Question of the week: I've just come into a small inheritance and I want to sock it away for the future. Everyone tells me that I should be looking into stock mutual funds. If you were to believe all the mutual fund advertising, you'd think that every fund is a winner. How do I really know which fund is any good? --Joel
Dear Joel,
For people who don't have the time and expertise to research and track individual stocks--which includes most of us--mutual funds are one of the best possible ways to invest. And a lot of other investors agree--the Investment Company Institute, the trade group for the mutual fund industry, says that Americans have nearly $7 trillion stashed away in mutual funds.
But there are thousands of fund choices, so it's very important to sort out the weak from the chaff. We recently asked the Armchair Millionaire community for its advice on what to look for when shopping for a fund. They offered us this battle-tested wisdom:
Check out the management. "I look for long-term management. I want my fund managers to have been in their jobs for a long time--at least seven years." --Cole
Consider fees. "I look at the fees first. Just because a fund charges higher fees doesn't mean that it is well managed. If a fund has above-average fees, I skip it." --ACF
Compare returns to a benchmark. "The past performance of a fund alone is meaningless. You have to compare it to how the market overall has done. I always compare large cap funds to the S&P 500 index and small cap funds to the Russell 2000." --James49
Watch the tax impact. "I want my money managed for the least taxable exposure. I expect my fund managers to be able to manage the fund for maximum tax efficiency." --Presto
It's also important to know what not to do when choosing a fund. Use my checklist to avoid the most common mutual fund mistakes.
The Armchair Millionaire's Checklist of Mutual Fund No-Nos
Don't pay a load. Loads, or sales fees, come straight out of your investment. There's no evidence that load funds perform any better than no-load funds, so keep your money and stick with the no-loads.
Don't overlap. Funds are themselves a diversified investment, but don't think that owning a lot of funds means that you'll be even more diversified. Instead, you may end up with many funds that own the same stocks. You should be able to achieve adequate diversification with as few as two or three funds that target different areas of the overall stock market.
Don't chase performance. Last year's hot fund can be this year's laggard. Making your fund choices based on recent performance has historically been a losing proposition. Look for long term histories through a variety of market conditions such as bull markets, bear markets, recessions and periods of economic growth.
Don't trade in and out of funds. Trying to time your investment and switching frequently between funds is pointless. You invest in funds to leave the trading up to a professional, so leave your money in your funds long enough for the portfolio managers to do their jobs.
THE BOTTOM LINE: All mutual funds are not created equal. When you choose a mutual fund, you're really choosing a person or a team to manage your money. Use common sense and make sure to get objective advice before you make a purchase.
MAKE £5,000 WITH JUST £3 AND 6 STAMPS!! YES....IT REALLY WORKS AND IS TOTALLY LEGAL!
READ ON... YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED!!! MAKE QUICK AND EASY MONEY - THIS ACTUALLY WORKS! :
I READ THIS ARTICLE ON A MESSAGE BOARD AND THOUGHT I WOULD GIVE IT A GO AND WHILST I DIDN’T
MAKE MY MILLIONS, I DID MAKE £4000 AND I AM STILL GETTING MONEY IN THE POST. THE ORIGINAL
ARTICLE IS BELOW - Make £500 - £5,000 or more, with just £3 and 6 stamps. Earn money honest
and fairly. HOW TO TURN £3 INTO £5,000!!! OR MORE!!! IT REALLY WORKS. : I found this on a
bulletin board and decided to try it. A little while back, I was browsing message boards,
just like you are now, and came across an article similar to this that said you could make
thousands of pounds within weeks with only an initial investment of £3!! :
So I thought,"Yeah right, this must be a scam", but like most of us, I was curious, so I
kept reading. Anyway, it said that you have to send 50p to each of the 6 names and addresses stated in the article. You then place your own name and address in the bottom of the list at No6, and post the article in as many newsgroups and message boards as you can. (There are thousands) No catch, that was it. So after thinking it over, and talking to few people first, I thought about trying it. I figured "what have I got to lose except 6 stamps and 3 quid right?” Then I invested the measly £3, Well guess what? Within 7 days, I started getting money in the post! I was shocked! I figured it would end soon; but the money just kept coming in. In my first week, I made about £30. By the end of the second week I had made a total of over £900. In the third week I had over £3,000 and was still growing. This is now my fourth week and I have made a total of just over £15,000 and it's still coming in rapidly. It's certainly worth £3 and 6 stamps! Let me tell you how this works and most importantly, why it works. It's really simple and easy. I promise you that if you follow the directions exactly, that you will
start making more money than you thought possible by doing something so easy!
Suggestion:
Read this entire message carefully. (Print it out or copy and paste it into notepad or a
blank email or similar) Follow the simple directions and watch the money come in!
IMPORTANT: This is not a rip-off; it is not indecent; it is not illegal; and it is no risk -
AND it really works.
If all of the following instructions are adhered to, you will receive extraordinary dividends.
PLEASE NOTE: Please follow these directions Exactly, and £10,000 or more can be yours in 20
to 60 days. This program remains successful because of the honesty and integrity of the
participants. Please continue its success by carefully adhering to the instructions.
*Here Are The 4 Easy Steps To Success - TRY IT.............GO ON, WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO LOSE
EXCEPT £3.
STEP 1: Get 6 separate pieces of paper and write the following on each piece of paper:
"PLEASE PUT ME ON YOUR MAILING LIST" and then write your name and address below that.
Now get 6 UK 50p coins and tape ONE to EACH of the 6 pieces of paper and fold the piece of
paper in half so the coin will not break through the envelope. Next, place one of the pieces
of paper in each of the 6 envelopes and seal them. (make sure you put a stamp on each
envelope - a 2nd class stamp will be fine if you want to keep your costs even lower)
You should now have 6 sealed envelopes, each with a piece of paper inside saying
"PLEASE PUT ME ON YOUR MAILING LIST", your name and address, and a 50p coin.
What you are doing is creating a service. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY LEGAL! You are requesting a
legitimate service and you are paying for it. (very little!) Like most of us I was a little
skeptical and a little worried about the legal aspects of it all. So I checked it out with
the UK Post Office and they confirmed that it is indeed legal. If you have any worries,
refer to #####le18 Sec. 1302 & 1341 of the Postal lottery laws. It is fantastically - completely
legal!
Now send your 6 envelopes to the addresses below:
No1) J.Mackenzie, 98 Shillinghill, Alness, Ross-shire, IV17 0TA ,
No2) S.Wood, 70 Orford Avenue,Warrington.Cheshire WA2 7QJ,
No3) E. Chapman, 2 Rocklands Road, Shropham, Norfolk, NR17 1DU,
No4) Helen McCrorey, 85 Michaelmas Road, Styvechale, Coventry, CV3 6HF,
No5) T. Low, 97 Farmleigh Avenue, Clacton-on-sea, Essex, CO15 4UL
No6) David Aspinwall, 28 Barton Heys Rd, Formby, Merseyside, L37 2EY
*IMPORTANT: You MUST do this step or these people will not be able to add your name to
their mailing lists as spaces become available on them and you will lose out on a lot of
money - and we dont want that! Also, when you do Step No3, when people start sending money
in, the above 6 will KNOW that you didn't adhere to the rules as they never got their 50p
from you and will take you off the list! These are the RULES. : *PLEASE REMEMBER that this
program remains successful because of the honesty and integrity of the participants and by
their carefully adhering to the directions. Look at it this way - If you follow the rules
completely, the program will continue and therefore so will your money! * STEP 2: Now take
the number 1 name off the list that you see above and move the others up 1. (6 becomes 5,
5 becomes 4, etc.) And add YOUR name and address at number 6 on the list. STEP 3: Change
anything you need to, but try to keep this article as close to the original as possible.
Now, post your amended article to as many newsgroups and message boards as you can (You
should really try to aim for at least 200 which isn't as difficult as it sounds with the
'copy and paste' feature - more on this below) I think there are close to 34,000 groups.
And remember, the more you post, the more money you make! ** Keep a copy of these steps for
yourself and, whenever you need money, you can use it again, and again. So, as each post
is sent and the directions followed carefully, six members will be reimbursed for their
participation as a List Developer with 50p : pence each. Your name will move up the list
geometrically so that when your name reaches the No1 position you will be receiving
thousands of Pounds in CASH!!! What an opportunity for only £3. *DIRECTIONS FOR HOW TO
POST TO NEWSGROUPS* : STEP 1) You do not need to re-type this entire letter to do your own
posting. Simply put your cursor at the top of this document and highlight all of it.
Select 'copy' from the edit menu. This will copy the entire letter into the computer's
memory. STEP 2) Open a blank 'notepad' file or a blank email and place your cursor at the
top of the blank page. From the 'edit' menu select 'paste'. This will paste a copy of the
letter into notepad or a blank email so that : you can add your name to the list. STEP 3)
Save your new notepad file as a .txt. file or save your email with the document now on it.
STEP 4) Search for various news groups (on-line forums, message boards, discussions groups)
using a search engine or however you like. STEP 5) Visit these message boards etc and post
this article as a new message by highlighting the text of this letter you will have saved,
and selecting 'copy' and then 'paste' from the edit menu. (paste this document on the
message board) : Fill in the Subject line, this will be the header that everyone sees as
they scroll through the list of postings in a particular group. Make it something
intriguing that will make people want to read your message. : Click the post message
button. You're done with your first one! Congratulations...THAT'S IT! All you have to do
is jump to different newsgroups and post away, after you get the hang of it, it will take
only take you a few seconds for each newsgroup! You will begin receiving money within days!.
* Now the WHY part: Out of 200 postings, say you receive only 10 replies
(a very low example of 5%). So then you make £5 with your name at No6 on the letter.
Now, each of the 10 persons who just sent you 50p make the MINIMUM 200 postings, each with
your name at No5 and only 10 persons respond to each of the original 10, that is another
£50 for you. Now those 100 each make a MINIMUM 200 with your name at No4 and only receive
10 replies each, you will make an additional £500!! OK, now here is the fun part, each of
those 1000 persons post a MINIMUM 200 letters with your name at No3 and they each only
receive 10 replies, that just made you £5,000!!!! Those 10,000 persons will all deliver
this message to 200 newsgroups with your name at No2 and if still only 10 people per 200
newsgroups react, you will receive £50,000! With an original investment of only £3 that's
AMAZING!!! Do you realise that thousands of people all over the world are joining the
Internet every day? And reading these articles JUST LIKE YOU ARE NOW!! There are tons of
honest users looking at newsgroups and message boards everyday that will be willing to
give it a try. Estimates are at 20,000 to 50,000 new users joining the Internet every day.
So can you afford £3 and see if it really works? I think so... **Remember** Play FAIRLY and
HONESTLY and this will really work. DONT play honestly and fairly and it WONT. Good luck in
your new business!!! How to turn £3 into £5,000! Or more! Do it!!
Posted by: kelly | May 22, 2006 at 08:13 AM