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

To: Bonnie Bear who wrote (35528)	11/7/1998 5:48:00 PM
From: Knighty Tin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 132070

Bonnie Bear, I love CEFs, but disagree with your choices. I think GAM is a great fund and don't like anything Alliance manages as I think they are a bunch of mugs. But the main problem I've got is the domestic market. These funds, despite their discounts, will get killed when this bubble bursts. I like Royce's Funds, though I dislike his penchant for rip off rights offerings. Yes, he only steals 2% from shareholders while others steal 7% or more, but I'd rather not have my pocket picked at all. I like the small cap value approach if you have to play overpriced American markets. I have lots of buddies at Duff and Phelps, and they are smart people. But utilities with rates at these low levels make me shudder. I do like Fund and would buy it if the discount widened and Royce would get off the rights scams. I like to use what I call a "double discount" to build a portfolio of CEFs. I like funds that are selling at discounts that invest in areas selling at discounts. Right now, that is most third world country funds, anything in Asia, and biotech funds. Convertible funds are sort of in the middle. They have discounts and they have been outpaced by the general market, but they are still in positive territory. The fact I used to manage a convertible CEF may make me willing to cut them some slack vs. other types of funds. The best short piece written on CEFs is still Manny Schiffres May, 1995 article in Kiplinger's, "Funds For Sale: Cheap!" And not just because he quotes me. <G> I may disagree with your individual choices, but I applaud the fac that you use Cefs. Better a discounted CEF in an overpriced area than a full priced or even load open end fund. But, I still think it is better to buy discounted funds in areas that are not overpriced.