Saturday, May 10, 2008

Finding the Best Mutual Funds for You

It's obvious that any investor is going to want to be holding the best mutual funds. The problem is that most investors don't really have a clue as to what they expect from a mutual fund, and so don't have a plan to identify the best fund for their particular situation.

The will change from one investor to the next. We all have our particular situation to address. Factors like age, income, risk tolerance, years until retirement, and so on have a real impact on the expectations you have for your investments, and therefore the "best" fund for you.

For example, take a look at your risk tolerance. During the bear market years of 2000 through 2002 the Nasdaq 100 fell almost 80%, and the S&P 500 feel almost 50%. So to be fulling invested in only the equity markets would have exposed you to this kind of risk. If you were retired, or close to it, this kind of drop would be catastrophic. Conversely, if you were just out of school with 40 years until retirement and very little to invest right now, the prospect of that kind of drop would not seem as frightening, and might be tolerated in the hope that you could see the higher returns that equities have brought.

If you are looking for some kind of income stream out of these funds, because you are in retirement, then either fixed income funds or stock funds investing in high dividend yielding stocks could be a great choice. On the other hand, if you are currently in a higher tax bracket, more income may not be what you are looking for, but instead would be interested more in growth type investments that are likely to increase in value over time, but the results would be redeemed as a capital gains in later years.

We have information on some of the best ways to manage your mutual funds, including finding the best mutual funds.

Get more information regarding Fidelity mutual funds.

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