The BlackRock International Bond fund, Service class (CIFIX), is closed to new investors. The only classes left are load classes, which we do not recommend. We are replacing the Blackrock International Bond Fund with the American Century International Bond fund (BEGBX). This fund is an excellent low fee fund that is available for No Transaction fee (NTF) through many discount brokers. The fund does not hedge against currency risk, which makes the fund a bit more volatile, but continued US dollar weakness should help this funds returns. This change affects the “Conservative” (#2) and “Safety” (#1) portfolios.
As we mentioned in earlier alerts, the American Century Global Natural Resources fund (BGRIX) closed to new investors. Normally, this action would not affect existing shareholders, but American Century also intends to close the fund completely and return money to investors, a move that may occur in a few months.
Two reasons we liked this fund – very low fees and small size - likely lead to this decision. There are no good similar funds so we are giving up on the global natural resources sub-category for now. We are replacing the 10% American Century Global Natural Resources Fund allocation with the T. Rowe Price Japan fund (PRJPX). This move affects the Growth (#4) and the Aggressive Growth (#5) model portfolios. Existing investors in the Global Natural Resources fund can stay in the fund for the time being, but note that we recommend this Japan fund now partially because of the recent weakness in Japan presents a short term buying opportunity – although we intend to keep this allocation for awhile.
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The BlackRock International Bond fund, Service class (CIFIX), is closed to new investors. The only classes left are load classes, which we do not recommend. We are replacing the Blackrock International Bond Fund with the American Century International Bond fund (BEGBX). This fund is an excellent low fee fund that is available for No Transaction fee (NTF) through many discount brokers. The fund does not hedge against currency risk, which makes the fund a bit more volatile, but continued US dollar weakness should help this funds returns. This change affects the “Conservative” (#2) and “Safety” (#1) portfolios.
As we mentioned in earlier alerts, the American Century Global Natural Resources fund (BGRIX) closed to new investors. Normally, this action would not affect existing shareholders, but American Century also intends to close the fund completely and return money to investors, a move that may occur in a few months.
Two reasons we liked this fund – very low fees and small size - likely lead to this decision. There are no good similar funds so we are giving up on the global natural resources sub-category for now. We are replacing the 10% American Century Global Natural Resources Fund allocation with the T. Rowe Price Japan fund (PRJPX). This move affects the Growth (#4) and the Aggressive Growth (#5) model portfolios. Existing investors in the Global Natural Resources fund can stay in the fund for the time being, but note that we recommend this Japan fund now partially because of the recent weakness in Japan presents a short term buying opportunity – although we intend to keep this allocation for awhile.