wjm@lcuxc.UUCP (B. Mitchell) (03/25/85)
There are a number of mutual funds that specialize in finding small companies and investing in them. Some general advice: 1) Find a NO-LOAD mutual fund. There is no reason to pay a broker an 8.5% sales charge up front to get into a fund. There are several no-loads specializing in small companies and a no-load puts every dollar you invest to work for you, not some broker. To get information on no-load funds, look at Wiesenberger's "Investment Companies" at your public library. They will provide the address and phone # of the fund, who will send you a prospectus and other pertinent data on request. With no-loads, you have to contact the fund, but many of them have 800 numbers, so even the phone call is free. 2) Look at the track record of the fund. Wiesenberger, "Forbes", and "Money" publish performance statistics for mutual funds and how they do in up and down markets. The best measure is a fund's long-term (10 years or more) performance record. 3) Consider a family of mutual funds, each with a different investment objective, run by the same management (e.g. Dreyfus, Fidelity, Value Line, 20th Century, etc). They often allow you to switch from one of their funds to another with a phone call, should your investment objectives change. 4) Keep in mind that investing in small companies is speculative, and you are taking higher than average risks with the potential for higher than average rewards. Good Luck (you may need it). Bill Mitchell (ihnp4!lcuxc!wjm)
dgh@sun.uucp (David Hough) (03/27/85)
In article <338@lcuxc.UUCP> wjm@lcuxc.UUCP (B. Mitchell) writes: >To get information on no-load funds, look at Wiesenberger's "Investment >Companies" at your public library. They will provide the address and >phone # of the fund, who will send you a prospectus and other pertinent >data on request. With no-loads, you have to contact the fund, but many of >them have 800 numbers, so even the phone call is free. >2) Look at the track record of the fund. Wiesenberger, "Forbes", and "Money" >publish performance statistics for mutual funds and how they do in up and >down markets. The best measure is a fund's long-term (10 years or more) >performance record. Additional sources of useful information include The NoLoad Fund Investor, a quarterly newsletter and annual handbook, and the American Association of Individual Investors, which publishes a monthly journal and an annual handbook on noloads. The AAII stuff is interesting because they adjust return for risk. As to track record, most of the funds that have excellent ten year records are too large to perform much differently from an index fund. A puzzling exception seems to be Fidelity Magellan, which is a half-load fund, charging 3%. The stuff I have read indicates that funds with over $100,000,000 in assets are generally unlikely to be able to outperform the market. David Hough