What’s the Vice Fund anyway?
A mutual fund managed by USA Mutuals, the Vice Global Fund (previously the Vitium Fund) concentrates its investments on vice sectors, sometimes called “sin stocks” or socially irresponsible investments.
Before this Fund was created, “vice fund” was used colloquially to refer to any fund that made significant investments in different stocks.
On May 23, 2019, the Vice Fund changed its name to the Vitium Global Fund.
On August 4, 2021, the Fund reverted to its previous Vice Fund moniker.
Knowledge of the Vice Fund
The alcohol, tobacco, gambling, and military sectors account for the bulk of the income generated by the businesses that the Vice Fund typically invests in. This includes owners of casinos, makers of gaming and gambling apparatus, producers of defense and alcohol, and producers of tobacco products.
The Fund owns small-cap to mega-cap firms and invests in domestic and overseas securities. It started operating back in 2002. The Fund was referred to as the Barrier Fund from May 2014 to October 2016.
The Fund looks for premium dividend-paying stocks in the vice industries because it thinks these sectors have substantial entry barriers that provide dependable stock returns from successful firms.
The Fund also thinks that since vice-industry products are in high demand during all market cycles, its investments are often market-neutral, doing well in both up and down markets.
Additionally, the Fund’s comprehensive foreign diversification aids in mitigating overall market volatility. It also continues to focus intensely on businesses that pay dividends and have good cash flow, enabling income distributions to investors.
Putting Money Into the Vice Fund
The Vice Global Fund is an open-end mutual fund with four share classes. A, C, investor, and institutional shares are among its share classes. The Fund’s net expense ratio (net expense ratio) ranges from 1.24% to 2.24%, with a management charge of 0.95%.
Brokerages offering full-service and discounted options are available for trading the Fund. There are no sales loads needed for its investor and institutional classes. Via full-service intermediaries, A-shares impose front-end loads of 5.75% and back-end loads of 1%. Only a conditionally delayed 1% back-end load is assessed on C-shares in the year that follows an initial acquisition.
The Fund has continuously generated yearly total returns, with dividends contributing to this overall return. The Investor Class has a five-year annualized return of 0.74% and a ten-year annualized return of 6.79% as of June 30, 2022.
It shows an annualized return from inception of 7.82% through June 30, 2022, compared to the MSCI All Country World Index benchmark of 8.32%. As of September 9, 2022, the dividend yield is zero percent.
The Vice Global Fund has $79.2 million in total assets under administration as of September 9, 2022. The Fund’s top holdings as of June 30, 2022, were Raytheon Technologies, Philip Morris International, Northrop Grumman, and Galaxy Entertainment.
Conclusion
- Formerly known as the Vitium Fund, the Vice Global Fund is a mutual fund managed by USA Mutuals. It concentrates its holdings on vice sectors, sometimes called “sin stocks” or socially irresponsible investments.
- The Fund mostly makes equity investments, with the bulk of its income from the gambling, tobacco, alcohol, and military sectors.
- On October 1, 2019, the Vice Fund changed its name to the Vitium Global Fund, and then on August 4, 2021, it reverted to its previous name.
