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American Funds – Washington Mutual Investors Fund – Class A Shares (AWSHX) acquire a +2 Fund Authority Score

Fund Authority Scores rate mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) on the most important economic factors that influence individual investors’ net long term diversified investment fund performance. The Skilled Investor developed the Fund Authority Score system to provide individual investors with concise and objective summaries of mutual funds and ETFs for comparisons within investment […]

American Funds – Income Fund of America – Class A Shares (AMECX) rate a +2 Fund Authority Score

Fund Authority Scores rate mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) on the most important economic factors that influence individual investors’ net long term diversified investment fund performance. The Skilled Investor developed the Fund Authority Score system to provide individual investors with concise and objective summaries of mutual funds and ETFs for comparisons within investment […]

Schwab S&P 500 Index Fund – Select Shares (SWPIX) achieve a +8 Fund Authority Score

Fund Authority Scores rate mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) on the most important economic factors that influence individual investors’ net long term diversified investment fund performance. The Skilled Investor developed the Fund Authority Score system to provide individual investors with concise, objective, and realistic summaries of mutual funds and ETFs for comparisons within […]

American Funds – The Investment Company of America – Class A Shares (AIVSX) net a +3 Fund Authority Score

Fund Authority Scores rate mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) on the most important economic factors that influence individual investors’ net long term diversified investment fund performance. The Skilled Investor developed the Fund Authority Score system to provide individual investors with concise and objective summaries of mutual funds and ETFs for comparisons within investment […]

Nationwide S&P 500 Index Fund – Class A Shares (GRMAX) fetch a +2 Fund Authority Score

Fund Authority Scores rate mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) on the most important economic factors that influence individual investors’ net long term diversified investment fund performance. The Skilled Investor developed the Fund Authority Score system to provide individual investors with concise and objective summaries of mutual funds and ETFs for comparisons within investment […]

American Funds – Capital Income Builder Fund – Class A Shares (CAIBX) attain a +4 Fund Authority Score

Fund Authority Scores rate mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) on the most important economic factors that influence individual investors’ net long term diversified investment fund performance. The Skilled Investor developed the Fund Authority Score system to provide individual investors with concise and objective summaries of mutual funds and ETFs for comparisons within investment […]

American Funds – Capital World Growth and Income Fund – Class A Shares (CWGIX) warrant a +2 Fund Authority Score

Fund Authority Scores rate mutual funds and exchange traded funds (ETFs) on the most important economic factors that influence individual investors’ net long term diversified investment fund performance. The Skilled Investor developed the Fund Authority Score system to provide individual investors with concise and objective summaries of mutual funds and ETFs for comparisons within investment […]

Fidelity Spartan 500 Index mutual fund (FSMKX) achieves the Best +10 Fund Authority Score

The Standard & Poors 500 stock index is the most common equity index fund benchmark in the U.S. The S and P 500 tracks about 75% of publicly traded U.S. equity market asset value. The dominant issue in choosing among passively managed index mutual funds and ETF funds benchmarked against the S & P 500 […]

American Funds – EuroPacific Growth Fund – Class A Shares (AEPGX) get a +2 Fund Authority Score

The diversified investment fund strategy of American Funds’ EuroPacific Growth Fund According to American Funds’ Annual Report for the EuroPacific Growth Fund, the fund “seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in the securities of companies based in Europe and the Pacific Basin.” American Fund’s 497 filing on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission EDGAR […]

American Funds – Growth Fund of America – Class A Shares (AGTHX) collect a +2 Fund Authority Score

The investment fund objective of American Funds’ Growth Fund of America With 4.4 million shareholder accounts, the Growth Fund of America (AGTHX) is the largest actively managed stock mutual fund in the United States. According to American Funds prospectus, the investment objective of the Growth Fund of America “is to provide you with growth of […]

California Investment S & P 500 Index Direct (SPFIX) pulls in a +8 Fund Authority Score

The Standard & Poors 500 stock index is the most common equity index fund benchmark in the U.S. The S and P 500 tracks about 75% of publicly traded U.S. equity market asset value. The dominant issue in choosing among passively managed index mutual funds and ETF funds benchmarked against the S & P 500 […]

Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund (VGTSX) lands a +9 Fund Authority Score

The Vanguard Total International Stock Index mutual fund is a low cost alternative for broad, passive index investing internationally. This fund is a composite of three other Vanguard international funds: the Vanguard European Stock Index Fund (55.7%), the Vanguard Pacific Stock Index Fund (24.1%), and the Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index Fund (20.2%). The percentages […]

Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSMX) achieves a +9 Fund Authority Score

The diversified investment fund strategy of the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund According to the Vanguard website, the investment strategy of the Vanguard Total Stock Market Index mutual fund is to use a “passive managementâ€”or indexingâ€”investment approach designed to track the performance of the MSCIÂ® US Broad Market Index, which represents 99.5% or more […]

Vanguard 500 Index Fund – VFINX – merits the Best +10 Fund Authority Score

The Standard & Poors 500 stock index is the most common equity index fund benchmark in the U.S. The S and P 500 tracks about 75% of publicly traded U.S. equity market asset value. The dominant issue in choosing among passively managed index mutual funds and ETF funds benchmarked against the S & P 500 […]

Why only one Warren Buffett? The illusion of superior professional mutual fund manager performance.

<<– Continued from Part 1 (Where’s Waldo? The illusion of superior professional mutual fund manager performance.) Instead of highlighting dozens or even hundreds of perennially superior mutual fund money managers, the media conversation has become a repetitive chant about Warren Buffett. Family Financial Planning Software for Home Use While highly successful and very worthy of […]

Where’s Waldo? – The illusion of superior professional mutual fund manager performance.

If investment mutual fund managers were truly skilled at beating the market, then you would expect mutual fund manager performance prowess to persist over time. Unfortunately, the evidence indicates that superior past professional performance among mutual fund managers tends not to persist. Past superior mutual fund performance is simply not a predictor of future superior […]

Commentary on How Many Mutual Funds are Needed for a Well-Diversified Portfolio

For holding periods of many years, diversification improves dramatically, when you hold multiple actively-managed mutual funds in an investment portfolio. In “How Many Mutual Funds Constitute a Diversified Mutual Fund Portfolio?,” Professor Edward O’Neal of the University of New Hampshire at Durham tackled the important question of how much an investor could improve on diversification […]

How Many Mutual Funds are Needed for a Well-Diversified Portfolio? – Evidence

Actively-managed mutual funds are not created equally. Performance can vary significantly – even when funds pursue similar strategies or “styles.” This article addresses the impact on portfolio diversification of holding more than one actively-managed mutual fund. (For the companion article to this, see: How many mutual funds are needed for a well-diversified portfolio? â€“ a […]

10 Lower Cost S and P 500 Index Mutual Funds

10 Lower Cost S&P 500 Index Mutual Funds Regular readers know that The Skilled Investor advocates a very boring, low cost, broad market, passive index investment strategy. Costs less. Gets the broad market return — whatever that will be. Narrows the range of outcomes and therefore the risk to your long-term personal financial plan. Takes […]

The Birth of Yet Another Darn Asset Class – Infrastructure

The Birth of Yet Another Darn “Asset Class” – “Infrastructure” Recently, The Skilled Investor published two articles: The first article discussed how the financial industry keeps manufacturing new asset classes for brokers and investment advisors to sell to individual investors. The Skilled Investor raised the question of whether these new asset classes are likely to […]

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