Here's a quick report on RSIIX/RSIVX portfolio statistics for Oct. 31, which David Sherman generously e-mailed to me this morning and okayed my sharing with the board.
David stressed that these figures are based on in-house, unaudited calculations and judgments and should be understood on that basis.
Current yield: 8.43%
Approximate expected gross investment yield: 7.12%
Approximate duration: 3.12 yr.
Avg market price: 103.61
Currency exposure: 94.5% U.S. $, 4.5% Canadian $
Estimated liquidity (scale = 1-10; 10 = most liquid): 7.42
Estimated average credit quality: BB*
(*David provided this figure, but qualified it by saying Cohanzik doesn't treat ratings as accurately reflecting credit quality.)
Cash 13.9%
Investment grade 21.6%
Non-investment grade 64.6%
Holdings by category, per David's breakdown of port strategies in the fund materials:
R'park Sht Tm HY overlap: 15.6%
Buy & hold: 37.9%
"Above the fray of dented credits": 17.9%
Off the beaten path: 4.4%
Interest rate expectations: 3.2%
Other *: 7.2%
Total invested = 86.1%
Cash = 13.9%
* Asset-backed, distressed, equity.
From my POV, this all looks good, and RSIVX is going on the short list for a possible provisional-watch position. This ~ category (unrecognized by M*) of mostly-debt funds with shorter duration & mainly non-investment grade but not truly junky holdings, has become a favorite in this family's portfolio, and this fund looks to me, at this point, like a very worthy addition to the options in the category.

Reply to @linter: Chip and I, separately, bought shares as soon as they became available through Scottrade. That said, I'm not particularly banging the drum for the fund because it is distinct enough that it's going to take some time to understand fully. David Sherman has impressed me, I'm fairly conservative and pretty dubious about the underpinnings of both major markets, which is what convinced me to entrust a bit more money to the guy.
For what interest it holds, he speculated that RSIVX might yield about twice what RPHYX (which is closed to most new investors) did. Since inception, a $1000 at RSIVX has grown by $12.31. The same amount invested on the same date in RPHYX would have grown by $6.68. Here's the chart, RSIVX in blue:

The fund that Sherman imagined as most comparable to RSIVX was Osterweis Strategic Income (OSTIX), a four-star, $5 billion fund that Morningstar assigns to the multisector bond category. RSIVX is categorized as "conservative allocation," which normally signals a small but noticeable equity stake. It's not clear that that will be the case here.
Again, the chart:

After just six weeks, it would be lunatic to consider performance as anything more significant than a conversation starter.
David

Decided to go with the CAPE or PE10 slopes and sold most of my recent mutual fund gains while keeping the base positions (probably should have sold more, but I can't make myself leave good funds). I didn't sell the L/S funds, but I may reconsider the long predominant funds.
Plan to put most of it into RSIVX and try to control my impatience.
My pending buys require a 10% correction.
Haven't reduced my stocks, probably a mistake, but I'm not paying 1-1.5% a year for them, and most pay a dividend.
Didn't sell in 2008-9, but was younger then. Won't sell if it happens within 3 years. Plan to be more balanced after that.
Fund managers generally did no better than the indexes in 2008-9. Those with significant cash now are preparing for the next correction, so they might be worth buying.
Depending on your age and risk acceptance, using index funds with 50-70% US stocks and the remainder of your stocks in international indexes, and 20% (high risk acceptance) in bonds (most writers suggest all US, but I like some international thru Vanguard), or 40% bonds (usual ratio)) has been good in the past. If near retirement, Social Security represents a bond equivalent, as per John Bogle, who has a lot more experience and is older than I, so you should shade your investments more toward stocks.

For a comment worth even less than 2 cents:
Having ridden FAIRX & FAAFX down and finally up and having an AIP for FPACX, I have to believe that the CAPE or PE10 numbers mean something at the current market values, which (to me) is that one should select managers with good records and big cash holdings or invest as an act of faith with one's chosen star(s) - which statistics show is not better than index investing for the truly long run.
As I have learned, patience before investing is as important as patience after investing, since I have real difficulty selling a fund or stock.
Were I you (which you should be grateful I am not), I'd invest 30% of my intended amount and wait. If it goes up, you have something; if not, you can put in some more later. Obviously, I expect the market to regress closer to its mean in time. It's difficult to sit on cash, so buy RSIVX or a similar fund of your choice.

Reply to @kallerid: Sherman has about 40% of the RSIVX portfolio in the same securities as in the very conservative RPHYX, and was planning on letting cash accumulate a bit. In general, he imagines the fund living somewhere between the durations of the short-term and intermediate-term groups.
Here's a suggestion: write RiverPark and ask. You'd be surprised at how willing smaller firms are to communicate.
As ever,
David

Unlimited Dreams for Retirement vs Sleep Well at Night
"A recent television advertisement for
Prudential that is intended to encourage
you to save for retirement is on point with
my life. “If you could do anything you
wanted and be paid for it, what would that
be?” the narrator asks viewers. “That is
what retirement is supposed to be about,”
he goes on." Ron Baron Sept.30,2013 Baron Funds Shareholder Report http://www.baronfunds.com/BaronFunds/media/Quarterly-Reports/Baron-Funds-Quarterly-093013.pdf
From Mutual Fund Observer's David Snowball's October 1,2013 Commentary http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2013/10/october-1-2013/
RSIVX represents the next step out on the risk-return continuum. David Sherman believes that this strategy might be reasonably expected to double the returns of RPHYX. While volatility will be higher,Mr. Sherman is absolutely adamant about risk-management. He intends this to be a “sleep well at night” fund in which his mother will be invested. He refuses to be driven by the temptation to shoot for “the best” total returns; he would far rather sacrifice returns to protect against loss of principal. Morty Schaja affirms the commitment to “a very conservative credit posture.”
One notch up in the risk/reward equation from the aforementioned Merger Arbitrage Fund(s) would be Berwyn Income BERIX. Often mentioned on this board as a good choice for risk adverse investors. A Morning* 15 year standard deviation of 6.02 and 15 year annual return of 8.23% would seem a good choice for you.

John and I had a nice chat over the noon hour yesterday. His general theme was "now we can get back to normal finance topics, rather than 24/7 debt crises." Mine was, "yep, but it's not going to get any easier." John does read MFO (you might be surprised by the wide variety of folks - from the WSJ, Baltimore Sun, NY Times and a slug of fund firms - who scan both the board and the fixed content) and suggested that he'd rather talk first, instead of just "borrowing" ideas.
My suggestion was to look for managers who'd help investors make it through turbulent, rapidly shifting markets. I clustered those into two groups:

• risk conscious managers with experience and flexibility in their investment mandates - Seafarer (SFGIX), F P A Paramount (FPRAX), RiverPark Strategic Income (RSIVX).
  
• risk conscious managers who have a sensible, steady investment discipline that they might actually be able to get investors to understand and buy into - Beck Mack & Oliver Partners (BMPEX), Oakseed Opportunity SEEDX), Frank Value (FRNKX), Bretton (BRTNX), Cook & Bynum (COBYX).

Afterwards, we talked about international travel and John's observation that being perceived as disrespectful was a much bigger problem than not speaking the local language. Romans, he noted, mostly spoke enough English to help you get by and enjoy the city -- unless you were wearing shorts and ball caps and galumphing around.
For what interest it holds,
David

At a brokerage you will always have imposed "early redemption" fees regardless of any the fund company levies. So that's why I made the subtly point of being able to put "only $1000". I plan to buy once a month so I can start withdrawing in 60 days to avoid charges.
However I would reconsider your options. "Parking Place for Money" is really bank or other money market fund. RPHYX and RSIVX are bond funds at the end of the day, and NEVER the same thing.

RSIVX available NTF @ Scottrade finally. My IRA will have it to now.

Reply to @Old_Joe: Thanks, Joe. That's a POV I can relate to.
RSIVX sounds to me like it could be an expanded opportunity-set version of OSTIX (short junk and convertibles), which in the past has been a 6-8% kind of fund (5 yr return right at 8%), but it's slipped to where it probably won't make 6% this calendar year. Pimco's straight short junk etf HYS is on course to make 6%, with a standard deviation of ~ 2.0.
So in theory the Riverpark objective sounds at least halfway reasonable, but I'd like to see (a) how they do initially; and (b) what the portfolio looks like. I guess I want to see what it can do beyond OSTIX and HYS, which I've plunked a chunk of change into over the course of the year. Short junk is by far the #1 asset class in this house's portfolio at this point.

Oddly, in my IRA account Schwab seems to accept a purchase of either RSIVX or RSIIX at the minimum $1000 amount. No need to pick RSIVX.
Joe

Reply to @David_Snowball: Hi David, I just want to make sure you can confirm the yield for the new RSIVX - the manager said in the neighborhood of 7.5% ?

I think RSIVX would make a good pick for a conference call. bought small just now; want to see what happens. He definitely can manage cash. What I liked David was he said basically "you will not lose any money over any 90 day period" with original fund. If he can say the same thing IN A RISING RATE environment over a 1yr period, I'm in larger.

Reply to @David_Snowball: Hi David - thanks for the clarification. In my case, a cash management account is money not needed for 3-5 years so RSIVX fits the bill.

You know, I bought some PDRMX thinking it would be a "cash substitute". Of course entirely my fault. I've always been bond challenged. Mental block. I know how they work, but can't get past the BS.
RSIVX will have severe expectations from investors. Hope it meets it.

I own Baird Short-Term Bond (BSBIX) as a cash substitute but I'm thinking about moving the funds to RSIVX instead.

Happy October David!
Very much enjoyed the commentary this month, once again.

Thirty-three percent of the currently fantastic funds were not so distinguished twelve months ago.

Suspect that is true of so many "Best Funds" lists! In this case such wisdom only cost $250.
I'd venture to say you believe FPA Paramount looks pretty promising, despite its strategy change and new manager (ie., David's Take of FPRAX is Positive). High marks for parentage and its manager's performance with FPIVX, even if the September's profile proper seemed a bit ambivalent.

There is one and only one bright spot in the picture for active managers: international small cap funds, nearly 90% of which outperform a comparable index. Which international small caps qualify as Fantastic you might ask? That would be, none.

Gotta love it.

The bottom line: invest your intellectual resources where your likeliest to see the greatest reward. In particular, managers who invest largely or exclusively overseas seem to have the prospect of making a substantial difference in your returns and probably warrant the most careful selection. Managers in what’s traditionally the safest corner of the equity style box – large core, large value, midcap value – don’t have a huge capacity to outperform either indexes or peers. In those areas, cheap and simple might be your mantra.

Nice!
Tealeaf Fund "will eventually ask you for 2.62 – 3.62% of your money each year." No words.

Nice graphic.

What does the large-cap growth or small-cap value manager do when there are no good opportunities in their style box? They hold cash, which lowers your exposure to the equity markets and acts as a lead-weight in bull markets, or they invest in companies that do not fit their criteria and end up taking excess risk in bear markets. Neither one of these options made any sense when I was managing family-only money, and neither one made sense as we opened the strategy to the public …

My thoughts precisely!
"If there is no opportunity, we leave the space." But Mr. Frank remains invested in equities, of some market cap, looks like. FRNKX came into its own during current bull run:

OBIOX ranks top honors in the MFO risk-adjusted rating system for the past 3 and 1 year periods. "Indeed, OBIOX in 2013 isn’t even the OBIOX of 2009." Good thing. Between October 2007 and March 2009, OBIOX incurred a horrifying -70% drawdown. It rates a 2 in risk-adjusted return over past five years. After six years, the new strategy is producing new highs.

Just registered for the Beck, Mack & Oliver Partners (BMPEX) call. Absolutely love these calls. You're changing landscape here David.

In early December we’ll give you a chance to speak with the inimitable duo of Sherman and Schaja on the genesis and early performance of RiverPark Strategic Income, the focus of this month’s Launch Alert.

Looking forward to this!
As of Friday, 10/4, RiverPark Strategic Income Fund (RSIVX, RSIIX) was still not available at Schwab.
Looking forward to reading Greener Pastures.
"Virtus Dynamic AlphaSector Fund (EMNAX)...Class A Shares, 2.56%; Class B Shares, 3.31%; Class C Shares, 3.31%; and Class I Shares, 2.31%." No words.

FMI Focus (FMIOX) will reorganize itself into Broadview Opportunity Fund in November. It’s an exceedingly solid small-cap fund (four stars, “silver” rated, nearly a billion in assets) that’s being sold to its managers.

Interesting.

Meridian Value (MVALX) is Meridian Contrarian Fund. Same investment objective, policies, strategies and team.

Wow.
"They are killing off three funds that were never a good match for the firm’s core strengths." Good for M&N.
Just don't know how you pack so much in every month! In any case, can't thank you (and Chip et al) enough.
Off to farmers' market.
Charles

Dear psuche98: For your information, I'm linking David's October Commentary. Scroll down near the end to 'Launch Alert:' RiverPark Strategic Income (RSIVX RSIIX).
Regards,
Ted
http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/2013/10/october-1-2013/
RiverPark Website: http://www.riverparkfunds.com/downloads/FactSheet/RiverPark_Strategic-Income-Fund_Fact-Sheet.pdf

Hello, I am a long time lurker and 1st time poster. Any feeling out there on how susceptible RSIVX would be to a rising interest rate environment? I have held RPHYX for a couple of years for supplemental cash and love it. It has held up well during the concerns of the Fed easing up on QE. Would RSIVX be closer to RPHYX or more of a traditional short or even intermediate bond fund. Thanks....

Reply to @David_Snowball: Incidentally, I opened a starter position with RSIVX for tomorrow's close. Thanks for the info about this fund. It doesn't show up on the Fidelity website yet, but when I called, a trader did say the fund is available for purchase and sure enough, it was available when I placed a trade tonight.