Best Mutual Funds
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We all manage different ways, so this will all be relative to how you manage your investments, but I wanted to start a thread on some of the best active funds out there that people use for their clients, so we can share ideas. This list is not all inclusive for me, but tends to be some of my core holdings:
First Eagle Global Mutual Discovery PIMCO Total Return Capital Income Builder Blackrock Global IVY Asset Strategy Templeton Global Bond Hartford Cap App I used to use NFJ Small cap Value, but it closed TIP (ETF) Some others I am looking at, but have not used much yet: Evergreen Asset Allocation PIMCO All Asset All AuthorityCalamos Convertible
Blackrock Equity Dividend AIM Mid Cap Core Equity Thornburg International Value Oppenheimer Developing Markets Metropolitan West High Yield Bond Oppenheimer Limited Term Municipal John Hanc*** Balanced (100% of most accounts that I manage w/less than $20k in it) There's the short list of some of the better ones we use[quote=iceco1d]Vanguard.
Just kidding (not really, but you said active). Something that comes in handy for me is the Goldman Short Duration Tax-Free fund. For the right piece of money, I like it a lot. For those of you doing any NQ money, and using mutual funds, it wouldn't hurt to take a look at the tax-managed equity funds from:Goldman Sachs Eaton-Vance Russell Fidelity Advisor Vanguard Hope that's helpful.[/quote] Actually, for NQ money, I don't use as many funds, but I tend to use a state-specific muni fund from either Nuveen or Franklin for reinvesting un-used muni-bond interest payments. I have also been pleasantly surprised with some of Federated's tax-managed funds, although I don't use them all that much. I cannot get my hands around Goldman. I know they are smart people, but their mutual funds don't excite me at all.
I don’t do much MF business - actually almost none - but I do like:
The Russell Funds Mutal Discovery BULLX NRO (personal investment REIT ETF) - this etf was beaten down seriously due to the real estate bubble, then the Lehman collapse (Neuberger Berman). Once it was announced that NB employees were buying the firm, I got in pretty close to bottom (hopefully).[quote=Wet_Blanket]I don’t do much MF business - actually almost none - but I do like:
The Russell Funds Mutal Discovery BULLX NRO (personal investment REIT ETF) - this etf was beaten down seriously due to the real estate bubble, then the Lehman collapse (Neuberger Berman). Once it was announced that NB employees were buying the firm, I got in pretty close to bottom (hopefully). [/quote] What kind of business do you do?Here’s another question - everyone talks about how ridiculous and “rear view mirror-ish” it is to use Morningstar.
So whats your process for choosing funds?[quote=Sportsfreakbob]Here’s another question - everyone talks about how ridiculous and “rear view mirror-ish” it is to use Morningstar.
So whats your process for choosing funds? [/quote] Historical absolute returns, consistency of returns across mutliple investment cycles, strategy/record during bear markets, quality/tenure of manager, process, strategy, and ability to replicate process. If you look back at my list of funds, most of them rank very high by those measures.B24 - I have been all over Mutual Discovery since you reintroduced me to it a few months back, great stuff, thanks
First of all I would never buy anything with Franklin except their Global Bond Fund…
Check out
Fairholme Fund
Permanent Portfolio
You can use any criteria you want for selecting the “best” mutual funds but at the end of the day the asset allocation of whichever funds you use is far more important than finding the “best” funds.
Reasoning ?First of all I would never buy anything with Franklin except their Global Bond Fund…
I completely agreeYou can use any criteria you want for selecting the “best” mutual funds but at the end of the day the asset allocation of whichever funds you use is far more important than finding the “best” funds.
[quote=B24][quote=Sportsfreakbob]Here’s another question - everyone talks about how ridiculous and “rear view mirror-ish” it is to use Morningstar.
So whats your process for choosing funds? [/quote] Historical absolute returns, consistency of returns across mutliple investment cycles, strategy/record during bear markets, quality/tenure of manager, process, strategy, and ability to replicate process. If you look back at my list of funds, most of them rank very high by those measures. [/quote]Do you have any screening tools that you use to uncover funds with these chaacteristics?
Jebediah is spot on. So for Short Bond, if i use a fund at all, the Lord abbett is good with a current yield over 4 and duration under 2. Historical data mostly irrelevent, of course, but short duration will mean less drop as rates go up.
[quote=Sportsfreakbob] [quote=B24][quote=Sportsfreakbob]Here’s another question - everyone talks about how ridiculous and “rear view mirror-ish” it is to use Morningstar.
So whats your process for choosing funds? [/quote] Historical absolute returns, consistency of returns across mutliple investment cycles, strategy/record during bear markets, quality/tenure of manager, process, strategy, and ability to replicate process. If you look back at my list of funds, most of them rank very high by those measures. [/quote]Do you have any screening tools that you use to uncover funds with these chaacteristics?
[/quote] Time. And lots of reading. Returns are easy, it's everything else that takes time. Typically what I do is get ideas from all over the place, and then research them.
Agreed. That is what a lot of these managers do. IMHO, they are more about asset class selection rather than "picking the best stocks". For some (i.e. Mutual Discovery), they are very defensive, and make good use of cash. But you have to be aware of that. They are rarely going to blow the doors off. First Eagle makes great use of gold and a global theme. IVY utilizes asset allocation, alternatives, currencies, etc. PIMCO TR uses bonds, currencies, shorts, intl bonds, pretty much everything other than equities. So you end up getting some of the best allocation strategies from some of the best managers out there.You can use any criteria you want for selecting the “best” mutual funds but at the end of the day the asset allocation of whichever funds you use is far more important than finding the “best” funds.