| Mutual Funds for the Rest of Us The No-Fuss Fund Guide By Suze
Orman Talk about taking a good idea and running it into the ground. Mutual funds are
supposed to be the ultimate “simple” solution for investors who don’t
have the time or interest to choose and track individual stocks. The concept couldn’t
be more straightforward: invest in a stock fund and you become a shareholder in
a diversified portfolio of dozens of stocks overseen by a professional money manager;
or, plainer still, you can go with an index fund that merely tracks an overall
market barometer such as the Standard & Poor’s 500.
Seems simple enough, eh? If only it were so. To invest in a mutual fund these
days is to be faced with choosing among more than 4,000 stock funds assigned to
an alphabet soup of categories and sub-categories representing an ever-expanding
panoply of investment styles.
What the heck is simple about that? No wonder so many potential investors are
sitting on the sidelines. It’s totally understandable to become paralyzed
with such a confusing world to maneuver through.
Until now. Stick with me for a few minutes and I will cut through all the confusion
and show you how to choose the right funds for your 401(k), Roth IRA, and regular
investing accounts.
The One-Stop Solution: Invest in a Broad-Based Stock Market Index Fund
Okay, I know that even a simple step-by-step explanation of mutual funds is
not going to cut it with some of you. You know you need to be investing in your
401(k) and IRA, but you so don’t have the patience to do a little homework
and figure out the best options. Fine. Here’s the cut-to-the-chase advice: Invest in a broad-based stock market
index fund. And then fuggetaboudit. more...
Fund-amentals
Alrighty, now that we’ve taken care of everyone with a super-short mutual
fund attention span, I want to dive into a bit more detail on how to analyze mutual
funds. Don’t worry, this is not really that hard, nor is it terribly time-consuming.
It all boils down to four simple factors... more...
Bonds and ETFs
So, you ask, "What about bonds and ETFs?" more...
The Clip-and-Save Fund Checklist
Ask yourself the following questions about the funds in which you're interested in investing. If you answer “NO” to any
question, it should serve as a big yellow flag. more...
Suze Orman has been called “a force in the world of personal finance”
and a “one-woman financial advice powerhouse” by USA Today. She is the author
of four consecutive New York Times bestsellers, including The Road to Wealth.
Suze Orman, a
Certified Financial Planner Professional®,
directed the Suze Orman Financial Group from 1987-1997, served
as
Vice President of Investments for Prudential Bache Securities from
1983-87, and from 1980-83, was an Account Executive at Merrill Lynch.
Watch Suze every Saturday night on CNBC.
Check www.suzeorman.com
for TV listings. More great advice on Suze's blog.
| 
