Is there "blood in the streets" yet, except in Athens? This is mostly a spending year for us, rather than taking that $$$ and investing it. Our timing never seems opportune, although I did alright that way with my purchase of MAINX, just after the latest dividend was paid out. Fool's errand to try to "time" Mr. Market, anyhow. I loathe my PFE Pfizer holding, but it saved me today from a bigger daily "loss.".....PFE was up today by 1.52%. My own collected stuff was down by -0.52% Since this latest swoon began, I'm down by approx. 3.4%. I love the end of the month dividend(s). They are "saving my bacon," and when things start to RISE again, my bottom line will look that much better. Am I nuts not to sell? I actually think not. Maybe I'm either brave or foolish. Or whacked in the head.

Thanks for the reply. Yes, I'm conscious of the bigger picture about allocation percentages. I just looked at my portfolio and am not surprised, though I do not micro-manage the percentages. As for EM allocation, including both equities and bonds, I'm now holding over 75% of my total there. Here's the break-down:
PREMX: 38.95% of portfolio
MAINX 2.61
MAPIX 30.71
MACSX 3.47
.....Which is still too much, but I'm not losing sleep over it. I began investing when I first had the chance when some money came my way in 2003. You might say I've never had the opportunity to actually be the Puppet Master and figure out a Grand Strategy to follow. Too many variables. I stayed in the same profession for 17 years, but moved around a lot. Got remarried. And on and on....So I've just been trying to keep some important bases covered along the way, in broader terms: foreign, domestic, stocks AND bonds.
My EM bonds come to 41.56% of total, but the vast majority of that is in ONE fund, PREMX......
Sort of by accident, by default, MACSX has been the fund I raid for vacations and unexpected crap when it happens. Hard to keep that one growing. And I will be tapping it to help with my son's tuition starting next year, though he lives on the Left Coast with mom. So MAPIX holds the biggest chunk of my EM equities by far.
I would be happier if the percentages in each of my holdings was more evened-out. But the monthly and quarterly dividends are like pennies from heaven. I'm not going to complain about "free money from the sky."
Long story short, I'd PREFER to have 60% foreign and 40% domestic, all around. And I will be keeping my conservative, domestic holding(s) growing in proportion to the others.

I've not yet bought any domestic junk. Guess I will wait. I've had my sights set elsewhere. My collection now includes:
1) a zero coupon foreign gov't bond: 5% of holdings
2) PREMX 40%
3) MAINX 2.7%
4) DODIX 2.25%
BONDS= 50%
5) MSCFX 2.25%
6) MAPIX 30.5
7) MACSX 3.6%
8) PFE 15.5%
EQUITIES= 50%
I'm too accustomed to the ups and downs of my funds as opposed to individual stocks. I do not like holding PFE, but the div. is .22 cents per share per quarter, and I've been told here at MFO that its price target by the end of the year is $26.00. I dunno how that company is going to get to $26.00, but anyhow, here we are.

I "hear" you, Scott. Over time, I'll be deliberately working to dilute that heavy concentration in my top three. But at the moment, I don't want to break it up just to break it up. I WANT that PREMX monthly dividend to GROW. I'm reinvesting ALL dividends and cap. gains in ALL holdings. MAPIX, MAINX and DODIX give quarterly payouts. MACSX is twice per year. MSCFX = annually.

Hello. Among others I'm considering are SFGIX and BERIX. You'll laugh, but due to the fact I'm married (hee hee hee) I'm always "cash-poor," though not technically nor statistically poor. It was a portion of a chunk of inheritance money that went into those two funds: DODIX and MSCFX. The only, single, solitary other RECENT move I've made was to reduce my MAPIX holding by transferring just a few thousand into MAINX, thus opening a position there. So the portfolio holds SIX, up from four, funds, at the moment. However, three are with Matthews Asia: MAPIX, MACSX and MAINX.
I "settled' on MSCFX because it IS so new. Wanna get in on the ground floor. The M & P house carries a good reputation. I "looked before I leapt." I did not want to go BACK into PRSVX, now that I am not "married" to TRP, as I was with the 403b---which has been morphed into a Rollover (Trad.) IRA. PRSVX felt stale to me. Along with the Market, it's had a good run-up. So has MSCFX. So I'm catching the wave maybe just before it breaks. But I'll be "in" for the NEXT wave.....I have a liking for small-caps. Yes, this is the first M & P small companies fund. With my holding in PFE, it is my only DOMESTIC holding.
So now, in order of size, here's what the portfolio looks like:
-PREMX
-MAPIX
-PFE (also inherited.)
..............................These three represent 89% of the total.
-MACSX (the only regular, taxable account. All other mutual funds are Trad. or Rollover IRA.)
-MAINX
-DODIX and MSCFX
"Break a leg," everybody!---------Jack. ("Max.")

My PFE was down with the Dow. Bonds up: MAINX and PREMX. For the day, I was DOWN -0.29%. Can't say I'm full of panic. It's just one day. And when the "bottom fell out" this afternoon, it only confirmed what I've become convinced of: Mr. Market is behaving like a whipsaw, depending on particular, discreet events, such as the FOMC meeting. This Market is NOT behaving according to anything that you might call "fundamentals."

I'm also into MAINX but with slightly under 3% of my portfolio. That's usually the percentage I use for an initial stake in any position. I'm invested in other Matthews funds at much higher percentages. I'm sitting on about 27% cash, and not in a hurry to reduce it.

I think you make sense, Scott. Yes. Nevertheless, I just got into MAINX, and the position fills just 2.72% of my portfolio....... SFGIX, MSCFX, and DODIX are soon in the offing for me. Surely not in that order, though.

SFGIX, from what I've read, is a global allocation fund, and has done fine in the little time it's been out. MAINX and the Asian Bond ETF (forget what the heck the ticker is for that) are, I think, the trend of EM bond products going a little too far at this point. It'll probably be much worse though, given how much people want yield. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a Kazakhstan bond ETF at some point (and I think keeping rates low and creating this race for yield is going to cause an s-storm sometime down the road, but we'll see.)

Long-term, I think this fund is fine, but I just think it's maybe before its time a little. Emerging market bonds are just not a large enough asset class, I think, and I'd rather have a diversified fund if I was going to be in it. If I was going to have MAINX at all, it would be a very small supporting position. It would be, like, 1-2-3% and again, I just would rather have one position in a diversified EM fund. I would definitely not have double digit % allocation to this fund. I do have a lot of concern about EM bond fund flows - there was a situation at one point last year where there was significant outflows and it really highlighted how "emerging" this asset class still kind of is - that there was not a much of a (thin, in other words) market for people looking to sell some issues, etc.

Surely it goes without saying that the fund is too young to truly either rejoice or despair about its performance. But I do note that it was as high as $10.41 after starting its life at $10.00 per share and is already back down to $10.16 tonight. So much of everything else was up, including MAPIX and MACSX, but MAINX fell a penny. What's up wit' dat? (9 cent dividend was paid out, though----- just before I bought-in with a small position, less than 3% of my total: a simple transfer from out of MAPIX, in my Trad. IRA.

DBLEX/DLENX is a conservative (maybe the most conservative) EM bond fund; Pimco has a stable of five foreign and global bond funds, and one multisector that goes pretty heavily into foreign (PDIIX); Templeton's got the cef's GIM, global bond, and TEI, EM bonds, which might appeal for ease of access but which of course come with the volatility of cef discounts and premiums.
Also, WisdomTree has three EM bond etf's: one Asia local debt (but like Mainx, lower yield), one geographically diverse local currency, mostly gov't, and one dollar-denominated corporate. (All of those, as I recall, are actively managed, a pretty rare breed in the etf world.) And there are two index etf's, PCY and EMB, that do dollar-denominated gov't debt.

Reply to @MaxBialystock: MAINX and SFGIX belong to two different asset classes - one being largely an Asia focused bond fund while the other is a global allocation fund. As much respect I have for Andrew Foster, I don't want to take on another fund without eliminate an existing one.

And SFGIX is diversified geographically, moreso than MAINX.

I like TGINX (TCW Emerging). As for MAINX, I just think that maybe it's too specific and in terms of EM income, I'd rather have a diversified fund.

I would like to diversify bond allocation outside of US. Several options are in consideration:
1. The new Matthews Asia Strategic Income, MAINX, focuses solely on Asia region. Dividend yield at 2.85% with ER at 1.00% (after reduction)
2. Templeton Global bond or Global Total Return, managed by Micheal Hassenstab. Dividend yield at 4.80% with ER at 1.04% (no load through exchange from existing Franklin Mutual funds). Both funds have 40% invested in Asia not including Japan.
For now I am leaning toward Templeton solely on Hassenstab's long term track record, but I would like to hear from other's wisdom. I have been wrong many times before...
thank you.

I have recently adjusted the income part of my 401k. I sold off most of my total return bond fund, MWTRX, and also sold all of my HSTRX fund which holds a large percentage in treasuries. I put the money into 3 funds that have greater flexibility and diversification for income. I purchased PGDPX and RPSIX, and just started last week buying into MAINX. I continue to hold LSBRX in this space also.
I should add that by making these changes I probably added some risk and volatility going foreward. Good luck to you.

Hi Ron. I can't improve on the suggestions already made. I whole-heartily like both the Spectrum and Target date suggestions. The mix I'm sure can be best suggested by someone who knows his needs and risk tolerance- you.
The TRP account does give him the option of course to add outside funds. What if you used the TRP funds as the meat of the portfolio and added a wee bit of Asian gravy, say MACSX or MAINX?

Thank you. This explained why Thursday's NAV of MAINX went down $0.12.

MAPIX: 6.037 cents per share.
MAINX: 9.415 cents per share.
"Happy motoring."