I have always appreciated commentary, opinions and stock recommendation from Forager (including Intelligent Investor before they sold it).
I was excited about their funds when they were both launched.
To me, at the time, it appeared that their strategy would outperform the market. That clearly hasn't been the case since inception of both funds.
As I learn more about investing, my conclusion is that my investments are likely to perform broadly inline with the market if I invest in a low cost index fund and avoid paying fees to Forager.
Hence, I've substantially reduced my investment and re-investment with Forager.
Some other factors that have driven me away:
- Less commentary about their stock picks. I understand that they need to be secretive to protect their IP. However, I believe that they lost a part of the process that helped them be good stock pickers.
- Using the world benchmark for the international fund while investing in small caps to capture outperformance.
I still like Forager, Steve and the team. However, I can't justify investing with them any more.
P.S. My investments with both funds more than doubled due to my luck in timing. I'm not a sour grape critiquing because I underperformed the market.
