22
We have two new additions this month.
First, there’s the Bronze-rated
Westwood Income
Opportunity
WHGIX
. This conservative-allocation
fund has posted excellent results under manager
Mark Freeman.
Freeman looks across a firm’s capital structure to find
good values, and he puts it together in a mix of
stocks, bonds, preferreds, convertibles,
REIT
s,
MLP
s,
and cash. Generally, the fund has less than half of
the portfolio in equities, but today it’s over that line
because Freeman prefers stocks and even cash
to bonds. For stock selection, Freeman uses a value
strategy not too different from other Westwood
funds such as
Teton Westwood Equity
WESWX
.
The fund charges a modest expense ratio of
0
.
90%
on its Institutional shares. You can gain access to the
Institutional shares for a $
5
,
000
minimum through
many discount brokerages such as Fidelity, but it is
not in the No Transaction Fee system.
See facing page for more.
We are also adding
TIAA-CREF Social Choice
Equity
TICRX
. It’s a socially screened equity fund that
can serve nicely as a core holding.
The fund is almost an index fund but not quite. Man-
agement begins with the stocks in the Russell
3000
and then applies screens on social criteria such as the
environment, human rights, employee relations, safe
products, and high ethics. That pares the list to about
1
,
900
names and then the quantitative team at the
firm selects about half of those names to actually
include in the portfolio.
Thus, you have a big, diffuse portfolio. This Bronze-
rated fund charges a modest
0
.
49%
in expenses,
though that is with the help of a fee waiver that brings
fees down from
0
.
61%
. That waiver expires in
February
2014
.
Two Go Out
To make room, I’m dropping
Wasatch Large Cap
Value
FMIEX
. The fund recently got a makeover
when David Powers was brought in to replace Ralph
Shive and Michael Shinnick. Powers comes over
from Eagle Asset Management.
We are also dropping
Schneider Small Cap Value
SCMVX
, which is no longer covered because of its
small asset base.
Going Soon
Three Vanguard funds will be leaving shortly because
they are being merged away. As noted in News,
Vanguard Growth Equity
VGEQX
,
Vanguard Tax-
Managed Growth & Income
VTGLX
, and
Van-
guard Tax-Managed International
VTMGX
will
be merged into similar funds.
œ
Summary of Changes
Add
Drop
TIAA-CREF Social Choice Equity
Schneider Small Cap Value
Westwood Income Opportunity
Wasatch Large Cap Value
Category Change
From
To
Vanguard Intrm-Trm Invmt-Grade Inv Interm-Trm Bnd Corporate Bond
Vanguard Lng-Trm Invstmnt-Grd Inv
Lng-Term Bond Corporate Bond
PIMCO Invstmnt Grade Corp Bd Instl Interm-Trm Bnd Corporate Bond
PIMCO All Asset All Authority D
World Alloc Tactical Alloc
T. Rowe Price Corporate Income
Lng-Term Bond Corporate Bond
PIMCO Global Multi-Asset D
World Alloc Tactical Alloc
Hussman Strategic Total Return
Conserv Alloc Tactical Alloc
Funds From Westwood, TIAA-CREF
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Russel Kinnel
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