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Strategies & Market Trends : Bonds & Bond Funds -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lance Bredvold who wrote (46)	12/21/2008 8:28:35 PM
From: KyrosL	1 Recommendation Respond to of 161

FAX has been great for me. But I don't hold it. I trade it regularly. I buy when the discount is high, usually trying to catch periodic FAX panic selling attacks, and sell when the discount narrows. Right now it's a great time to buy FAX. The discount is very high and the Aussie dollar and other emerging currencies are low versus the dollar. FAX and most other CEFs ARE NOT buy and hold investments.

To: Lance Bredvold who wrote (46)	12/23/2008 3:07:01 PM
From: peter michaelson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 161

Hi Lance: I'm sure KyrosL is more qualified to answer, but since you addressed me I'll try to add a thought or two. have been amazed at the positive feelings from so many people after I had watched the original managers force increases in size of the fund to their own benefit As someone who sells short against the crowd, I believe that people irrationally and almost universally think that their own investment is better than it truly is - it's amazing how people loyally continue to support a stock that is clearly a scam. I know that one of my Father's expensive full cost brokerages sold FAX to him I wonder if FAX may have formerly been a load fund. Even if not, I think certain forms of kickbacks may have been legal, perhaps still are. If FAX looks good to you, I have significant doubts about whether I should investigate some of the other funds you are talking about I do own a solid piece of FAX now, at this deflated price. I'm a contrarian, so as KyrosL said, I like it because the Australian dollar is down, the yield is high - and I'm hoping for a correction. I basically agree with him that these are temporary vehicles. Clearly, the management companies are in it for THEIR benefit, not ours. Taking 1% of asset value on a fund that delivers maybe 8% return is, in my opinion, usurious. Not sure they do any better than blind luck anyway. Those are my thoughts, worth the price of the electrons. Peter

To: Lance Bredvold who wrote (46)	12/29/2008 9:21:10 PM
From: DewDiligence_on_SI	1 Recommendation Respond to of 161

What you’re talking about is called a rights offering. If you don’t have the capital to participate (or simply don’t want to participate), you get screwed. This is an inherent risk in owning any close-end fund; however, you get to own shares at a discount to NAV, which you can’t do in an open-end fund. In most cases, I think the ability to buy at a significant discount to NAV outweighs the risk of a rights offering and the other drawbacks of a closed-end structure, such as the transaction costs to buy and sell. Regards, Dew p.s. I have no opinion on FAX one way or the other.