Pie funds

[D. Fender]

Remember at one stage an offer was made that if you invested in the global fund you were able to invest some in the earlier funds. That would account for some inflow to those funds.

Missed out on the 1st fund but hold the next three. Offered the Chairman's fund but decided against it as decided I had enough invested there. Also a little concerned at possible doubling of fees with a fund of funds arrangement. Or are non Chairman Fund investors paying the total fees from the individual funds being covered.

Happy as an investor.

Re the Chairmans Fund, you pay the Chairmans Fund fee and the underlying manager fees.

[Harvey Specter]

Mike will probably have a good chuckle at this thread when he finishes his morning swim in his pool of gold coins.

[Joshuatree]

I think PIE are good for people who know nothing about investing, its probably the only way that those people will have exposure to the share market, that and maybe some Telecom/Utility shares they got in a public float. So all good. But as an experienced investor, I am merely expressing my surprise at some of their investment decisions (selling early, selling late) as I would have thought they would know better being "eggspurts" and all. Especially concerned by the big write ups they do in their newsletters to promote a stock they have bought, saying what a wonderful investment opportunity it is, while simultaneously selling it on market. Its unfortunate if those great returns are coming at the expense of naive investors sucked in by a pump and dump operation - if the funds are closed, how many of the people who get those newsletters rush out to buy whatever stock PIE is promoting that month, only to find out the next month that PIE have conveniently exited leaving them holding the dud investment.

I believe many professionals/high net worth people invest through PIE for the great returns and quality of the funds one at least has a five star rating.Some of them are too busy to have time for research etc.

I know something about investing and i know i have areas of weakness too so PIE is a great way of diversifying mitigating and making up for some of my mistakes; Gold stocks being one of them at this moment in time.Their time will come but at an opportunity cost

As you yourself say KW anything can happen in a month or so esp with small caps so PIE selling something does not mean they are doing a pump/dump on us small retail investors, something has intrinsically changed in their investment.

I know a lot of savvy investors keep up with what PIE and The Boat Fund etc are buying into (looks like you too ehh

I suppose its natural you set the threshold/bar as high as what you say you achieve your self ; you're in a league on your own and you share lots of great advice from hard earned experience.

[D. Fender]

I believe many professionals/high net worth people invest through PIE for the great returns and quality of the funds one at least has a five star rating.Some of them are too busy to have time for research etc.

I know something about investing and i know i have areas of weakness too so PIE is a great way of diversifying mitigating and making up for some of my mistakes; Gold stocks being one of them at this moment in time.Their time will come but at an opportunity cost

As you yourself say KW anything can happen in a month or so esp with small caps so PIE selling something does not mean they are doing a pump/dump on us small retail investors, something has intrinsically changed in their investment.

I know a lot of savvy investors keep up with what PIE and The Boat Fund etc are buying into (looks like you too ehh

I suppose its natural you set the threshold/bar as high as what you say you achieve your self ; you're in a league on your own and you share lots of great advice from hard earned experience.

I think there are some good points on both sides of this debate.

[bull....]

The funds are soft closed I believe if they continue to take funds in.

Good markets since end 2008 make most of us look like gurus, when the party ends we will see the real gurus! quote by bull

[D. Fender]

Are the returns shown before or after all the fees (annual and performance) are taken into account?

And can someone explain what happens with taxes? Who pays what?

Hi KW, all fund returns are net of fees (annual and performance).

In a P.I.E. (as in Portfolio Investment Entity, not the fund manager), there is no CGT payable either within the fund or on sale of the units. Income (i.e. dividends) is taxed but at reduced rates compared with normal PAYE rates (e.g. the top rate in a PIE is 28%) and is paid direct from the fund to the IRD via cancellation/sale of units.

[Joshuatree]

I think there are some good points on both sides of this debate. But I've done my research and here are my final thoughts on the matter:



6. Focus - not only is the CEO running Pie Funds (now with 5 funds and $190m FUM) and managing 8 employees, he's also running (and writing) a financial/lifestyle magazine and flying round the world doing manager research. Compare this to 2.5 years ago when it was 2 funds, $30m FUM and 3 employees.

The track record is beyond reproach, but it is past performance. The big question is where it goes from here.

Thanks for your post's the homzen. I would be surprised (pleasantly) if they could keep similar performance up. When it was as you describe above ,small , simple low cost structure and more nimble ; it was kinda perfectly formed but alas nothing stays the same. Really happy to hold for now.

[D. Fender]

Fortunately PIE had halved their investment in TTN before the hit.

Hi JT, just been looking back at the newsletters. TTN was in 'Energy' in the fund sector breakdowns in the newsletters.

[Joshuatree]

From their latest slice of PIE

"Prior to Titan’s downgrade, Pie had been reducing,and its weighting in the funds had halved from12 months earlier. It was no longer a top 5 stockin Growth and Dividend and our plan was tohave exited by March 2015. In recent times I’d hadgrowing concerns about the robustness of theirbusiness model. That said, the team clearly gotthis one wrong and for that I will admit we madea mistake. "

[Joshuatree]

From their latest slice of PIE

"Prior to Titan’s downgrade, Pie had been reducing,and its weighting in the funds had halved from12 months earlier. It was no longer a top 5 stockin Growth and Dividend and our plan was tohave exited by March 2015. In recent times I’d hadgrowing concerns about the robustness of theirbusiness model. That said, the team clearly gotthis one wrong and for that I will admit we madea mistake. "