The best suggestion of a specific fund I’ve received (for my needs) from this board came from @BenWP a couple + years ago. That’s GLFOX. It’s the first new fund I purchased after moving to Fido’s brokerage. Thanks Ben. It is technically an infrastructure fund. M* lists it as slightly over 50% utilities. Most of the holdings are X-USA (primarily Europe), which partially explains an ER north of 1%. The fund isn’t for everyone. And, as noted, isn’t a “utilities” fund. You can probably find better infrastructure or utility funds depending on your needs for a portfolio fit - especially how much foreign exposure you need or want.
Lazzard, itself is a giant in the global investment banking business. There’s been upheaval at the top with a new CEO in recent months. Like most of the big houses, there’s cost-cutting going on. I read somewhere there’s a soft close on institutional ownership of GLFOX, but that it is still open to individual investors. Strikes me as opposite what T. Rowe is doing by closing PRWCX but allowing those with hefty initial investments in.
Of course, Fido’s “Select Utilities” (FSUTX) with a lower .74% ER is a star performer in utilities.

In my case. . . COTZX or TWEIX, and maybe GLFOX.

The OP was December 2021 by @catch22. Using his EFT Global link we can see a lot has happened that is still red and only a few buys recommendations. Interestingly India stand out as global standout (beyond US equities).

Some funds that seems to be steaming along:
GLFOX
GASFX
VUIAX (VPU)...not a bad short and long term total return (results below are for VUIAX)

@WABAC: I agree with you on water. I have a decent amount in FIW, and I have stuck with it despite drops since late 2021. The fund holds companies whose business extends beyond water per se, but I think they are solid industrial companies. Lots of good companies’ stocks have been gored for no good reason other than a bad market environment. I’m hoping that quality will rise to the surface and receive investors’ (i.e., stock pickers’) attention. I also have a position in GFLOX which holds water-related businesses.

GLFOX? Love the dividends.
Our Water Works basket include PIO, FIW, and CGW.

I also have a position in GFLOX which holds water-related businesses.

Try GLFOX @BenWP :)

@BenWP

@WABAC: thanks for all the research you put into compiling your buy list and for sharing it here. I share your interests in infrastructure (PAVE and GLFOX chez moi), water (FIW) and green energy. GRID was unknown to me. I have added recently to BHCFX and I agree with having exposure to healthcare and biotech. PTH is also one I've never heard of. BUSFX comes up blank; is that Bridgeway Ultra Small Company?

That should be BUFSX for Buffalo small cap growth. I first bought it when it was expensive. :( So I added to it since it became cheaper. Good thing for me that I can let it sit for six years, until I need to think about RMD's. Maybe then I'll think about simplifying the motley collection that is my IRA.
In the small cap area I am also a fan of RWJ, which is revenue weighted S&P small cap fund. I have it in our IRA's for total return. I haven't added to it yet. But I'm thinking about it. I am also thinking of adding it to my taxable holdings, which are less focused on dividends than my wife's.
I rely heavily on MFO premium to do research on all funds. I also use etf.com as a quick look at the thesis, and holdings, of an etf. I enjoy researching the funds. So I don't mind sharing. It has been something of a warmup to writing up plan for my wife, children, and any others, to understand why it was put together the way it was.
With GLFOX. FIW, and a utility I always think of the railroads, Water Works, and The Electric Company in Monopoly. It gives me a silly amount of pleasure.
I have looked at PAVE in the past. But GLFOX has been such a pleasure to own I didn't feel the need. GRID seemed like an interesting bet even before the war in Ukraine disrupted energy markets. I like its international exposure given the way European summers have been trending.
If you ever find yourself thinking about trash, check out EVX. Not enough of a dividend for me though.

@WABAC: thanks for all the research you put into compiling your buy list and for sharing it here. I share your interests in infrastructure (PAVE and GLFOX chez moi), water (FIW) and green energy. GRID was unknown to me. I have added recently to BHCFX and I agree with having exposure to healthcare and biotech. PTH is also one I've never heard of. BUSFX comes up blank; is that Bridgeway Ultra Small Company?

Been doing a lot of shopping lately.
Last March I sold out my wife's inheritance, which was mostly in a regional utility. She has hopes of buying a small house in a location cooler than Arizona. So we decided to invest 25% of her funds.
Her priorities were dividends and green investing as her "speculative" bet. And then some assets set aside to grow, i.e S&P 500, tech, and med tech. So this is what we agreed to:
The following is copied from the rough notes I have in a spread sheet. Good thing I'm not being graded for formatting.
20.00% Schwab US Dividend Equity ETF™ SCHD
10.00% VictoryShares US SmCp Hi Div Vol Wtd ETF CSB
8.00% Fidelity® Select Medical Tech and Devcs FSMEX
8.00% Fidelity® 500 Index FXAIX
5.00% Cambria Foreign Shareholder Yield ETF FYLD
5.00% GLFOX Lazard Global Infrastructure
5.00% WisdomTree Intl Hdgd Qual Div Gr ETF IHDG
5.00% SPDR® Russell 1000® Yield Focus ETF ONEY
5.00% Invesco High Yield Eq Div Achiev™ ETF PEY
5.00% Principal Real Estate Securities Inst PIREX
5.00% Invesco S&P 500® Eql Wt Cnsm Stapl ETF RHS
5.00% Invesco S&P 500® Equal Weight Utilts ETF RYU
2.00% FSCSX
2.00% TDV tech dividend
2.00% Columbia Seligman Global TECH
2.00% FTEC tech index
1.00% TAN Solar
1.00% First Trust Water ETF
1.00% First Trust NASDAQ® Cln Edge®Offsetting
1.00% iShares Global Clean Energy ETF
1.00% Invesco Global Clean Energy ETF
1.00% Invesco Global Water ETF
As you can see, I bought baskets to represent tech and "green." I see enough moving parts in those fields that I wanted to encompass a variety of theses. For the alt energy funds I specifically avoided those with large stakes in Tesla. And also avoided China as well as I could.
I have also been buying into beaten down funds in our IRA's, and my taxable account, whittling down our cash holdings. I tarried too long during the COVID debacle, so wanted to make a more muscular entry. Still plenty of cash for cushion, and for buying, if the autumn inflation and elections push markets another leg down; which would not surprise me in the least.

Barron's Midyear Roundtable has several fund ideas. LINK
COVER STORY, “What to Buy Right Now: 42 Picks from Barron’s (Midyear) ROUNDTABLE Pros”. A report card of prior hits/misses is also included.
Tod AHLSTEN/Parnassus CIO & PRBLX: VRSK, MMC, ICE, AMAT. Opportunities in the downturn.
William PRIEST/Epoch Inv Partners: TMUS, DTEGY, TSM, LSXMA, DE
Rupal BHANSALI/Ariel CIO: DIISY, BAP, BBSEY, BIDU, ELEZY, SNMRY, PM. Likes Lat Am & Europe over US; prefers dividend payors.
Henry ELLENBOGEN/Durable Capital: INTU, TEAM, DUOL. Likes quality-growth.
Abby Joseph COHEN/Columbia U: LG Chem, FANUY, BKNG, JWN. No recession in 2022 or 2023.
Scott BLACK/Delphi: CACI, CB. Shallow recession is already here (notable early projection). Avoid story stocks with low/no earnings. His SP500 earnings est $219 only.
Sonal DESAI/Franklin Templeton FI CIO: CPREX, FHYVX, GLFOX, EAPCX, FRIAX; ETF SRLN. No recession in 2022/H1 or 2023/H1, may be in 2023/H2.
Mario GABELLI/Gamco: CNHI, AJRD, HRI, BATRA, PARA, SBGI, DRQ, HAL. Mild recession. Despite volatility now, 2023/H1 looks promising for US, Europe, China.
Meryl WITMER/Eagle Capital: SLVM, DFIN, EEFT
David GIROUX/Price CIO & PRWCX: FTV, NXPI, GE, TEL. Mild recession. Overweight – IT, industrials; underweight – consumer-staples, utilities; leveraged-loans still OK.
Part 2 will mention some Japanese funds (feature by @LewisBraham). Edit/Add LINK2
FUNDS. After years of deflation, JAPAN is seeing some inflation due to high oil prices and supply-chain disruptions. The BOJ is continuing its easy monetary policy until the inflation target of +2% is met, and yen has collapsed. Japanese funds are attractive: GMAHX, HJPNX, MJFOX, PRJPX; ETFs EWJ, EWJV, DFJ.

Can’t complain. Doing better than deserve. Buffett threw me a plum when he bid for Allegheny. I sold the same day for a 25% overnight gain. It only represented about 5% of portfolio - but certainly helped.
I finally aborted a small hold in GLDB. To some extent it was a victim of circumstances being long corporate bonds at precisely the wrong time. And, I hung on to a small slice of DKNG hoping for a buy-out. But, these are not fortuitous times for M&A with rates having spiked so much. Waters have calmed. I jettisoned that position 2 weeks ago for a small loss.
I did a lot of buying last week adding to existing positions - including a regional bank stock (off 35% from peak), an insurer and a major food distributor. Never one to hold cash, it’s minimal at 3-5%. GNMA (ETF) is being used as a replacement for cash also in small quantity. I picked it up after rates hit 3% - so it’s held up well since buying. Where is the stability? Large slices of PRIHX, PRPFX, ABRZX, BAMBX. These too have been dinged, but not as much as the rest. Winners? RIO and GLFOX. Possibly a couple others.

Added to GLFOX. My theory on US infrastructure rebuilding as a catalyst for companies involved in materials and construction has proven to be a hypothesis only. The fact of the matter is that PAVE has not even kept pace with IWD.

I used to hold GLFOX till I realized that VPU can get me to the same place, basically, believe it or not.
https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/fund-performance?s=y&symbol=GLFOX&benchmark=VPU

Added to GLFOX. My theory on US infrastructure rebuilding as a catalyst for companies involved in materials and construction has proven to be a hypothesis only. The fact of the matter is that PAVE has not even kept pace with IWD.

Hi @Baseball_Fan . There is a lot of risk in the markets, and some of it reminds me of Tulipmania with high valuations. Bitcoin is now down 35% YTD. Rising interest rates, high inflation, supply chain disruptions and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have upended normal investment models. Price to Earnings have begun compressing as they often do during inflationary times with high valuations.
YTD, my baseline fund, the Vanguard Wellesley Fund, has lost 8%, while the Global Wellesley has done slightly better. Safe haven government intermediate bond funds are down 7% YTD while core bond funds are down 10%. As the markets started swooning, I sold the most volatile and added better performers including real return and commodities. I maintain a balanced portfolio, and am down less than the Wellesley fund.
I favor low volatile funds, some of which have a tactical, or "black box" approach. I prefer to leave this to the pros to do the heavy lifting for me. I spread the risk across several of the funds so that any individual failure will not impact me much. I limit overall exposure in case of a swan event. I own multi-strategy (BAMBX, TMSRX), multi-alternative/macro-trading (GPANX, REMIX), systematic trend (PQTAX), real return (PIRMX/PZRMX, FSRRX), Infrastructure (GLFOX), along with utilities and consumer staples, all of which have reduced the volatility in my portfolio. I am also researching CABNX. Each has made more (lost less) than the Vanguard Wellesley. I have also increased cash.
I believe the risk of recession is high for next year. I suspect the markets will calm down in the near term and recover, but expect lower lows over the next two years.
Best wishes.

BLNDX/REMIX is the only fund I hold that lost less than 0.25% today. PDBC was down 0.52% while GLFOX lost 0.88%. Everything else stunk up the joint.

GQEPX, GLFOX, and on Friday mid-PM, AMZN. Of course it continued south and then bounced towards day’s end. Fish in a barrel don’t stop moving or ring the bell at the bottom, for some reason.

“Infrastructure stocks are also getting whacked of late”
Hi Ben, The only infrastructure fund I own or track is GLFOX - which you recommended. It’s holding up better than most of my stuff - up 3+% YTD. Heavier into utilities than most I suspect..
Not looking to add real asset / commodity exposure. Stuff is just too darn volatile for me to hold much. Direct exposure pegged at only about 8-9% of investments. But some of my allocation funds add on to that. Mostly, in the real-asset area I’ve stayed with the miners - including RIO which bounced 4% today. And have a bit in NOR, which is an indirect play on commodities.
PS - “the bloom“ … There you go with that plant stuff again … :)

Finishing up some quarterly rebalancing. Adding funds for inflation: PZRMX, BCASX. Adding funds for Value/Quality: GQEPX, CDC. Building cash from sales in CTFAX, SWAN, GIBLX, TMSRX. Added a bit to REMIX. Watching GLFOX.
Best of luck,
Rick

I don't know if any of these qualify as "contrarian" besides the fact that they were up today.
If M* is up to date, the following were gainers in my IRA: VPU, PRUZX, TCREX, VDC, PTH, GLFOX, VDIGX, XBI, DSEEX. IRA was off 0.35.
In the taxable: VUIAX, VCSAX, PEY, FDFAX, GLFOX, VEIRX, VMNVX, VHYAX, SCHD, FRIRX.
Taxable was off 0.23.

@David_Snowball: thanks for the chance to get First Sentier’s take on US infrastructure exposure. I was surprised to find that the fund holds almost exclusively energy and utilities stocks. I have put some money into PAVE, the GlobalX US Infrastructure Development ETF. It holds 100 stocks of industrial companies that make the « stuff » that is needed to build bridges, roads, etc. Think Nucor, Trane, Deere, Eaton, as well as transportation and energy firms. Utilities are not a meaningful part of the portfolio. As you pointed out, almost all infrastructure funds are global, a niche in which GLFOX (also an Aussie product) has made its mark.

Direct real estate fund CPREX is an interval-fund, a special type of unlisted fund that can be bought from brokers any time, but redemptions are limited.
For CPREX, that redemption is up to 5% per quarter at NAV (so, may take 20 quarters (5 years) to get completely out). There are about 3 dozen such interval-funds that are suitable for illiquid securities. These are sort of in between ETFs and CEFs. Some describe them as roach-motels.

Thanks. Most interesting. I wondered about CPREX as Lipper couldn’t locate it. From what I could find, there’s a $1,000,000 minimum. Of all the mentioned funds (I already own GLFOX) this one looked interesting. Generally I won’t open a new position in anything that’s up 20-30% in a year’s time. Prefer to buy low and get paid to wait. I suspect, that like real estate funds generally, CPREX has already seen a nice run up - hence off my radar.
PS - a link to its 1, 3, 5 year performance would be appreciated.