To All, Most of Barron's was a waste of time this week, but it was the Quarterly Mutual Fund Report time and that was worth the price. Some notes:
1. Man, total expenses have soared, even for most of the Vanguard Funds. I guess the managers decided to pick shareholder pockets during the long bull scam. I used to hate the question on Closed End Funds: "yes, they sell at a discount, but expenses suck compared to mutual funds." Well, it used to be true, but is no longer. Though discounts on CEFs have also faded like Gap blue jeans in Clorox.
2. I was looking at a golly gee chart from a famous mutual fund that has been one of the leaders for over 30 years and managed by one of my buddies and former colleagues for the past dozen years. This one showed that $10,000 invested in 1969 would have grown to $742,000 by the end of 2000. Pretty impressive. It breaks down to less than 15% a year. $742,000 sounds awesome. 14.9% sounds so ho, hum, though it is actually great performance.
3. The avg. tech sector fund was down more than 62% for the past 12 months. Methinks some managers will be begging for a new pair of dimes or an old pair pretty soon. <g> Firms that brought out new technology sector funds at the absolute, "nobody could be stupid enough to buy here" top include American Century, Aim and Van Kampen. When the ducks are quacking, feed them. Poor dead ducks. <g> |
