Conference nyoss1::market_investing

    I don't know about the India Fund. But the Janus Tewnty Fund invests in
    20 - 25 different stocks (therefore the name). It is a very good fund
    and has been recommended by Money and some other financial publicatons.
    However, due to its limited holdings, it is rather volatile. Not the
    kind of "moderate risk" you are talking about. But, in a long run, I
    think it is a very good fund and it will do very well. The Janus Group
    of Funds require $1000 minimum initial investment. So, I think you just
    barely made it with that $1K.
    
    Mike

	Re. .0

	Note that IGF is closed for new money. It is traded however, at a 
	discount, on NYSE (Symbol = IGF). 

	It was traded at 26 a few months ago when the Indian stock market
	was *booming*. However, with a huge securities scandal, involving 
	the most prominent bull players and highly placed banking and govt.
	officials, the market took a beating: IGF fell to around 15 in 
	June or July.

	It has since bounced back to 19, mostly because the Indian economy is
	growing reasonably well. In spite of all these scandals, the Bombay
	Stock Exchange was up around 100% for the last year!

	I wouldn't recommend that you put your 1000$ in IGF, if this is your
	first or only investment. But if you already have money in safer
	places, I would recommend IGF on its holdings (they have some of the
	bluest chip stocks in India). I don't know about the price though. 

	FWIW, I don't have any money in IGF, but my family in India continues 
	to hold many of its underlying stocks. 

    United Kingdom Fund, UKM, a closed-end mutual fund.  10% discount.
    
    Today the FTSE-100 was down 70 points but managed to recover *all* of
    it by the close.  A market that can withstand that kind of beating in
    the face of currency woes is a market destined to move higher.
    
    But, wait until next week, just in case...
    
      John

    Good suggestions, keep 'em coming! It's nice to toss ideas and
    share information like this. 

Re .1 -- Amitabh

    This is not my first or only investment. I have had an IRA with
    Mutual Shares since 1989. I chose it because it had been recommended
    by two "independent" authorities -- Business Week, which gave it three
    up-arrows (the best), and Andrew Tobias of Managing Your Money fame.
    It's 5-year yield is about 11.5%, so it's not been too bad; though
    it did have one down year (1990, 10.1%). Last year it grew 21%,
    and this year its up 11.5%. It's fund manager, Michael Price is
    a strong proponent of "value investing".   

    By the way, do you have the phone number for India Growth Fund handy ?
    I haven't been able to find it any place it's referenced so far.  

Re .4 -- John

    Has Japan bottomed out ? The conventional wisdom has it that may still
    have some more to go. I will investigate this some more. Also there
    is a fund called the "Japan Fund", which I suppose is different from
    the Scudder Japan Fund ? 

============

    Continuing with my research:

    Robertson Stephenson Emerging Growth Fund - no load -- assets
    of $205 million. 1991 return: 58.5%, this year down 17%. Fund has
    been averaging 25% a year since its inception about 5 years ago.
    Analyst in Money magazine says 20% growth is possible in the next
    5 years. Its yearly expense ratio is around 1.51. Rated 5 stars
    by Morningstar (the highest).

    So what's the catch ?
    Minimum - $5000 -- out of my range. For IRA, the min is $1000 and
    there is a $10 fee. I have to pay a $9 fee for Mutual Shares, so
    it may not be worth paying $10 to get into another growth fund.  

    =========

    Vanguard Wellesly - no load. Minimum $3000, $500 for an IRA. This
    fund has delivered solid performance in the 11 to 16% range in the
    last 1 to 10 years. This is an income fund, so I would be diverifying
    my portfolio a bit. The expense ratio is 0.51%. Strongly recommended
    by Kenneth Hooker in last week's Sunday Globe. Anyone has an opinion
    on Mr Hooker ?

    ========

    Financial Industrial Income - no load. Min is $250. Rated 2 up-arrows
    by Business Week in 1990. Also recommended by Kenneth Hooker in last
    week's Sunday Globe. Since the beginning of this year, this fund has
    lost 5%. Its 1-year return for the year ending Aug 31 is 4.43%, its
    3-year and 5-year yield have been 42.51% and 73.52%, and it's been 
    averaging 18.06% since its inception. Its expense ratio is 0.78. 
    

    ======== 
	                  

    

    
     

	Re. .5

	> By the way, do you have the phone number for India Growth Fund handy ?

	As I wrote before, IGF is closed for new investments. You can however
	buy into it by purchasing it thru' your stock broker. Note that for
	$1000, you will only get about 50 shares of IGF, not a round lot of 
	100: your commissions will eat into the discount you are getting now.

	BTW, for the performance rating and other fund info, including its
	holdings and the fund address, you can look up the Morningstar
	Report (probably your public library carries it). I had some old 
	info (June 91) that I just threw away last week :-(. 

    
    
    The Janus Twenty funds minimum of $1000 can be circumvented by
    having monthly withdrawals of $50 to the account.  I am currently
    using this fund and some of Twentieth Centuries funds for my
    relatively small amounts of mutual fund investing.  20th Cent is
    another no-load with no minimum balance with monthly deposits that
    has some good track-record funds.
    
    Tim

    
    
    I like Janus particularly since it has digested some of last years
    gains.  If I was looking to take an additional position at this time
    Janus would rank high on the list.  It is one of the mutuals I follow
    for selective market sentiment.  Get a current prospectus to see what
    Janus' current stock holdings.
    
    I do not like Japan right now.  I feel kinda like it will go through
    the George Bush bounce which means the lows need to be tested before
    larger gains ahead.  I would look at Europe for diversification with
    a 12 to 18 month horizon.  
    
    Personally I am not looking to Europe.  I
    think there are a lot of good opportunities right here at home.
    One of those opportunities could be 20th Century Growth.  One of my
    all time favorites!  Also, how about some stock in Chysler.  I would
    consider that to be a conservative bet on a revival of American
    industrial strength.
    
    I may be the next one to receive TFSO, hopefully not, but I am bullish
    on America.  I do not like the prospect of Bill Clinton taxes, but the
    way I see it things will begin to turn around once the elections are
    over and the media stops selling us on how bad off we are.  Low
    interest, low industrial overhead, low inflation adds up to big
    potential for mid 93 and out.
    
    A student I am -- an expert I am not!
    
    Rgds,
    
    JG  

    
    
    Any numbers for Robertson Stephenson Growth ????
    
    Sounds interesting...
    
                                        Thank's

I have my IRA there.  They have been around since 1987.  The Morningstar rating
is 4 stars.  They have a 5 year annualized return of 22.79%, and a 3 year of 
19.22%,  They had a bad year last year losing 2.87% (but up from the pre-October
number of -19.83%).  The fund is a manageable size of 197.5 million (something
I weigh heavily).  They invest primarily in small company growth stocks, and
are favored by a few publications for the 90's.

michael

    I believe that they require a minimum of $5k to get started..

    Mutual Series, which runs the Mutual Shares, Mutual Qualified and 
    Mutual Beacon funds has added a fourth called Mutual Discovery whose 
    sole im is long-term capital appreciation. It will invest a portion of
    its assets in small-cap stocks and non-US securities, but has the
    flexibility to invest in any type of security, including debt
    securities.

    The Fund's manager is Michael Price who oversees the other 3 funds as
    well. It is no-load with a minimum investment of $1,000 and and
    expense ratio of 1.50 (rather high in my opinion). The assets of
    the fund total $50 million. The Fund was open (to the public, at
    any rate) on Jan 1, and the share price has shot up from $10.00
    to $10.76. 

    Michael Price is well-known as a "value-investing" guru, and
    consulted even by the likes of Peter Lynch. His funds had a
    bad year in 1990, but had a nice come-back in the last couple
    of years; especially last year they did 23% or so, well above
    the market average. Two of the funds (Mutual Shares and Mutual
    Qualified) are closed to new investors. 

    Any thoughts on this ? Especially on the "value-investing"
    style, is it appropriate now, and oh yes, how are we from
    the market peak.