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Mutual Funds

Found 28 Articles.
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Mutual Fund Managers of the Year

February 3, 2017

Morningstar has issued its list of fund managers of the year for 2016. There aren’t any surprises on the list. Dodge & Cox Balanced, a long time recommendation in Retirement Watch, is the asset allocation fund of the year. Oakmark International and a T. Rowe Price stock fund also are perennial stars. Don’t use this […]

Why Active Mutual Fund Managers Fail

July 29, 2016

It’s not because of poor stock picking skills or high costs, the main arguments made by those favoring index investing. In this interview, a leading researcher on the topic says the conventional wisdom about active versus index investing is wrong. He explains why and the factors investors should look for when evaluating mutual funds. There […]

Alternative Share Classes and Funds

April 3, 2016

Not all readers are able or willing to invest in my recommended funds or share classes. Some funds are closed to new investors. Some funds or share classes aren’t available through the broker or other medium a reader prefers to use. Other readers don’t qualify for the recommended share class because of minimum investment requirements […]

Carlson’s Choice Mutual Funds

April 3, 2016

Carlson’s Choice Mutual Funds Subscribers who want to diversify their portfolios or who for other reasons want funds in addition to my top choice recommended funds, can choose from among those in this table. The bold-faced funds are those in my Core Portfolios. Funds are grouped by asset category. Returns are listed for different period […]

Picking a Winning Mutual Fund

May 5, 2015

This post discusses a recent research paper that identifies a unique way to select a mutual fund that is likely to outperform benchmarks and competitors. Its thesis is that mutual fund companies know more about the quality of their managers than we do. So, demotion and promotion decisions by fund firms tell us who are […]

Dangers of Large Mutual Funds

October 17, 2014

Some of you might remember back to the stock market crash of October 1987, when major indices fell about 25% in one day. There was a lot of finger pointing at the time about the cause, but I remember a number of people saying that a major mutual fund company decided to unload a lot […]

Bad Timing? Stock Allocations of Target Date Mutual Funds

October 13, 2014

The fastest-growing feature in 401(k) plans in recent years is the target date mutual fund. These are diversified funds. The fund sponsor adjust the asset allocation based on how close the shareholders are assumed to be to retirement age. For example, a 2050 target date fund assumes the shareholders will retire in 2050. It will […]

Why Aren’t There More Value Funds

April 28, 2014

Even advocates of efficient markets and index funds acknowledge that value stocks perform better over time than the indexes and growth stocks. This isn’t a secret. Yet, investors don’t flock to value stock funds. This essay offers a number of reasons why, but the bottom line is that investors aren’t always rational and don’ always […]

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