• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Recommend me a low cost CONSERVATIVE mutual fund

How much are you investing? What do you consider conservative in terms of stock%, foreign % and do you need to worry about tax efficiency?
 
diversify your investments for sure

not a economic expert by any rate

also invest in emerging markets and developing countries

a worldwide portfolio might be good

by the way savings bond are much different than before. you more or less get no additional wealth from keeping bonds for 30 years instead of 20 years like you could of from bonds from the early 90s. found that out recently.

if i was to invest tech companies and heavy industries and defense companies would be possible investments for me
 
Fayd said:
the dollars in this mutual fund vote republican?
Click to expand...
Vanguard founder John Bogle, a Republican, voted for Obama and Clinton since he considered the Republican candidates reckless rather than conservative.

Wellesley Income is a very conservative fund, holding mostly of bonds, but Wellington and Balanced Index are also conservative, each holding approximately 60% stocks, 40% bonds.
 
bryanl said:
Wellesley Income is a very conservative fund, holding mostly of bonds, but Wellington and Balanced Index are also conservative, each holding approximately 60% stocks, 40% bonds.
Click to expand...

Wellesly is not bad but you're loosing 1.5-2 of returns to taxes. Is there a different Wellington? It looks like the one on Vanguard's site is 65%stock 33%bonds and Balanced is 60/40
https://personal.vanguard.com/us/funds/snapshot?FundId=0521&FundIntExt=INT

OP you might want to look at VTMFX. Its a balanced tax-managed fund with a 48/52 split and appears to be almost entirely US based. You'd only lose about 0.3 of returns to taxes.

Vanguard has about the best blended fund that combines a low expense fee with low taxes IMO. I also had a hard time getting closer to your desired allocation without giving up returns to either taxes or ER. You could, however, construct one using a mix of something like a DFA fund (DTMEX for example) for stock and then choose a bond fund or two. Depending on how much you are worried about taxes this would allow you to involve tax exempt municiple or term (ie: VWITX) bond funds easily
 
Last edited:
VDIGX is maybe a bit more aggressive (stock centric), but it is managed in part by Wellington Management and has a strategy based upon dividend growth, not high current dividend yield:
Morningstar Premium Analysis:

"Vanguard Dividend Growth's discipline still allows for some creative freedom.

Manager Don Kilbride's approach to dividend investing, preferring dividend growth over yield, lends itself to a few standards. The fund has an emphasis on large, established companies, because they tend to be the ones that have a long track record of paying and increasing dividends, thanks to their durable business models and financial wherewithal.

Not all big companies are created equal when it comes to dividends, and here's where Kilbride's differentiates the portfolio. Many of the fund's holdings fall into Kilbride's "old standby" list of dividend payers--think top holdings Johnson & Johnson JNJ and PepsiCo PEP, which Kilbride considers almost permanent fixtures. He also recognizes the challenges they face on the dividend-growth side, and while they've managed to raise their dividends, at some point the law of large numbers takes over, and there isn't as high a growth rate to be had here. Kilbride overcomes this hurdle by investing in a "new generation" of dividend payers--firms that are only beginning to pay or accelerate their dividends. That doesn't mean these are new companies; in fact, they are often still market-cap giants like Microsoft MSFT or dominant industry players like Oracle ORCL or BlackRock BLK.

Even that liberty doesn't make the fund unique. While dividend growth is Kilbride's most important criterion, there's more to his analysis. Consider Comcast CMCSA. He often avoids firms like Comcast because they are capital-intensive, but Comcast's content strategy and heavy family ownership helped Kilbride look beyond capital spending alone. And while he also tends to avoid cyclical firms, he picked up Omnicom OMC, because of its ability to more quickly adjust in down cycles. Stocks like these have more variability in their stock prices and give Kilbride more opportunities to buy them cheaply.

Still, the overriding feel is one of high quality, and the fund's performance bears that out. This is a stable offering that's compounded wealth over the long term."
Click to expand...
"Wellington Management has always run this fund in its various guises, first as a utility sector fund from its inception through late 2002, and since then as a dividend-focused fund. There are about six people on the team that runs this fund, Vanguard Wellington VWELX, and Hartford Dividend & Growth IHGIX. This small team also draws on Wellington's well-respected central bench of equity industry analysts.

Manager Don Kilbride has been in charge here since February 2006 and is the second manager to apply the fund's dividend strategy here. He is also listed as a manager on Hartford Capital Appreciation HIACX and runs about $25 billion between this fund and other accounts, as of this fund's most-recent Statement of Additional Information. That's a lot of money, but it is reasonable considering Kilbride's focus on highly liquid large-cap stocks.

Kilbride is one of many partners at Wellington, where he has worked since 2002. Before joining the firm, he worked at The Boston Company and a Boston-based hedge fund, where he was director of research.

Kilbride shows a passion for this approach. According to the fund's SAI, he invests more than $1 million in the fund--that's the highest disclosure band required by the SEC. But he also volunteers that most of his personal net worth is invested in the strategy."
Click to expand...
http://quotes.morningstar.com/fund/vdigx/f?t=vdigx




Haven't done a lot of research on this firm, but FPA also seems to have some high quality mutual fund offerings (e. g. FPA Crescent, FPA Perennial?)

http://quicktake.morningstar.com/FundFamily/Snapshot.asp?symbol=0C00001YR9

http://quotes.morningstar.com/fund/fpacx/f?t=FPACX

http://quotes.morningstar.com/fund/fppfx/f?t=FPPFX (if you click on the tax tab, you will see this fund has high unrealized gains that could eventually be distributed as capital gains distributions. Inflow of new money into this fund would dilute per share potential capital gains distributions because this fund has small asset base so far)
 
Last edited:
If you wish a LOW COST mutual fund then you should go index, index, index funds ...

Enough said.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top