Customer Reviews

The Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds: 5-Star Strategies for Success

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Has your portfolio taken a butt-kicking lately?

Obviously, it's a fact that millions of Americans currently own and will continue to purchase mutual funds. Today many are realizing they didn't monitor, change, or properly allocate some of their funds. Obviously, many will depend on them in the future. 401Ks
are also mutual funds, as well as the traditional and Roth IRA, the 403b among others. Since so many are participating and people will continue to pour billions of dollars into them, the beginning individual mutual fund holder should have this book.

It will primarily benefit those who are new to mutual funds or those who want to increase their general knowledge. Simple, precise explanations. Explanations on proper and true diversification, rates and risk of return, asset allocation, and appropriate risk based upon one's attitude, age, and stomach. It tells one how to look at how a particular fund operates and what it's invested in. Terms such as diversification, dollar-cost averaging, and the fact that past performance is no guarantee of future results are usually known to those who've followed mutual funds already. It is good to understand and calculate the true "cost" of a fund. Declining backend loaded funds are o.k. in solid performing funds that an individual will hold for a period of 5 yeas or more. But does one know if they are gong to be in a fund for five years? When a new fun manager takes over the operations and asset allocation of a fund, it is important to note how and where there may be changes. Know the difference between a micro, small, medium, and large cap index fund. How is a cap defined? Know the difference between a balance, value, international, emerging market, index, and global fund. Global fund? That means most of the investment allocation is overseas right? Nope. Often, most of the fund's holdings are in domestic (American) companies which means the global fund may have the same holdings as your U.S. blue chip, or more domestically oriented funds. Owning more mutual funds, and even funds in different families, means the more diversification correct? No. One can achieve the same diversification with 7 funds as 17. Even moreso. In addition to this book check out Bob Brinker on the radio.

Morningstar is the recognized name in evaluating mutual funds. This book shares some of their insight. The advice is fairly straightforward and not earth-shaking: set your goals, pick an assett allocation in line with your goals and risk tolerance, diversify. From there they go into picking funds addressing such things as evaluating fund manager, looking at costs, judging past performance etc. I found the book helpful, but I am more philosophically aligned with the advice in Bogle's book (Common Sense on Mutual Funds : New Imperatives for the Intelligent Investor by John C. Bogle) that emphasizes index funds. I thinking chasing hot funds can almost be as bad as chasing hot stocks. Finally, the book deals strictly with mutual funds. Probably need a second reference to fully deal with you investment life (insurance, etc).

That is THE book I am looking for!!! It is very easy to read and follow for beginners like me. It provides an overall review about the whole industry, major players, popular funds, and basic strategies. It emphasizes a lot on the importance of diversifying the portofolio and how to do that. The book serves well to prevent beginners from making BIG investment mistakes.
Of course, it is a MORNINGSTAR book. It is all about Morningstar methods and tools. And I discovered that most of advanced tools recommended by authors are NOT free.

This book is quite good for people who are just beginning to learn about mutual funds and also as a reference. The explanations are practical and lucid. However, for an experienced investor it would probably not make sense to read it back to back because a lot of time is spent on explaining basic concepts such as the need for diversification and why past performance is no guarantee of future results, as well as simple terminology such as total return, credit risk, interest rate risk.

I was so excited to find this book, after reading the usual junk, the classics, surfing hundreds of websites -- and yes, leaving lots of money on Brokers Conference Room Tables. {If only I knew then, what I know now.}

It read fast, pulling so many ideas together in a very readable manner, backed up by authors who eat, sleep and process one of the best market data-sources around.

My surprise was that it had elements of an adventure novel, by introducing me to the personalities and investment styles of Fund Managers. Suddenly the market, became real people. Annual Reports become chapters in an ongoing historical novel.

Is it oriented to Morningstar? Sure, but that's not a bad thing for a new investor trying to re-gain control of his or her financial future. It makes a good companion, to the online data.

"Morningstar's Guide to Mutual Funds" is the book for any investor, large or small. When my financial adviser would start discussing mutual funds, the NYSE, etc., my eyes would glaze over and my mind would wander. I never could understand the mumbo-jumbo he was throwing at me. Plus he never seemed able to explain why my portfolio kept sliding downward. So, I purchased this book in hopes of understanding more about investing and what I needed to do. This is clearly the book for me, and I am so thankful for such an edifying book about investing that makes it seem so simple.

I'm so glad that Morningstar came out with this great guide since I rely on their advice whenever I'm considering my investments. Also, the landscape has shifted so much when it comes to Mutual Funds over the last 2 years -- it's great to have one place to refer to when I need guidance. This book gets 5 stars as a sound investment!

Technical analysis may be necessary to wring every last penny out of your investment portfolio, but knowing and implementing the time-tested knowledge of the fundamentals is what guides a new or seasoned investor safely along the path to success. Guide To Mutual Funds 5-Star Strategies for Success is essential to new investors to help them establish their safe place in the investment community. This 'textbook' presents and explains most all of the most important investment tools and concepts to safely invest in bonds, stocks and mutual funds. It explains how to properly gauge and understand risks, the import role of the fund manager, how to build and manage a portfolio of investments, the value of, and how to use Morningstar investment analysis tools, investing in bear and bull markets, the challenges of investing in sector funds, identifying sell flags, and other essential knowledge and wisdom which will build an investor's skill and confidence in investing. I give it five stars!

Hal Dekker
Roseville, CA

Looking for a straight-forward easy to understand road map for successful mutual fund investing...look no further. This is just what I needed as a non-financial wizard. I especially liked the Frequently Asked Questions section in Part VI.

I am trying to learn allabout the market, stocks and mutual funds. This book was one that allowed me to be a novice yet it is informative to people on all levels. My family have read it and we all go back to check out different things in the book about what is said about investing.