Displaying items by tag: vanguard
Morningstar Says Vanguard Has the Best Model Portfolio
(New York)
The model portfolio world has grown highly confusing over the last few years. The explosion in popularity of models has led to thousands on the market, making it very hard to sort one from another. Luckily, Morningstar has launched a new product to help do just that. Morningstar’s new ratings are on a one to five scale (like their mutual fund ratings) and they have increased coverage recently from 76 models to 139. They are also now covering not just SMA models, but theoretical ones. Morningstar gave only 2 out of 1,500 models its top “gold” rating, and one of the pair was Vanguard’s CORE portfolio. According to Morningstar, CORE has “an extremely appealing price tag along with top notch, highly diversified underlying index funds”.
FINSUM: This rating system will be a great resource for advisors, especially as coverage continues to increase. These scores will be useful not just for investment selection, but also for highlighting their utility and legitimacy to clients.
The Best Model Portfolios Right Now
(New York)
Model portfolios provided by third parties have become increasingly popular for advisors, but separating the best from the rest is no easy feat. To help out advisors, Morningstar now has rankings and guides (see them here). Here are five of the top picks from Morningstar: BlackRock Target Allocation ETF, Vanguard CORE, American Funds Growth & Income, American Funds Tax Aware Growth & Income, BlackRock Multi-Asset Income. Other interesting options include the State Street Strategic Asset Allocation and T.Rowe Price Active.
FINSUM: The world of model portfolios has been proliferating enough that scoring and guidance is very useful (just think how hard ETF selection would be without screeners!).
Vanguard Makes Big Warning on Stocks
(New York)
Calm and collected asset manager Vanguard has just made an eye-opening call about 2020. The firm’s chief economist and investment strategy chief, Joseph Davis, says there is a 50-50 chance of a correction in 2020. The market hasn’t seen a correction since December 2018, when it dropped to within a hair of a bear market. Davis says he usually sees about a 30% chance for a correction in any given year. Vanguard says that while investors were too pessimistic about recession chances this year, next year they’ll be too optimistic about re-inflation.
FINSUM: Seems a reasonable call, if rather safe.
The Best Mutual Funds Might Not Be from Vanguard
(New York)
Vanguard is a pretty tough firm to beat in the mutual fund space. Their sterling reputation is hard to top, and no one seems to outdo them in the asset class. However, there may be a viable competitor: boutique manager Dodge & Cox. In fact, the fund manager just got ranked first out of 150 mutual fund companies by Morningstar. The rankings are based “on a variety of factors, including analyst fund ratings, expense ratios, and corporate stewardship”. Perhaps most importantly for investors, almost all Dodge & Cox mutual funds beat their category averages over the last decade.
FINSUM: Dodge & Cox has outperformed Vanguard in many ways, though obviously Vanguard can offer lower costs than anyone else. In many cases, though, performance has been good enough to more than account for the difference in fees.
Check Out Vanguard’s Re-Opened Dividend Funds
(New York)
Vanguard made some headlines earlier this month when it re-opened one of its long closed-to-new-investors dividend funds (VDIGX). However, it was not the only fund to reopen, as a whole suite of Vanguard dividend funds are once again available. The funds come in two flavors, active or passive. VDIGX is actively managed and has the best one-year return, but it is almost the most expensive. Check out the firm’s VIG fund (Dividend Appreciation), which has a 11% one-year return and charges only 6 basis points.
FINSUM: This whole suite of funds has a good track record and some have characteristically low fees.