Analyste de Boston

How to Profit from Current Dollar Anxiety

"PCY outperforms AWF, TEI & ESD with lower cost & less volatility, for example," is not false. It's accurate for the Bear Market, the longest term ("Max") we have for PCY. Anyone can see the huge losses these investments suffered: check GoogleFinance or BigCharts.com. Risk matters, simply.

Sorry Jack, you're the one cherry-picking dates & setting up strawman arguments, not me!

As for fees, PCY has an expense ratio of 0.50%, while TEI has an expense ratio of 1.19%, ESD 1.36%, AWF 1.07% ... mendacity is pretending that CEFs aren't more expensive & risky choices, as we all plainly see.

Before buying, the conservative investor should understand how some high-flying US-oriented "global income" CEFs are brimming with yesterday's toxic sludge. But don't take my word for it - research for yourself. It's almost Halloween: enjoy eating zombie paper, yum!

As the Smirking Chimp sez: "Fool me once: shame on you; fool me twice .... won't get fooled again."

How to Profit from Current Dollar Anxiety

On Oct 14 02:53 PM Jack Vance wrote:

> Analyste de Boston, above, is simply wrong. First, Mr. George clearly
> recommended the five funds as a basket, and they have earned a 55%
> return year to date compared to 32% for PCY. Second, the criticism
> of BNA is a little odd -- the fund can hold a variety of securities
> denominated in different currencies -- and it's up more than 14%
> ytd. Where's the beef?

Oh, where to start?

1) No one should ever buy a fund on YTD (short term) performance alone. Anyone suggesting otherwise is loopy.

2) When suggesting a basket of 5 funds for retail investors, you don't pick three of the same kind of investment. From an asset allocation standpoint, ESD, TEI and AWF are too similar : no real diversification here.

3) I favor EM Bonds, but understand this second tier of investments in one of the riskiest asset classes. As core holdings, this lopsided portfolio carried GREATER RISK than the S&P500 and cratered around - 50% from late October 2007 through 11/20/08. Most fxd inc investors don't have the risk-tolerance to risk -50% of their portfolio's value in another wave of de-leveraging, sorry.

4) Lift up the stone, you'll see lots of those nasty scurrying bugs which so recently stung investors in the 2007-2009 Crash. And far greater US exposure than advertised or expected: BNA is 100% US bonds & debt (got that, Jack?) RCS 99% US, AWF is 47%, etc.

Sure, I like EM & favor a strong international fxd inc weighting, and I wouldn't dismiss all these CEFs. But this article seems more to exemplify the pitfalls of picking a few recent winners (which had recently been big losers) and cramming them all into a dicey bond portfolio. That's no way to invest against a presumed USD decline longer term, sorry!

How to Profit from Current Dollar Anxiety

The mutual- and closed-end fund promoter is back!

What are the FEES on these pricey CEF products, and why should anyone waste money when cheaper ETF indexes abound?
(As an aside, folks, AllianceBernstein has some the MOST expensive funds sold - and be wary of ANY advisor promoting 'pay-to-play' investments.)

PCY (ETF) outperforms AWF, TEI & ESD with lower cost & less volatility, for example.

I'm also not sure how BNA meets the author's stated goal to "diversify beyond just the Dollar" etc. Who's a fan of a mortgage-backed securities loaded portfolio??? Not me.

From GoogleFinance: "BlackRock Income Opportunity Trust, Inc. (the Trust) is a diversified closed-end management investment company. The Trust’s investment objective is to provide current income and capital appreciation in a portfolio of primarily United States dollar-denominated securities. The Trust’s portfolio includes corporate bonds, United States Government agency mortgage-backed securities, non-United States Government agency mortgage-backed securities, United States Government obligations, asset-backed securities, United States Government and agency mortgage-backed securities - collateralized mortgage obligations, capital trusts and foreign government obligations."