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Author of "Keys to Investing in Mutual Funds" (Barrons), "Ultimate Mutual Fund Guide" (Probus), "How to Pick Stocks Like Warren Buffett" (JKLasser), and "The Reverse Mortgage Advantage" (McGraw-Hill). Former financial columnist for Gannett News Service.
Author of 20 books; winner of 1996 Personal Finance award from Investment Company Institute and Washington University. Formerly on staffs of Money and Sylvia Porter's Magazine. Had a radio program (on WEVD) about mutual funds and a newsletter, FundDigest.
Mutual funds are like life: complex, somewhat unpredictable, treacherous, and absorbing.
I'd like to write a general book about investing, urging the average investor to put most of his or her money in life-strategy funds. Most portfolios that I look at are godawful messes.
Recently the historic Morningstar rating of a famous, much praised index fund, Vanguard Small Cap Index, was 1.6 stars--between "lowest" and "below average." Index funds are wonderful, but some are not so wonderful as others.
The recent list of 62 "best funds" in the Wall Stret Journal was, as I wrote, "mechanistic and moronic."
| User | Date | K | C | P | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kenneth | 01/07/13 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Thanks for the reply. |
| Kenneth | 12/21/12 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Thank you! |
| Susie | 12/01/12 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Thanks Warren- You just reinforced the reasons ..... |
| Kenneth | 11/02/12 | 10 | 10 | 10 | Thanks for the information and comments! |
| Lee | 09/02/12 | 10 | 10 | 10 | As always, thanks for the info! |
Hi Jim-- Why screw around with success? Why not continue your winning streak with no-load index funds? Well, if you want more risk and possibly more reward, and want to buy individual stocks, SUBSCRIBE
Dear Randy-- An unusually tax-efficient fund, of course, would be any municipal bond fund. Its yield would be shielded from most taxes. But in general, tax-efficient funds are those that don't buy
Sorry to be dilatory about answering your question, but I had written to the ICC asking for a reply--and never received one. I understand that expenses are subtracted from the nav every day--every day
Here is Ken Shapiro's followup answer: The fact pattern in the question is a little ambiguous, but I'm responding to what I believe the person is asking. I am assuming that all of the dividends received
David: This is the answer from Kenneth B. Shapiro, CPA/PFS, CFP, of the Shapiro Security Financial Group in Hazlet, N.J. -- Warren It is usually pretty easy for investors to identify that the tax
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