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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.
  • Thoughts on buying FAIRX
    Thanks Scott for the feedback. These are the things I was looking for which I don't understand yet. Again, I'm really brand new to investing. So I'm taking a lot in right now, and feeling a bit overwhelmed and unsure about my decisions. So I appreciate the info. I think to, I'm not sure where to look for good info or what I should trust.
    Regarding the global markets, I certainly want to understand them more, I think it's more for me at this time, that is even more overwhelming. I think what's more important to me right now is to not make any decisions that I don't really understand what I'm doing. I'd rather play it safe and buy less risky funds. Hence why I own a lot of LEXCX and several conservative and moderate allocation funds right now.
    I like the idea of increasing my risk, but again I want to make smart decisions. So I'm not necessarily looking to get into any specific area, such as financials, unless I really think it has the potential to outperform other areas.
    With all that said, I will take that advice and for the time being hold off on any financial funds and instead continue to try and better understand the markets better.
    Thanks again.
  • Thoughts on buying FAIRX
    My issue with the financials is the quality of earnings (how much is moving money from one pocket to the other?) and future catalysts/prospects as well as future regulation. One of the biggest issues is regulatory uncertainty, which is a problem that does not appear to be going away any time soon.
    Fairholme will not always look this way, but I think it depends how long one might think it does - I don't believe Berkowitz is changing anytime soon. St Joe is an intriguing concept in what Berkowitz has "planned" for it, but the SEC investigation and fight with Einhorn turned into a debacle. Einhorn has not had a particularly good year, either, although personally, I'd rather invest with him in the roundabout fashion of Greenlight RE (GLRE, stock not fund). In terms of putting money with good managers sunk by bad financials, I went with Janus Overseas (JAOSX).
    I'd also rather go with Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) than Fairholme. BRK-B is trading near 52 wk lows. Yes, BRK-B is not a fund.
    I do, however, like Yacktman quite a bit for a long-term holding. I'd also find LEXCX preferable as a long-term holding.
    Additionally, FAIRX is also $25K minimum, unless some service has it for less.
    Personally, I continue to go with investments in real assets (agriculture, basic materials) and some technology as a focus. What do people really need at the end of the day continues to be really a focus.
  • Thoughts on buying FAIRX
    Right, and I'm not looking at YTD results either. The big question is as you said Mike when will financials rally. I'm looking at what funds can I get into that have the best chance to excel in the next 1-5yrs. going forward. And I don't want to miss it. However, I don't want to miss out on earning anything over the next 6 - 18mos. either if there are places to be. For instance I could keep my money in LEXCX for now and I'd be willing to move later.
    I'm not necessarily trying to time this perfectly, but I guess maybe the biggest question marks I have are what are the future negatives with financials specifically? The debt crisis have more effect on financials than other sectors, or are they mostly y all affected, regulation, any other things that I really don't understand well enough could end up keeping financials under-performing for much longer period.
    I'm out on FAAFX, simply because of the $25K minimum. It's too much weight for my portfolio right now.
  • Thoughts on buying FAIRX
    I'm brand new to investing (had 401K for 13 years, but never really researched or knew what I was doing before. My returns are the proof :-)). I've been spending a lot of time researching the past few months however and spending a lot of time on this site. It's been great reading. Today I was strongly considering opening a position on FAIRX. I've seen many discussions on this site about it and I see a lot of positives in the financial sector today, assuming based on recent financial earnings and with the whole US debt thing looking much more optimistic.
    As far as future negatives, are there things I should consider that would hold me off from buying FAIRX right now? And I mean, I'm not concerned about our current environment. I see the US growing and specifically housing and financials for the long-term. But the things I don't understand are for instance the Europe debt issues, and is that or anything else, things that could overweigh the positive upside of financials and FAIRX?
    If I do jump in, this is a position I expect to stay long on. I'm trying to build a strong core set of funds. At this point I'd be taking money from LEXCX and moving directly to opening the min. of $10K in FAIRX. If I continue to feel better about FAIRX, I can see myself adding more down the road. I also am thinking of increasing YACKX at some point and can see myslef building FAIRX & YACKX as the strongest weighted funds in my portfolio.
    Again, I'm new to investing, and I feel like this would be a pretty big decision for me. I'm certainly willing to take on risk, as I'm fairly young at age 34, but just want to be smart about it.
    Thanks in advance for any feedback.