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Is this a buy or a sell? ReplyThe Ins and Outs of Terror-Free Investing [view article]
Mr. Potato Head,You view is similar to mine as expressed in a follow-up article:
www.qvmgroup.com/inves.../
Richard Shaw
Reply
The Ins and Outs of Terror-Free Investing [view article]
Mr. ShawTerror-free investing as a national policy might or might not work. The unilateral decisions of the US haven't worked out very well e are the best electronics designed and manufactured? Not in our clately, but lets put that aside.
Who decides what is a terror state? Could China be on that list because of its policies in Tibet? What about Russia and the disappearance of its citizens? What about the US in Iraq and Afghanistan; aren't we terrorizing part of their populations? Is the decision made by someone stuck at a desk in the corner who's name and character are unknown? Maybe we could make it with decisions of congress?
If everything goes OK, who moves in when we move out? The French, Russia, China? How about Venezuela? Maybe North Korea?
Wouldn't it be a welcome change to see North Koreans helping out Pakistani Citizens with all their nuclear needs?
The economic and political power of the US is dwindling as other countries of the world move toward the center stage. Where are the fastest grown economies? Which countries are graduating the most engineers, scientists, and business majors? Where are the best and newest examples of architecture? Not in our country.
For terror free investing to work on a global scale would require the combined efforts of several independent nations. The US will need to find a new attitude of pragmatism and co-operation as its influence diminishes over the coming decades.
However, everything else aside, the idea has merit. On an individual basis, or perhaps dedicated "terror free" fund, we could give it a try.
Mr Potato Head Reply
Stevens
The Ins and Outs of Terror-Free Investing [view article]
MPVALUCHThanks for responding. The fact is that the article does not "slam" any company.
The article simply reports on the actions of the government and the issues floating around among states and others to try to get a handle on this particular form of social investing that is also being driven in part by government actions.
The article takes no position on any company and does not take a position on whether terror-free investing is a good or bad idea, helpful or hurtful for international outcomes, or suitable or unsuitable for any person. The article reports on the phenomenon and does not promote the matter one way or the other.
You have misread the article and might look at it once again to see that no opinion is expressed about any company.
If anything, the article suggests that the process might in fact create some undesirable to unjust outcomes in the implementation.
You are certainly correct that SEC filings are historical and SEC reviews of filings take some time after the filing, so it is highly likely that the SEC will continue to list certain companies for a limited period of time as having operations that may have been discontinued.
Sorry the article was upsetting to you, but your emotional reaction is misplaced. If you have concerns about how the SEC does its work, you might direct your concerns to them and not to those who report on the work of the SEC.
Richard Shaw
QVM Group LLC Reply
The Ins and Outs of Terror-Free Investing [view article]
Mr. Shaw,Maybe you should include that the SEC used a simplistic approach when creating this list! Reuters reported this on July 5th, but apparently you missed it:
www.reuters.com/articl...
BHI has had no operations in Sudan since 2005---but because that fact was mentioned in its 2006 annual report, it got included in the SEC's list. How many other companies will unnecessarily get slammed today because of your submission? Hmmmm!?
mpvaluch Reply
Three Closed-End Funds of Funds [view article]
George and Eric: Thanx for your informative memos.The closed end funds ADX and PEO have a low cost tax basis because of appreciation since original purchase by the funds. This subjects purchasere to capital gains taxes on prior appreciation, when shares in the portfolios of the closed end funds are sold by the funds. Thus, purchasers' cost tax basis of the shares in the fund portfolios, when the funds are purchased, may be as much as 40% below the tax basis if the underlying shares were purchased directly. This tax detrement would not apply to pensions and IRAs.
Ray Reply
Spritzer
Three Closed-End Funds of Funds [view article]
Hi Eric-If you re-read my blog article again, I did say that the "double discount" only applied to the energy portion of the ADX portfolio. Your 14% overall portfolio discount is about right however, and I should have also included that calculation to avoid confusion. The calculation would become much more confusing if PEO decided to buy some ADX because of the circularity. Reply
Three Closed-End Funds of Funds [view article]
Eric,Good point about weighting that discount calculation. I own ADX as well as CET another old closed-end equity fund. Taken as a group along with GAM and TY, these granddaddy equity CEF's really put a premium (no pun intended) on deep value, buy and hold portfolio selection. It's amazing that you can get them at sizable discounts at times but hey, everybody loves an inefficient market! Reply
Boughton
Three Closed-End Funds of Funds [view article]
Interesting finds, George. I run a hedge fund that applies the strategy of buying closed-end funds at discounts to NAV, so I am pretty familiar with this area. Every single one of the closed-ends we bought in 2006 (about 30) saw its discount to NAV narrow (or disappear) by the end of the year. Intriguing possibility that the tail end of that could have been due partially to FOF. (Our hedge fund, Matisse Income Fund, is up 23.5% (net after all fees) since inception October '05.)We have also seen a number of activist hedge funds purchase closed-ends at discounts, then sue the company to 1) convert to an open-end (discount disappears obviously), or 2) buy back shares at close to NAV. One typical example is Karpus, and their involvement with IMF. Our hedge fund is currently only $12 million, so we don't quite have the size to push the closed-end boards around like Karpus can.
Wanted to point out your "double discount" calculation on ADX is a bit misleading, however, given that PEO only makes up about a 5% position in ADX. Taking that into account, the net "look-through&quo... discount on ADX only goes up to about 14%. Reply