Conference nyoss1::market_investing

Is at the library.  See if your local library carries Morningstar.  If so, the
loads and phone numbers for each fund are clearly listed.  The is another 
publication that my library carries called the guide to no-load mutual funds.  If
you decide on professional advice be careful, and be prepared to pay for it.
There are some very good notes on questions to ask a financial planner. I don't
use a planner, I prefer to do it myself.  I'd hesitate to recommend individual
funds as what is right for me, may not be for you (risk taker, conservative, etc).
If, however, you are recommended a fund, or find one yourself that you think 
looks good, I'd be happy to look up any information I can find about it.  I can
list the funds I have with the disclaimer that I call myself an above average 
risk taker, if that would help you.  Bottom line is what you feel comfortable
with.

Michael

    I'm afraid the only honest, etc. individual most of us have found
    is our own selves.  But at least we're cheap and there's no question
    of duplicity!
    
    Go to the local library and scan the latest issues of Money, the
    (August?) issue of Forbes with the mutual fund focus, etc.  Read.
    Call up funds that look interesting and request a prospectus. Read.
    Look for articles and reference books, etc.  Then make your best
    guess.
    
    			-John Bishop

use the old dart method.....even Peter Lynch admits to that trick a few times.

michael

    
      RE .2  Before my wife is added, we will be getting tax advice.  From
             what I've determined so far, it would appear we pay no gift
             tax unless we take something out.  The way around this, in
             my eye, is to have my mother-in-law take it out, since she's
             on the account, and will be paying less taxes on capital
             gains.  We don't expect to touch anything for at least three
             years.
    
             I will be stopping in at the library.  Thanks.
    
             -Tim
    

Is to have your mother-in-law give you each $10,000 a year ($20,000 total) until
the entire amount is transfered to you.  Otherwise there will be a give tax at
some time ( or sorry to say ) an estate tax.

michael

    Tim,
    
    If you do decide to do-it-yourself, I recommend you consider joining
    the American Association of Individual Investors. They publish a
    monthly periodical that has very insightful articles about the
    "investment world." With your subscription, you also get their no-load
    mutual fund directory. Its very helpful in picking no-loads, with
    minimum investment info, phone numbers, historical performace,
    investment strategy, etc...
    
    Curt

    
    4.5% load funds returning less than 10% / year sounds almost criminal
    to me ... sounds like some broker was/is making lots of money.
    
    May I suggest Fidelity.  They have plenty of no load funds that have
    returns over EACH of the last few years and LIFE of the funds over 10%.
    Fidelity has a Mutual Fund Guide - monthly and quarterly. You can look
    at them in there offices or get a subscription.  They list funds
    performance, objectives, risks, manager, where and what the fund has
    for holdings etc, etc ... The fidelity people will not give you as much
    advice as Shearson but will show you the options - go in state what 
    your goals are, what risks you are willing to take etc, etc,...
    
    I personally have been very happy with Equity Income II. 19.2 % last
    year. 5 or 6% allready this year. NO LOAD.
    
    works for me - your mileage may vary.  If you want to look at a mutual
    fund guide - I usually have one in my office at ZKO ...
    
    jim krieger
    

    re: .0
    
    One word of caution about investing in international bond funds. Your
    return will be very senstive to the dollar exchange rate. This may
    force you to take on more risk than you actually wanted to. 
    
    Mike

>      I have been investing with Shearson-Lehman-Hutton in Manchester ...
>      I am looking for alternatives for our investments. Shearson has
>      suggested a well diversified portfolio that includes 4.5% loaded
>      mutual funds.  They do not sell no-load. ...

      Tim --
      
      It  is  quite  clear from your questions in the base note that you
      are far to intelligent and knowledgeble to by be paying Seharson a
      4.5%  commission for advise that is limited to the load-funds they
      offer.  
      
      I suggest that in an orderly fashion over the next 2-6 months 100%
      of this money should be transfered to no-load funds.  You can deal
      directly  with  the  funds  -- for this purpose some of the larger
      families of no-load funds, such as T R Price, are recommended. You
      could  also  choose one of the discount brokerage houses that deal
      in no-load funds with little  or  no  transaction  fees,  such  as
      Charles Schwab.

    
    
    You may not know that only about 20% or so of fund managers outperform
    the S&P 500 index.  If past is prelude, you can immediately put
    yourself near the head of the pack by allocating a large percentage of
    your long term holdings to a no-load, low-overhead index fund.  The
    remainder can be invested into other asset classes to diversify some of
    the risk away and help ensure that the bad times aren't so bad.
    
    Or you could allocate, say, 80% or 90% to that kind of strategy, and
    then pursue a more active stragegy with the remaining 10%-20%.  If you
    can prove to yourself over time that the active portfolio does better,
    then you can change your weightings.
    
    Note also that your specific patterns of consumption affect how you
    might hedge your future...  if you own some expensive real estate, you
    might want to hedge against a drop in real estate valuations.  If it's
    possible to hedge against rising college costs, you might want to think
    about how you might do that (I should think more about this for my own
    sake, as a matter of fact).
    
    Anyway, the index funds have done very well in the past, and are
    essentially a no-brainer.  If you invest gradually (e.g. dollar cost
    average), you'll be at less risk of losing your capital in a sudden
    market drop, and you should be able to enjoy good long term return.
    
    /Jim
    

    If you eliminate all loaded funds from your choices, then you
    are eliminating some of the best fund managers in the business.
    I'd rather base my decision on performance.  (The loaded funds
    I've looked into have breakpoints which reduce the load as your
    account grows.)  Management fees and 12-b1's and who know what
    other charges they'll add scare me.  No one works for free.
    I thought Fidelity has a lot of 3% loaded funds?

re: .12

>    If you eliminate all loaded funds from your choices, then you
>    are eliminating some of the best fund managers in the business.

If  you  review  frequently  published analyses of mutual  funds'  performances
(based on NET profit - what you take out  less  what you put in), you quickly
come to the conclusion that the pundits are right, the  S&P unmanaged index has
a better performance record than the vast majority of mutual funds - the record
is disproportionately higher when  looking  at  just  loaded  funds. Perhaps 
the measure of "best" is based on GROSS, not NET ROI. 

If  an  investor  feels  obligated to give a fund manager 3%-8% commission  for
underperforming  an  UNMANAGED  index,  well  I  guess  we  all spend our money
differently.

Of course, you can still find  a  couple or few funds that are loaded and still
provide a better_than_most NET ROI.  Unfortunately,  they  seldom  exhibit that
characteristic year after year. Even the mighty Magellan trails many, many 
no-load Fidelity funds.  If you dwell on getting the most out of your load, the
question becomes one of knowing when to get out as the fund starts performing 
poorly.   And, since you are redeeming and  buying,  you are adding more 
commissions to the debit  side  of  your  ROI calculations.  And  that puts you 
into the arena of timing the effects of macro market swings on individual funds. 
And if  your  are  any  good  at  that, you stopped reading around or about my 
second sentence.

FWIW,
Dave

    I keep getting this voice inside me saying to invest in Drug, Europe
    and Real Estate mutual funds. The rational is that they appear to have
    bottomed. I'll treat this as a GROWTH catagory which is where I want to
    invest for the long term.
    What's your little voice telling you?

    
    
    Still too early for drugs; about right for europe.
    
    Kaizad

    
    I've been hearing that international is a good direction, specifically  
    in utilities... the only glitch would be if congress does not approve
    the N. American Free Trade act...  That seems doubtful though..
    

	Europe is very iffy at the moment - my viewpoint.

	The german discont and repro rate may be cut tomorrow, UK navy has
	threatened to shoot at the French if they enter our 6 mile exclusion
	zone, they are burning our fish.

	Germany has just started going into a recession, and may take the French
	with them, as they tie themselves closely together.

	The UK may be getting out of recovery, but can't ignore the impact
	of the rest of the EEC.

	I would wait-and-see until at least the exchange rates steady a bit 
	more.

	Heather