some mutual fund help

[biglouie250]

usually do my own research when it comes to financial matters however id like some opinions from the members with knowledge or first hand experience on the subject. already have a IRA/SIMPLE from work that is geared towards aggressive investments in 3 diff mutual funds. have 2 savings, checking and a CD. So my cash is pretty evenly dispersed and set up well for someone my age(24). Id like another investment vehicle where it would deduct a set amount automatically from my checking account every pay period. Im interested in a good mutual fund if anyone would point me in the right direction that would be most appreciated. Please no stock tips, really not interested in stock of any company at this point in my life.

[biglouie250]

bump

[Tock]

Over the long haul, the majority of aggressive mutual funds do about the same as an ordinary index fund, probably a bit less once you factor in the extra fees they charge.
To do well in aggressive mutual funds, you gotta know when to put your money in and when to pull it out.

Unless you're willing to educate yourself on the arcane world of investments, I'd recommend the plain old boring Vanguard 500 index fund. It's fees are dirt cheap, and you'll be investing in the largest 500 companies in the US. Since lots of those companies are multi-national companies, you'll be investing in foreign business as well.
Ya, over the long haul, if what you want is a place to park your investment $$$, stick with a simple general-purpose inexpensive index fund.

JMHO,

-Tock

[biglouie250]

thats what i was looking at actually tock.... the vanguard 500 index lol.

[Tock]

thats what i was looking at actually tock.... the vanguard 500 index lol.

Yep, that's probably your best bet for investments.
I read an article in the financial publication that Consumer Reports does, and they say your best buy will be 70% in the Vanguard 500 (or another similar fund) and 30% in a bond fund (I don't remember which ones they recommended). Said that over the long haul, that's the way to go.
Now, if you have a darn good reason to think that another sector is going to do better, like if you know that there's going to be a bubble in technology stocks, or real estate, or drug companies, or whatever, well then, by all means, divert your $$$ to that. But only if you know what you're doing . . .

Back when I was poor (in the 1980's) I read all the computer magazines and followed what all the computer companies were doing. A guy named Jack Tramiel founded the Commodore Computer company and guided it along pretty well. But after a while, the company board of directors got fed up with him, and bought him out . . . so he wound up without a job, but loaded with cash. He was looking for new fields to conquer, and at that time the old Atari company had fallen on hard times. Its stock had slipped to $1/share, so Jack Tramiel bought enough stock to be the majority shareholder, and he took over the company. When I saw that happen, I knew good things were gonna happen to Atari.
Over the next few years, Tramiel had the company bring out a few computers that were, at the time, the industry leader for music composition. And they were good for lots of other stuff, too. To make a long story short, their stock went from $1 share to $9 share over a couple of years.
That's the sort of thing where you know beforehand that a company is a good investment . . . Another would be, if the US had been in a deep recession for a while, and you had a pretty good idea that things would start to improve, well, you'd invest in trucking companies like Knight, because trucking companies are among the very first to start seeing big profits when people start buying stuff.

But, until you get experience in this stuff, it's really best to stick to an index fund. It's cheap, reliable, and you'll sleep well at night.

-Tock

[biglouie250]

exactly.....ill play a lil more after i get my masters in finance....there are a few portfolio mgt classes im gonna want to take as well with that.