Thank you David for speaking with Ms. Kong. A lot of valuable information there from a 45 minute interview. As a shareholder of MAINX, I feel very good about the fund and the company and people behind it.
It was enlightening to read that Ms. Kong checked out MFO before the interview. If you are reading this Teresa, thank you very much for the insights , especially on the dollar.

I might add that the category M* is using is the World Bond Category, so MAINX's holdings are never going to closely track those percentages. Ms. Kong's comments on the future of the U.S. Dollar are quite interesting and I should think would count as an additional argument for emerging market exposure. I'm an investor in MAINX and I found her comments to be very reassuring. Of course, I pretty much agree with them.

Thanks David,
Owning MAINX provides the following country exposure as of 3/31/14:

The first and last (Cayman Islands and The British Virgin Islands) seems to hold some intrigue, especially the over weighting of the Cayman Island bond Issues.
Any thoughts?
Updated per AndyJ's link:

I don't own MAINX (own MACSX), but I am curious about her take on attractiveness of India vs China after change in government in India.

It looks like we'll be able to talk a bit on Thursday of this week, and I was wondering if you had questions for Ms. Kong? The fund will reach its third anniversary by Thanksgiving and get its first (likely misleading) Morningstar rating by year's end. It has about $64 million in assets (including several thousand of my own very personal dollars). The fund is hard to benchmark since Asia-oriented income funds for American investors are rare. That said, it's clubbed its one active competitor (Aberdeen Asia Bond AEEAX), the WisdomTree Asia Local Debt ETF (ALD), and its "world bond" peer group both cumulatively and in each year since inception.
My list of possible questions:
you've added a third co-manager, which is unusual for a fund so small. What role does she play or what special expertise does she bring to the party?
does the fund's modest size reflect a conscious decision on Matthews' part to wait before promoting the fund, either until it has a three year record or until some particular market condition is met? If not, what's been restraining the fund's growth? Or is its size inconsequential?
investors in US and European bonds are pondering when to panic. Managers are often shortening durations and dabbling in other income-producing investments in order to gain a partial shield from interest rate risks. How does that macro activity impact the case for Asia fixed income?
If you've got questions for Teresa (other than "why are you shorting Treasuries?" which she's repeatedly said is a form of portfolio hedge, primarily against currency fluctuation in the portion of her holdings which is dollar-denominated), come on down!
David

MAINX has done quite well despite being unloved.

Another day done and once again MAPIX and MAINX were up with MAPIX having a good day up 0.48%. Also up for me were ACMVX and ACDJX. Everything else was down fractionally.

Just like you, my MAPIX and MAINX were up as well as ARYVX. The rest were down.

....Not good today, though not a disaster. Which of your holdings served you well and was up today? At least your biggest one? Curious.
MAPIX, MACSX, MAINX were up. MAFSX was down by a penny--- but up 5.1% for me since I exchanged into it from MJFOX at the wrong time. Almost back to breaking even, now, on that score.

Matthews, SFGIX, TRAMX.
Matthews = (gulp) 38.7% of my stuff, plus MAINX bonds, carrying 3.53% of total. Also PREMX bonds at 3.96%.
SFGIX = 2.76% of portf.
TRAMX = 2.66% of total. It's at a new all-time high, $10.23. Luckily, I got in at $7.19 and in January, took goodly profits and gave it all to PRWCX. So proportionally, TRAMX is smaller than it was at the New Year.

The only pure emerging/frontier holding I have is WAFMX. Also own MAINX, a small chunk of PAFSX just to try it out, and GPROX; those are all ~ in the 40-50% range in EMs.
I also keep an eye on HLMOX, MEASX, and SFGIX, but no $ there.
RIMIX looks interesting; it's 'EM' but almost entirely invested in Asia. It and PAFSX are pretty much tied since PAFSX opened for biz'ness ... but Paf is very heavy in tech, so it may not be a consistent winner.

Mainx over last 30 days , 2 cents diff. Yes there was a dip & recovery but adjusted close for 30 days + 2 pennies . What are you see Crash? Just the market at work, here.
Good week to all, Derf

Well, thank you all, a lot. She's shorting-hedging the dollar because it's going to drop in value. Or maybe not. It's all about reducing volatility. OK. The Vanguard video was very helpful! ....But this might explain why the fund is not keeping up with its peers? Morningstar is often unhelpful, it's true. But M* shows MAINX with VERY different performance numbers since just the last few days. (Much better.) Are they using a different peer group now, or different criteria? Who knows. It's not the best source of information, is it??? Anyhow, I'm sticking with MAINX. My stake has done well in that fund. And it's still very young. Inception was 30 Nov, 2011. Still not a lot of AUM. $55M. Thanks again for the responses.

NYSE/Liffe 10 Year US Treasury Note Future June14 Weight: -7.87
MAINX. Teresa Kong responded to David, who asked the question on my behalf, a couple of months ago, maybe. This item is new since then. Can someone break it down in layman's terms, please? This is the largest item in the MAINX portfolio. What is the wisdom of this? Is there a "method to the madness?"

"Emg Mkts HC Debt" What does "HC" mean? Host Country? Highly Caustic? Holy Cow?
http://online.wsj.com/public/quotes/fund_snapshot.html?symbol=MAINX

Last March, I put a chunk of change into SUBFX. It's my largest bond fund (my other two are RSIVX and MAINX.) It's been disappointing, pretty much even, about 3% below its category average and about 4% below its benchmark according to M* since I bought it.
That said, 15 months is a very short time on which to judge a fund, especially once whose past (before I bought it, alas) is so glorious. Its managers say they are not finding good values in the current market so are keeping a lot of cash and at least at times have been shorting Treasuries -- a bad bet, as it turns out.
Should I give up on this fund, swap into RSIVX, which has been slow and steady, just as promised, or into ARTFX, a new small fund with a great experienced manager? Or should I sit tight and be pleased that even though SUBFX's big bet -- that rates would rise -- has been wrong, it's still managed to stay pretty much even? It is bad that they got this bet wrong so far, but good that their risk controls have kept them from suffering too much for it.
A note: I don't keep a lot of cash in my portfolio, so I really want my bond funds to do well in a crash -- I don't want too much correlation with stocks.

DLTNX achieved its returns with a lower Beta and has a higher 3yr Sharpe (though DLFNX's is none too shabby).
Is DLFNX you sole core bond holding? If not, care to add a little spice? ADBLX YTD= 5.54%

Actually, I don't want to add any more funds to the stable right now. DLFNX is my core domestic bond fund, yes. I also own MAINX. Not disappointing in terms of the raw numbers, but M* compares it unfavorably with its so-called peers. However, I think the portfolio there is difficult to match with much else. Yes?
Also own PREMX. Also, MAPOX and PRWCX both own bonds, too.
PRWCX =18.8% of portfolio.
MAPOX = 9.1%
DLFNX = 2.47%
MAINX = 3.55%
PREMX = 4%
The all-bond funds are --- as shown --- is just 10.02% of portfolio these days. Thanks for the reply!

@rjb112 re. DODLX. Well, I've filled out the application, I haven't filled out da check. :)
Ex-date for this qtrly payer is June 26. So, whaddayathink? Lick the envelope & stamp, and send it out and get her going? Or give it another qtr of performance and reassess? Short putts with a perfect lay don't seem to be around anymore (huh? Did I just use a golfing metaphor, a sport I detest? what's going on?)
@expatsp I wasn't reading much of MFO earlier in the year, so thanks mucho for going into the "near archive" and pulling up that MAINX factoid for me. I'm not unfamiliar with that fund--- or so I thought--- but apparently I missed one very salient memo. Interesting.
But really, aren't these yet 2 more examples of the bizarro fxd-income world we jostle? I mean, if we had seen these positions in a bond fund 10 yrs ago, wouldn't we have noticed at least a slight rise in pulse and breathing rate? And now, we see them and notice, at most, a slight lifting of .... an eyebrow. It's soooo wacked!

MAINX is also short Treasury futures. David asked MAINX's manager about it, who explained it as a hedging strategy to protect against a possible rise in interest rates in the US: http://www.mutualfundobserver.com/discuss/discussion/11612/matthews-asia-strategic-income-why-they-re-shorting-u-s-treasuries/p1
I imagine D&C Global Bond has the same idea, which is probably common. Since they have exposure to foreign debt in dollars, shorting treasuries actually makes this section of the portfolio less volatile, reducing the possible upside (if rates keep falling) and downside (if they finally start rising.
Fair enough, I say, and also the fine print is probably where it belongs. This fund (DODLX) is also on my radar, though I'm also considering TEI and TGTRX... Hasenstab really impressses me.

I bought MAINX at inception and still own it. No plans to sell. My perception is that the risk on HY is not much more than the risk on higher grade fixed income.
Is my perception reality? Do other investors have that same perception?
Finally, I have no fear of risky assets as long as they are balanced with less risky assets.