September 1, 2024

By David Snowball

Dear friends,

Welcome to the September (aka “back to school”) issue of the Mutual Fund Observer. The joyful tumult of which has slightly delayed our launch.

Despair is easy. If you ever want an antidote, drop by Augie at the beginning of September. As many of you know, in my day job, I am a professor of communication studies and director of the Austin E Knowlton Honors Program at Augustana College. I am also an advisor to first-year students. I’ve spent much of the last week meeting with and learning about my new charges. I am amazed by them, defying as they do all of the hysterical media headlines about Continue reading →

The Young Investor’s Indolent Portfolio

By David Snowball

An indolent portfolio is an investor’s best friend. It is a portfolio designed to be ignored for a year at a time. Why is that a good idea? Two reasons, really. First, almost everything you do with your portfolio will be a mistake. Morningstar’s long-running series of “Mind the Gap” studies looks at the difference between investor’s actual returns and the returns of the funds in which they are invested.

Those annuals routinely show that investors’ returns Continue reading →

Happy 94th, Warren! In celebration, I did not nothing

By Devesh Shah

The bouncing baby Warren Edward Buffett entered the world on 30 August 1930, the only son of Laila and Howard Buffett. In celebration of this 94th birthday, I looked seriously at my portfolio … and did absolutely nothing.

That was hard, but baby Warren would have wanted it that way.

Introduction

In this article, I look back at the market lows in October 2022. Continue reading →

MFO Premium Introduces ETF Benchmarks

By Charles Boccadoro

Our colleague Devesh Shah encouraged the incorporation of ETF Benchmarks into MFO Premium. Traditional benchmarks cannot be purchased. Similarly, category averages, which are the basis for much of the ratings on MFO Premium, also cannot be purchased. Establishing an ETF “benchmark,” Devesh argues, makes for a more relevant and practical comparison.

Furthermore, the Continue reading →

Launch Alert: Research Affiliates Deletions ETF (NIXT)

By David Snowball

On September 10, 2024, Research Affiliates will launch its first ETF. Research Affiliates was founded in 2002 by Rob Arnott to provide professional and institutional investors with innovative research and product development. Mr. Arnott is iconic, having published 150 or so research articles that received both attention and rewards. His most extensive work is The Fundamental Index: A Better Way to Invest (2008). Most traditional indexes are capitalization-weighted, so they lock in a large/growth/momentum bias. Arnott notes that the bias may Continue reading →

fountain pen writing a note

Briefly Noted

By TheShadow

Updates

Tortoise Capital Advisors is merging three closed-end funds, with combined assets of over $300 million, into a single actively managed ETF. The current funds are Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure Fund (TPZ), Tortoise Pipeline & Energy Fund (TTP), and Tortoise Energy Independence Fund (NDP). They will be supplanted by the Tortoise Power and Energy Infrastructure ETF which will adopt TPZ’s strategy for its own. As a warning Continue reading →