I've held Vanguard Windsor for years - it was my first mutual fund. I've sliced a little off every so often and invested in other funds, but still have a sizeable chunk of cash with Windsor. And - every so often - after staring at the entries in Quciken, I ask myself.... why am I still holding so much in Windsor ?
-- ---------------------------------- "If everything seems to be going well, you have obviously overlooked something." - Steven Wright
ps56k wrote: > I've held Vanguard Windsor for years - it was my first mutual fund. > I've sliced a little off every so often and invested in other funds, > but still have a sizeable chunk of cash with Windsor. > And - every so often - after staring at the entries in Quciken, > I ask myself.... why am I still holding so much in Windsor ?
Don't make any decisions based solely on the fund's performance in the last couple of years. We've been in a bear market decline. In the current decline, the only things that have beaten the market are natural resources and metals. I wouldn't have expected Windsor to do much better than it has in fact done.
Even great funds like Selected American Shares and Dodge & Cox Stock Fund have gotten hammered. Bear markets just drag down everything, except whatever asset classes may have been involved in causing the bear market! (In the last couple of years, the market was spooked by rising oil prices; and sure enough, energy stocks have done well. Nothing else has.)
-- Steven L. Email: sdlit...@earthlinkNOSPAM.net Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me.
Steven L. wrote: > ps56k wrote: >> I've held Vanguard Windsor for years - it was my first mutual fund. >> I've sliced a little off every so often and invested in other funds, >> but still have a sizeable chunk of cash with Windsor. >> And - every so often - after staring at the entries in Quciken, >> I ask myself.... why am I still holding so much in Windsor ?
> Don't make any decisions based solely on the fund's performance in the > last couple of years. We've been in a bear market decline. In the > current decline, the only things that have beaten the market are > natural resources and metals. I wouldn't have expected Windsor to do > much better than it has in fact done.
> Even great funds like Selected American Shares and Dodge & Cox Stock > Fund have gotten hammered. Bear markets just drag down everything, > except whatever asset classes may have been involved in causing the > bear market! (In the last couple of years, the market was spooked by > rising oil prices; and sure enough, energy stocks have done well. Nothing > else has.)
last year, I mapped out some of my top mutual funds - VIMSX, FFIDX, VWNDX, FDGRX, FEQIX, VTSMX and looked at their top holdings.... Several had 3 or 4 of the troubled financial banks. Several had 5 or more of overlapping stocks - energy, tech, financials
So much for my diversity - they were all buying the same companies, but for different reasons.
ps56k wrote: > Steven L. wrote: >> ps56k wrote: >>> I've held Vanguard Windsor for years - it was my first mutual fund. >>> I've sliced a little off every so often and invested in other funds, >>> but still have a sizeable chunk of cash with Windsor. >>> And - every so often - after staring at the entries in Quciken, >>> I ask myself.... why am I still holding so much in Windsor ? >> Don't make any decisions based solely on the fund's performance in the >> last couple of years. We've been in a bear market decline. In the >> current decline, the only things that have beaten the market are >> natural resources and metals. I wouldn't have expected Windsor to do >> much better than it has in fact done.
>> Even great funds like Selected American Shares and Dodge & Cox Stock >> Fund have gotten hammered. Bear markets just drag down everything, >> except whatever asset classes may have been involved in causing the >> bear market! (In the last couple of years, the market was spooked by >> rising oil prices; and sure enough, energy stocks have done well. Nothing >> else has.)
> last year, I mapped out some of my top mutual funds - > VIMSX, FFIDX, VWNDX, FDGRX, FEQIX, VTSMX > and looked at their top holdings.... > Several had 3 or 4 of the troubled financial banks. > Several had 5 or more of overlapping stocks - energy, tech, financials
> So much for my diversity - > they were all buying the same companies, but for different reasons.
Yep. The overweighting in financials must have come as a very unpleasant surprise to investors with shares in so-called "balanced" or "value" funds. We usually think of such funds as less risky in a market downturn. But such funds tended to invest in financial stocks, which as you know have gotten hammered over the past year.
For index funds like VTSMX, you can't really blame the fund manager though. Financials really do make up a significant part of the broader indexes, and index funds have to track that. While energy and metals have done well, the size of the financial market in America dwarfs the size of the metals market, and so any index fund has to be weighted that way too.
-- Steven L. Email: sdlit...@earthlinkNOSPAM.net Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me.
> ps56k wrote: >> Steven L. wrote: >>> ps56k wrote: >>>> I've held Vanguard Windsor for years - it was my first mutual >>>> fund. >>>> I've sliced a little off every so often and invested in other >>>> funds, >>>> but still have a sizeable chunk of cash with Windsor. >>>> And - every so often - after staring at the entries in Quciken, >>>> I ask myself.... why am I still holding so much in Windsor ? >>> Don't make any decisions based solely on the fund's performance in >>> the >>> last couple of years. We've been in a bear market decline. In >>> the >>> current decline, the only things that have beaten the market are >>> natural resources and metals. I wouldn't have expected Windsor to >>> do >>> much better than it has in fact done.
>>> Even great funds like Selected American Shares and Dodge & Cox >>> Stock >>> Fund have gotten hammered. Bear markets just drag down >>> everything, >>> except whatever asset classes may have been involved in causing >>> the >>> bear market! (In the last couple of years, the market was spooked >>> by >>> rising oil prices; and sure enough, energy stocks have done well. >>> Nothing else has.)
>> last year, I mapped out some of my top mutual funds - >> VIMSX, FFIDX, VWNDX, FDGRX, FEQIX, VTSMX >> and looked at their top holdings.... >> Several had 3 or 4 of the troubled financial banks. >> Several had 5 or more of overlapping stocks - energy, tech, >> financials
>> So much for my diversity - >> they were all buying the same companies, but for different reasons.
> Yep. The overweighting in financials must have come as a very > unpleasant surprise to investors with shares in so-called "balanced" > or "value" funds. We usually think of such funds as less risky in a > market downturn. But such funds tended to invest in financial > stocks, which as you know have gotten hammered over the past year.
> For index funds like VTSMX, you can't really blame the fund manager > though. Financials really do make up a significant part of the > broader indexes, and index funds have to track that. While energy > and metals have done well, the size of the financial market in > America dwarfs the size of the metals market, and so any index fund > has to be weighted that way too.
Because the financials have been hit so hard, their weighting is not nearly as big now. I shifted a bunch of stuff over to AMAGX in Jan. 2007. No financials. Glad I did.
