Mutual funds are doing more and more to discourage investors from leaving them and taking their money to a better performing fund. What does better performing mean? It has nothing to do with who the manager is, what the expense ratio is or how well they performed over the past 5 or 10 years.
Remember the old one, "What have you done for me lately?" That is the ONLY thing that counts. If you ever expect to make money in the stock market you must take the time to find the best performing no-load, no-redemption fee funds that are going up the fastest during the past 3 and 6 months. Usually any fund that has done well for a year or more has just about run its course and once it starts weakening in its upward movement, goes flat and starts down it should be sold and replaced. This can easily be seen in a chart on your computer or at the library at www.bigcharts.com.
There are many funds that will advance at the rate of 1% per week. Yes, per week, but you must find them. It is certainly worth the effort. There are services you can buy such as No-Load FundX; however, there are many free areas on the Internet that will locate excellent funds such as Bar Charts (http://www2.barchart.com/funds.asp , Bloomberg http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/data?pid=mutualfunds and Yahoo www.yahoo.com/finance as well as Investor's Business Daily newspaper that lists the best 3-month and 6-month performers each week. Be careful to check with the fund or your broker that there are no hidden fees. Those that charge a commission do NOT outperform those that have no loads (commission).
Most full service brokers will not sell you no-load funds so you will have to own an account with a discount broker such as Ameritrade, Scottrade or Brown & Company. Many of the well known discount brokers such as Fidelity, Schwab and Waterhouse have adopted hidden fees.
Brokers and financial planners will tell you not to switch around, but that is because they have not learned their trade. It also might mean they are too lazy to do their job. If you remain with a weak fund you will have a weak return or even lose money.
I may sound too harsh in my criticism of brokers and financial planners, but I have hired more than 300 brokers when I owned a brokerage company and I know that only about 1% (yes, one) know how to make money and protect capital. You have to find a good one or take charge yourself.
There may be times when very few, if any, funds are going up. Then you will be in cash in a money market. CASH IS A POSITION. Performance also includes not losing while the market is going down.
Knowing how and when to switch will double or triple your returns and most importantly you will not lose profits you have made. Stay with the best performers at all times.
Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.
Copyright 2005
no-contract cleaning service Glenview ..Minority Report the movie may not be far off if... Read More
Well maybe that's overstating it a little, but it's certainly... Read More
This is the continuing story of our two imaginary traders,... Read More
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are a group of passive index... Read More
The Dow Theorycharles h. dowcharles h.... Read More
An insane person cannot evaluate an insane evaluation system.As you... Read More
I use the P/E ratio as a secondary indicator for... Read More
Wall Street has been preaching for years and years to... Read More
I love roller coasters. The steeper the better. High and... Read More
A recent cartoon in my daily newspaper showed two guys... Read More
With the stock market stubbornly refusing to settle down and... Read More
I would like to share with the reader an article... Read More
The broker told me not to sell because the mutual... Read More
The stock market is very unstable at this time going... Read More
Three little pigs went to the market to stock up... Read More
Ever turn down a street, get half way and suddenly... Read More
Starbucks earnings are up again and so is their stock... Read More
Are you paying any attention to your retirement savings? Do... Read More
There are formulas for just about everything, but it has... Read More
It's about time someone spoke the truth concerning outsourcing. The... Read More
Unfortunately, most of you who are reading my column are... Read More
THERE'S SOMETHING TO BE SAID FOR standing firm in the... Read More
How can you dispel an illusion unless you look directly... Read More
Inverted interest rates? What's that? Who cares? Even if you... Read More
You probably know the story of Sherlock Holmes and the... Read More
house cleaning company Glencoe ..According to Investopedia Inc. the penny stock market has seen... Read More
The World Bank claims that some two billion of the... Read More
Question: How does it get better when it gets worse?Last... Read More
That sounds like good advice doesn't it? Don't lose all... Read More
Caught in a whirlpool and being sucked under. No life... Read More
When is a dividend not a dividend?The latest thing "conservative"... Read More
Mutual funds by definition are a mixed bag of stocks,... Read More
What can I expect to make my first year of... Read More
There are red lights, green lights, blue lights and spot... Read More
Several times each month I am solicited by various market... Read More
Most advisors will tell you they can beat the market.... Read More
As the man said, "I've got some good news and... Read More
I was recently interviewed for a press release through a... Read More
One of the big advertising kicks today from mutual funds... Read More
At some time in your life you have been on... Read More
Every day on CNBC-TV they show a 200-day moving average... Read More
How is it possible that trash Companies are posting less... Read More
The demand for world oil is increasing while world reserves... Read More
Every successful trader has a winning system. There are of... Read More
A Guide to Using Stop Loss Orders Stop losses are... Read More
In 1960 an engineer working for a watch company in... Read More
Every Wall Street analyst, financial planner and broker will tell... Read More
If you were to find that you had some severe... Read More
Let's first define insanity. It is doing the same thing... Read More
Very few people, even professionals, have heard of the Dalbar... Read More
Stocks & Mutual Fund |