After five years of mostly mediocre performance, Dodge & Cox’s U.S.-oriented stock funds have emerged from the wilderness. Dodge & Cox Stock, a member of the Kiplinger 25, beat the market by four percentage points over the past year. And Dodge & Cox Balanced is near the top of the list of one-year winners in Morningstar’s moderate-allocation category.
Balanced is essentially a sedate version of Stock. It holds nearly all of the issues in Stock, but it also invests a big chunk of its assets in the bonds held by Dodge & Cox Income.
Lately, Balanced has been pushing the allocation envelope. The typical balanced fund has 60% to 65% of its assets in stocks, but Balanced recently had 71% in stocks, near the maximum of 75% permitted by its charter. “Long term, the potential returns from fixed income are limited,” says chief investment officer Charles Pohl. “We see significantly better long-term potential for equity.”
Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free E-Newsletters
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.
Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.
When picking stocks, Dodge & Cox favors growing companies at favorable prices. But the firm’s 18 managers and 23 analysts also shop for distressed merchandise with slashed share prices. Balanced’s biggest stock-sector weightings at last report were in financials, technology and health care. As for Balanced’s bond holdings, 38% was in corporate debt (nearly all of it investment-grade), and one-fourth was in government-agency mortgage securities.
-
RMD Deadline April 1: Five Tax Strategies to Manage Your 2025 IncomeTaxable Income The April 1, 2025, deadline for required minimum distributions (RMDs) is fast approaching for retirees who turned 73 in 2024.
-
Rising AI Demand Stokes Undersea InvestmentsThe Kiplinger Letter As demand soars for AI, there’s a need to transport huge amounts of data across oceans. Tech giants have big plans for new submarine cables, including the longest ever.
-
Best Banks for High-Net-Worth Clients 2024wealth management These banks welcome customers who keep high balances in deposit and investment accounts, showering them with fee breaks and access to financial-planning services.
-
Stock Market Holidays in 2025: NYSE, NASDAQ and Wall Street HolidaysMarkets When are the stock market holidays? Here, we look at which days the NYSE, Nasdaq and bond markets are off in 2025.
-
Stock Market Trading Hours: What Time Is the Stock Market Open Today?Markets When does the market open? While the stock market does have regular hours, trading doesn't necessarily stop when the major exchanges close.
-
Bogleheads Stay the CourseBears and market volatility don’t scare these die-hard Vanguard investors.
-
The Current I-Bond Rate Until May Is Mildly Attractive. Here's Why.Investing for Income The current I-bond rate is active until November 2024 and presents an attractive value, if not as attractive as in the recent past.
-
What Are I-Bonds? Inflation Made Them Popular. What Now?savings bonds Inflation has made Series I savings bonds, known as I-bonds, enormously popular with risk-averse investors. So how do they work?
-
This New Sustainable ETF’s Pitch? Give Back Profits.investing Newday’s ETF partners with UNICEF and other groups.
-
As the Market Falls, New Retirees Need a Planretirement If you’re in the early stages of your retirement, you’re likely in a rough spot watching your portfolio shrink. We have some strategies to make the best of things.
