How to Distinguish Good Vs Bad Investment in Mutual Funds

Trying to pick individual stocks is a difficult proposition for regular investors. Investors will face with infinite risk and low return with wrong stocks selection. Most investors can achieve the same result by using mutual funds. There are several advantages using mutual funds such as having good management, reduce risk with diversified portfolio, invest in other risky area, and more.

Good vs Bad Mutual Funds

Good Management

Reputable manager or management team or professional analysts will devout many hours of study and research. Fund manager will analyze various stocks or bonds to invest in. Some mutual funds are also known to hire market experts to analyze their portfolio or divide their portfolio to co-managers & advisors. Analyzing various financial reports is not an easy task for investors; you need to sacrifice a large portion of your free time to get the good result. Unless you are willing to do this, then you won’t have as much information to make a decision as a mutual fund manager.

Good managers are staying with the mutual funds longer. Long tenured managers typically have a high level of competence in running the mutual fund business or entity he oversees. Managers usually face steep learning curves when they first enter a new organization, making long management tenure a valuable asset.

Lord Abbett Intermediate Tax Free A (LISAX) Fund

One of the income producing mutual funds is municipal bond mutual fund or muni bond mutual fund. This municipal bond mutual fund provides regular income which is exempted from federal income tax. Some of these muni bond funds also provide tax free income from state tax. One of the popular choices is Lord Abbett Intermediate Tax Free fund. More fund review can be found below.

Lord Abbett Intermediate Tax Free A (LISAX)

The Lord Abbett Intermediate Tax Free fund objective is to seek the maximum amount of interest income exempt from federal income tax as is consistent with sound risk. This bond mutual fund uses its net assets to purchase municipal bonds issued by states, territories, and possessions of the U.S. (including the District of Columbia). The interest from this municipal debt is typically not taxed from federal personal income tax (i.e. tax free).

Fund Profile

• Fund Inception Date: June 30, 2003
• Ticker Symbol: LISAX
• CUSIP: 543912604
• Beta (3yr): 0.94
• Rank in category (YTD): 39%
• Category: Muni National Interm
• Distribution Rate: 3.44%
• Capital Gains: 0%

Best California Municipal Bond Closed End Funds 2012

These Best California Municipal Bond Closed End Funds of 2012 are Nuveen CA Quality Income Municipal, BlackRock MuniHoldings CA Quality, Nuveen CA Performance Plus Municipal, etc. These CA municipal bond funds invest mainly in tax free CA municipal debt obligations.

Intro

There are two types of bond closed end funds. They are tax free bond CEF and taxable bond CEF. The tax free fixed income fund invests mainly in municipal bonds. These muni bonds are obligation issued by a state, city, local municipality for governmental needs or to finance specific public projects. One of the advantages in investing in this fund is investor will get an income on regular basis which is exempted from federal income tax.

The California municipal bond closed end fund invests mainly in California state municipal debts. These CA muni bond funds also provide tax free income from federal and California income taxes.

Top 10 Best California Municipal Bond Closed End Funds of 2012 are:

1. Nuveen CA Quality Income Municipal (NUC)
2. Nuveen CA Investment Quality Municipal (NQC)
3. Nuveen CA Select Quality Municipal (NVC)
4. BlackRock MuniYield California (MYC)
5. BlackRock MuniHoldings CA Quality (MUC)
6. BlackRock MuniYield CA Quality (MCA)
7. Nuveen CA Performance Plus Municipal (NCP)
8. Nuveen CA Premium Income Municipal (NCU)
9. BlackRock CA Municipal 2018 (BJZ)
10. Nuveen CA Dividend Advantage Municipal 2 (NVX)

Worst Performing Closed End Funds in Week 19, 2012

The following post will look into the worst performer closed end funds in week 19. Some of them are RENN Global Entrepreneurs fund, BlackRock EcoSolutions fund, Greater China Fund, etc. More review can be found below.

Worst Performing CEFs

Closed-end funds are traded like stocks and exchange trade funds (ETFs). There are top performer and worst performer funds. The following are the worst performer CEFs in week 19, 2012. Most of these funds are stock CEFs. Among the worst performer classes are sector equity, international stock, and emerging market stocks.

The Worst Performing Closed End Funds in Week 19, 2012 are:

1. RENN Global Entrepreneurs (RCG)
2. GAMCO Global Gold Natural Resources & Income (GGN)
3. BlackRock EcoSolutions (BQR)
4. Greater China Fund (GCH)
5. Morgan Stanley China A (CAF)
6. Templeton Russia & East Europe (TRF)
7. Central Fund of Canada (CEF)
8. Aberdeen Chile (CH)
9. ASA Gold & Precious Metal Ltd (ASA)
10. Central GoldTrust (GTU)

Note: Week 19 = May 7th, 2012 – May 13th, 2012

Top Performer Closed End Funds in Week 19, 2012

Some of the top performer closed end funds in week 19, 2012 are Firsthand Technology Value, Morgan Stanley Frontier Emerging Markets, Nuveen CA Select Tax-Free, etc. Most of the top performers are bond closed end funds. More review can be found below.

Top Performer CEFs

In week 19, the top performer closed ends mainly consists of bond closed end funds. If we look in further, I could see municipal bond closed end funds are among the top choice for investor. The other top performer categories include emerging markets stock, sector equity, corporate bond, high yield municipal, etc.

Top Performer Closed End Funds in Week 19, 2012 are:

1. Firsthand Technology Value (SVVC)
2. Morgan Stanley Frontier Emerging Markets (FFD)
3. BlackRock Limited Duration Income (BLW)
4. Franklin Limited Duration Income (FTF)
5. Western Asset Municipal High Income (MHF)
6. Eaton Vance OH Municipal Bond (EIO)
7. Managed Duration Investment Grade Municipal (MZF)
8. BlackRock New Jersey Investment Quality (RNJ)
9. Nuveen CA Select Tax-Free (NXC)
10. Nuveen Municipal Value 2 (NUW)

Fidelity Magellan Fund (FMAGX)

Fidelity Magellan fund is one of the Fidelity flagship mutual funds. This fund was managed by Peter Lynch from 1977 to 1990. Lynch managed to achieve 29% annualized return for this period. As part of large growth mutual funds, this Fidelity Magellan fund has become one of the laggard mutual funds for the past decade.

Fidelity Magellan (MUTF: FMAGX)

The investment objective of Fidelity Magellan fund is to provide capital appreciation. This large growth mutual fund invests mainly in common stocks of domestic and foreign issuers. It may invest in either growth stocks or value stocks or both using fundamental analysis of factors. Management will use financial condition and industry position of companies, and market & economic conditions to select investments.

Fund Profile

• Inception Date: 05/02/1963
• Ticker Symbol: FMAGX
• CUSIP: 316184100
• Beta (3yr): 1.13
• Rank in category (YTD): 97%
• Category: Large Growth
• Distribution: 0.64%
• Capital Gains: 0%
• Expense Ratio: 0.59% 
• Net Assets: $ 15.47 billion
• Number of Years Up: 37 years
• Number of Years Down: 11 years
• Annual Turnover Rate: 42.00%

Updated on 5/11/2012

Best Income and Preferred Stock Closed End Funds 2012

Some of the best income and preferred stock closed end funds are: John Hancock Premium Dividend, TCW Strategic Income, DNP Select Income Fund, etc. This income and preferred stock fund invests in various assets classes such as dividend stocks, preferred stocks, multisector bonds, high yield, corporate bond, money market, and more.

Intro

In general, there are two types of companies stocks. One is common stocks and another one is preferred stocks. Most people trade or buy common stock when they are investing through brokerage account. This common stock can be acquired through initial public offering or IPO and secondary market (like NASDAQ, New York Stock Exchange, AMEX, etc). Some of the common stocks do pay dividend. This dividend paying common stock is typically known as dividend stocks or income producing stocks.

On the other hand, preferred stock is considered as less risky than common stock. It may be less liquid than common stocks. Preferred stock is named because it has preferential rights in matters such as liquidation and board representation. It is rated like bond with ratings range from AAA (top rated) to D (worst rated) or unrated. If the company declares bankruptcy, the preferred stock holders are entitled to the company’s assets before common stock holders.

Best Income & Preferred Stock CEFs

Closed End Funds can be used to invest in preferred stocks and other income producing securities. These funds are typically diversified into variety of asset classes and sectors. The 10 best income and preferred stock closed end funds of 2012 are:

1. John Hancock Premium Dividend (PDT)
2. TCW Strategic Income (TSI)
3. DNP Select Income Fund (DNP)