hi Charles. Really enjoy your posts and data. I'm curious. I know you hold FAAFX, as I do. I think I remember you mentioning a while ago that you were contemplating selling. What are you thinking now? I told myself when I bought…
Thanks Skeeter for your in-depth look at how you construct your portfolio. What I see that helps you manage so many funds is that you are actually managing sub-portfolios (that you call sleeves) and combining them into 1 total portfolio. Another thi…
I bought some GASFX, actually when Ron brought it up last year. I though decided to keep it longer term, partnered with my PRNEX. Figured that was a good energy, NR and utility combination for inflation rise.
Reply to @BobC: Thanks Bob for the suggestion. I've been listening to your advice and how you are allocating fixed income. I was looking at PRELX for a while now and decided today to move a little into that fund. GIMDX is not available to me.
Thank…
Reply to @fundalarm: I think you plan and fundalarms advice is very good. I had a stable value fund in my 401k in the past and it was an excellence way to reduce portfolio volatility. Essentially cash with a decent return. My retirement plan elimina…
Thanks for the update Skeeter. Curious; how do you qualify if a fund belongs in your income bucket or hybrid income bucket? A fund like PGBAX I can see being in a hybrid or allocation bucket, and the others too. But a fund like NEFZX has only 59% (a…
The first thing that comes to mind is, if 2.8% is the right number now and 4% was the right number 5 years ago, who's to say another study 5 years from now won't say that the safe withdrawal rate is 6%. It's certainly guess work trying to figure out…
Reply to @BobC: Hi Bob. Bond funds with flexible mandates sounds like the way to go and you have been saying that for a while now. I think you have also said you like bonds from outside the U.S. Question, have you increased the percentage of interna…
I'm late to the discussion, but I really enjoyed reading everyones opinions. Great stuff on both sides of the debate.
To me, the discussion about using passive funds or managed funds just seems like a small part of the whole. The effect of specific…
I wouldn't touch miners with a 10' toe. I used to hold TGLDX and USAGX before that. I think over the 5 years I owned these funds, I lost money. Just way too erratic for me at this point in my investment style.
Curious though Bee. Have you actually …
Different strokes for different folks. If the idea of spreading risk over many funds is comforting to an investor, then owning many funds has it's purpose. It's not my style. I have essentially about 13 "core" funds and I like to tweak my equity bal…
Thanks for the update Skeeter. I always find what you have to say informative. I like to think I have moved towards your investment style where you balance your portfolio within a range, never trying to time full in or full out. Staying within a bal…
I think Bernanke is absolutely right. There is a ton of misunderstanding about the debt ceiling. It has nothing to do with planning new debt or cutting future expenditures. It has everything to do with paying what they (congress and it's predecessor…
I personally don't think multiple funds are needed, exspecially for sector funds. You might as well buy a sector index fund. I see multiple funds as a security blanket myself. But given your bond portfolio, I'm thinkiing you wouldn't agree :) Just …
I've got my fingers crossed right along with you Charles. He was obviously early into financials, but he's sticking with his picks and hopefully he/we win in the end.
Hi Hank. I remember there was some discussion around the Sortino ratio a couple years ago on this board. I liked it's premise that it measured down-side risk and could help point out fund managers who handled downside risk better then others. I reme…
Reply to @catch22: I'd let it ride catch and just understand the personality you are dealing with here.
And back to the toast; I'll raise my beer glass to toast Roy and also David for creating such a great site. MFO has exceeded expectations in m…
I bought into PGDIX early in 2012 with the thought of achieving diversified dividend income. What do you guys think of this fund going forward? Scott, I think you are familiar with this fund. HY bonds remain its biggest holding at ~38% which concern…
