Permanent Portfolio

[edsanville]

I started my 2xPP in March 2012, and I just started some 3xPP investing last month.  It pretty much behaves as you'd expect...  approximately 2x and 3x the PP gains/losses.  In other words, not very well for the past 6-8 months or so.  If and when the PP jump-starts its engine, I should see some serious bucks in my 2x and 3x portfolios.

Oh, and I've already rebalanced my 2x portfolio and taken some stock profits.  I use the 15-35% rebalancing bands for all three portfolios, because my backtests indicated that they will work well for all three.

Although I've got a VP consisting of 2x and 3x versions of the PP, to spice things up a little bit.

How long have you had it?

How does it do?

[buddtholomew]

12 minutes remaining to vote...

[buddtholomew]

The FED better step in soon and buy some LTT's...

I'm not going to say anything anymore...

[GT]

If you think the HBPP YTD performance has you on edge, just think about the poor folks that invested in this fund. 

Frontier Micro-Cap Fund (FEFPX)
• Last Update: 5:04 PM ET 03/17/10
• Volume 0
• Open: 0.05
• Previous Close: 0.05
• 52 Week Range: 0.00 - 0.00
• Expense Ratio: 26.92%
• Net Asset: 40,000
• TRAILING RETURNS:YTD -0.23%
• 1 Month 0.00%
• 1 Year -55.63%
• Since Inception -27.55%


FEFPX: Mutual fund that can’t
by Associated Press

Published: January 20,2010

NEW YORK — If you’d invested $1,000 in Frontier Microcap (FEFPX) 10 years ago, you’d have enough left over to order a pizza. But $11.35 might not get you any toppings. And to make matters worse, more than half your money would have gone toward fees.

Many analysts consider the mutual fund the worst ever, based on long-term performance and costs. So it’s a good thing the fund is closing down. It will soon return the $53,157 it has left — down from a peak of around $1.6 million in its mid-90?s heyday — to its 87 remaining investors.

Microcap investing is difficult, because stocks with market values around $400 million or lower tend to be more volatile then their larger brethren. Investing in the category also takes careful research, because microcap companies aren’t closely followed by Wall Street.

But the fund’s 36.8 percent annual loss over the last 10 years makes it the poorest performer over that period, even compared with microcap peers.

Since 1993, it made money in only two years — 1999 and 2009. The fund’s owners, Freedom Investors Corp., even tried out a 20-year-old stock-picker in 2003. But its weak performance meant it was never really able to attract new investors.

Adam Bold, founder of The Mutual Fund Store, has a theory on why the fund has done so badly. “Their theory has been — load up on speculative, low-priced stocks and hope for a home run,”? he said. “You would have to go out of your way to do as badly as this fund.”?

Fund manager Joel Blumenschein offered another reason. Since the fund was never able to attract new investments, its fees skyrocketed and hurt returns. Fees fluctuate with the size of a fund, and are included in performance calculations. Blumenschein also blamed regulatory and market conditions, and said Freedom Investors incurred sizable losses over the last few years as it tried to keep the fund going.

“Sometimes, when you do everything right, it still blows up in your face,”? he said. “It still bothers me that people lost money.”?

[Ad Orientem]

Expense Ratio: 26.92%

OMG! Is that a typo?

[MediumTex]

Expense Ratio: 26.92%

OMG! Is that a typo?

With less than $100,000 in assets, that's probably right.  It's hard to imagine running a mutual fund on less than $25,000 a year.

[GT]

You can just envision this fund manager on his next job interview:

Interviewer:
I see you managed the Frontier Micro-Cap Fund –let’s see:
• 36.8 percent annual loss over the last 10 years
• Since 1993, it made money in only two years — 1999 and 2009.
• Many analysts consider the mutual fund the worst ever, based on long-term performance and costs.

What do you have to say about this fund poor performance?

Fund manager:

“Sometimes, when you do everything right, it still blows up in your face,”?

Interviewer to admin:

Send in the next candidate please

[Alanw]

Sometimes, when you do everything right, it still blows up in your face.

Imagine what the returns would have looked like if he would have done some things wrong!

[MediumTex]

Sometimes, when you do everything right, it still blows up in your face.

Imagine what the returns would have looked like if he would have done some things wrong!

I figured he would just say that in everything he did he aimed to distinguish himself from those around him.

[Tortoise]

I figured he would just say that in everything he did he aimed to distinguish himself from those around him.

Ah, the essence of skilled salesmanship! Always technically telling the truth, but in a very "creative" way that puts the best spin on whatever is being sold. Perhaps the most marketable skill in the world--by definition.

[smurff]

I figured he would just say that in everything he did he aimed to distinguish himself from those around him.

It's time for him to have his own reality show.  Add a clothing line, a men's fragrance, and perhaps a sex tape, then he's really in business.