The question most asked of me, is "should I invest in mutual funds or should I invest in individual stocks"? The answer to this question depends greatly on the individual who is asking the question. If that individual is a person who takes hold of his or her financial future and is actively following the Stock Market and its movements up or down, then my answer would be "no they are not the best investment for you".
If however, you are an investor who simply dumps his or her money into the lap of a financial planner or fund managers lap and tells them to make money for you, then, yes the mutual fund industry is for you. However, as the articles below will eventually indicate, those who do invest their money into a mutual fund will on average "end up losing more money than they could ever make in such a fund or funds".
Now why do I make this statement? The Wharton School of Financial Research did a comprehensive study of the mutual fund industry in 1962 and another in 1999. Both studies came up with the same basic answer to the question above, that due to fees, hidden charges, withdrawal penalties, and a host of other issues the average investor who puts money into a mutual fund makes little to no money, and on average has a better than average change of losing money on those investments.
For those investors who want to invest in, or are currently in a mutual fund or funds, read the information displayed below and then base your decisions as to whether to stay invested in them or move into the Stock Market itself.
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Richard W. Wendling
