Find the Right Mutual Funds: Morningstar Mutual Fund Investing Workbook, Level 1

by John Wiley & Sons

The Morningstar Investment Finding the Right Funds allows readers to take their first steps in the world of mutual funds with confidence. Filled with informative topics such as how to purchase a fund and how to find a fund's total return, as well as important fund documents, this guide has been designed to give readers a solid mutual fund investing foundation.

Genres: Finance

224 pages, Paperback

First published December 29, 2004

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 2 out of 5]

The funds available in my 401(k) just changed, so I figured I'd better get smart about choosing the right ones. I know a little about mutual funds, but I'd feel more confident making choices after doing some research. I saw the Morningstar Fearless Investing Series Mutual Funds Workbooks at the library, and checked out this first book in the series.

I was looking for advice on diversification, but this book dealt with mutual fund basics. The advice was, essentially: buy a no-load, low-cost, diversified, large-cap-focused index fund from a big name like Vanguard, Fidelity, or T. Rowe Price.

The book is a good mutual fund primer, but it just wasn't what I was looking for. I'll read the other 2 books in the series, which hopefully cover diversification and other advanced topics.

Notes
Look for a fund with less than 10% turnover.
Avoid buying funds in Q4 to avoid capital gains distributions.
Because the stock market tends to go up more often than down, it's better to invest a pile of cash as a lump-sum rather than dollar-cost averaging it.
Dollar-cost averaging is generally the best method for long-term investing, with the exception of a windfall which should be invested as a lump sum.

[Clinton Sheppard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good textbook style introduction to mutual fund investing with quiz questions at the end of each lesson to reinforce key points. Short lesson chapters that are 10 pages or less in length and concentrate on a single topic make for an easy read; and bold section headings facilitate topic scanning.