My Mutual Fund Portfolio

Yesterday, when I was visiting InvestorTrip, I was asked what mutual funds I hold. Actually, my mutual fund portfolio currently has 12 holdings, all of them are actively managed funds. The reason I don't have any index funds in my taxable account is that when I started investing in mutual funds, I didn't really expect I could hold them for very long (well, I have held some of them for nearly five years), so return was kind of my main goal. Also, Vanguard requires a minimum of $3,000 to open an account (and they have the ridiculous account maintenance fee). It was OK for a couple of funds, but too much if I want to diversity into different asset classes and sectors. On the other hand, lot of actively managed funds require much less to start investing and the fees weren't terribly high as well. So eventually I chose active funds over index funds in taxable accounts and built the IRA portfolios with index funds.

So here's a list of mutual funds I currently own.  

Most of my funds were first purchased in 2002 and I have been adding shares every month since then with the minimum amount allowed (dollar cost averaging), even during the period when the overall stock markets were pretty bad. Actually, those shares I purchased in 2002 and 2003 now produced much higher returns. So far, the top three funds with highest returns are DODFX (international fund), TAREX (real estate), and TGLDX (Gold), which didn't surprise me as these three areas were very hot for the past five years and I am lucky to catch the fast growth at the early stage (Gold price in early 2002 was about $280/ounce, now it's more than $630). Whether the trend will continue, however, is everybody's guess.

A Morningstar instant X-Ray shows the following asset allocation:

*I don't have automatic investment plan for DODFX and TGLDX, though I made purchase almost every month when, for example, foreigh markets (mainly European markets) were lower or when Gold price took a hit. If you are looking for international fund to invest, I recommend DODFX as Dodge & Cox is a respected company in the mutual fund industry with solid tracking records. They have only four funds, but two of them are closed to new investors. If you want to get it, you probably want to do it quick because Dodge & Cox tends to close the funds when they see the assets grow too fast.

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