Really no that is not a fair comparison. WAM isn't an ETF. It...

Really no that is not a fair comparison. WAM isn't an ETF. It doesn't match the market weightings. GW constantly tells you they are super stock pickers. Not much evidence of that anywhere - that is why the ETF has had so much traction.

I could have used MLT a few months ago and it would have shown the same trajectory.

So WAM thinks PM Group hasn't managed funds well.

1 Year PGF up 41% and WAM up 4%.
3 Year PGF up 50% and WAM 2.5%
5 Year WAM down 10.7% and PGF up 76.5%
10 Year WAM up 19.4% and PGF up 79.6%.

The dividends would narrow this a lot but PGF actually charges much like WAM.

Now you will say its a global fund - we can continue to find reasons but fundamentally no-one cares what is in WAM as it doesn't say excluding this they are supposed to be great stock pickers. I can counter that WAM isn't worth a premium as PGF is still trading below NTA. If you took NTA it probably would get even worse.

By the way 5 years ago I went to a seminar about why the banks were skewing the weightings - yet each year they seem to do okay.

My argument is that WAM on the past 5 years has not been flash at all. there is an 86% variance. over 5 years. The reasons people pay up is dividends are very high. The reasons people pay up for banks the dividends are very high.

We do own PGF , We don't in fact own ARG and WAM - we in principle cannot justify a premium to NTA. We do own WLE for the reasons stated before.
I really have no reasons to post here other than to reflect the facts which , in my opinion, over time has lost sight of reality with all the excitement about dividends and share prices above NTA.

I just believe with the next corrections these stocks are vulnerable. I thank WAM for improving my exit value for PAF (which by the way was a dog - PM capital got that one wrong). However if I was a WAM shareholder I would be looking at that deal and wondering how WAM is going to make money out of it.

I have a business partner who consistently makes me look in the mirror and judge myself against facts. I sometimes think we all should do that at times. We have 1 underperforming LIC in our portfolio and I keep making excuses for it. I hope it has turned the corner but I cannot be sure so I rather want to look hard at the results rather than ignore my concerns.