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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tim McCormick who wrote (28445)	5/23/1998 9:58:00 AM
From: Knighty Tin	Respond to of 132070

Tim, I also like Alliance as a put or a short. Unlike Ben and TROW, they don't even have many funds that perform up to snuff. And they get caught in every investment scam that comes along, from derivatives to Mexican debt. The public may dislike the high expense ratios, but the SEC won't do anything about them. As long as they are spelled out to anyone who buys, then it is caveat emptor. When I managed funds, the only group that looked at fees and expenses were the Board of Directors. Ours were tough, and they lowered the mgt. fee on my big fund from .6% to .23% as it grew to Godzilla size. I respected them for that (and it also helped my yield and total return), though my bosses cussed them for cutting into firm profits. The SEC never even asked about fees when they talked to me. They were only worried about the use of futures and options. Dumm! <G> Ben seems to have done everything wrong. They publicized Mark Mobius to the extreme during the Asian stock bubble. Mobius is a good manager, but he cannot stop a cyclical downturn. I still remember one CNBC announcement back in 1993: "if you are only going to see one interview this year, watch our interview with Mark Mobius." <G> Now, they won't give Asian funds the time of day. Ben also bought Mutual Series Funds at the top, somehow not realizing that this was a special situation that depended upon Mike Price. Once you make a gazillion dollars and are no longer in charge, you no longer put in 16 hour days to outperform. Ben never got that. MB