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.html Holding cash - but is he holding out? 06/10/2001By SCOTT BURNS / The Dallas Morning News Dear Vice President Cheney, Is there something you know that we don't know? Is there something you'd like to share with us, the people who may (or may not) have elected you to your current office? Should we be concerned about the economy? Should we sell our stocks now, while there is still time? Into money markets I say this because you're holding a lot of cash. I can't tell exactly, of course, but it's somewhere between $9 million and $43 million. It's a very large part of your net worth, which others have estimated at between $20 million and $69 million. I learned about the cash while reading your public financial disclosure report, filed May 15. It tells me what we already knew – with your retirement from Halliburton, you're a rich man. But it also tells me that you have the bulk of your money in cash. Not stocks. Plain old cash, as though you were waiting for something to happen. Something really bad. The report tells me you've got four checking accounts, including a joint account with somewhere between $1 million and $5 million in it. It's really good to know that you'll be able to handle your electric bill this summer, Mr. Vice President. Mutual questions The report also tells me you've got another 11 accounts that are invested in money market mutual funds. That's a lot of money market funds. Of course, I don't know exactly how much cash you've got because the report has those funny ranges. Like somewhere between $1 million and $5 million in both the Calvert Tax Free money market fund and the Calvert Tax Free Limited Term fund. Or somewhere between $5 million to $25 million in Paine Webber. That's a lot of between. Of course, after the performance of your retirement accounts last year, I can see why you might have a lot of money in cash. With your two qualified accounts spread over 11 funds from American Express, last fall must have been pretty tough on you. I did a Morningstar analysis of the portfolio – approximated, of course – and it showed that the worst time in the last three years for your retirement portfolio was last year, between September and November. You lost about 15 percent of your retirement plan assets just before the election. Add the election, the chads and all that weird stuff in Florida, and you were probably more miserable than the rest of us. Nor have things gotten better since. So far this year, only two of your 11 mutual funds have had a positive return. The rest have lost money in amounts ranging from the 0.3 percent for AXP Utilities Income A shares to a larger loss of 13.5 percent for AXP International A shares. Your biggest fund holding, AXP New Dimensions, is off 8 percent in the first four months and 19.14 percent in the preceding 12 months. Worse, your funds are second-rate performers. Over the last three years, for instance, only one fund has ranked in the top 25 percent of its peer group and another has ranked in the second 25 percent of its peer group. The remaining nine funds have ranked well below the 50th percentile, with five in the bottom 25 percent. The percentile figures are in the accompanying table. All of which brings me back to the real question. If you really think the tax cut is going to get the economy moving, why all the cash? |
