| |
| |
|
|
Stocks and Mutual Funds |
|
How (NOT) to Buy Mutual Funds
When it comes to mutual funds, there is a lot more to success than just finding a good one. Sad investment stories like the following are all too common. I hope my sharing it with you will help you avoid making the same devastating financial mistake one of my former clients made. This story begins during the height of the investment madness in 2000, just prior to the bear market. I had been managing an IRA account for "Bob" for around six years, with a better than average record of success. So I was surprised when Bob sheepishly called in July, 2000 to let me know he was transferring his IRA account, which had done particularly well during our latest Buy cycle going into the year 2000. However, his tax preparer, a long time personal friend of Bob's wife's, was now also offering investment services, having recently received his Registered Representative's license. Fast forward to the end of September. It had become increasingly clear to me that the Bull market had run its course. So, in accordance with the Sell signal from our trend tracking methodology, we sold all of our mutual fund positions on October 13, 2000 and went 100% into money market. (See my article "How we eluded the Bear in 2000" at http://www.successful-investment.com/articles12.htm). From our safe haven we watched the market crash and burn, causing most other investors to sustain double digit losses eventually reaching as high as 50 - 60% of their assets. In 2002 Bob unexpectedly stopped by my office. As it turned out, things had not gone well at all with his IRA investments. As most advisors would have done, his tax preparer/advisor had quickly moved all of Bob's assets into a variety of "load funds." Of course, being newly licensed he was clueless (as were many licensed advisors) as to market behavior or analysis of any kind. The end result was that Bob's portfolio lost in excess of 50% over the next 2 years. (Not to gloat, but my clients' losses in the same period were non-existent.) Unfortunately, the degree of loss Bob sustained was experienced by many investors who did not follow a disciplined and methodical approach. What I find particularly distasteful is that Bob's tax preparer misused his position of trust. He made financial decisions that he was not qualified to make, though his license implied that he did know enough to make them. So now we know what a piece of paper is worth. This is no different than letting a newly graduated medical student with a fresh MD behind his name perform heart surgery. Or, hiring a new MBA grad to Chief Financial Officer of a Fortune 500 company. Yet the financial services industry allows someone to get a license (after a fairly short course) and to immediately start making incredibly important and far reaching financial decisions for anyone he or she can sell their service to. This is a worrisome trend in this industry. A CPA friend confirmed that he has been approached many times by firms wanting him to offer investment services. Why? It's easy money! Accountants and tax professionals have a great business base. They are in a unique position of trust, because of the information their clients disclose to them. Whether they are employed by a company or they maintain an individual practice, there is probably no other person (other than your spouse) who knows as many intimate details of your financial life as your accountant/tax preparer. To abuse this trust for personal gain-no matter how noble the motive may appear-is a total conflict of interest and a huge betrayal. The bear market of 2000 has shown that investing must be a disciplined endeavor. Even most professionals have failed to recognize this. What busy accountant, in the middle of tax season, can put the necessary time and attention to a volatile investment market that may require action at a moment's notice? As for Bob, he's still with his accountant, and in the same investments that brought his portfolio down. He's hoping for a miracle recovery. As of this writing, the stock market is engaged in something of an upswing and Bob, I'm sure, is getting his hopes up that he will recover some of his losses. However, I shudder to think that this rally may come to an end and the bear market resumes. Where will Bob be then? At 58 years old Bob is still playing Russian roulette with his retirement. He's apparently unable to make a decision to move to someone who has the ability to make sense of market trends and the discipline to follow the signals they communicate. This is a decision that will have a profound affect on his financial future-and will determine whether his story has a happy or sad ending. About The Author Ulli Niemann is an investment advisor and has been writing about objective, methodical approaches to investing for over 10 years. He eluded the bear market of 2000 and has helped countless of people make better investment decisions. To find out more about his approach and his FREE Newsletter, please visit: www.successful-investment.com; ulli@successful-investment.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Lifestyle Funds Provide Greater Security? With the stock market stubbornly refusing to settle down and smooth out, Wall Street has been scrambling to come up with "product" they can sell to gun shy investors.One such new concept is the Lifestyle fund; an extremely diversified package designed to be the single fund in an investor's portfolio. Top 25 Growth Funds 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%. Duck Duck! No I don't mean a quack, quack. I meant get down, look out for a huge blob of brown stuff is heading your way. Invest, Be Wrong, and Make Money in the Stock Market I have been trading for several decades and was an exchange member and floor trader for 17 years. You learn fast there or you go broke in a hurry. This Market Is Different All of the talking heads have been telling us that this market is different. You are going to have to be patient and soon (hopefully in your lifetime) the DOW and the Nasdaq will be back at their old highs. Trapeze Artist - Swinging with the Stock Market When we go to the circus we see a trapeze artist working on a high wire or swing either alone or with other athletes. They know what they are doing because of constant practice, but every once in a while there can be a mistake, even a small one that can cause one of them to fall. Understanding a Stocks PEG Ratio A PEG ratio cannot be used alone but is a very powerful tool when integrated with the basics (price, volume and chart reading). You must enjoy crunching numbers and have a calculator handy to estimate your own PEG ratio. Stocks: Understand What You Buy! "There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action!" Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749 - 1832)I don't really know how cars actually work. Not really! I know how to drive them, but if you asked me how they work, I would not really know how to definitely explain it. Fake Money Reach in your pocket and take out that big roll of bills. Depending on how many of them you have you feel pretty good. The Shadow The Shadow knows. There used to be a radio program called The Shadow where the hero, Lamont Cranston, the Shadow, would overcome the shadowy forces of doom by clouding the vision of those around him. Investment Capital Gains Have you bought any mutual funds this year or late last year while the market was doing its skyrocket thing? Last year it was hard to lose money. This year it has been easy. Shadow Bull As one of my regular readers you know I have been a stock market bear for the past 2 years and have encouraged everyone to put their money into a money market account or a short-term no-load bond fund and for the more adventurous what is called a bear mutual fund that goes up when the market goes down. Just being in cash as outlined in my book would have saved 40% or more of your money. Stock Analysis I receive emails from Morningstar. This company provides statistics and analysis of just about every publicly traded stock company you can think of as well as voluminous information on mutual funds around the world. Alfred E. Newman What! Me worry?Many of you remember the cover of MAD magazine. It was one of my favorites. Nest Eggs and Omelets Do you have a nest egg? You know, a place you are stashing away money for the future - retirement, down payment on a house, the kids education. That kind of thing. Dispelling Illusions of the Stock Market How can you dispel an illusion unless you look directly at it? The magician distracts the eye with one hand while he does his manipulation with the other. You are looking in the wrong place and not seeing what is actually happening. Stocks Options Trading Let's assume that you want to make some serious money and you have chosen to take things into your own hands rather than depend upon a "professional trader" to make your trading decisions. This is usually only recomended if you can afford to lose the money that you are trading with, and you appreciate the fact that there is much more upside potential with this added risk. Understanding the Bulls and the Bears If you've ever flipped on the television to CNN Financial or paged through the finance section of your local newspaper, you may have seen or heard references made to "the bulls and the bears." If you didn't know what was meant by those terms, you're about to find out. Enron Cure Let's hope you did not have any of the Enron stock. Maybe you know someone who did and lost everything, but you certainly might know several people who owned stock that lost almost everything. The Cub; II We keep hearing about this bear market and that the bottom is "in" or "very close" so we should be invested in these bargain basement prices to take advantage of the next bull so we won't lose out on the expected huge profits.This is not a big bear market - yet.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
