American Century Small Cap ASVIX

[edvest]

Do you think this is a good fund?

[xenial]

We tend to prefer index funds around here; you might want to read about the Bogleheads® investment philosophy. If your asset allocation plan calls for a dedicated domestic small value fund, then consider something like Vanguard Small-Cap Value Index. Any of its share classes will save you over 1% annually in expenses, likely leading to better long-term performance. The index fund also eliminates the risk of active managers underperforming due to poor security selection or market timing.

[pkcrafter]

Do you think this is a good fund?

I doubt any Boglehead would think it's a good fund. ER of 1.26%. About the same returns as Vanguard small value, but more volatility.

Paul

[tenkuky]

I held that for 8 years till I became a Boglehead 4 years ago.
Now only index funds/ETFs for me

[nedsaid]

Yes, this is a good fund. 4 star rating from Morningstar having had consistently good performance. There are alternatives available. I own the Vanguard Small Cap Value ETF and the S&P 600 Small Value ETF as well and those are cheaper and probably better. I have eyed this American Century Fund for a while but have never bit though I do own their Mid-Cap Value fund.

[edvest]

My 401k has Vanguard Admiral 500 index fund. VFIAX
It's the only index fund they offer, the rest are 11 american fund target funds, two bonds and ten other assorted growth funds.

Is it a good fund. Do you think I should my american century into it.

[Nicolas]

I don't recommend ASVIX.

I owned it for ten years from 2002-2012 and was unhappy with its performance. I sold it in August 2012 and initially bought VIOO (Vanguard S&P Small-Cap 600 ETF, ER 0.15%) and later IJR (iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Core ETF, ER 0.07%). Both track the Small-Cap Core S&P 600 index which has performed far better than ASVIX for the last five and ten years.

Their expenses are also far lower than that of ASVIX. ASVIX is, of course, actively managed, whereas the Vanguard and iShares ETFs are not.

If you want to stay with pure value I recommend IJS (iShares S&P Small-Cap 600 Value ETF, ER 0.25%).

Compare the performance of these three against ASVIX at Morningstar.

[HEDGEFUNDIE]

My 401k has Vanguard Admiral 500 index fund. VFIAX
It's the only index fund they offer, the rest are 11 american fund target funds, two bonds and ten other assorted growth funds.

Is it a good fund. Do you think I should my american century into it.

Yes buy VFIAX and get your small cap exposure outside of your 401k.

[edvest]

I doubt any Boglehead would think it's a good fund. ER of 1.26%. About the same returns as Vanguard small value, but more volatility.

Forgive my lack of know-how, but where did you find the ER 1.26% ? (Are you referring to price/earning ratio?)

Tu!

[pkcrafter]

I doubt any Boglehead would think it's a good fund. ER of 1.26%. About the same returns as Vanguard small value, but more volatility.

Forgive my lack of know-how, but where did you find the ER 1.26% ? (Are you referring to price/earning ratio?)

Tu!

Sorry, ER = expense ratio.

Google search shows some sites that have information.

https://www.google.com/search?q=asvix&i ... irefox-b-1

I usually go to Morningstar where you can find expense ratio, returns, risk, and more.

http://financials.morningstar.com/fund/ ... ture=en_US


Paul

[oldcomputerguy]

1.26% expense ratio, 90% turnover (which adds roughly 0.9% hidden trading cost to the expense), almost half the fund is mid-cap rather than small-cap. Not my cup of tea. American Beacon's AVPAX is a bit better, 1.13% ER and 48% turnover, with 67% exposure to small-cap.

If you don't mind ETFs, a couple of better choices might be Blackrock's IJS (approx. 90% small-cap and 0.25% ER) or Invesco's RZV (98% is small-cap, 62% is small-cap value, the "purest" SCV fund I've found so far, 0.35% expense ratio).

[goingup]

I doubt any Boglehead would think it's a good fund. ER of 1.26%. About the same returns as Vanguard small value, but more volatility.

Forgive my lack of know-how, but where did you find the ER 1.26% ? (Are you referring to price/earning ratio?)

Tu!

Is this fund in your workplace 401K plan? If so, you'll find the expense ratio on the Plan's website.

You're asking about one fund but what about all the other funds in your 401K?

[nedsaid]

1.26% expense ratio, 90% turnover (which adds roughly 0.9% hidden trading cost to the expense), almost half the fund is mid-cap rather than small-cap. Not my cup of tea. American Beacon's AVPAX is a bit better, 1.13% ER and 48% turnover, with 67% exposure to small-cap.

If you don't mind ETFs, a couple of better choices might be Blackrock's IJS (approx. 90% small-cap and 0.25% ER) or Invesco's RZV (98% is small-cap, 62% is small-cap value, the "purest" SCV fund I've found so far, 0.35% expense ratio).

Most "Small-Cap" funds have a lot of mid-caps in them. Vanguard Small Value Index has a lot of Mid-Cap and a lot of Core stocks in it but it has been good enough and has actually been outperforming DFA Small-Cap Value.

[oldcomputerguy]

1.26% expense ratio, 90% turnover (which adds roughly 0.9% hidden trading cost to the expense), almost half the fund is mid-cap rather than small-cap. Not my cup of tea. American Beacon's AVPAX is a bit better, 1.13% ER and 48% turnover, with 67% exposure to small-cap.

If you don't mind ETFs, a couple of better choices might be Blackrock's IJS (approx. 90% small-cap and 0.25% ER) or Invesco's RZV (98% is small-cap, 62% is small-cap value, the "purest" SCV fund I've found so far, 0.35% expense ratio).

Most "Small-Cap" funds have a lot of mid-caps in them. Vanguard Small Value Index has a lot of Mid-Cap and a lot of Core stocks in it but it has been good enough and has actually been outperforming DFA Small-Cap Value.

That's what really surprised me when I ran across RZV some time back, the fact that it breaks out as 98% small-cap, 2% mid-cap, and 0% large-cap. That seems to be pretty unusual.

[nedsaid]

1.26% expense ratio, 90% turnover (which adds roughly 0.9% hidden trading cost to the expense), almost half the fund is mid-cap rather than small-cap. Not my cup of tea. American Beacon's AVPAX is a bit better, 1.13% ER and 48% turnover, with 67% exposure to small-cap.

If you don't mind ETFs, a couple of better choices might be Blackrock's IJS (approx. 90% small-cap and 0.25% ER) or Invesco's RZV (98% is small-cap, 62% is small-cap value, the "purest" SCV fund I've found so far, 0.35% expense ratio).

Most "Small-Cap" funds have a lot of mid-caps in them. Vanguard Small Value Index has a lot of Mid-Cap and a lot of Core stocks in it but it has been good enough and has actually been outperforming DFA Small-Cap Value.

That's what really surprised me when I ran across RZV some time back, the fact that it breaks out as 98% small-cap, 2% mid-cap, and 0% large-cap. That seems to be pretty unusual.

Well, that is hard to do. Mid-Caps are more liquid than Small-Caps and easier to deal with. I remember that an International Small-Cap Index ETF was actually about 50% Mid-Caps. A lot of this has to do with liquidity. What RZV has accomplished is really amazing and hopefully the ETF won't attract too many dollars, my guess is that with more dollars you would see more Mid-Caps.

[Nate79]

If you look at the actual performance of the fund vs the Vanguard small cap value fund (VISVX), ASVIX outperformed significantly from 1998 to today but the funds have almost the same performance in the last 10 or so years. It would not be my first choice for small cap or small cap value funds but based on performance it has done just fine even though it has a high expense ratio.

[nedsaid]

If you look at the actual performance of the fund vs the Vanguard small cap value fund (VISVX), ASVIX outperformed significantly from 1998 to today but the funds have almost the same performance in the last 10 or so years. It would not be my first choice for small cap or small cap value funds but based on performance it has done just fine even though it has a high expense ratio.

I actually am considering a buy of ASVIX, American Century Small-Cap Value. I own their Mid-Cap Value Fund which has done even better. One reason I am in no rush to buy the Small-Cap version. I also have owned their Value fund, which is Large Cap, and that fund has had a good record. The Value team at American Century has done a good job.