Mutual fund companies have one primary objective: to make a profit. Unfortunately, this profit is not for you, but for them.
Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Read it later after some additional Freeper commentary has arrived. /deja vu selfping
Mutual fund managers are mostly driven by fads and the latest analyst rankings. Most of this stuff is backward-looking and momentum driven.
If you look at what is out of favor, think for yourself, and read the financial statements, you can do better. Many savvy individual long-term investors lost less than the mutual funds because they avoid some of the frothier stocks.
You don’t have a lot of choices with employer funded 401A’s or employer matched 401K’s. We have money in both, but haven’t lost any, yet, because we moved funds to their only “stable fund” offering a few months before the crash. But all the other offerings seem to be mutuals, and we did have our funds diversified among the different funds, so in the past, we have gained, but rarely lost.
There is an assault on the idea of steady diverse investment in the market, even though historically that is the absolute best investment anyone can make.
They are trying to destroy faith in the markets so they can take over 401K’s and the rest of the economy.
It’s so disgustingly obvious because they are preying upon people during a cyclical downturn. The facts are that people should invest in this market and that they are trying to scare you into accepting maybe 3% from the government or even losing money as in socioal security, in return for giving up the much larger gains to be had in teh market over time.
It’s rather obvious that if the market is to ever recover, investors will make a huge profit with whatever they invest during the downturn.
there are new funds that move to cash when the market
is falling apart. They do it for you.
About 5 years ago, with our Fido IRAs, we got out all but two mutual funds and went to ETF’s with sell loss limit orders if the market came down.
The ETF’s can be sold like Stock anytime when the market is open, none of this, bs of waiting until the end of the business day. All so they can be bought anytime of the day.
The buy and hold a mutual fund forever has to be one of the biggest lies ever foisted on Americans, right in with Republicans are racists/liberals aren’t, Liberals aren’t fascists, and top investment officers/bankers are Republicans.
Besides not being able to buy and sell a mutual fund like a share of stock there are the following problems:
1. Many fund managers and some companies are covert lefties and buy stock of lefty loser companies like the Ny Slimes, Chicago Tribune, Compost, CBS, Fannie and Ginnie. They use the hard earned money of their share holders to keep the lefty loser companies afloat.
2. So many of the mutual fund companiers apparently force their reasonably good fund managers to buy large amounts of share of their loser mutual funds. Many of the so called target retirement year funds are nothing but losers with some S&P 500 or Dow investments.
3. Then so many funds charge a fee to buy their shares, high expense fees and other bs fees that cut into any possible profit. Then you can’t sell these funds for specific time periods after your buy them without penalties. ETF funds have none of these problems. Their expenses are out in the open and much lower than mutual funds.
We have our two IRA’s with Fidelity with No/Zero Fidelity funds with exception of their core money funds. We own CDs and corporate notes that Fido arranges for us to buy at no cost. Our ETF’s are GLD, SLV, SHY, THO, TLH.
For later reading.
Of course not. An entity unto itself wants YOU in the game. Your exposure (IN or OUT) should be determined by YOU. If your 401k does not offer a vehicle to park your money "safely" when and if you want, then you may be roadkill in the stampede out of Dodge.
In rare occasions it's smart to take the penalties, rather than get pounded into oblivion.
Mutual funds are no different than any other investment. You invest your money and assume the risk. The people that manage the funds get paid for their work (horror of horrors!!!).
The people screaming about 401K losses apparently were sheltered from any sort of harm for their entire lives, and think life is cotton candy and pink unicorns. What a bunch of entitled pansies.
November 2007 up 45% YTD vs Feb 09 @ 50% of November 2007
We had a government created housing bubble. It’s not capitalism when the government spending is 40 % of GDP and they’re busily inflating a huge bubble with artificially low interest rates and encouraging liar loans.
Remember - 45% increases are not normal. Would that I had listened to myself and others and went to cash December 07.
bfl
I wonder why he left out the main culprits, the politicians, of both parties.
The man probably should find a new vocation....say sports writing or something
"shorting" and the option market and day trading has killed the mutual fund....
Every year, Mass Mutual comes to our company and gives the lecture about 401k investing(company’s 401k is through MM). Inevitably, the guy tells us to get into the various funds, but specially the one they have the big interest in. When he came last year, I had just moved to 85% money market and 15% bonds. The Dow was at 12k and Bear Stearns had just fallen apart.
I argued with the guy that people should just move to safe positions until all the bank stuff gets settled. He used the old refrain “the market always goes back up, don’t be a chump and sell low and buy high!, you’ve got years to retire”
It never went up the rest of the year. I moved some of it back recently, but I’m still 65% money market. I figure if the whole thing unravels and the dollar collapses, none of it is going to matter anyway, but if the market does go up, I’ll capture some of the gains.