Interesting to find this thread.
Have bought (and sold) both TRF and RNE - at nice gains, but not at 5-6 x investment. Still hold some RNE.
From what I've read, Russia's greatest strengths are the massive natural resources at its command, as well as a hardy, hardworking populace which is both envious (if that's the right word - perhaps a little strong) and apprehensive of things Western. I read an article by a Forbes columnist a year ago which detailed how undervalued the Russian market is. At the time, the market cap of the entire Russian market was less than the market cap of GE alone. Go figure....I did and bought TRF. More recently, other publications detailed widespread problems with the Russian economic infrastructure, as well as the more publicizeed problems with corruption.
Mark Mobius, TRF's manager, is bullish on the market for the long term, but has stated his belief that the market has gotten ahead of itself. I believe that if one has the discipline to take a chunk of money and put it into RNE or TRF (both are closed end funds, with TRF trading at a huge premium to NAV, hence my shift to RNE), and forget about it for 5 years, one will be very happy with the result at that time. I've done that in my IRA with RNE, Templeton China (TCH), and Templeton Emerging Markets Fund (EMF). Now, if only Mark Mobius' plane doesn't go down.....
People are the same everywhere, and all want the same things....so, over time, the whole world will be where we are today.
Be interested in your read on corruption, infrastructure issues.
Regards,
Ryvers |
