Smart Definitions of blended funds, balanced funds, and closed-end funds
Smart Strategies for college savings, tax-free funds, and retirement plans
Smart Tips on how to find reliable fund families and managers, and how to ride a volatile market
Smart Advice on diversifying your investments, capitalizing on “bull” and “bear” market cycles, committing to aggressive growth funds, knowing when to “sell short,” and much more
Smart Tips on calculating interest-rate risk, choosing between taxable and tax-exempt funds, analyzing a fund’s performance history, and matching your fund family’s goals and style with your own
Smart Insights into how mutual funds perform against CDs, individual stocks and bonds, and treasury securities
Quick reading and easy referencing with a comprehensive index and loads of sidebars and tables
Smart Guides take readers seriously. They satisfy even the most curious person’s desire to know the essentials about any of a wide range of topics—from vitamins to mutual funds to stress relief.
It’s all about good reading and expert information. The choice is yours.
Mutual funds are good for those who want to take part in the current stock-market boom but have neither the time nor inclination to pick individual stocks on their own. But with nearly 9,000 mutual funds on the market, which ones should you pick or avoid? If you’re faced with this dilemma, turn to Susan Karp’s Smart Guide to Profiting from Mutual Funds. Karp, a finance journalist, writes a broad introduction to the world of mutual funds, and covers everything from the different types of stock funds available (e.g., aggressive, growth, index, sector, bond, and money funds) to assessing your own goals and objectives as well as tolerance for risk. While Karp does not recommend individual funds, she goes into detail on how to evaluate and buy them and what performance indicators are most important. In addition, the book is sprinkled with phone numbers and URLs of various fund companies and other resources that can help you evaluate different funds. –Harry C. Edwards
Manager Profile
Know the qualifications of the people who are running each fund.
Tax Analysis
Tax-adjusted returns and potential capital-gains exposure help you decide whether a fund is best suited as a tax-deferred or taxable investment.
Star Rating
Quickly see how well a fund has balanced risk and return.
Results for Up to 12 Years
Easily evaluate a fund’s performance.
Morningstar’s Take
Get independent insight into how and why a fund is a good choice—or a poor one.
Expenses, Fees, Addresses,Phone Numbers
Find everything you need to obtain more information before you invest in a fund.
Historical Style
Boxes See if a fund has invested consistently from year to year.
Portfolio Holdings
Review the top 20 holdings for each fund to see the securities that drive the performance.
Investment Style
Box Quickly determine if a fund’s true investment strategy matches your goal.
Over 50 Investment Categories
Put together diversified portfolios, assess potential risk, and spot top funds within peer groups.
Sector Weightings
Avoid overconcentration in certain areas of the economy.
Research from the world’s foremost mutual fund expert
In this completely new reference guide, you’ll find the best information and independent opinion available on 500 of the largest and most popular mutual funds—the very funds you likely own or follow. Morningstar’s Fund Reports are the industry standard and are trusted by financial professionals nationwide. And now you’ll get this exclusive and valuable guidance updated all year long. Access 50 free fund reports at any time in 2007. Choose from 2,000 funds.
This book can help you:
You’ll also benefit from:
For 20 years, Morningstar has helped individuals and financial advisors make better investment decisions. Our trusted data and independent analysis provide a level of insight unavailable from other sources.
For more information about other Morningstar products and services, visit us online at www.morningstar.com.
The 2004 edition has been thoroughly revised for the year ahead, providing clear, practical advice on finding the right funds, choosing the best discount broker, and building a solid portfolio. The book also features updated performance data for more than 10,000 funds, compiled by the Value Line Mutual Fund Survey. Timely, targeted, and boasting a proven track record, Mutual Fund Investor’s Guide 2004 is an invaluable tool for investors of every income and experience level.
An authoritative, must-read guide to making more informed decisions about mutual funds
Providing a balance of theory and application, this authoritative book will enable you to evaluate the various performance and risk attributes of mutual funds. It covers a broad range of topics, including understanding the advantages and disadvantages of mutual funds, evaluating stock/bond allocations within fund portfolios, assessing fund diversification risk, measuring fund returns and risk, and making fund buy/sell decisions.
While informative chapters combine clear summaries of existing research with practical guidelines for mutual fund analysis, step-by-step decision checklists guide you through the selection of various mutual funds.
Covering major theoretical and management issues in mutual fund analysis and portfolio management, this book is an authoritative guide.
Investing 101
Mutual funds provide a low-risk, high-impact strategy to achieving your long-term financial goals.
This easy-to-understand guide positions you to begin investing in mutual funds immediately with as little as $100. It provides professional guidance with exclusive interviews with investment experts so you can evaluate different funds, make investment choices and establish your own portfolio.
Industry experts reveal how to:
Get started in less than 3 hours!
