Bob Brinker was on vacation again this week. Lynn Jimenez, business reporter for KGO810 radio in San Francisco, filled in.
KGO canceled Moneytalk in December 2011 and replaced Brinker with other talk shows. However, Brinker's Moneytalk was picked up by KSFO560 -- also in San Francisco. I was surprised to hear that Lynn Jimenez was still Brinker's fill-in. Even though they are "sister" stations, the two stations are political opposites and in competition with each other.
Of course, KGO is ten times more powerful than KSFO, so Brinker is not reaching nearly as many people out of San Francisco as he did before.
I listened to the first two hours of Lynn's show. Bob Brinker was only mentioned one time. A caller said he was a long-time Moneytalk listener and Lynn replied: "Thank you for listening to Bob and me."
I will write a list of the main subjects from the first two hours so if you want, you can download the broadcast from the KSFO archives and listen. The third hour guest-speaker was Peter Massari who talked about saving for college.
* Economy and jobs report looking optimistic.
* Definition of laddered CDs. (Older woman caller wanted a whole program on CDs.)
* Mortgages and how to get government help if you can't make your payments. (Caller stopped making his mortgage payments and bought another home -- now looking for a government bailout. Lynn said she didn't want to hear about the new home and gave him this link.)
* Traditional IRA vs Roth IRA. (Caller wanted to know if he could roll money from a traditional IRA to Roth without paying taxes. The answer is no.)
* There were two personal comments made to Lynn today because she is a woman that would never be made to Bob: "Your voice sounds pretty" and "You have a smiling voice."
BOB BRINKER NEWS
I was investigating the Akre Focus Fund (AKREX) and found this information posted on the Yahoo Focus Retail message board: "Bob Brinker's Dec letter reconmended AKREX. For what it is worth" (click here). It was posted on December 8, 2011. I confirmed this in the December (and January) Marketimer.
AKREX is a new fund. Started by Charles T. Akre, Jr. August 31, 2009. The expense ratio is 1.45, which is extremely high compared to the low-cost Vanguard Funds that Brinker usually recommends. Plus, it carries a 0.25 12b1 fee. This fund been extremely volatile in the two years that it's existed: In 2010 it was up 19.29%, and it was down 11.09% n 2011.
November 27, 2011: Lynn Jimenez
December 4, 2011: Bob Brinker
December 11, 2011: Neale Godfrey
December 18, 2011: Bob Brinker
December 25, 2011: Christmas, no show
January 1, 2012: Bob Brinker
January 8, 2012: Lynn Jimenez
Dixiegeezer sent this wonderful Great Horned Owl photo this afternoon. Click on it to enlarge:
Dixiegeezer sent this wonderful Great Horned Owl photo this afternoon. Click on it to enlarge:
28 comments:
Well it certainly is refreshing to hear an old familiar voice from KGO. Lynn Jimenez is like a breath of fresh air to that shout fest blowhard Bob Brinker
Brinker must still be able to call a few shots if he is able to bring Lynn over to host his show in his absence at a classy station like KSFO.
KGO
Aren't the stations owned by the same company? If so, not that big a deal to hear Lynn. Could have more of a mgt. decision than BB's decision.
-- Frankj
Thanks again for the post honeybee. It looks like bob is slowly exiting the scene. Perhaps he has reached critical mass and is setting his GPS for more exciting things since he lives in the vegaS AREA. Perhaps he is boarding the starship for ports unknown after all is is Da-Brink
"Of course, KGO is ten times more powerful than KSFO, so Brinker is not reaching nearly as many people out of San Francisco as he did before."
Not necessarily true. It all depends on your listenership i.e. ratings.
It doesn't matter how powerful your station is if nobody listens.
FrankJ,
My guess is that since it isn't a KGO program, but a network program, they decided it didn't matter that much that Lynn Jimenez works for KGO, but they no longer carry the program.
KSFO is just a little fish in a big pond when compared to the nation-wide stations that carry Moneytalk. Granted, there are a lot fewer now than there was in Bob Brinker's hay-day.
The Akre Focus Fund is a highly concentrated fund that consists of only 25 stocks. It's top two holdings are Mastercard(MA) and Dollar Tree(DLTR) which make up 23%of the fund. It's top six holdings make up over 50% of the fund. Needless to say the fund manager has very little margin for error with this investment style.
John,
My own opinion is that Bob Brinker will never completely retire from the airwaves as long as there are stations that will carry the program.
However, I also think that he is working hard at squeezing the actual time that he has to work down as small as he possibly can.
He simply wants to keep his and his son's name in the public eye as long as possible.
The son is now making big bucks on using the talk show host's name on the internet. Note that they try to differentiate him in this article. But that means nothing because we know that 99% of Moneytalk callers indicate that they believe Brinker has two newsletters -- Marketimer and the Fixed Income Advisor:
Brass Monkey swings biz model around, closes $750K seed round
"Bob Brinker, who came in to close out the round, is based out of Colorado and this is his first investment." Brinker is the the editor and publisher of the Brinker Fixed Income Advi$or.
Brass Monkey Swings Biz Model Around Closes $750K Seed Round
Jim,
Thanks for that info about the Akre Fund. I looked at the top ten holdings and, wow, you're right, very high percentages:
Finance Yahoo AKREX Holding
"He simply wants to keep his and his son's name in the public eye as long as possible."
Are you surprised at that? That's call marketing his wares or capitalism.
Who really cares if people can't tell the difference between father and son? It doesn't make a bit of difference anyway.
bestbetdown
Bob Brinker's Moneytalk added back for 2 hours on KABC:
CUMULUS Talk KABC-A/LOS ANGELES has added.....
On SUNDAYS, the syndicated "MONEY TALK WITH BOB BRINKER" rejoins the lineup for 2-4p; the local car show with station veteran LEON "THE MOTORMAN" KAPLAN shifts back an hour to 7-10a; and "THE VICTORY SESSIONS WITH STEPHEN K. BANNON" has been added for 5-7p.
allaccess.com
bestbetdown said: "Who really cares if people can't tell the difference between father and son? It doesn't make a bit of difference anyway."
I'm going to assume you are making a joke because I don't believe anyone with enough intelligence to use a computer could possibly believe that.
According to a Barron's article this morning, here are the two best places on the internet to compare ETFs:
XTF.com
ETF data base
Jim said...
"The Akre Focus Fund is a highly concentrated fund that consists of only 25 stocks. It's top two holdings are Mastercard(MA) and Dollar Tree(DLTR) which make up 23%of the fund. It's top six holdings make up over 50% of the fund. Needless to say the fund manager has very little margin for error with this investment style."
That raises an interesting point. For years Bob Brinker has told callers to limit their exposure to individual stocks to 4%. This fund manager has thrown that rule out the window. I am not criticizing Brinker for selecting this fund. I don't follow his 4% rule. IBM and CVX are two of my top holdings that are well in excess of 4%. The performance of this fund will probably determine if Brinkers portfolios out perform the index this year.
The Akre Focus Fund is also a large holding of a Christian newsletter...Sound Mind Investing which:
"...comes with a steady patter of Bible verses and homilies. (“The Lord Himself has entrusted you with financial responsibility. Do your best to become knowledgeable, stay informed, and faithfully carry out the role of a steward [manager] over what belongs to Him.”) But the logic is searingly secular."
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/another-christian-letter-gives-thanks-2011-11-24?siteid=yhoof2
324x
So "Sound Mind Investing Fund" holds Akre Focus Fund, so what?
(Copied from prior thread.)
Jim said:
"I think a person would do better following Suzie Orman's advice, which is free. She talks about dollar cost averaging as does Brinker. As of a couple of years ago, she herself invested almost all of her money (in the low $20 millions) in insured municipal bond investments. She has ~$1-$2 million in stocks, she says she doesn't mind taking the risk of loss. She says she accepts a slightly lower return for the insurance of her principal. I myself don't believe that a DCA recommendation is worth paying $185 a year, nor is a vague, ongoing hunch that the S&P 500 "has the potential" to trade in the low to mid-1400s. 2011 was indeed a rough market for equity investments. Perhaps it is too early to invest in anything other than income producing assets. Obviously, Brinker does not know what the market will do any better than you or I."
I emailed brinker and asked him why he is only on a very small time with guest hosts,,, after all if one is a subscriber we want to hear from him not lynn,,, no response ,,, if the akre fund is mastercharge as one of their assets ,, who knows if the people pay the card,,, hope it isn't another QQQ...
Bartee,
If you think that being a subscriber means that Bob Brinker cares one tiny little bit about you, I'm sorry to tell you that you are mistaken.
Brinker has almost as much contempt for subscribers as he does for Moneytalk listeners. And we know that he views listeners as (and I quote) "freeloaders."
World Economy Collapses in Three Minutes
Just in case he plans on doing the show this coming Sunday, Bob Brinker should watch this video before the program.
A law-and-order Republican governor, Haley Barbour of Mississippi, has given full pardons or clemency to 208 inmates, including 14 convicted murderers, setting off a political uproar over the limits of executive power in the traditionally patriarchal South.
Bfree
New Bill Gross Pimco fixed income ETF on the way. This is the fund manager that beats both Bob Brinker's fixed income portfolios by a mile:
By Olivier Ludwig and Dave Nadig | January 10, 2012 6:00 pm
Pimco, the world’s biggest bond fund manager, revealed today that it plans to launch the exchange-traded fund version of its flagship Total Return Fund on March 1, which will bring to fruition a process that began last April when it first filed for regulatory permission to bring the ETF to market.
“The PIMCO Total Return Exchange-Traded Fund (ticker TRXT) is scheduled to list on March 1, 2012,” the Newport Beach, Calif.-based company said in a terse statement posted on its website. “More information about the fund will be provided as the listing date approaches.”
What is known about TRXT from previous regulatory filings is that the fund will have an annual expense ratio of 0.55 percent. That’s 40 basis points cheaper than the “A” class mutual fund version that’s most appropriate for retail investors. That said, it’s also possible for institutional investors, in size, to get that price down to a no-load 46 basis points.
The mutual fund version of the Total Return Fund has $241 billion in assets, making it one of the biggest portfolios in the world. It launched in 1986 during the heyday of the active mutual fund boom. It’s been one of the most successful fixed-income funds in the world, and has just about made its manager, Bill Gross, a household name in America.
Gross’ moves are followed by fixed-income watchers the way Warren Buffett’s stock picks are. When Gross moved the Total Return out of U.S. government debt in March of last year, it made international headlines.
That decision hurt him in 2011, when the Total Return Fund returned 4.17 percent. The year before, it had gains of 8.36 percent, and in 2009 it returned 13.33 percent. Amazingly, it even had total returns of 4.33 percent in 2008, the year financial markets became unhinged after the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
Read more: Pimco Total Return ETF To Launch March 1
Gundlach has been beating Gross for years!
Gundlach Sees `No Normal' While Beating Bill Gross Since 1995
Jeffrey Gundlach, the lone bond manager to beat Bill Gross in the past 5, 10 and 15 years, said there won’t be any “new normal” to guide investors until policy makers repair the damage caused by the financial crisis.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-10-05/gundlach-only-fund-beating-pimco-total-return-shows-why-there-s-no-normal.html
Anyone who pardons and releases killers on to the streets should be required to take them into their own homes or their children's homes -- their choice.
Excuse me, but that story is from 2010. Do you have something a little more current on that subject?
From a Wall Street Journal Online article.
Retail Sales Suggest Muted Holiday Season
(SNIP)
Jobless Claims Increase
Initial jobless claims rose by 24,000 to a seasonally adjusted 399,000 in the week ended Jan. 7, the Labor Department said Thursday. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires had forecast claims would rise by 8,000 to 380,000.
For the week ended Dec. 31, claims were revised to 375,000 from an originally reported 372,000.
The four-week moving average of new jobless claims, which smooths out volatile weekly figures, increased last week by 7,750 to 381,750.
New jobless claims had been trending lower since mid-September. While last week's figure was the highest since late November, it was the ninth time in the past 10 that new claims came in below the 400,000 mark; some economists believe claims must remain consistently below that level to signal a real turnaround.
Despite signs of improvement in the jobs market, unemployment remains well above historic norms. Last week, the Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate sank to 8.5% in December, its lowest level since February 2009.
Still, the recovery has moved in fits and starts, and many forecasters expect only moderate improvement through 2012.
"I think we will make more progress on employment but it is likely to be slow," Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker said Wednesday on CNBC.
In its most recent forecast, issued last year, the Fed predicted an unemployment rate in a range of 8.5% to 8.7% at the end of 2012. The central bank, charged with maintaining stable prices and maximum employment, is considering additional efforts to prop up the economy.
Thursday's report showed the number of continuing unemployment benefit claims--those drawn by workers for more than a week--increased by 19,000 to 3,628,000 in the week ended Dec. 31. Continuing claims are reported with a one-week lag.
The unemployment rate for workers with unemployment insurance for the week ending Dec. 31 was 2.9%, unchanged from the prior week.
The state-by-state breakdown in initial jobless claims, which is also released with a one-week lag, showed California with the biggest decrease in new claims--23,969--due to fewer layoffs in the construction, service and manufacturing industries.
Online.wsj.com
Since it was noted that Bob Brinker was only on the air three out of the last seven weeks, I took a look at his attendance for calendar year 2011. Here is what I found.
1/2/11 Neale
2/13/11 Lynn
3/6/11 Lynn
4/10/11 Lynn
5/29/11 Lynn
6/12/11 Lynn
7/3/11 Lynn
8/7/11 Lynn
8/28/11 Rebroadcast of previous shows
9/4/11 Lynn
10/9/11 Lynn
11/27/11 Lynn
12/11/11 Neale
12/25/11 No broadcast on Christmas
It looks like Bob was off 14 of the 52 weeks in 2011. As Bartee noted, is this fair to the people who pay for Moneytalk on demand?
Jeff notes:
It looks like Bob was off 14 of the 52 weeks in 2011. As Bartee noted, is this fair to the people who pay for Moneytalk on demand?
FAIR??? (((ROAR)))
How fair is paying $185 for a zeroxed newsletter every month, with nothing changed but a few sentences that make no sense unless you have decoder ring?
How fair is a Bond fund that puts your money in the stock market?
How fair is never mentioning recommendations that went south (far south), such as TEFQX?
I'll sell you a fair bridge, and a condo in a sunny resort town with papers for over $1million for only $125K........now that's REAL FAIR Buckeroo Bonzaii!
Has anyone noticed that Bob's suggestion to buy the Wellesley Income Fund big time has been a real bust? It would have been smarter to put that cash in the Wellington Fund. Another dog was his recommendation on the FTSE, a big loser this year. I am a subscriber, but I think once this year's subscription expires, I'll let Bob expire with it. Too much money for a "newsletter" I could basically have read a year ago, so full of rehash is it.
Johnny Curedents
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