DrHelen - All Comments

Re: Q&A for DrHelen's FIDO MT Global Incom portfolio

retired at 48 — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:56:58 GMT

I have had your portfolio filed away in my bond fund information folders.

Very impressive how a fellow retiree can reconstruct their entire bond holding to accommodate for the current world in which we find ourselves...and keep busy doing other things.

Glad you didn't buy and hold, forever.

Good luck...I'm undertaking a similar venture...

R48

Re: Q&A for DrHelen's FIDO MT Global Incom portfolio

CathyHHunt — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:00:39 GMT

Helen,

Retired at 48 sounds great! I am 54 and I am not retired,

I would like to grow fast. I have my 401 K in three stock picks at the moment, DEMSX-40%---DFEMX-40%---

DFEVX-20%-What is your opinion of the emerging markets for 2010?

I want to hear a woman's opinion, thanks

Re: Q&A for DrHelen's FIDO MT Global Incom portfolio

DrHelen — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 14:36:35 GMT

Hi, Cathy; I don't know those funds--they are apparently sold only through advisors and are not available at Fidelity. The ERs look great but I'd be a bit worried about the volatility in '08.

If you look at my "DrH Global" shared portfolio you can see a distribution on X-ray that is quite similar to my real holdings. I spent a lot of time a year ago researching various foreign countries in terms of balance of trade, internal markets and government deficit/surplus and Asia was what looked by far the best. I'm a big fan of www.matthewsasianfunds.com">Matthews funds; their commentary on investing in Asia is excellent even if you don;t want to buy the actual funds.

We have a monthly thread on the Fidelity forum about global investing; you can go back through those by searching--the current intro focuses on Europe but there are good comments throughout. Next month someone who has been traveling in the East will post on infrastructure development. Also one of the most knowledgable of the FIDO posters is Kerryvan who has done very well with his EM picks; you might try searching on him.

DrH

Re: Q&A for DrHelen's Fixed income actual Portfolio

atpenergy — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:39:07 GMT

retired with good income derived from annuity and social security.

50 k in each fund:

FGMNAX

PLDDX

HABDX

another 200 k dormat earning 1.2 % ING DIRECT.

money in above funds are building and not required for living expenses.

no debt. and income is good.

ok, suggestions.

Re: Q&A for DrHelen's Fixed income actual Portfolio

bobmac6 — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 22:42:22 GMT

Hi,

I am a preferred stock investor.

I am very interested in exchanging thoughts,investing ideas and investing experiences with other investors sharing the same interests.

Would appreciate hearing from anyone who has knowledge which would help me to achieve my goal.

THANKS in advance

Re: Q&A for DrHelen's Fixed income actual Portfolio

DrHelen — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:44:53 GMT

I just discovered these blogs exist--so replies are a little slow. atpenergy, I'm the wrong person to advise you. Those are good conservative funds and the blend looks fine to me--but I've had bad luck with Pimco, am uncomfortable with how much they use derivatives to keep returns steady, and so don't own them myself. The bond squad forum folks might like to comment.

bobmac6--I'm just barely learning derivatives myself but would love to discuss more with another newbie. Do you buy individual ones or just funds? I started with PDT, which is largely utilities; all of the other funds are mostly financials. Buying financial stocks makes me nervous; buying them with leverage makes me even more nervous--but I am really reaching for returns in this part of my FI and so there they are, or at least JTP is. I may add more.

There have been some good discussions in the Fidelity forum about them--you can search. Posters Capecod and DI are particularly good; both hold a lot.

I'm in a bit of a rush now but will come back here and post a list of all the various funds that have been suggested in this space by the people I respect.

DrH

Re: Q&A for DrHelen's Fixed income actual Portfolio

retired at 48 — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:12:56 GMT

Hi DrH...your portfolio on FIDO MT Global Income Portfolio, was also posted by M* on 2/21/10. Here was my reply, reposted here:

I have had your portfolio filed away in my bond fund information folders.

Very impressive how a fellow retiree can reconstruct their entire bond holding to accommodate for the current world in which we find ourselves...and keep busy doing other things.

Glad you didn't buy and hold, forever.

Good luck...I'm undertaking a similar venture...

R48

Re: Q&A for DrHelen's Fixed income actual Portfolio

DrHelen — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:20:12 GMT

Thanks for the good word, R48! I DID post on the blogs back in September but hadn't followed them since--put that earlier comment down to elderliness! Now that I have "all posts" I can easily keep up.

Glad you find these useful--I took off the long term one because M* messed up the returns; had to re-enter the "global income" as of 1/1/09 but returns now seem to be accurate.

DrH

Re: Q&A for DrHelen's LT Income portfolio

Clint09 — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 22:17:16 GMT

DrHelen, Have been looking over your portfolios and comments. It's interesting and helpful. What does CEF mean? It's not even listed in the Bloomberg glossary.

Re: Q&A for DrHelen's LT Income portfolio

jimsurfero — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 13:13:16 GMT

CEF = Closed End Fund. A lot of info on Morningstar about them. They are Funds that you buy and sell like stocks - kinda like ETF's but they've been around for a lot longer. You'll need to do a lot of homework before investing - take care.

Re: Q&A for DrHelen's LT Income portfolio

digital — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:40:19 GMT

Since emerging markets and global bonds have had such a run up are they at risk for a downturn in the months ahead? Is 20% of your portfolio for these two funds a little risky for a conservative portfolio? Would you substitute mutual funds for the two closed end funds?

Re: Q&A for DrHelen's LT Income portfolio

digital — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 18:40:28 GMT

Re: Q&A for DrHelen's LT Income portfolio

DrHelen — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:04:59 GMT

Good questions, digital. I know the 20% is unusual but personally I don't think they are too risky. These are government bonds; the fund manager stays away from countries where there is risk of default. Rates are high enough that it will be a long time before they will lose value secondary to rising US rates. That leaves only currency risk to worry about and this manager has been brilliant there. Share price drops now and then when others get worried but I would see that as a buying opportunity.

I bought both funds at a discount which means that both are paying me over 12% on my original investment--a nice "risk" premium when compared to funds like my Ginnie Mae.I'd rather keep that income stream than realize the profits from the growth in asset value.

The same manager and company have an open-ended fund, TPINX; it has a load which I don't want to pay but you might want to have a look at it.

DrH

Re: Q&A for DrHelen's LT Income portfolio

DrHelen — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 11:12:13 GMT

As noted, a CEF is a closed end fund. Sorry for the confusion; the editors should have made me spell it out. These are exchange-traded funds which start out with a fixed amount to invest. Shares are sold and then traded like stock; the manager works with what he has and does not see any cash inflows in good times or outflows in bad. What's odd--and important--is that the share price of the fund is often different from the true underlying value of the assets; both facts are reported. So you can buy at a discount or premium to real value.

There's a whole closed end fund forum; those folks are very helpful and patient with newcomer questions. I also learned a lot on the education center at www.etfconnect.com/.../ed_center.asp">ETFConnect. For certain specific purposes, especially bonds, these make a lot of sense to me. Good luck with them.

DrH

Re: Q&A for DrHelen's LT Income portfolio

btrain26 — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:27:27 GMT

DrHelen

I liked your article, it encouraged me to look elsewhere for income. I haven't looked at CEF's in a long time because there isn't as much information about them. I think it was a opportunistic investment and it took some courage - bravo! I have done a little looking and found the Fidelity New Markets Income Fund. It hasn't gained as much as your closed end funds YTD, but over a five year period it was less volatile and would have had a slightly higher total return. This may be an answer for someone who is uncomfortable with the closed end funds. I would love to hear what you think.