Reply to @PRESSmUP:
This fund's performance seems consistently better than Vanguards Capital Opportunity fund which I believe is managed by Primecap as well. Is this fund available NFT? Thanks.

Forward Funds
http://www.forwardinvesting.com/wp-content/uploads/2013-Forward-Capital-Gains-Estimate-Notice-20131024.pdf
Oppenheimer Funds
https://www.oppenheimerfunds.com/digitalAssets/Cap_Gains_Estimates_Consumer-ec6595bc-23fb-498c-99cd-0ccebe6e8698.pdf
John Hancock Funds
http://www.jhinvestments.com/CMS/DownloadableItems/NewsDocuments/Public/MFCGBL2013.pdf
Aquila Funds
http://aquilafunds.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/CapGainEst-10-2013.pdf

Since funds must advertise on a standardized calendar year (and calendar quarter) basis (and not their varied fiscal bases), a run up today doesn't provide them window dressing.
However, I believe that the amount of gains they distribute are based on their fiscal year (not 100% certain, though); in that case, let's hope they didn't decide to recognize their gains from today's appreciation.

Hi hank and others,
I make this type of post for informational purposes only. It has been my experience when I bought at or towards the top in my prior years of investing it seems it was not too long after that there would come a good size pull back … and, with what, the smile on my face turned into a frown as I went form having gains to losses.
I believe all investors should invest based upon their risk tolerance, goals, time horizon and capacity. Now, I not speaking about those that take up positions for momentum based strategies as this falls more under trading than investing, to me. I think sometimes the two get mixed as being one in the same. An investor, to me, is invested for the long term picture and builds their positions up over time while a trader is in and out of positions and only holds these positions for short periods of time. And, they usualy employee some type of timming strategy. At times, I have employeed some trading strategies myself. No doubt this is currently a market for traders. As an investor, I established my core positions years ago when valuations were more reasonable and the markets were undersold. Since then, I have added to them through time when value could be found. Again ... currently, I am finding little value.
In addition, I cut my special equity spiff positions loose some months ago ... and, yes I could trim some more (core holdings). And indeed, I may do so sometime next year if the equity train continues its upward climb. Currently, Morningstar is reporting that stocks are overbought by about five percent. In general, an investor is now paying $105.00 for $100.00 worth of assets by their valuation measures. I strive to buy when good discounts are available. Can stocks go higher? Absoutely. It seems the high valuation water mark reported by Morningstar came in December of 2004 at 114%.
http://www.morningstar.com/market-valuation/market-fair-value-graph.aspx
Thanks for stopping by and making your comments.
My best,
Skeeter

It is a good idea to harvest "lost" now if one anticipates large capital gain.

From review of some of my mutual fund companies published estimated capital gain distribution amounts for this year it appears distribution amounts are estimated to be ahead of recent years. With this, I am anticipating a larger tax bill this year.
Skeeter

I have owned HSGFX for many years, and have suffered like the other holders (about 5% of my portfolio). Based on John Hussman's education, he is very smart - you don't get into Stanford grad school without extremely high scores. This most likely translates into a high IQ >135. I have a degree in chemical engineering and an MBA (finance), and I read (and understand) his weekly newsletter. I think it's well written and very insightful. I think he is absolutely correct in his analysis of the markets. However, like others I think his investment model is flawed and overly complicated. My investment model enables me to participate in the upside gains and I maintain a trailing "stop limit" buy order on ETF SPXU (3x S&P negative) as insurance against the market tanking. The general investing public is buying and selling without any regard for value. Eventually there has to be a day of reckoning, but why not take the ride up. His biggest mistake was not getting into the market after the big 2008 crash. I know about his stress testing... That proved to me his business instincts are not great - if common sense disagrees with your financial model, please go with the common sense. Please realize that all of these models have ton of assumptions...
Buffet:
"Success in investing doesn't correlate with I.Q. once you're above the level of 25. Once you have ordinary intelligence, what you need is the temperament to control the urges that get other people into trouble in investing."
”Beware of geeks bearing formulas.”
It takes a really smart guy to really mess up an investment portfolio - read When Genius Failed. Some of the smartest guys in finance bankrupted their fund, and needed to be rescued by the fed. The trades were so complicated no one could figure them out. A fund manager with average intelligence and good business instincts would likely never have this problem.

Might I suggest Litman Gregory Masters Alternative Strategies Fund:
MASFX
MASNX
The portfolio is split amongst DoubleLine, FPA, Loomis Sayles and Water Island Capital.
They have quite a bit of flexibility...

I'll piggy-back on my own thread but with respect to stock-oriented funds - who has started the re balancing process in light of the fabulous returns ytd? I am now or very soon will take steps to start re balancing or in other words trimming some profits off the table.
What a fabulous year so far!!!
YTD Performance of basket of some popular funds - As of 10/26/2013:
POAGX: 46.61% (Primecap Aggressive Growth)
VHCOX: 36.14% (Vanguard Capital Opportunity)
VCVLX: 36.07% (Vanguard Capital Value)
VDIGX: 25.05% (Vanguard Dividend Growth)
VDAIX: 23.38% (Vanguard Dividend Appreciation)
VPCCX: 30.68% (Vanguard Primecap Core)
VIMSX: 29.26% (Vanguard Midcap Index)
YAFFX: 23.73% (Yacktman Focused)
OAKGX: 30.01% (Oakmark Global)
OAKWX: 28.70% (Oakmark Global Select)
ARTGX: 25.81% (Artisan Global Value)
GPGOX: 32.66% (Grandeur Peak Global Opp)
OAKIX: 28.67% (Oakmark International)
FPACX: 17.34% (FPA Crescent)
PRWCX: 18.43% (TRP Capital Appreciation)
DODGX: 31.51% (Dodge & Cox Stock)
FAIRX: 32.95% (Fairholme)
KBWB: 28.16% (Powershares KBW Bank ETF)
ARTQX: 30.59% (Artisan Midcap Value)
ARTKX: 26.20% (Artisan International Value)
IVWIX: 16.10% (IVA Worldwide)
TIBIX: 16.10% (Thornburg Income Builder)
BERIX: 13.88% (Berwyn Income)
WAMVX: 33.83 (Wasatch Microcap Value)
RYTRX: 27.46% (Royce Total Return)
FMIHX: 24.85% (FMI Largecap)
FMIMX: 25.29% (FMI Common)
ARTMX: 33.06% (Artisan Midcap)

Mark,
I'm mostly interested in income (vs capital gains) but I understand the need to have stocks and those gains. In the coming years 5+ years I think outside the US will have good potential for growth - weaker $, stronger economies outside the USA.
In the past, while working, I selected funds, set up automatic investment and forgot about them.
In some ways, I view myself as my own contrary indicator - if I want to get in - it probably a TOP! That is why I also asked about when to average into the recommendations.
I looked at davidrmoran's suggestions and I don't think they fit my goals - but I'll look at them again.

Reply to @TSP_Transfer: I actually own a little bit of LAND. It really hasn't done much of anything, but I continue to reinvest monthly divs.
The issue with Gladstone Land is that it is actually a triple-net real estate company. They own the land and someone comes in to farm. They are not participating in the production/sales of agriculture. It is, in my opinion, a very interesting play on agricultural land but they are not the ones selling/producing/handling the end product.
We offer land owners and farmers the following options:
1. For sellers that farm the land, we offer a long-term sale leaseback transaction which allows farmers to free up capital to repay existing indebtedness, grow their farming operations, retire or for other business endeavors.
2. For sellers that do not farm the land, we will purchase the property and keep the existing tenant on the farm with a long-term lease.
3. For farmers that find properties they want to farm, but not own, we may purchase the farm and rent it to the farmer with flexible lease terms."

Reply to @Junkster:
Junk bonds are seriously overbought
“Yes, high yield is attractive right now, but there are also significant risks when your starting point is low interest rates and narrow spreads,” said Steve Blumenthal, chief executive of CMG Capital Management Group Inc., a firm that helps advisers manage bond portfolios.
The average junk bond yield is hovering around 6%, which is only 350 basis points higher than the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond.
That spread compares with a historical average of 500 basis points, which should remind investors of the potential for radical yield adjustments.
Junk bonds offer more upside potential while Fed's QE continues
By Jeff Benjamin | October 24, 2013 - 1:30 pm EST
http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20131024/FREE/131029934?template=printart

I was recommended here by another poster and have been reading the site. So, I thought I would put this out there.
Basics
58
No debt
Own home
Single
-----------
Not working
Currently paying all expenses out of savings.
Small pension at 61 that should pay 40% of expense budget
SS and pension at 62 or 63 should pay close to 100% of expense budget
-----------
40% of $ in IRA
60% of $ outside of IRA
-----------
Risk adverse
Prefers income over capital gains.
-----------
Currently 100% in cash - yes I know - let's not go there.
-----------
What I'm considering:
50% of cash - Over the next 6 months or so average into a High Yield Bond Fund - FAGIX
Remaining 50% - after 6 months or so see what to do.
-----------
My concern is that if I"m thinking of doing this is, that we are at a top, and at the wrong time to get back in. I'm not into trading in and out of the markets or doing a lot of trading.
-----------
I had a good mix of Vanguard funds but got scared out of them.
Value Index
Wellesley Income
Emerging Markets
High Yield Corp
Reit Index Fund
FTSE all world Ex Us
Mid Cap Value Indes
Small Cap Value
Convertibles
Emerging Bonds
What would you recommend to invest in and when to do it?
Thanks

Just a suggestion, but why not allocate something to precious metals on a permanent basis? Consider, perhaps, a 3% position in something like CEF. This closed-end fund is treated like a mutual fund for capital gains purposes, unlike GLD that is treated like a collectible and thus has higher taxes associated with it. If the position gets above 5%, sell back. If it drops to 1-2%, buy more. Use the holding as a hedge against government stupidity or black-swan events.

The questions I have are for you and your brother - the trustees - not for the financial advisor.
You need to operate under the terms and objectives of the trust. For example, you write that she doesn't need any of the trust - even its income - to meet projected expenses. So what's the purpose of the trust - to leave a legacy, to provide her mad money, or ...? If she doesn't need to draw on the trust, what is the significance of her age?
Is the trust required to distribute property to your mother? Often trusts are required to distribute income, but not capital. Just tossing this out as an example. If that were the case, then given that your mother doesn't need the money, it might make more sense to keep the trust invested in non-income producing property, so that the money stayed in the trust.
Irrevocable trusts are often used for tax reasons - to circumvent estate taxes. (By periodically gifting money to the trust, one can preserve the full estate tax exemption. Or by gifting a large amount many years before death, the growth over the subsequent years is kept out of the estate.) This may suggest the purpose of the trust is to leave a legacy. But there could be other reasons for this trust.
In short, the first question is not what your mother needs, but what are the requirements of the trust. It's only against those requirements that the suggestions of your advisor can be evaluated.

FYI:
Regards,
Ted
http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20131024/FREE/131029937?template=printart

As everyone on this discussion board knows, 2013 has been a truly strange year for investors in many ways. We have seen some interesting and puzzling events in the world economy, and we have managed to survive any number of what the electronic media would have us think were end-of-world crisis. In a recent webcast for clients, we ended with five observations that we think investors would be wise to consider. For what it is worth to MFO folks, I thought I would post them here for discussion.
1. Be TRULY diversified, but consider an under-weight or over-weight in specific areas if an opportunity presents itself. Look for opportunities among the ignored and unloved. (We like EM right now and would overweight actively-managed EM stock funds such as ODVYX, WAFMX.) But also recognized that sometimes a sector is unloved for a good reason (managed futures, global macro, etc.).
2. Avoid long-term bonds in general, but especially mid-to-long Treasuries. Use flexible mandate bond funds such as OSTIX, GSZIX, LSBDX. Recognize the huge impact Bernanke's May comments had on even short-duration government bonds.
3. Don't succumb to fear. A real or imagined crisis occurs frequently, often with little or no lasting impact. Macro events (black swans) cannot be avoided, but they occur much less frequently than the perennial bears would have us believe. Remember that your time horizon is crucial in managing this aspect. Always be mentally prepared for market corrections. They happen.
4. Understand there is no safe place to get 4-5% now, despite what the annuity salespersons might say. If portfolio income is crucial, consider increasing dividend stocks and reducing fixed-income. Be careful about reaching for yield. Bank loan funds are way overbought right now and many are non-investment grade and could be problematic in a credit crunch.
5. Don't be greedy. Capture gains, especially from long-held bond funds. Re-balance, re-allocate. Nothing is forever. Make sure your investments match your risk profile. Don't confuse the return you NEED with the return that you WANT. If gains are taken from domestic stocks, consider adding or increasing dollars to dynamic allocation investments such as FPACX, IVAEX, TIBIX, OSTVX, PAUIX (yes, still a good option). Or consider reducing volatility in domestic equity via a quality long-short fund.

Reply to @Mindy: Hi, Mindy.... thanks for thinking of me. I've made a new post to let everyone know I'm still alive as I have such fond memories of everyone here at MFO - and am ashamed I haven't kept up more. Cathy
After this last June+ drop in all my bond funds due to the whisper of taper pullback and higher interest rates, it really did seem to confirm what most people said.... the 30 year bond bull market is over. Even though we have had a few respites here and there since then, the pull-out of tapering is inevitable... if not next year, then soon after (as long as the astonishingly stupid Congress faction doesn't destroy us all).
So, since my entire "crash course" knowledge was in Mutual Funds... especially the lowest volatility bond-type funds which I had the majority of our investments in... I felt it crucial in July to learn more about stocks and etf's (separately, and in relation to stock MFs), which is not a basic part of MFO discussions.
What a ride this has been. I switched from 80% bonds/20% stocks to now 70% stocks or stock funds and 30% bond funds. My portfolio has surged, and is getting close to what I feel is a good allocation (considering there is almost no diversity anymore). But what a shock to watch DAILY gains/losses of 1%-6% at some times for some stocks (especially before and after earnings reports - which, incidentally, seem to create buy/sell reactions totally in opposition to earnings like NFLX).
If fundamentals prevail, I fully expect a substantial downturn... any day now. But I've been expecting a crash for months now and found that logic, valuations, reasoning seem to have nothing to do with the market.

Aston Funds
http://astonfunds.com/includes/modules/assets/controllers/Files/download.php?file=1382452312_Estimated-Capital-Gain-Sept-30-2013.pdf
Invesco Funds
https://www.invesco.com/pdf/IFCG-FLY-2-E.pdf?contentGuid=53ba865d7c0e1410VgnVCM100000c1f1bf0aRCRD

Reply to @robertwells: These two funds are probably considered "mainstream" and both hold either gold mining shares or bullion equivalents with corresponding under performance with the bear market in precious metals ongoing since mid 2011.Another consideration for precious metals are commision free ETFs@ Fidelity(PICK,RING,SLVR)or @ Schwab(PSAU). Limit order @ your price,1 share or a million!
http://quicktake.morningstar.com/syndication/holdings.aspx?cn=GLG117&symbol=APPLX
http://www.goodhavenfunds.com/media/pdfs/GHF_FS.pdf
I own FPACX,MFLDX,as core holdings and am establishing positions in WBMRX and PMHDX as I harvest some gains from the small growth area.I am retired and get a bit more conservative as the market sets new highs.
Also,take a look at MARVX a traditional L/S fund.
http://portfolios.morningstar.com/fund/summary?t=MARVX&region=USA&culture=en-US
Plenty of EM bond funds available with local currency exposure as a hedge.Flip a coin? I have a small position in GYLD. Monthly dividend,conservative 60/40 mix with 40% non- dollar holdings.
http://www.arrowshares.com/files/PFS00000/001a.pdf
I really should add BRUFX to the list.Seldom if ever has short or precious metal holding but management will go just about anywhere else.Low turnover and exceptional long term record.Patience is the word here.Only available through the fund.
LOR
The Lazard World Dividend & Income Fund is a closed-end management company that seeks total return through a combination of dividends, income, and capital appreciation. The Fund will pursue this objective through a world equity strategy and a short-term emerging markets and debt strategy.
The Fund will invest substantially all of its net assets in between 60 to 90 world equity securities that are financially productive and high dividend yielding.
It seeks to enhance income through exposure to short-term, emerging market forward currency contracts and other emerging markets debt instruments (limited to 33.3% or less of the Fund’s total leveraged assets), which will provide exposure to emerging market currencies.
These two strategies are complementary, with historically low correlation to one another, which may reduce volatility.
http://www.lazardnet.com/us/mutual-funds/closed-end-funds/lor/
SEEDX looks like it will also take short positions.Good managers in a new fund
Top 10 Holdings – September 30, 2013
Express Scripts Holdings Co. 5.30%
Teva Pharm Inds Ltr Adr 4.98%
Leucadia National Corp. 4.92%
Yahoo Inc. 4.25%
Loews Corp. 4.19%
Chambers Street Properties 3.97%
Abbvie Inc. 3.84%
Oracle Corp. 3.63%
GlaxoSmithKline plc 3.62%
ProShares Short Russell 2000 ETF 3.49%