What are you thinking when it comes to your no load mutual fund selections? Are you saving pennies and sacrificing dollars?
Are you spending your time looking at expense ratios, analyzing Morningstar ratings and searching for funds with low fees and no 12b1 charges? If you are like most people, you know these things in and out. You've spent hours evaluating them, and your chosen mutual funds cost little to purchase and maintain. But they still don't perform to your hopes and expectations.
So, why is this happening? Because this kind of investing focuses on cost as opposed to value.
Investors with this philosophy have usually interviewed numerous advisors. But instead of trying to find someone suitable with a sensible approach, they only want to know who has the lowest fees. That's like going to the cheapest auto repair shop and getting the best price, but your car still doesn't run well.
Then there are the investors who call or email me wanting a recommendation on a no load mutual fund. They want one with no 12b1 charge, but they completely ignore the issue of how the fund might perform.
Both these kinds of investors spend their time trying to save pennies and in the process they are losing dollars. Instead of falling into the penny wise, dollar foolish trap, here are some ideas that will assist you in evaluating the end profit rather than just the short term saving.
1. Shift your focus from penny pinching to looking at the big picture: What can a mutual fund or an advisor do for you, not how much does it cost? Why? If you buy a given no load mutual fund at the right time and it gains a tidy 15% for you over a 6 week period, would you really care about the costs? If a mutual fund-or an advisor for that matter-can give you superior performance and an increase of several percentage points over your bargain price pick wouldn't you pay an extra 0.25%?
2. Consider finding a fee-based investment advisor who uses a facts-based methodology and has a track record indicating those kinds of returns. For example, in my own practice I used a trend tracking approach to get my clients into the market on April 29, 2003. Plus, our research and homework led us to recommending funds that gained anywhere from 11.50% to 22.00% over the following 6 week period. How did you do during that time? Do you think any of my clients care whether one of these funds has a small 12b 1 charge? Or whether they have the lowest expense ratios in the industry? I know they don't.
The bottom line is to look at costs as balanced by performance and that's where you find value. Then seek true value not simple savings, enjoy healthy dollar-level returns and don't sweat the pennies.
About The Author
Ulli Niemann is an investment advisor and has been writing about objective, methodical approaches to investing for over 10 years. He eluded the bear market of 2000 and has helped countless of people make better investment decisions. To find out more about his approach and his FREE Newsletter, please visit: www.successful-investment.com; www.successful-investment.com
whole house cleaning Deerfield ..At some time in your life you have been on... Read More
If you are going to be a winner in the... Read More
The Surgeon General of the United States says that smoking... Read More
As a novice trader, you'll often feel the need to... Read More
What! Me worry?Many of you remember the cover of MAD... Read More
I use the P/E ratio as a secondary indicator for... Read More
How do you make money without picking tops and bottoms?I... Read More
During the day I watch CNBC-TV, the stock market channel.... Read More
There is a current movie entitled "Eternal Sunshine of the... Read More
Regardless of the fact that the world's stock markets have... Read More
What does it mean to short a stock?This means that... Read More
When you stand on the ocean shore and watch the... Read More
It has often been said that there is only two... Read More
Whenever I see mutual fund comparisons in the trade publications... Read More
After finding the price of a particular stock, usually the... Read More
This is the continuing story of our two imaginary traders,... Read More
You remember the story about the frog that was put... Read More
One of the things people are always asking me is... Read More
AS BUILDERS BEGIN WORK ON THE FREEDOM TOWER in New... Read More
The trash business in its efforts to cook their books... Read More
I love roller coasters. The steeper the better. High and... Read More
Its dinnertime and the phone rings. It's Joe Noname with... Read More
Caught in a whirlpool and being sucked under. No life... Read More
I receive emails from Morningstar. This company provides statistics and... Read More
For years investors have been taught to look into the... Read More
home cleaning services Des Plaines ..If you have been watching the stock market at all... Read More
Congress recently passed another new law that is supposed to... Read More
Alfred Winslow Jones started hedge funds in 1949. He was... Read More
What account size do I need?How much money can I... Read More
There are many important things you need to know to... Read More
You'd have had to be living on a desert island... Read More
Options trading can increase the profits you make when trading... Read More
Duck! No I don't mean a quack, quack. I meant... Read More
The Surgeon General of the United States says that smoking... Read More
Are you one of those many people who dread reading... Read More
Have you bought any mutual funds this year or late... Read More
It is difficult to make money in a bull market,... Read More
It takes a total mental commitment to the task. It... Read More
Now that you have some money burning a hole in... Read More
Spread trading is a technique that can be used to... Read More
Having lived aboard a sailboat for 2 years I was... Read More
Did you know you can make money (and a lot... Read More
In 1960 an engineer working for a watch company in... Read More
As an investor you will want to check out any... Read More
Every stock market investor faces one primal enemy. An enemy... Read More
What are you thinking when it comes to your no... Read More
Are you paying any attention to your retirement savings? Do... Read More
Wouldn't it be nice if you were only in the... Read More
I was recently interviewed for a press release through a... Read More
If there is one term over-used when talking about making... Read More
Stocks & Mutual Fund |