People keep asking me, "All right already, I am willing to take my money out of
the ne'er-do-well tech mutual funds, but where am I supposed to put the money when I do?"
How about the
(VLSCX Quote - Cramer on VLSCX - Stock Picks)Value Line Emerging Opportunities fund? Here's a fund that's up slightly for the year, and was up
last year (+5.6%) and up huge in 1999 (70%). It is a fund that invests in winners and sticks with them until they falter (according to the fund's letter to shareholders).
The fund, which has no sales charge and a low minimum investment ($1,000), isn't hostage to a terrible market. It can take a temporary defensive position. "From time to time in response to adverse market, economic, political or other conditions, up to 35% of the fund's total assets may be held in cash." Hey, given what we have learned can happen in the last 14 months, how about that? That sounds a heck of a lot better than a note from a fund saying, in effect, "Sorry man, but we have to take a beating because you asked us to."
The fund is a stock picker's paradise, with eclectic picks like
Christopher & Banks (CHBS Quote - Cramer on CHBS - Stock Picks) -- nice call! -- and
Alliance Gaming (ALLY Quote - Cramer on ALLY - Stock Picks) and
Colonial BancGroup(CNB Quote - Cramer on CNB - Stock Picks). It has just enough pizzazz to be able to deliver big numbers when they can be had, and just enough self-preserving instinct to save your nest egg from the slaughter if one occurs.
Why not do this? Why not take the capital loss from some of these funds that really are not run by professionals -- unless you think that the game is gunslinging -- and shift it over to a place like Value Line Emerging Opportunities? That way you get a tax break and have a chance to recoup the losses. Makes an awful lot of sense to me.
Jim Cramer
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