What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Have a question about your personal investments? No matter how simple or complex, you can ask it here.
User avatar
whodidntante
Posts: 13116
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2016 10:11 pm
Location: outside the echo chamber

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by whodidntante »

Sometimes selling a bad investment is the hardest thing to do. If you wouldn't buy the same amount at the current price if you did not currently hold the position, you should consider selling it.

If on the other hand, you think it's a great investment, then I have good news. It's on sale. Consider buying more.
User avatar
Fat-Tailed Contagion
Posts: 1251
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 10:49 am

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by Fat-Tailed Contagion »

8.43

Up 51.89% from low on Jan. 19, 2016.
“The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists.” | ― Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (75/25 - 50/50 - 25/75)
Jagman
Posts: 122
Joined: Sat Jul 19, 2008 4:38 pm

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by Jagman »

FlyingMoose wrote:A couple of years ago, when setting up my portfolio, I decided to do the 5% Wild Money thing, and put 5% into VGPMX
(Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining). Looking at the history of the fund, it seemed to be a leveraged bet on gold, and I figured it would act as an insurance policy for my portfolio for things like what happened between 2006 and now.

I have rebalanced into it, so now, while it is still 5% of my portfolio, it has cost me 6% of the present value (which is much larger now than it had been). I've lost about 1/2 of my initial investment in it, and about 1/3 of the total I put in including rebalancing.

I wouldn't mind so much, but it is no longer what it once was. It used to be called an index, whether it was or not. It's apparently now only half precious metal and the other half is commodities. It's also not very evenly distributed and is also actively managed. If it was still an actual index, I wouldn't mind as much, even if it had lost more money. I feel that it might not capture the gains in precious metals, if the economy and other commodities are down but gold is up.

However, I'm conflicted about dumping it, because I really don't like the idea of locking in my losses. But I'm not sure if it will revert to its "mean" because the composition is different compared to the past. Also, I put it in my Roth, because I wanted to put the biggest gainers there, which makes it hurt even more.

I guess if I really wanted to stick to my guns, I could find another fund which is an actual index (to act as a leveraged gold bet), especially since most of them are down more than VGPMX at the present time. But I don't know how hard it would be to buy a non-Vanguard fund in my Vanguard account.

After a recent serious illness which was exacerbated, if not caused, by stress, I just simplified the rest of my portfolio because of the stress it was causing me (got rid of Small Value and International Small and put them into Total US and Total Int'l). It wasn't difficult because, even though they were up and down, they're currently about where I bought them, so I could make the change and be in the same position as if it'd never happened. This will allow me to be more tax-efficient (because one of my accounts has more choices in this area) and make rebalancing easier (which was difficult because of all the little pieces trying, and sometimes failing, to be tax efficient across 6 accounts).

If I sell VGPMX at a loss, I will have taken the risk without getting the reward. So I guess my options are:

1. Keep going as I am, rebalancing into it and hoping it pays off big some day.
2. Keep it but don't rebalance (and maybe take this year's rebalance amount back out since it's still about the same price), and hope it pays off big some day.
3. DCA out of it over a year or so, and split the money among my 3-fund portfolio (40% US, 40% Int'l, 20% Bond)
4. Try to market-time a good time to dump it and split the money among my 3-fund portfolio.
I hope you chose option 1.

VGPMX is up to $9.77/share. Up 5.17% today, up 56.57% YTD.
User avatar
Fat-Tailed Contagion
Posts: 1251
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 10:49 am

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by Fat-Tailed Contagion »

Since Jan. 19, 2016 VGPMX is up 76%.
“The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists.” | ― Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (75/25 - 50/50 - 25/75)
User avatar
LowER
Posts: 691
Joined: Sat Sep 29, 2012 12:43 pm

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by LowER »

I bought on the low (pure luck) for now anyways. This may temporarily be one of my better investment adventures. Then again, it might not be. I do enjoy the gains but one of my goals is to not sell anything until I retire while reallocating from purchases alone. This approach feels important in my tax bracket. But now I feel strapped to a fund with high potential for volatility. I have every intention to stay the course but in retrospect did I really need to complicate my otherwise simple portfolio with volatility? Time will tell... in 1, 2, 6, 70 months, fun might not be a word I'll use to describe the fun money diversion.

"What to do with VGPMX?" Who knows? I don't, but this week I'm pleased.

Edited to add "pure luck"
User avatar
Fat-Tailed Contagion
Posts: 1251
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 10:49 am

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by Fat-Tailed Contagion »

VGPMX @ 10.57

Up 90.5% from Jan 16 low of 5.55.
“The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists.” | ― Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (75/25 - 50/50 - 25/75)
ratsnest74
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed Jan 20, 2016 8:39 am

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by ratsnest74 »

How high can it go?
User avatar
Fat-Tailed Contagion
Posts: 1251
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 10:49 am

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by Fat-Tailed Contagion »

ratsnest74 wrote:How high can it go?
"Nobody knows nothin'"- St. Jack
“The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists.” | ― Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor (75/25 - 50/50 - 25/75)
michaelsieg
Posts: 625
Joined: Mon Jan 07, 2013 10:02 am

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by michaelsieg »

How high can it go?
Only needs to go up another 100% for me to break even....
Castanea_d.
Posts: 192
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2014 8:14 pm

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by Castanea_d. »

VGPMX at $12.11, up 41 cents today. Up 90% year to date (from $6.36), and more than that from its low in mid-January. Today's close is, the best I can tell, a three-year high (based on weekly closes), going back to May 2013.

But it could double again and not be quite back to its 2011 levels. I have to pinch myself; it all seems unreal. I rode it down from the $20 to $22 range (buying in to rebalance as I was able), and for now it is off to the races. My plan for this holding is to rebalance at 30% over target. I have done that twice already in 2016.
User avatar
saltycaper
Posts: 2650
Joined: Thu Apr 24, 2014 8:47 pm
Location: The Tower

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by saltycaper »

Only 325% or so more to go to get back to its 2008 high. What's the over/under on how long that will take? Never mind. Whatever it is, I'll bet over. (My sympathies to any 2008-era VGPMX investors.)
Quod vitae sectabor iter?
User avatar
Dutch
Posts: 1277
Joined: Thu Jun 27, 2013 2:12 pm

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mini

Post by Dutch »

Dutch wrote:Well for a different perspective:

I've started buying into VGPMX since the beginning of October. Part of my new contributions each month are now going towards this fund. I figure now might not be a bad time to buy for the long term, even if it continues to go lower in the short term.

Of course my cost basis is much lower than yours and that makes it easier to think that way. In the end, my crystal ball is as cloudy as yours.
That was from December 2014

I'm looking like a genius now - in my own mind - , but of course I had no idea the fund would recover this fast.
User avatar
raven15
Posts: 476
Joined: Sun Nov 30, 2014 7:01 pm

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by raven15 »

Good for the people who bought in early this year! I myself added a small slice of gold miner fund in February (decided to add in October...should have been January...but my snail mail IRA application got lost ...grrr...). I think that gold miner equity at least will not return to recent lows for some time. Many of the miners had lots of debt from the little speculative bubble in 2009-2012, which a year a ago they were using all of their resources to pay off. With the recent higher gold prices they are almost at the point of starting with a fresh balance sheet, so there is probably reason for optimism. Also I thought it was funny people were so pessimistic when the price of gold had been rising in pretty much every country except the US for two years. Then the price of gold started to rise in the US too, and suddenly the bandwagon arrived at the station.
It's Time. Adding Interest.
Tigermoose
Posts: 823
Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2012 5:02 pm

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by Tigermoose »

Woohooo! :beer Actually, with dividends and capital gains I am up 7% as of 8/19/16.
Last edited by Tigermoose on Fri Aug 19, 2016 1:07 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Institutions matter
Topic Author
FlyingMoose
Posts: 630
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:48 pm

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by FlyingMoose »

Just an update...

I dumped the GDX for a total of 25% profit (based on what I initially put into VGPMX). Worse than Total Stock, but better than Total International over the same time period.

Not perfect but at least I didn't sell low. I figured I should get while the gettin's good.

I put the money into International (half small, half value).

It may look to an outsider like I monkey with my portfolio a lot, but most of the changes were because of life events / changes in plans.
asif408
Posts: 2616
Joined: Sun Mar 02, 2014 7:34 am
Location: Florida

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mini

Post by asif408 »

Nothing wrong will selling if you are uncomfortable with the investment.
FlyingMoose wrote:
lazyday wrote:I'm just questioning whether it's still the "insurance policy" that I thought it was (against inflation, "the end of the world as we know it", other similar calamities). If this is true I will keep it. I would own physical gold but it's not very practical so I wanted something similar in my portfolio. Plus the whole issue of gold not paying dividends.[edited to fix quotes]
Just a note: In William Bernstein's book, Rational Expectations, he mentioned that PME and the stocks of commodity producers have historically been good hedges against inflation (at least better in the short term against inflation vs. a total stock market index; over longer periods I believe most stocks have been a pretty good hedge against inflation), while gold itself has actually shown to protect better against deflation. Maybe that is part of the reason VGPMX cratered during the 2007-2009 crisis while GLD didn't.

If you're reasoning for holding PME was protection against inflation IMO that was an acceptable reason. The biggest issues that keep most investors from using PME in their portfolio successfully are:

1) Having to deal with many years (maybe even decades) of underperformance compared to a total stock market fund
2) Having to avoid focusing on its individual performance (historical real return is ~0%) and look more at how it helps the overall portfolio (significant rebalancing bonus)
3) Its volatility (lost nearly 80% of it's value between 2011 & the beginning of 2016)
3) Willingness to buy more when it is falling, and it can feel like throwing money down the toilet (see 2011-2015)
User avatar
Runalong
Posts: 138
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2011 5:22 pm

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by Runalong »

In another thread about VGPMX I posted on 12/2/15:

"I recently analyzed 24 Fidelity sector funds over the past 25 years, looking at how far they fell from each high and how they did over the subsequent 66 months. Only 3 times did a sector fund ever drop more than 80% (tech (-84%) and telecom (-82%) ca the 2000 crash, and consumer finance (-88%) ca '08-09 crash). On average they more than doubled over the next 66 months.

On the other hand, in the 8 instances of a sector dropping between 70-79% from it's high, these subsequently tripled (on average, the median was also approx 200%) over the next 66 months."

I took my own advice and invested heavily in VGPMX at that time and it has approximately doubled since then.

Reversion to the mean is a powerful strategy, used properly.
wije
Posts: 220
Joined: Sun Jun 07, 2015 8:35 pm

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by wije »

Runalong wrote:I took my own advice and invested heavily in VGPMX at that time and it has approximately doubled since then.
How did you time it right (i.e. know that it wasn't going to drop further)?
User avatar
White Coat Investor
Posts: 17413
Joined: Fri Mar 02, 2007 8:11 pm
Location: Greatest Snow On Earth

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by White Coat Investor »

FlyingMoose wrote:A couple of years ago, when setting up my portfolio, I decided to do the 5% Wild Money thing, and put 5% into VGPMX
(Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining). Looking at the history of the fund, it seemed to be a leveraged bet on gold, and I figured it would act as an insurance policy for my portfolio for things like what happened between 2006 and now.

I have rebalanced into it, so now, while it is still 5% of my portfolio, it has cost me 6% of the present value (which is much larger now than it had been). I've lost about 1/2 of my initial investment in it, and about 1/3 of the total I put in including rebalancing.

I wouldn't mind so much, but it is no longer what it once was. It used to be called an index, whether it was or not. It's apparently now only half precious metal and the other half is commodities. It's also not very evenly distributed and is also actively managed. If it was still an actual index, I wouldn't mind as much, even if it had lost more money. I feel that it might not capture the gains in precious metals, if the economy and other commodities are down but gold is up.

However, I'm conflicted about dumping it, because I really don't like the idea of locking in my losses. But I'm not sure if it will revert to its "mean" because the composition is different compared to the past. Also, I put it in my Roth, because I wanted to put the biggest gainers there, which makes it hurt even more.

I guess if I really wanted to stick to my guns, I could find another fund which is an actual index (to act as a leveraged gold bet), especially since most of them are down more than VGPMX at the present time. But I don't know how hard it would be to buy a non-Vanguard fund in my Vanguard account.

After a recent serious illness which was exacerbated, if not caused, by stress, I just simplified the rest of my portfolio because of the stress it was causing me (got rid of Small Value and International Small and put them into Total US and Total Int'l). It wasn't difficult because, even though they were up and down, they're currently about where I bought them, so I could make the change and be in the same position as if it'd never happened. This will allow me to be more tax-efficient (because one of my accounts has more choices in this area) and make rebalancing easier (which was difficult because of all the little pieces trying, and sometimes failing, to be tax efficient across 6 accounts).

If I sell VGPMX at a loss, I will have taken the risk without getting the reward. So I guess my options are:

1. Keep going as I am, rebalancing into it and hoping it pays off big some day.
2. Keep it but don't rebalance (and maybe take this year's rebalance amount back out since it's still about the same price), and hope it pays off big some day.
3. DCA out of it over a year or so, and split the money among my 3-fund portfolio (40% US, 40% Int'l, 20% Bond)
4. Try to market-time a good time to dump it and split the money among my 3-fund portfolio.
You have a loss on this fund? That wasn't what I expected when I opened this thread.

It's up 74% over the last year, and 7% a year over the last 3 years. But I guess if I look at the last 5 calendar years, it has a loss in each of them.

I plan to donate the shares I bought as part of my house payoff fund to charity and use the cash I would have given to pay off the house. It'll be a few more months before it qualifies for LTCG though. I was able to TLH some shares from it shortly after buying it as well.
1) Invest you must 2) Time is your friend 3) Impulse is your enemy | 4) Basic arithmetic works 5) Stick to simplicity 6) Stay the course
User avatar
Runalong
Posts: 138
Joined: Mon Jun 13, 2011 5:22 pm

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by Runalong »

wije asked how I timed my purchase right: the answer is that since it had dropped so far I was prepared to wait out further drops (it did for a couple months) until it reverted to the mean. my strategy actually calls for adding to my investment (this applies to sector etfs only) each time it drops another 15% or so from my original buy-in (usually when it is down 60% from previous highs). I also increased my emerging markets etf investments at that time and that has worked out well, although so far less spectacularly. I would never apply this type of strategy to individual stocks.

in order to apply this strategy successfully you have to be willing to buy sectors when they are way down, hold on and possibly increase your investment when they go down further and ignore all the voices declaring this sector hopeless for years to come. Otherwise, don't even try it, the Bogleheads philosophy is still the way to go for most people.
Topic Author
FlyingMoose
Posts: 630
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:48 pm

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by FlyingMoose »

White Coat Investor wrote:You have a loss on this fund? That wasn't what I expected when I opened this thread.
Note that I started the thread about 2 years ago.
dh
Posts: 643
Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2011 8:01 pm

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mini

Post by dh »

Dutch wrote:
Dutch wrote:Well for a different perspective:

I've started buying into VGPMX since the beginning of October. Part of my new contributions each month are now going towards this fund. I figure now might not be a bad time to buy for the long term, even if it continues to go lower in the short term.

Of course my cost basis is much lower than yours and that makes it easier to think that way. In the end, my crystal ball is as cloudy as yours.
That was from December 2014

I'm looking like a genius now - in my own mind - , but of course I had no idea the fund would recover this fast.
Dutch,
Don't be so modest! You knew this was going to happen exactly the way it did (and can share your secrets with others for big $$$). Start a blog, write a book, sell tickets to your seminars, ... one day, limericks will be written about your prowess. Seriously, I appreciate your wisdom and humbleness. Congrats on how this worked out for you! :sharebeer
User avatar
Dutch
Posts: 1277
Joined: Thu Jun 27, 2013 2:12 pm

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mini

Post by Dutch »

Dutch wrote:
dh wrote:
Dutch wrote:
Dutch wrote:Well for a different perspective:

I've started buying into VGPMX since the beginning of October. Part of my new contributions each month are now going towards this fund. I figure now might not be a bad time to buy for the long term, even if it continues to go lower in the short term.

Of course my cost basis is much lower than yours and that makes it easier to think that way. In the end, my crystal ball is as cloudy as yours.
That was from December 2014

I'm looking like a genius now - in my own mind - , but of course I had no idea the fund would recover this fast.
Dutch,
Don't be so modest! You knew this was going to happen exactly the way it did (and can share your secrets with others for big $$$). Start a blog, write a book, sell tickets to your seminars, ... one day, limericks will be written about your prowess. Seriously, I appreciate your wisdom and humbleness. Congrats on how this worked out for you! :sharebeer
Cheers mate! :beer I will continue to share my successes and hide my mistakes. Just like the real investment gurus
lemonPepper
Posts: 93
Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2015 6:43 pm

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by lemonPepper »

Image

I'm trying to incorporate a 10% allocation VGPMX in my IPS. I like the low correlation with us equities is a textbook case for rebalancing.

However I have no idea if I have the nerve to own an underperforming asset for decades. I think the underperformance serious depends on the starting point. My portfolio is rather small compared as my savings rate for the near future has gone up (finished grad school and paid off loans). So I feel like I don't necessarily have the bad timing risk. I keep 20% allocation to bonds to avoid the bad timing risk.
Castanea_d.
Posts: 192
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2014 8:14 pm

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by Castanea_d. »

Ben Carlson recently posted some thoughts on natural resource equities:
http://awealthofcommonsense.com/2016/09 ... ould-love/

He runs some backtests, using VGPMX as a proxy for the sector. Highly imperfect, as he admits, but it was the longest-running fund more or less in the sector that he could find (it goes back to 1985).

For our purposes in this thread, it is fun to see what he comes up with.
"Correlation to stocks 0.13 [1985 to present, with Vg Index 500 as proxy]... correlation to bonds 0.03 [Vg Total Bond Mkt]"
Most of the low correlation, he says, comes from the very high volatility.

He compares a 60/40 portfolio (Index 500/Total Bond) with a 50/10/40 (adding 10% of VGPMX) over the period 1985-2016, rebalancing annually. The annual returns for the two portfolios were about the same, but the volatility of the 50/10/40 was slightly lower.
This is one of the counterintuitive aspects of portfolio management. Adding a highly volatile, yet uncorrelated, investment to a portfolio can reduce overall portfolio volatility.

This seems like a good trade-off on paper, but dealing with volatility in a backtest is much easier than dealing with it in real life. There’s volatility and then there’s precious metals and mining stock volatility.
There follows a delightful bar chart comparing the three sectors' annual returns over the thirty-year period. Equities are up and down quite a bit, bonds not very much -- and VGPMX is all over the place, with huge swings that dwarf even the largest up and down years for equities.
It’s important for investors to go beyond buzzwords such as ‘uncorrelated returns’ and really dig deep to understand the risk/return profile of any investment or asset class they’re considering.... The hardest part about investing in uncorrelated return streams is the fact that they only work if you’re willing to not only stick with them, but continue to add money when they’re not working.
"Amen" to that!

Carlson wrote this piece in response to a Grantham Management (GMO) report which extols the virtues of natural resource equities. That report is here:
https://www.gmo.com/docs/default-source ... f?sfvrsn=3

Grantham's thinking on this topic was an important part of what initially drew me to this sector. He has been mostly bullish on it for a long time, and I think that he and his colleagues are quite possibly right in their thinking. But there are going to be some serious ups and downs along the way.

The GMO report (twelve pages) is worth reading, especially for its comparison of natural resource equities versus actual holding of the commodities, either as futures or in physical form. I question his emphasis on the "equity risk premium" (p. 2-3), and if I read Carlson rightly, so does he.

One other personal observation: quite aside from whether I have lost or made money with the precious metals and VGPMX (at this point, I am in the black, but not by a whole lot), it has been a valuable education. Riding the VGPMX roller-coaster these past few years has, I hope, made me fairly impervious to panic. More impervious than I was before, certainly.
Tamahome
Posts: 2325
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2013 12:03 pm
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mini

Post by Tamahome »

Prokofiev wrote:
I am presently looking to add a North Korean Small Cap Value fund to the mix for added diversification. I heard that all N Korean stocks are small cap with very little growth.
I understand that these may be simply glowing soon!
I'm not a financial professional. Post is info only & not legal advice. No attorney-client relationship exists with reader. Scrutinize my ideas as if you spoke with a guy at a bar. I may be wrong.
Topic Author
FlyingMoose
Posts: 630
Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 9:48 pm

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by FlyingMoose »

Man I hope dumping GDX at 30 (about 24 right now) doesn't give me a big ego and turn me into a market timer.
lemonPepper
Posts: 93
Joined: Wed Feb 18, 2015 6:43 pm

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by lemonPepper »

FlyingMoose wrote:Man I hope dumping GDX at 30 (about 24 right now) doesn't give me a big ego and turn me into a market timer.
almost goes to prove that a little bit of failure in the past is a good thing. I made some marketing timing mistakes before becoming a BH investor and I remind myself that loss when I want to market time!
Northern Flicker
Posts: 15365
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2015 12:29 am

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by Northern Flicker »

FKCRX is a precious metals equity fund that goes back to 1969. Using VGPMX to study the diversification benefit of PME has the problem that there was a period where it included substantial non-precious metals mining stocks, and then after a change of management, started returning to being more of a pure play on PME. In general, using an actively managed fund (including FKCRX) to look at the historical behavior of an asset class introduces tracking error into the data, but it is what is available.

It is very difficult to compare historical long-term returns of the PME sector with, say, the S&P500, because the data is highly sensitive to start date. What I observe is a sequence of periods where one outperforms the other, and then mean-reverts, with no predictability of which will outperform next after a mean reversion. This seems to corroborate the point that any excess return from holding a PME tilt is from rebalancing premiums.

While Hussman tends to be maligned for his strategic growth fund (hsgfx) that has been hedged for a substantial part of the current bull run in US equities, the Hussman Funds Total Return fund, hstrx, potentially is an interesting way to introduce a PME tilt and commodities diversification to a portfolio. This fund holds roughly 90% treasuries and cash, and 10% PME and commodities.

This means aggressive rebalancing of the PME is done for you, possibly delivering enough excess rebalancing premium over doing it yourself to justify the 0.69% ER, which by the way is likely to be a more honest ER than that of almost any other actively managed fund, including any of Vanguard, because Hussman does not use soft dollar arrangements with brokers to hide some expenses outside of the ER.

Another potential benefit is hiding the volatility of the PME by packaging it with a treasury portfolio, reducing the emotional volatility of holding a small allocation to PME and commodities. Another feature, which I view as more negative than positive, is the fixed income duration is actively managed (the fixed income portion of the fund currently is about 70% cash), introducing additional manager risk. I will add that I don't hold either this fund or any PME tilt.
User avatar
Hector
Posts: 1879
Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2010 1:21 pm
Contact:

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by Hector »

FlyingMoose wrote:Man I hope dumping GDX at 30 (about 24 right now) doesn't give me a big ego and turn me into a market timer.
One of the trades that I had highest return in was 2X Gold (ProShares Ultra Gold (ETF)). It was not a lot of $$, but it returned me 50% in 10 months. I discovered bogleheads forum around same time. I thought I got lucky in that trade and it did not give me a big ego.
Castanea_d.
Posts: 192
Joined: Fri Dec 05, 2014 8:14 pm

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by Castanea_d. »

Vanguard is making significant changes to VGPMX:
https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-fu ... A:MUF:0323

They are changing the name to reflect this, to "Vanguard Global Capital Cycles Fund."
- considerably reduced exposure to precious metals/mining
- different advisor (Wellington Management Co. LLP)
- new investment policy stipulates up to 75% of assets in industries that "follow cyclical patterns" and are currently in a period of low demand, with potential for growth as demand rebounds, also companies that "own irreplaceable or scarce infrastructure assets."
- They will continue to hold at least 25% in the precious metals and mining industry.

I liked VGPMX exactly as it was, am sorry to see this change, and am considering closing out my VGPMX position before the changed policies take effect in September. I gave a quick look today at FKRCX, the Franklin Gold and Precious Metals Fund, and it looks more appropriate - that is, more like the old VGPMX. But the expenses are eye-popping, including a stiff initial sales charge and a 12b-1 fee. That will probably be enough to steer me away. Anyone have suggestions as to other alternatives?

On the other hand, the new investment policy might be of interest for reasons other than precious metals exposure. I'll have to think about this for a while.
User avatar
Pajamas
Posts: 6015
Joined: Sun Jun 03, 2012 6:32 pm

Re: What to do with VGPMX (Vanguard Precious Metals and Mining)?

Post by Pajamas »

Castanea_d. wrote: Wed Aug 01, 2018 5:38 pm Vanguard is making significant changes to VGPMX:
https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-fu ... A:MUF:0323

They are changing the name to reflect this, to "Vanguard Global Capital Cycles Fund."
Yes, there's a current thread about it:

viewtopic.php?p=4043901
Post Reply