FOF

FOF is the symbol of the newly created fund of funds by Cohen & Steers as the first fund of funds concentrated on closed-end funds. Its full name is Cohen & Steers Closed-End Opportunity Fund. It is also a closed-end fund.

According to its registration materials, its investment objective is total return, consisting of high current income and potential capital appreciation. The fund seeks to achieve its objective by investing in the common stock of closed-end management investment companies (the portfolio funds) that invest significantly in equity or income-producing securities. The portfolio funds generally focus on equity or income-producing securities, sectors or strategies, such as dividend strategies, covered call option strategies, total return strategies, balanced strategies, general equities (including both dividend and non-dividend paying equities), limited duration strategies, convertible securities, preferred securities, high yield securities and real estate, energy, utility and other equity or income-oriented strategies.

The combination of the quantitative approach and research-driven process for selecting closed-end funds is intended to produce a portfolio focused on total return that is allocated across multiple sectors, strategies and managers. They seek to identify closed-end funds that meet one or more of the following characteristics:

• Strong fundamentals,
• Relatively high current income,
• Share prices at a discount to net asset value,
• Undervalued funds,
• Well-regarded asset managers with strong track records,
• Diversification of sectors and asset classes,
• Market capitalization greater than $200 million, and
• Average daily trading volumes greater than $750,000 per day.

This fund can be a great fund if they can accomplish what they have stated. FOF is the pioneer in this category of funds. There are funds of funds in mutual funds, such as the Vanguard target retirement funds. Since I am interested in risk-adjusted return investments, I should pay close attention to this fund. I am watching this one very closely. I may purchase some shares as soon as the market price falls near or below the NAV.

Weizhen Tang

Olina has been talking about her new friend Weizhen Tang . She said that he was a financial genius. She told me that Tang could make profit one per cent per week, no down-week. He could make over 52% for a year. She said that she had a portion of her money managed by Tang. She said that she believed him. She also told me that Max believed that, too. She said that she was helping Jay to market Tang locally.

I am reluctant to believe such a rumor. However, that would be wonderful returns if Tang could really do that for a long time. After I have googled about Tang Weizhen on the Internet for a while, I am not yet willing to believe the story completely. It is likely that this person might be a marketer of his personal ego rather than a real financial genius.

On January 20, 2007 on a birthday party, Richard stated some similar stories about Tang. Richard personally knows him for over ten years. According to Richard, Tang was going to entering the Wall Street this year (2007). Olina mentioned similar goals about Tang a few months ago. The story is becoming more realistic. So his story will come out in the Wall Street Journal very soon if his great returns on investments can continue over time.

By now, the story was ended as of March 17, 2009 with the involvement of OSC of Canada. On March 26, Ontario Securities Commission alleged that Tang had run a Ponzi scheme that defrauded investors in Canada, the U.S. (mainly in Texas) and China of about $60 million.

道德经第十八章：智慧出，有大伪。