Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with mutualfund

Canadian Mutual Fund Filter: Funds Ending in Class

jules1651 — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:42:35 -0800

When a Canadian mutual fund ends in the word class, eg the AGF Canadian Stock Class, how is that fund different to ones that end in fund, such as the AGF Canadian Stock Fund? Are they different funds? Acuity Short Term Income Class is an example of a "class" fund where there isn't also a "fund" fund offered.

Winning the money game with stable bond funds.

Gordion Knott — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 05:32:39 -0800

I'm looking for a basic, no-frills bond fund where I can park money with a minimum of risk. In years past, I've relied on Vanguard Short-Term Investment-Grade (VFSTX) for "storing" money that I'd like to access a year or two down the road. The NAV varies between 11 and 9, and the yield is 5%. A great money parking fund.

I'm interested in recommendations of other funds, either Vanguard or non-Vanguard, with stable NAVs and reasonably good yields.

Also, what are additional investment options in this category? What other investments can be relied upon for good yields and high liquidity due to little appreciation or depreciation in the underlying capital of the investment? Money market, CDs, anything you can recommend. Bonus points for products that beat the Vanguard Short-Term bond fund yield.

(Disclaimer: I realize that all investments are subject to risk and that I should discuss my investment profile with a qualified professional blah blah blah.)

Get Rich or Die Tryin'

Anonymous — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 17:16:34 -0800

Financial advice-filter. I'm a college student with no debt and negligible living expenses. Where should I be putting my income? I'm a college student who is lucky enough to have parents footing the entire bill for college, hence I have no student loan debt. I'm also living at home and not paying rent or for groceries, or for anything except incidentals, really. I know how incredibly fortunate this situation makes me, and I want to do everything I possibly can to ensure that I am financially independent from my parents as quickly as possible, while understanding where to invest my money and why.

I have a part time job where I take home between $220 and $300 a week after taxes. Right now it's going directly into my online savings account, which currently has an APY of 3%. I have about 5k socked away in this account. I also have a Roth IRA and an investment portfolio (mutual funds, etc.) that is managed by a financial advisor and about which I know very very little.

My financial goals are manifold; I would like to own a home within the next 10 years and I'd like to save prudently for retirement. I also have a pipe dream of opening a small business.

That said, where should I be putting my money right now? I'm young so I'm not risk-averse, but I also have some short term financial goals like owning a home and opening a business. I was planning on maximizing my contribution to my Roth ($5,000 for this year), but that would leave me with very little left over to put into my portfolio, which I'm told (by Warren Buffett, among others) is a good idea right now since the market is so depressed and I have a long time to make my money back. (Buy low, sell high and all that.)

Or...should I make sure I have a decent emergency cash fund before I think about doing any of these things? I plan on graduating college in 2010 and there's no guarantee in this economy that I'll be able to line up a job right away, so it'd be nice to know that I could still pay 6 months' rent someplace. Or should I open a CD or a money market account to save specifically for my short-term goals at a higher return than my savings account?

Clearly I already have some money put away in various places but I would really like to start taking more responsibility for my own finances. Additionally, any recommendations for good places for young investors to learn about managing their own money, along the lines of the Motley Fool or Get Rich Slowly? I've also read Suze Orman's book geared toward young people but that was mostly about getting out of debt (which I am not in) and advice that might have changed based on the conditions of the economy right now.

(Anonymous because I'm not too comfortable talking specifics about money publicly.)

How do you choose between the various mutual funds?

downstairs — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 07:01:01 -0800

I have a new IRA. Limited experience with them. How do you choose between the various mutual funds? I have an IRA (max contributions) and then some extra in a new Schwab account. I now need to choose where to put the money. I’m somewhat new to all of it, and the number of options is overwhelming to research item by item.

I have an adviser (sorta) that recommended a fund that is set up for target retirement age (so he recommended I just dump it into the fund targeting retirement in 35 years).

How have some of you started out? Do you pick 2-3 and spread it based on risk level (some high, some moderate, some low)? Just pick one fund and stick with it? Spread across other variables?

Anything you avoid (load, no load, all that crap I don’t understand fully)?

Calculating average cost basis (single category method) for a mutual fund

jaimev — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:26:17 -0800

Need help with calculating average cost basis for a mutual fund that I recently closed. I have an Alger mutual fund that was opened 13 years ago, and closed recently. I'm trying to figure the average cost basis for the fund at the time when it was closed. I tried calling the mutual fund company but they said since the account was closed, and I no longer have shares in it, they can no longer provide me the cost basis (sigh...silly policy), but they offered to send me the transaction history so I can calculate it myself.

I just need help with the algorithm used in calculating the average cost basis (single category method). I understand the basic calculation: average cost = (your total cost of the shares you own) / (number of shares you own). But I'm getting tripped up when I look through the transaction history and see exchanges that take money and shares out of the fund.

Given the sample transaction history below, can you provide the average cost basis at the the time the account was closed, and explain how you came up with it?

12/29/95 - Used $1000 to purchase 100 shares @ share price of $10
12/29/99 - Reinvest $300 dividend to purchase 20 shares @ $15. Total shares owned = 120
12/29/06 - Exchange out $400 @ $20 into a different Alger fund. Total shares owned = 100.
12/29/07 - Used $625 to purchase 25 shares @ $25. Total shares owned: 125
12/29/08 - Closed account. Share price is $30. Total shares owned: 125

Is the average cost ($1000 + $300 + $625) / (100 + 20 + 25) = $13.28
Or is it ($1000 + $300 - $400 + $625) / (100 + 20 - 20 + 25) = $12.20
Or is it something else?

Should I be afraid of the US stock market right now?

the jam — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 12:55:20 -0800

I've never invested before, but I'd like to start. An S&P 500 index fund seems to be a good, easy, long-term option for beginners. Yet every time I read the news, it sounds like the US stock market is ready to implode. Should I be afraid of the US stock market right now? Where else should I be looking?

My Money Hurts

murphy slaw — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 21:37:47 -0800

Financial Newbiefilter: Should I sell this mutual fund I bought when I didn't know what I was doing? I've recently gotten my finances into a semblance of order. The one festering boil left on my finances is a managed mutual fund I bought five years ago (as of May) when I had a certificate of deposit come due and got strong-armed by a fund salesman masquerading as a financial planner at my banks.

I'd like to get the money out of this dog of a fund and into an index fund of some kind, but the tax implications are making my head hurt.

I've had the fund for five years. In that case a sale would be taxed as a long-term capital gain, correct? Is there any way to further reduce my tax liability if I'm immediately reinvesting the proceeds from the sale in a different fund?

If it matters, I have maxed out my 401(k) and a Roth IRA.

Another complication is that I may be buying a house in a year or so. If I plan to use this money as part of a down payment, am I better off sitting on it than putting it into another fund which I might have to pay short-term capital gains on when I sell?

My brain hurts. Please halp, hivemind.

You take the high load, I'll take the low load

doctorcurly — Tue, 15 May 2007 10:38:15 -0800

My 401k retirement plan through the company I work for is managed by Fidelity Investments. I have read recently that a "high-load" mutual fund will often return poorer yields than a "low-load" or "no-load" mutual fund. How do I find out if my plan is high-load, low-load, or no-load?

Investment options for the young and the restless?

killdevil — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 11:03:32 -0800

A friend needs to find a good place to park some money that will ultimately be used for house down-payment purposes. Help me come up with a few good investment options. My friend has around $100k sitting in a low-yield savings account. It pains me to see the cash left there when better options are legion.

Key points: the money will be invested for around 1-3 years. I think one or two good mutual funds would be a reasonable choice, but am not really an investor myself so I don't have specific funds or fund families to which I can point my friend.

Other options are welcome, of course, provided they are relatively conservative and are low-maintenance (i.e. they do not require active monthly monitoring; keep in mind that my friend is relatively young and is not an experienced investor).

Thanks!

Am I beating the Dow?

Big Fat Tycoon — Fri, 08 Jul 2005 17:19:21 -0800

How would I get a good approximation of a portfolio return on an investment account which has regular incoming and outgoing cash-flows, so that I can compare it to mutual fund and stock index performance? I have a trading account which I've deposited money in on an intermittent basis, to buy stocks, income trusts and mutual funds, and have on occasion withdrawn money when needed. Is there a simple and effective way to estimate the return in any particular stretch of time, or do we have to get into fairly complex mathematics? For instance, if I put in 40,000 and my portfolio goes up to 80,000, and then I take out 30,000, I obviously get a different "return" based on whether I assume I turned 40,000 into 80,000 or 10,000 into 50,000 (100% versus 500% return).

If there's no quick and dirty way to do this, can anyone recommend some freeware to calculate this? I'm assuming it's probably a function of Quicken or something, but I'd prefer something free.