Reply to @Soupkitchen: Hi Soupkitchen. We continue to hold PRPFX in many of our conservative client accounts. It provides some ownership in assets that these folks otherwise would not have, such as gold, silver, foreign currency, real estate. We have captured most of the gains clients have netted over the last decade and are happy to hold the remaining shares. We never bought this fund to shoot out the lights. And I would be very surprised if it truly disappointed. The allocation is unlikely to allow that. I do not compare it to VWINX, since they are not at all similar. The treasuries in PRPFX have shorter durations than they have in the past. And no one expects the fed to increase the fed funds rate in the next 12-18 months. The fund has been a fairly boring, but very steady holding. That is not likely to change very much.

April 14, 2013 … Hello,
Indeed, good to read a Morningstar article written about a fund that I own that keys on how an individual investor, with limited capital, can invest in listed private equity firms which in return themselves make the private equity placements.
I purchased LPEFX a while back in the fourth quarter of 2011 … and, my average cost in the shares that I currently own are about $4.25 with its current share price approaching about $6.00. In addition, since purchase, I have received better than fifty cents in distributions per share which makes my total return, thus far, north of fifty percent … and, combined with a year-to-date gain of better than sixteen percent … Score me, a happy camper.
The Listed Private Equity Fund (LPEFX) is a major position with a weighting of better than twenty five percent in my Specialty Sleeve Section of the Growth Area of my portfolio. The Specialty Sleeve Section contains six funds and makes up about twenty percent of the Growth Area of my portfolio.
Again thanks, Investor, for posting the article as I indeed enjoyed the read especially with the good results that I have experienced.
I have linked the Morningstar report for those that would like to look under the hood, so-to-speak.
http://quotes.morningstar.com/fund/f?t=lpefx&region=USA
In addition, I have linked below Morningstar's Expense Analysis Report along with its Holdings Report.
http://financials.morningstar.com/fund/expense.html?t=LPEFX&region=USA&culture=en-us
http://portfolios.morningstar.com/fund/holdings?t=LPEFX&region=USA&culture=en-us
Skeeter

Hi everyone,
I continue to watch and manage my equities with their upward march and sold some more off as the S&P 500 Indexed reached a close of 1575. My next sell stop will be 1600. In following my systematic sell process I have kept my equity allocation in line and have not let it balloon on me. I started my selling process at the beginning of the year at S&P 500 Index at 1426 as a base line step and have sold a sum equal to about 1% of my equities at each 25 point upward step from there. The percentage of gain ranges between each step from about 1.7% to 1.6%. So in selling one percent at each step I have been putting about two thirds of the gains in my pocket as equities have advanced. And, when the pull back comes I am already pretty much right sized as I have kept my equity allocation towards the low range, for me, within my portfolio at about 45%. My normal allocation range for equities within my portfolio is 40% to 60% based upon my age and my risk tolerance assessment along with varying market conditions. At high valuations and overbought conditions I keep equities towards the low range (40%) within my asset allocation and during low valuation and oversold conditions I set more towards the upper range (60%).
When a substantial pull back comes I’ll increase my allocation to equities as I believe more value can be had at lower price levels. In short words … Don’t buy at, or towards, the top.
Yesterday, I was in Charleston, SC for a memorial service of a dear departed friend who was a fraternity brother and college room mate. I saw people who I have not seen in years and most likely will never see again in my lifetime. Indeed, a sad; but, also joyous time in the celebration of his life.
Now back in Charlotte … I will soon be off to church this morning and plan this afternoon in watching the final round of the Masters with some golfing friends (hot dogs & burgers) and perhaps we will have a second tv tuned to cover the NASCAR Truck Race at Rockingham.
Enjoy your day ...
Skeeter

Reply to @Charles: Would appear to be a hedge fund. I don't own any, but there are a couple of major London-listed hedge funds, including Brevan Howard Macro (which is giant) and Third Point. I really don't recommend (illiquid and other issues), but both have pink sheet versions in the US (BHMDF.PK, TPNTF.PK) There's also the Rothschild Investment Trust (RIT Capital Partners),which is a mix of funds and stocks (RITPF.PK in the US, again - definitely illiquid and not really recommended.) Jacob Rothschild's letters in the fund's occasional reports do make for interesting reading on the fund's website, though.

Reply to @MikeM: You have my kind of funds, especially RYBOX and GASFX. (but why the load RYBOX instead of RYOIX) Best of luck. I see so few here with momentum funds, especially in this market of double digit gains. Surprised you are still hanging with ARIVX but understand your explanation so no need to add my 2 cents which would just alienate the ARVIXers.

I gave up on PM mutual funds TGLDX and USAGX last summer and I am so - so glad I did. I like to put some money into sector bets , but never again for precious metal, minor funds. Right now my sector bets are on GASFX, PRENX, CSRIX, PRHSX and RYBOX - Energy/NR, health care and REITs.
On the other hand, I own ARIVX and have no intention to give up on it. I believe the manager will be a winner over an economic cycle (a perfect buy and hold fund). He has proven that as much compared to any other fund manager. And since I bought the fund for the purpose of buy and hold with a manger that has capital preservation at the forefront of his investing style, nothing has changed for me. If Cinnamond believes a part of his portfolio should be in minors, I trust he sees value going forward. But I know I'm not smart enough to play the minors.
Me-thinks your ARIVX comment is trying to justify your dumping the fund.

Reply to @Anna:
The thing is, that unlike houses, shares of a given security are identical, except for their labels (i.e. a tagging of each share by purchase date). And the neat thing is that these labels are interchangeable. A broker just sells identical shares - no labels, and then slaps a label on, after the fact, for those who care about the labels.
It isn't even a unique label. Suppose you bought 100 shares six months ago at $10, and bought 100 more shares six days ago at $11, and now you're selling 100 shares ...
Many brokers charge early redemption fees - for example, Fidelity charges a TF if you sell a share of an NTF fund within 60 days of buying it. Fidelity will slap on the 6 month label (FIFO) to the 100 shares you sold for the purpose of calculating early redemption fees. This works to your advantage (you avoid the TF), and even if you wanted to pay the fee, the broker wouldn't listen to you.
But for tax purposes, you would likely want to sell those 6 day shares. So if you ask nicely (make the phone call, send email, whatever the broker wants you to do), the broker will slap on the 6 day label for the purpose of calculating capital gains.
Which shares did you really sell?

"The way each one handles things is different, and you have to check with the institution to see which hoops they are going to have you jump through."
See, you're missing the point. This is one of the great benefits of the government keeping hands off free enterprise. No stifling of innovation and entrepreneurship here, by gum!! If you don't like the setup at one place you're perfectly free to move someplace "better". Just close all your accounts, pay all your taxes, pay all your ill-gotten capital gains, file all your forms, hire all your attorneys and accountants, and stand by for a government audit. Nothing to it! (Recommend you check with Max to find the "better" places...)

Schwab does not let you specify lots for mutual fund sales, but you can choose your cost basis strategy. The default is average cost, but other options are FIFO, LIFO, Highest cost, Lowest cost and Tax Lot Optimizer (take short term losses first, then long term losses, then long term gains and finally short term gains).

BobC hits it on the nail there. If you buy these bond previously, and if you sell them now, you may get a good INCREASED capital gain tax. I don't think you can find any good that would give 4+% yearly return almost guaranteed for 4-5 yrs. Most CDs are yielding craps, cannt find any good bonds that would yield >5% without any risks, and you can't find a better deal out there. Bedsides, what would you buy if you sell these, ? I think the only ones maybe making sense are more stocks but there maybe a large correction coming in the near future. I had the same questions previously but the bonds I bought are decend and I use these as my 'money market account/Cash holdings' since you can probably sell these at any time

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-10/jenner-said-to-raise-100-million-for-health-care-fund.html
Jenner Said to Raise $100 Million for Health-Care Fund
By Christopher Condon - Apr 10, 2013 12:25 PM ET
Kris Jenner, the former top stock picker at T. Rowe Price Group Inc., has raised more than $100 million for a hedge fund to invest in health-care and biotechnology stocks, according to a person with knowledge of his plans.
Jenner will start the fund, named Rock Springs Capital and based in Baltimore, later this year and is continuing to seek commitments from investors, said the person, who asked not to be named because the information isn’t public. Jenner will run the fund with Mark Bussard and Graham McPhail, former T. Rowe Price analysts who left with Jenner in February, the person said. Jenner declined to comment on the fund.
Jenner, 51, had run T. Rowe Price’s $5.8 billion Health Sciences Fund (PRHSX) since 2000 and beat 83 percent of peers in the five years before he left, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The fund was T. Rowe Price’s best performer during that period, returning an annual average 13 percent.
“What’s distinctive about Kris Jenner is not just his medical and scientific background, but also his ability to connect the dots and see how different information is related,” Leonard Bell, chief executive officer of Cheshire, Connecticut- based Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ALXN), said in an interview.
Jenner held Alexion shares for more than a decade. T. Rowe Price was Alexion’s second-biggest shareholder with a 9.5 percent stake as of Dec. 31, according to regulatory filings.
Medical Degree
Jenner earned a medical degree from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, then a Ph.D. in molecular biology from Oxford University in England. He graduated summa cum laude from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was a backup quarterback on the school’s football team.
He joined T. Rowe in 1997 and took over the Health Sciences Fund in 2000. He has a reputation for finding lesser-known pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms developing innovative therapies, Christopher Davis, an analyst at Chicago-based fund research firm Morningstar Inc. (MORN), said in an interview after Jenner’s departure from Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price.
Jenner’s is raising money following a period of strong returns for the health-care industry, according to Andrew Berens, a senior biotechnology analyst at Bloomberg Industries in Skillman, New Jersey. U.S. health-care stocks, as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Health Care Index, have gained 36 percent since the end of 2011, compared with a 26 percent increase in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
“Health care is the hottest new launch sector we see,” Omeed Malik, head of the emerging-managers program that advises fund start-ups at Bank of America Corp.’s Merrill Lynch in New York, said in an interview.
Short Sales
Rock Springs Capital will have significantly the same investing strategy as his former fund at T. Rowe Price, the person said. Moving to a hedge-fund strategy will give Jenner the ability not only to invest in companies he believes will rise in value, but also to bet against companies he believes will fall, a practice known as short selling. Most mutual funds aren’t allowed to short stocks.
Hedge funds typically charge clients about 2 percent of assets annually and 20 percent of profits. Jenner’s former mutual fund charges shareholders 0.84 percent annually, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
T. Rowe appointed Taymour Tamaddon, formerly an analyst at the firm, to replace Jenner as manager of the Health Sciences Fund.
To contact the reporter on this story: Christopher Condon in Boston at [email protected]
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Christian Baumgaertel at [email protected]
++++Wonder if Ted is going to invest with Kris Jenner now?++++

I used to look in on Fund Alarm and only recently stumbled upon MFO. I find it very informative and am fascinated at the knowledge of the poster's. I see some of the same names here I saw years ago. I was given some good advice here years ago and saw some nice gains.
The problem I have is my knowledge is very limited, I'm 60 and I don't want to be guessing at this point of life. I hear advice of having some funds in foreign countries, some in bonds, some in stocks etc. etc. - it's too much info. This leads me to believe I should hire a professional.
I have investments at TRP and hear they will give advice if you have enough funds with them. Do you feel this is OK or does hiring a local investor have any advantages?
Thank you in advance for any advice you can share with me.

Reply to @Charles: My investments in Japan aren't much - I have a very hard time making investments in things that I don't think there's a good fundamental case for. Long-term (and quite possibly even mid-term), I have no confidence that what Japan is doing will solve its various problems and the country's fundamentals are not getting better. I completely agree with the Kyle Bass view of Japan. Short-term, Japanese equities will probably continue to do well, at least until other countries get more noticeably pissed with the whole beggar-thy-neighbor policy.
I'm also curious what Japan's plan is when the cost of energy (and they have to import a ton of what they use) and other imported materials goes much higher.
Additionally: 11:03 AM It's a true "regime change" at the BOJ, says Citigroup, commenting on the central bank's new easing measures overnight. Gone is any hint of concern about monetizing government paper, and up next may be additional stimulus in the form of equity purchases and loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (my comment: companies have had no problems with financing vendors in the past, why should countries with random companies?). The yen (FXY -3.6%) continues a whopper of a move lower, the dollar now at a session-high ¥96.38. The currency-hedged Japan stock ETF (DXJ) gains 7.5% vs. the unhedged EWJ +3.8%. [Global & FX, On the Move] Comment!

http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/932471/000093247113006039/ps111a042013nc.htm
Vanguard Capital Opportunity Fund
Supplement to the Prospectus and the Summary Prospectus
Important Changes to Vanguard Capital Opportunity Fund
Vanguard Capital Opportunity Fund is now open to new accounts for personal investors, and shareholders are no longer subject to a $25,000 annual investment limit. Participants in certain qualified retirement plans may continue to invest in accordance with the terms of their plans. Certain qualifying asset allocation programs may continue to operate in accordance with the program terms.
The Fund will remain closed to all prospective financial advisory, institutional, and intermediary clients (other than clients who invest through a Vanguard brokerage account) until further notice, and there is no specific time frame for when the Fund will reopen for new account registrations by these clients.
During the Fund’s closed period, current institutional shareholders may continue to purchase, exchange, or redeem shares of the Fund online, by telephone, or by mail. Current financial advisory and intermediary clients may not contribute to existing Fund accounts.
The Fund may modify these transaction policies at any time and without prior notice to shareholders. You may call Vanguard for more detailed information about the Fund’s transaction policies. Participants in employer-sponsored plans may call Vanguard Participant Services at 800-523-1188. Investors in nonretirement accounts and IRAs may call Vanguard’s Investor Information Department at 800-662-7447.
© 2013 The Vanguard Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
Vanguard Marketing Corporation, Distributor. PS 111A 042013

Hi folks,
I wanted to recap this thread the best I can. First of all, thanks to all for the contributions. For some odd reason, I thought the number of holdings extending beyond 10 years would be slight....what in God's name was I thinking?
Listed below are those held more than 10 years per responses:
ACRNX Columbia Acorn
ARTJX Artisan International Small Cap
ARTKX Artisan International Value
ARTMX Artisan Mid Cap
ARTVX Artisan Small Cap Value
BSCFX Baron Small Cap
DODBX Dodge & Cox Balanced
EUROX U.S. Global Investors Eastern European
FCNTX Fidelity Contra Fund
HABDX Harbor Bond
IVAEX Ivy Asset Strategy
LSBDX Loomis Sayles Bond
MACSX Matthews Asian Growth and Income
MAPTX Matthews Pacific Tiger
MEURX Mutual European Fd (Series of Franklin Mutual Ser Fd Inc.)
MSILX Litman Gregory Masters International
OAKBX Oakmark Equity and Income
OARIX Oakmark International
ODVYX Oppenheimer Developing Markets
OSTFX Osterweis Fund
OSTIX Osterweis Strategic Income
PCVAX AllianzGI NFJ Small-Cap Value
PRBLX Parnassus Income Trust- Equity Income
PRPFX Permanent Pt
PRWCX T. Rowe Price Capital Appreciation
RPIBX T. Rowe Price International Bond
RPMGX T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Growth
SINAX ClearBridge Large Cap Value
SEQUX Sequoia
SGOVX First Eagle Overseas
TBGVX Tweedy Browne Global Value
TGBAX Templeton Global Bond
TIBIX Thornburg Investment Income Builder
TWVLX American Century Value Investor
VGHCX Vanguard Specialized Portfolios Health Care
VHCOX Vanguard Capital Opportunity
VISVX Vanguard Index Trust Small-Cap Value
VPMCX Vanguard Primecap
VWELX Vanguard Wellington
What great fund pickers we are!!!
Frankly, I think this says a great deal about the folks who visit this site, and particularly the individual (David) who operates the site which draws us in like moths to a flame...ok, bad analogy.
Many of the funds listed were not popular, trendy or acclaimed 10 years ago...but they are now. The key is finding these types of funds early...and that is what I hope to get from this site, and fellow posters.
On a personal note, it was interesting to see that while I only have owned 2 funds for over 10 years, I own 11 of the funds on this list currently.
thanks,
Press

Looking at our client portfolios, the positions in Price Capital Appreciation PRWCX, Vanguard Wellington VWELX, and Loomis Bond LSBDX are probably 20+ years. But other long-held funds include Osterweis OSTFX, Artisan Mid Cap ARTMX, First Eagle SGOVX, Oppenheimer Developing Mkts ODVYX, Ivy Asset Strategy IVAEX, Oakmark OAKBX, Permanent PRPFX, Thornburg TIBIX, Osterweis OSTIX, and Templeton TGBAX. All of these are at least 10 years, many are practically since the fund opened.
Personally, I have owned EUROX since it first started up. It has been all over the place, but because I added to it and captured gains along the years, it has been a good holding for me, averaging more than 10% annually. But it is not something most investors could handle.
There are some we wish we held that we no longer do, but fortunately that list is small. I suspect we all have some of those "should-of" funds.

Too many open-end MFs (12), not enough ETFs (1), not enough stocks (4). Lately, sensitive to ER. Had swelled recently to 1.13. Currently 1.01. Want to get under 0.6...a dream I have. Believe too many folks, me especially, hand over too much capital to help build the empires of fund houses. Overall construction, round numbers: 40% foundation (diverse bonds/cash), 30% dynamic allocation, 20% fixed equities, 10% speculative (FAAFX). Overall DSDEV: 6.5%.

Have held Acorn and Sequoia since 1978. By the year 2000 large accumulated capital gains made sales not high on my list but in the most recent decade performance by both still quite adequate.Read about them in a publication called Growth Fund Guide. Since I have not seen ads for that publication recently I assume its out of business but it certainly provided me with an extradordinary great return on its at the time no more than $20 subscription.(I actually think it was $10-12 but its been a long time

Reply to @Ted: A 1-yr CD won't work because they want to add to it incrementally (even though some institutions allow you to do this) and they don't have a big deposit going in. A better option might be just an ordinary old online savings account at ALLY, Barclays, Capital One, etc and the rates are pretty similar to a 1-yr CD anyway.
FWIW, for short term stuff like this I use the Capital One account but only because it used to be ING Direct (0.75%).

My own cash management accounts are RiverPark Short Term High Yield (RPHYX) and T. Rowe Price Spectrum Income (RPSIX). Price is, by far, the riskier of the two (it dropped 10% in 2008, its only losing year) but conservative and well-diversified. RiverPark might average 3.5% per year and Price 7%. The minimum on RiverPark is $1000.
You might consider PIMCO Short Asset (PAIUX), which is the retail version of the strategy used by PIMCO's mutual fund managers for the "cash" in their funds. The minimum is $1000.
I'm working on profiles of Azzad Wise Capital (WISEX), Payden Global Low Duration (PYGSX) and Scout Low Duration Bond (SCLDX). The first two invest globally in short-term bonds and bond-like securities with an emphasis on capital preservation and inflation protection. Payden has the stronger case, so far but Azzad ($300/AIP) has the lower minimum. The profiles would be further along, but I'm being ignored by "publicists" for both funds. Scout is a new fund but it's managed by an absolutely first-rate team (the folks behind Scout Unconstrained Bond and nominees for Morningstar's fixed-income manager of the year) and sports a $100 minimum for AIP accounts.
Finally, Northern Short Bond (BSBAX) would offer conservative management, low expenses and a $250 AIP minimum. There's absolutely nothing flashy about it but it's also unlikely to ever do anything silly with your money (Northern specializes in keeping the ultra-rich, ultra-rich). Their average return is something like 3%/year.
Remember: none of this is insured. All of it puts your capital at risk. Given my circumstances, the risk seems entirely reasonable but your situation might be different.
For what it's worth,
David