Recommendation on Small Cap Mutual Fund(s) needed.

[Disappointed]

In an attempt to fill the hole in my AA of my portfolio, please provide recommendation on Small Cap Mutual Fund(s) or ETF(s).

Thanks,
mP

 

[Niko]

In an attempt to fill the hole in my AA of my portfolio, please provide recommendation on Small Cap Mutual Fund(s) or ETF(s).

Thanks,
mP

With that little information no one can give you a good recommendation. You should post your target AA and what you currently own. Is this a taxable or tax preferred account? Which institution holds your money? Do you seek low cost index funds or actively managed? I know which small cap funds I prefer (and have) in my portfolio, but that may not necessarily work for you.

 

[ziggy29]

In an attempt to fill the hole in my AA of my portfolio, please provide recommendation on Small Cap Mutual Fund(s) or ETF(s).

IMO, small caps are one area where active management might be better than indexing in some situations. With stocks under the radar and a lot of funds with modest amounts under management, it's possible to be a good stock picker and not a "closet indexer" as happens with most $50 billion large cap funds. But as mentioned already, your asset allocation, whether you're looking for a growth/value bias and the tax status of the account are quite important here.

Having said that, small cap ETFs like IJS, VBK and IWM can fit the bill if you want to go the ETF route. I've owned IJS (small cap value) for nearly 8 years, and I've been reasonably pleased with its performance.

 

[LOL!]

Studies show that small cap index does better than active management.

Whenever you need to fill an asset class go look at the altruistfa web site where they list all the best funds for given asset classes and alternates.

DFA vs. Vanguard Then be sure to click on the "here" links for more funds, such as: Domestic Small-Cap Funds

 

[Disappointed]

Thanks for the responses, my taxable account is with Fidelity. My porfolio has zero allocation to small cap, I am looking for either ETFs or MFs, small cap core, growth, and value. Kind of like to spread it out a little bit. Not too concerned about tax efficiency of the funds, still have quite a bit of capital losses carried over from 2002.

Please name some of your favorites, at this point any small cap funds will help me with my AA.

mP

 

[FIREd]

Right now I own both Vanguard Small Cap Index (in a taxable account) and Vanguard Small Cap Value Index (in an IRA). For managed funds (which I don't own anymore), I like Touchstone Small Cap Value Opportunities (though it's a bit expensive), and I like Third Avenue Small Cap Value (but I think that, like many small cap funds, it might be closed to new investors). It could however reopen at some point since small caps have really taken a beating lately and people might start pulling their money out of that asset class. You never know!

 

[lswswein]

I again highly recommend the suggestion by LOL! of the altruistfa website and the analysis there
Domestic Small-Cap Funds

-h

 

[jIMOh]

In an attempt to fill the hole in my AA of my portfolio, please provide recommendation on Small Cap Mutual Fund(s) or ETF(s).

Thanks,
mP

smart money magazine has 3 recomendations in their March issue. I don't own any of the 3.

I do own
PRNHX- T Rowe New Horizons
PRDSX- T Rowe Diversified small cap growth

 

[Disappointed]

Thank you all.

mP

 

[LOL!]

Please name some of your favorites, at this point any small cap funds will help me with my AA.

mP

What??!!?? You didn't like any of my favorites listed in those links I provided

Don't forget you probably should have some international small cap. The favorites there are GWX and DLS.

 

[innova]

Don't go for small growth. Of the 9 M* styleboxes, SG is a consistent laggard.

 

[Niko]

Don't go for small growth. Of the 9 M* styleboxes, SG is a consistent laggard.

You know what they say about past performance . . .

 

[Animorph]

BRSIX is an interesting index. I have been using Wasatch (wgrox, wmcvx) and Royce (rypnx). Also foreign small-cap (waigx, oakex). Fidelity has flpsx and fismx which have done well but are both still closed I think. Some of these may be towards the mid-cap side at M*. Wasatch and oakex are NTF at Fidelity, the others have a transaction fee. Many of these funds are recently re-opened to new investers, so this is a good time to get into a small-cap fund.

Dan

 

[innova]

You know what they say about past performance . . .

Will stocks outperform bonds going forward? Past performance...

Don't get me wrong. I'm an indexer, I believe in EMH, have totally had my fill of the kool-aid.

Facts are that SG is PERPETUALLY the worst-performing stylebox. For me, I believe in the Fama-French view, that value stocks represent increased reward and risk, and so I hold blend and value and don't lean towards growth at all. I don't think one can really avoid SG totally, but I sure wouldn't seek it out on purpose as a concentrated holding.