When purchasing mutual funds we are cautionedto read the prospectus, look at pastperformance, check out the fund manager's recordand see what their expense ratios have been. We are also told that we should not buy fundswith expenses exceeding 1% to 1.5%. When you askthe fund salesman (don't forget he's a salesman)he will assure you that the fund expenses arewhatever is shown in the prospectus. He istelling you the truth, but not the whole truth, according the Securities and Exchangeregulations. In many cases he has left out a bigchuck of expenses....

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During our travel down life's path we come to many places where the trail divides and we must make a decision. Some involve psychological (emotional) choices - marriage, divorce, leaving home, career changes, etc. Others are monetary - buying a new car, home, starting your own business, investing, etc. Many are interwoven having aspects of both psychological and monetary. The marriage decision means you have decided to live and share everything with a partner and also support that partner in every way including financial....

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The demand for world oil is increasing while world reserves are decreasing. This is a known fact. The current price of oil can certainly confirm this statement. Consensus also agrees that we will never see $25.00 oil again. The logical conclusion to our above statement is oil stocks should be a good long term investment. However, the location of the oil companies' reserves can affect their bottom line and valuation. With demand for oil and other commodities from China and India increasing due to their growing economies, strong trading relationships are procuring with Canada - a country with numerous resources, political stability and neutral military views....

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Someday you may want to retire and continue to live in the life style to which you have become accustomed. According to conventional wisdom you will need less money because you will have fewer expenses than when you had to go to the office every day. Maybe. Let's hope so. Unfortunately, it doesn't always work out that way so you had better have saved enough cash to supplement the social security and pension plan income (if you have one). My philosophy is to save with mutual funds as they are the safest way to invest in the stock market....

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I often hear from people, "I don't trade. I invest. I buy a mutual fund and I hold it". Mr. Investor, did you know you are trading on a regular basis? Are you aware that mutual fund managers are changing their positions by selling certain stocks and buying others? Mutual funds must report quarterly what stocksthey are holding. You can get those reports ifyou want them. I can't see where it will do youany good if you are going to blindly hang on tothe fund. A few professional traders will request thesebreakdowns only if a fund is greatlyoutperforming the market....

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Never lose money in the stock market again. Yeah, I know. Don't buy any stock, but that is not what I meant. There is a clear and easy way to protect your capital - what you have now and what you might decide to buy in the future. And don't count on your broker to tell you this. As you are aware we have been in a bear market since the beginning of 2000. That is a long time and if you have held your stocks and mutual funds for all this time you have some pretty terrible losses. Losses you did not have to take if you had a knowledgeable broker or financial planner....

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The broker told me not to sell because the mutual fund I owned had a 2% redemption fee and they would penalize me if I did. I got to thinking about it and did some simple math to see what that would cost me if I sold. Several months ago I bought $5,000 of the fund. Fortunately, it was a no-load so I was not charged any commission. It seems that the brokerage house has instituted this fee for the sole purpose of dissuading me from ever selling it. Now I could sell it for $5,500 and make a nice $500 profit in the last 3 months....

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Every Wall Street analyst, financial planner and broker will tell you that the right way to pick a mutual fund is find a good money manager of a fund that has a long time record. Yes, I believe that too, but it is amazing that when you go back in time to see what this genius did with the mutual fund, you will find years he has had some terrible losses. Would you want to own that fund then? In the year 2000 about 60% of all mutual funds declined. Many had losses of 30%, 40% and many over 50%. That is when they tell you things like: "you have to be in for the long haul", "this is only a market correction" and "the market always comes back"....

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Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are growing. Investors are choosing low annual expense and market return over high annual expense and promised performance. Total ETF inflow is growing faster than Mutual Fund inflow. ETF inflow grew from $42.5 billion in 2000 to $54.4 billion in 2004. In contrast, mutual fund inflow fell from $309.4 billion in 2000 to $180.3 billion in 2004. Standard & Poors Depositary Receipts Trust (SPY) is the largest and oldest ETF. From the one fund SPY started in 1993 the number of ETFs has grown to 150 in 2004....

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On Monday, November 25, 2000 Investor's Business Daily listed on page B1 the Top 25 Growth Mutual Funds for the last 36 months along with their performance for the year 2000 to date. Only four showed a profit this year of 21% and the other three had increases of 12%, 5%, and 5%. Fifteen had loss of from 10% to 28% and the other 6 were down slightly. In the column next to them there is a list of Top 25 Growth Funds for the past 3 months for the year 2000 to date. Only 2 had increases in price for the year 2000, 4 were even and all the rest are showing losses for the year....

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Hedge current portfolio positions and gain access to capital resources through loans against free trading, aged affiliate or aged non-affiliate securities. Make proper use of your assets while waiting for performance and hedge your position should the asset move against you. Whether you need to borrow cash for personal or business purposes, these loans against stock can be funded in as few as five business days and are available to insiders, affiliates and common shareholders of publicly traded companies on U....

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