Morningstar's Guide to Mutual Funds: 5-Star Strategies for Success [Hardcover]

Christine Benz (Author), Peter Di Teresa (Author), Russel Kinnel (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 13, 2002

Praise for Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds

"Picking actively managed mutual funds is no mean challenge. And as the recent era underscores, past performance is of little help. The Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds helps cut through the fog with a solid volume of constructive advice. The central message-'truly diversify, keep it simple, focus on costs, and stick with it'-is not only timeless, it is priceless."
-John C. Bogle, founder and former CEO, The Vanguard Group

"There's nothing Morningstar doesn't know about mutual funds. And at last, for ready reference, there's a book. You'll find everything here you need to know about managing fund investments, inside or outside a 401(k)."
-Jane Bryant Quinn, Newsweek columnist and author of Making the Most of Your Money

"All serious mutual fund investors know that Morningstar is the source of impeccable data and sound investment advice. This book is the culmination of nearly two decades of research, analysis, and good old commonsense wisdom."
-Tyler Mathisen, financial journalist, CNBC

"Momentum investing, the hype in NASDAQ, the dot-com mania are mostly behind us. Now, we must navigate through the market debris. We need a compass as we look to allocate our financial resources in a way best suited to maintain purchasing power and fully fund retirement. The Morningstar Guide will help investors find true north and steer a course to reach their long-term financial goals."
-Mario J. Gabelli, Chief Investment Officer
Gabelli Asset Management, a publicly traded company

"A generation of investors who took the stock market for granted now know how important it is to understand-and control-their own investments. The Morningstar Guide should be their most important resource."
-Terry Savage, Chicago Sun-Times financial columnist and author of The Savage Truth on Money

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

No wonder mutual funds have become the investment staple for tens of millions of individual investors: Mutual funds offer instant diversification, and there are mutual funds available to suit any investment style or budget. Yet the decision to invest in mutual funds is only the first of many you must make. You still have to determine which funds are best for your risk tolerance and how to combine funds in a portfolio that’s suitable for your goals. With thousands of funds on the market, where do you begin?

Let Morningstar® Guide to Mutual Funds put you on the right path to building a sound, satisfying, and profitable mutual fund portfolio. This straight-talking guidebook gives you the information you need to make intelligent mutual fund choices, all in the independent, easy-to-understand style that has made Morningstar the most trusted and respected name in investment research and information.

Regardless of your investment experience or expertise, Morningstar® Guide to Mutual Funds will show you how to look beyond flashy advertising and often equally flashy (and unsustainable) performance figures to find the funds to fit your needs today and well into the future. Look to Morningstar’s plain-English explanations for:

• Advantages–and occasional disadvantages–of mutual funds versus other types of investments
• Listings of recommended funds for virtually any investment goal, time horizon, and level of risk tolerance
• In-depth explanations of expense ratios, loads, and other fund charges
• Strategies for assessing a fund’s past volatility and evaluating its future risk
• Diversification techniques across investments, asset classes, and subasset classes
• Optimal investment strategies for meeting short-, intermediate-, and long-term goals
• Key points in assessing the quality of a fund’s management

Let Morningstar® Guide to Mutual Funds walk you through the often-intimidating mutual fund selection process, and help you choose the right funds to meet your investment goals, protect your assets in any market environment, and provide you with the safety you need–all with the security of knowing you’re working with Morningstar, the number-one information source for today’s smart mutual fund investor.

From the Back Cover

Praise for Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds

"Picking actively managed mutual funds is no mean challenge. And as the recent era underscores, past performance is of little help. The Morningstar® Guide to Mutual Funds helps cut through the fog with a solid volume of constructive advice. The central message–‘truly diversify, keep it simple, focus on costs, and stick with it’–is not only timeless, it is priceless."
–John C. Bogle, founder and former CEO, The Vanguard Group

"There’s nothing Morningstar doesn’t know about mutual funds. And at last, for ready reference, there’s a book. You’ll find everything here you need to know about managing fund investments, inside or outside a 401(k)."
–Jane Bryant Quinn, Newsweek columnist and author of Making the Most of Your Money

"All serious mutual fund investors know that Morningstar is the source of impeccable data and sound investment advice. This book is the culmination of nearly two decades of research, analysis, and good old commonsense wisdom."
–Tyler Mathisen, financial journalist, CNBC

"Momentum investing, the hype in NASDAQ, the dot-com mania are mostly behind us. Now, we must navigate through the market debris. We need a compass as we look to allocate our financial resources in a way best suited to maintain purchasing power and fully fund retirement. The Morningstar® Guide will help investors find true north and steer a course to reach their long-term financial goals."
–Mario J. Gabelli, Chief Investment Officer
Gabelli Asset Management, a publicly traded company

"A generation of investors who took the stock market for granted now know how important it is to understand–and control–their own investments. The Morningstar® Guide should be their most important resource."
–Terry Savage, Chicago Sun-Times financial columnist and author of The Savage Truth on Money

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 286 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (December 13, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471269662
• ISBN-13: 978-0471269663
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,792,778 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Comprehensive Guide, January 22, 2003

By 

K. Johnson (US/Asia) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Morningstar's Guide to Mutual Funds: 5-Star Strategies for Success (Hardcover)

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.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good discussion of Mutual Fund investing from the experts, January 12, 2004

By 

Ronald Brown "rboffp" (Florham Park, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Morningstar's Guide to Mutual Funds: 5-Star Strategies for Success (Hardcover)

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).

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good mutual fund book for beginners, January 17, 2004

By 

Q. He (SC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Morningstar Guide to Mutual Funds: 5-Star Strategies for Success (Paperback)

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.