Morningstar Funds 500: 2007 [Paperback]

Morningstar Inc. (Author), Scott Berry (Author), Russel Kinnel (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471786640 | ISBN-13: 978-0471786641 | Publication Date: February 9, 2007 | Edition: Revised

Stewardship Grade
Easily find funds that put you first.

Manager Profile
Know the qualifications of the people who are running each fund.

Tax Analysis
Tax-adjusted returns and potential capital-gains exposure help you decide whether a fund is best suited as a tax-deferred or taxable investment.

Star Rating
Quickly see how well a fund has balanced risk and return.

Results for Up to 12 Years
Easily evaluate a fund's performance.

Morningstar's Take
Get independent insight into how and why a fund is a good choice—or a poor one.

Expenses, Fees, Addresses,Phone Numbers
Find everything you need to obtain more information before you invest in a fund.

Historical Style
Boxes See if a fund has invested consistently from year to year.

Portfolio Holdings
Review the top 20 holdings for each fund to see the securities that drive the performance.

Investment Style
Box Quickly determine if a fund's true investment strategy matches your goal.

Over 50 Investment Categories
Put together diversified portfolios, assess potential risk, and spot top funds within peer groups.

Sector Weightings
Avoid overconcentration in certain areas of the economy.

Research from the world's foremost mutual fund expert

In this completely new reference guide, you'll find the best information and independent opinion available on 500 of the largest and most popular mutual funds—the very funds you likely own or follow. Morningstar's Fund Reports are the industry standard and are trusted by financial professionals nationwide. And now you'll get this exclusive and valuable guidance updated all year long. Access 50 free fund reports at any time in 2007. Choose from 2,000 funds.

This book can help you:

• Position your portfolio for a big 2007
• Steer clear of "me-first" management
• Start a new portfolio

You'll also benefit from:

• Morningstar's exclusive Analyst Picks
• An expanded management section
• Incisive, independent analysis

For 20 years, Morningstar has helped individuals and financial advisors make better investment decisions. Our trusted data and independent analysis provide a level of insight unavailable from other sources.

For more information about other Morningstar products and services, visit us online at www.morningstar.com.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Russel Kinnel is Morningstar's Director of Fund Research, editor of the monthly newsletter Morningstar FundInvestor, and a frequent contributor to Morningstar.com.

Scott Berry is Morningstar's Associate Director of Mutual Fund Analysis and editor of Morningstar Mutual Funds, the firm's flagship print publication, and a frequent contributor to Morningstar.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 610 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; Revised edition (February 9, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471786640
• ISBN-13: 978-0471786641
• Product Dimensions: 10.6 x 8.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,756,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great info to help you understand the fund you are considering for investment, September 24, 2007

By 

Craig Matteson (Saline, MI) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Morningstar Funds 500: 2007 (Paperback)

While many people buy mutual funds because they find them easier than building their own portfolio of individual stocks, in fact buying into these funds is in some ways more complex than buying individual company stocks. How do you know what the fund in invested in (companies and sectors), fees, turnover, who the manager is, what their performance has been, how the fund has performed relative to its peers, and much more? It is not an easy task. This handy book provides you with loads of great information for 500 funds picked by Morningstar.

This isn't to say that you should necessarily buy the funds listed here. Morningstar also includes funds you should probably avoid (you have to make your own choices as to what is right for you). One of the interesting things I notices is that simply because something has a four or five star rating doesn't mean that you should buy the fund. This is due to the past performance versus future return probability. It might well be that a well performing fund is now trading at a high price and that the likely future return cannot justify the price. So, the analyst rating also has to be balanced.

The editors have packed a huge amount of information onto each of these pages. You get a snapshot of governance and management (with a stewardship score), a chart of performance, a graph with an historical profile, a star rating including risk for several periods, a portfolio analysis, and a few paragraphs providing Morningstar's take on the fund, and contact information. In the back of the book are several lists that slice and dice the various funds different ways according to specific criteria.

Since funds do not remain static for the entire year, another nice feature of the book is that you can download up to 50 fresh charts during the calendar year. One word of caution that I learned by hard experience is that if you block pop-ups, you need to make an exception for Morningstar. You will try to download the new chart, your count will decrement, but you won't get the chart because you browser will have blocked the pop-up containing the new chart! That was a tad frustrating.

Terrific and interesting information.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best mutual fund books, January 24, 2008

By 

Yan Han "man in america" (Tucson, AZ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Morningstar Funds 500: 2007 (Paperback)

I have been buying Morningstar books for mutual funds since 2006. There are a lot of books about how/what mutual funds are, but this is the only kind available for evaluating PAST mutual funds performance. (The other one is from Lipper, which is only available from the web).

Morningstar has a long history to keep track of mutual funds and ETFs data. This gives them an advantage to publish their views on various mutual funds. However, readers must be aware that the ratings are based on historical performance. Nobody can predict the market, but if a fund manager performs well over a long time, it is very likely he/she will perform well in the future.

This book also provide some insight info such as the manager has his/her own money in, and risk data. A plus of the book is that it provides 50 free mutual fund reports downloadable from Moringstar website.

A must have for mutual fund selectors.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent on the funds it covers. Wait for the new one., December 24, 2007

By 

J. Ellebracht "steady Amazon customer" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Morningstar Funds 500: 2007 (Paperback)

I really enjoyed the analysis provided, it seemed to cover most of the bases I wanted to learn about, expenses, tax efficiency, volatility, returns.
Obviously it gets dated. It appears to be published early in the year. Be sure to get the latest.