August 1, 2024

By David Snowball

“It’s a sure sign of summer if the chair gets up when you do.” Walter Winchell

Walter who?  O tempora! O mores!  

At the height of his popularity, in the late 1930s, 50 million people—two-thirds of American adults—read Winchell’s syndicated column and listened to his 15-minute Sunday-night radio broadcast. He positioned himself as a champion of “Mr. and Mrs. America,” and was the most powerful – or, at least, most Continue reading →

Small Cap Funds: Better than the best

By David Snowball

In July 2024, Morningstar.com published a promising but ultimately disappointing article entitled “The Best Small-Cap Funds” (7/18/2024). “Content development editor” Tori Brovet has been publishing a series of “The Best” articles (Energy Stocks, Value Funds, Bond ETFs). The article promises there are

They aren’t.

You can do Continue reading →

Launch Alert: Otter Creek Focus Strategy ETF

By David Snowball

On May 17, 2024, Otter Creek Advisors launched the Otter Creek Focus Strategy ETF (OCFS). In doing so, they are providing an existing separately managed account strategy which launched on May 29, 2020, as an ETF. Otter Creek was founded in 1991 to manage a long/short hedge fund and, in 2013, launched a long/short mutual fund. That four-star fund Continue reading →

The Wisdom of the Elders

By Charles Lynn Bolin

I celebrated my 69th birthday last month and will just be reaching my prime next year. I volunteer at Habitat For Humanity two days per week building homes for those that might not otherwise be able to afford them. I have been greatly influenced by the wisdom of the now elders in finance. My friend Dave Hogle and I used to take a three-hour drive to the nearest Costco and discuss Continue reading →

Launch Alert: WPG Partners Select Hedged Fund

By David Snowball

I love a good mystery. WPG Partners Select Hedged is one. It is live, tracked by Morningstar, and available through Schwab, but appears on neither the Boston Partners nor WPG websites. Here’s what to know.

On May 31, 2024, Boston Partners launched WPG Partners Select Hedged, a long/short small-cap fund from its WPG Partners subsidiary. Boston Partners manages Continue reading →

Summer thoughts

By Devesh Shah

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” John Lubbock, The Use Of Life (1896)

I’ve let my brain disconnect from the urgent events of the day (month, season, year …) a bit, and gave it rein to go where Continue reading →

fountain pen writing a note

Briefly Noted

By TheShadow

Updates

As of July 19, 2024, the Amplify High Income ETF went from passively tracking an index of the top 45 US closed-end funds to tracking the top 60.

Briefly Noted . . .

The US Securities and Exchange Commission reserves the right to study any proposed fund offering for 70 days before the adviser is permitted to offer the fund for sale to the public. During that time, (a) the SEC might require substantive or editorial changes to the fund’s prospectus and (b) the adviser is permitted to Continue reading →

Launch Alert: T. Rowe Price Intermediate Municipal Income ETF

By David Snowball

On July 10, 2024 – T. Rowe Price launched T. Rowe Price Intermediate Municipal Income ETF (TAXE), an actively managed ETF. Price has 16 other ETFs, including semi-transparent and transparent equity and income funds but this is the first that does not directly mirror an existing fund.

The fund is co-managed by James Lynch and Charlie Hill, who collectively have 53 years of investment experience, and have served Continue reading →