In the Financial Times, Mohamed El-Erian suggests that for now at least, passive investing's time in the sun is over. He writes: Should the vehicles that investors choose to place their money be a function of the investing environment? This question is not asked often enough by investment committees, which tend to focus on asset allocation issues, model portfolios and manager selection. Yet it is a question that has become a lot more important for generating high risk-adjusted returns, particularly given the massive shift of money from active to passive investment strategies in recent … [Read more...]
Institutional Investors “Lulled Into Complacency” by VC “Phoney Happiness”
Through a comparison of venture capital to Kathie Wood's Ark Innovation ETF, Daniel Rasmussen, suggests in the Financial Times that institutional investors are "lured by promises of higher returns and lower volatility," but are "lulled into complacency, paying an illiquidity premium for the “phoney happiness” of private marks." He writes: Consider an institutional investor looking to add growth/tech exposure at the start of 2020. They could choose between allocating to Cathie Wood’s Ark Innovation exchange traded fund or to a VC fund. The ETF was on a great run, beating both the Nasdaq and VC … [Read more...]
A Year-End Surprise Your Portfolio Could Do Without
A year-end surprise you don’t want to receive is a tax bill from your mutual fund. Over the years, I’ve soured on mutual funds. One reason is the lack of control. You don’t control when the fund manager buys and sells positions. It can be particularly painful when you get a year-end capital gains tax bill after a year the mutual fund in question lost money. I prefer to do tax planning on my own schedule, thank you. Laura Saunders writes in The Wall Street Journal: After years of strong markets, many managers had few losses this year to offset gains on sales of winners. So when … [Read more...]
ESG, Richard Young, Jack Bogle, and You
Vanguard, one of America's largest mutual fund companies, is, according to Will Hild in The Wall Street Journal, violating an agreement with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by meddling in the affairs of regulated utilities with its ESG policies. Hild writes: Americans are paying sky-high electricity rates and companies like Vanguard are making the problem worse. This week my organization, Consumers’ Research, joined 13 state attorneys general in a complaint against Vanguard at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. With more than $7 trillion in assets under management, … [Read more...]
Fidelity Joins Companies Converting Mutual Funds to ETFs and Lowering Fees
Fidelity has announced that it will convert six of its mutual funds into exchange traded funds (ETFs), joining other mutual fund companies in a growing trend. The ETFs will come with lower fees for customers. Sonya Swink reports for the Financial Times: Fidelity plans to convert a set of six “disruptive technologies” mutual funds to exchange traded funds next June, the firm has disclosed. These will be the first mutual funds that Fidelity will turn into ETFs, a company spokesperson said. The $96mn Fidelity Disruptors, $91mn Fidelity Disruptive Automotive, $80mn Fidelity Disruptive … [Read more...]
Ginnie Mae (GNMA) Bond Yields
What do Ginnie Mae (GNMA) bonds yield? The table below lists the yields on two of the major Ginnie Mae (GNMA) indices as well as the latest SEC yield on some of the top Ginnie Mae (GNMA) dedicated funds. A note of caution when you are looking at yields on Ginnie Mae funds. Like all SEC yields, these yields are based on the last 30-days of income generated by the fund. They are not directly comparable to the yields on the Merrill Lynch and Barclay’s Ginnie Mae (GNMA) indices. Description Symbol Yield as of 5/27/2022 Yield as of 9/30/2022 Merrill Lynch Ginnie Mae … [Read more...]
Are Private Equity Funds Turning into a Pyramid Scheme?
According to Mikkel Svenstrup, chief investment officer at ATP, Denmark's largest pension fund, the private equity industry is looking more like a pyramid scheme. Kaye Wiggins reports for the Financial Times: A top executive at Denmark’s largest pension fund has compared the private equity industry to a pyramid scheme, warning buyout groups are increasingly selling companies to themselves and to peers on a scale that “is not good business”. Mikkel Svenstrup, chief investment officer at ATP, said he was concerned because last year more than 80 per cent of the sales of portfolio companies by … [Read more...]
Is It Time to Talk About the Defects of Index Funds Now?
Is it time to talk about the defects of index funds now? That's the question being asked by Hunter Lewis in Barron's. He writes: Index funds have had a spectacular run. They collected $8.5 trillion in retail investment dollars by the end of the first quarter of this year, according to Morningstar, more than all active strategies together. Along the way, they became the dominant investment idea. Yet the stock market’s recent dip into bear-market territory raises new questions for these popular funds. Will indexing recover and go on to scale new heights? Or has the time come to consider its … [Read more...]
WARNING: Private Equity Investing Coming to a Retailer Near You
Don’t look now, but private equity is looking to tap into the retail investor market. Looks like they ran out of money on the institutional side—you know, the pensions for firemen, teachers, and police officers. This is all about the sales pitch. But where do you think they’re investing this “alternative” money? What’s clear as day is the lack of transparency. They lock up your money so you can’t get it, and you basically pay them to make sure you’re a long-term investor. I don’t like it. The best things in life are free. Your Survival Guy is here for you. Stick with me. The WSJ PRO’s Chris … [Read more...]
RAPID REVERSAL: Passive Funds Own More of Market than Active Funds
For the first time ever, passive index funds own more of the U.S. stock market (16%) than actively managed funds (14%). The change represents a rapid reversal from only ten years ago when actively managed funds owned 20% of the market, and passively managed funds owned a mere 8%. Steve Johnson reports for the Financial Times: Passively managed index funds have overtaken actively managed funds’ ownership of the US stock market for the first time, data show. Passive funds accounted for 16 per cent of US stock market capitalisation at the end of 2021, surpassing the 14 per cent held by active … [Read more...]
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