Select mutual funds and ETFs with the most important economic factors that affect long term, diversified, and risk-adjusted investment fund returns
Good things are born small and grow over time. Regularly, The Skilled Investor evaluates individual mutual funds and ETFs and adds new articles that use the Fund Authority Score rating system. To be alerted when these new articles are published, just subscribe to our main website’s RSS feed or to our blog’s RSS feed.
You can find a directory of Fund Authority Scores for mutual funds and ETFs here.
Fund Authority Scores provide individual investors with concise and objective comparative summaries of mutual funds and exchange-traded funds.
According to the Investment Company Institute, at the end of 2006 there were 61,506 mutual funds worldwide, including stock, bond, hybrid, money market, and exchange traded funds. In the U.S. at the end of 2006, there were 8,120 stock, bond, and money market mutual funds with 21,260 different share classes. In addition, there were 359 ETFs – a number which is growing very rapidly. Clearly, the U.S. and worldwide mutual fund industry does not have any fund fertility problems!
A customer comment from the sidebar: "VeriPlan is a big help. I'm in my mid 50's and have been a diligent saver and passable investor for many years. I am going through a work transition from salaried corporate employee to independent consultant, and my aging parents are needing financial help. Financial planning is particularly important to me and my family now. Thanks for making your product available. I've recommended it to a number of folks and will continue to do so." J.H. in Portland, OR
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A customer comment from the sidebar: "VeriPlan has been a very flexible home financial planning tool. It took me a few hours on a weekend to understand what VeriPlan could do and to enter our financial data. Our family financial affairs were scattered all over, and we lacked a comprehensive picture of what the future might hold for us. I wanted a clear understanding of our projected lifetime and retirement income, expenses, taxes, debts, real estate, financial assets, college investments, retirement investments, and everything else all together." S. L. in Altadena, CA
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A customer comment from the sidebar: "You have done a great job of including the necessary instructions in VeriPlan, located close to where the modeling is happening. The thing I like about the VeriPlan User Guide is that it adds substantial additional commentary that I personally find very valuable. I was hunting for a capable and reasonably priced financial planning package, and VeriPlan is an awesome tool. The more I play around with it, the more valuable I find it. Your free user guide was what made me decide to get VeriPlan." C. A. in North Royalton, OH
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A customer comment from the sidebar: "One of the stories that VeriPlan tells me is how much of my money could be lost to excessive investment costs. I just switched to some lower cost funds in my 401k. I loved updating VeriPlan with the new cost values just to see the red bar on the Total Assets chart get significantly thinner - quite a shocking difference." M. W. in Tulsa, OK
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A customer comment from the sidebar: "I am extremely impressed with the depth of information that VeriPlan asks for and provides. VeriPlan seems much more detailed than one would expect for the very reasonable price. Although I am not a financial professional, I consider myself more financially educated than the most people of my age (62). I find that VeriPlan's depth to be just what we need for our retirement planning. I am glad I purchased it. Thanks." J. W. in Gainsville, FL
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A customer comment from the sidebar: "I have been very happy with this software. I will put VeriPlan to work to help optimize our IRA to Roth conversions, while avoiding the IRMAA penalties if we can. We are in an opportunistic window for the next several years. I have been appalled by the lack of professional knowledge available with respect to the tax burden that will fall upon us when RMDs take effect. Most of the information I have found suggests that it isn't a problem. Luckily, this software will be of great benefit to chart our course." J. S. in Louisville, KY
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A customer comment from the sidebar: "I am a recently retired engineer, and I created a cash flow Excel spreadsheet for 25 years of retirement. So, I fully appreciate the data and potential variances that must be accounted for. Yet, mine is so very simple compared to VeriPlan. I love VeriPlan's concept of total control over inputs and parameters. Veriplan's objectives are very much like mine, but it has many, many more input and control options, and the price is spot on." L. G. in Southbridge, VA
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A customer comment from the sidebar: "I've been using VeriPlan for a few weeks now, and it is everything I was looking for plus a whole lot more of what I didn't even know I needed. By simply switching VeriPlan to a state that does not have a state income tax, I can see how much I could save on traditional IRA distributions in retirement by moving to a state without income taxes. It is a real education in personal finance, and I think just about everyone would benefit from using this tool." T. H. in Silicon Valley CA
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Because it takes substantial time to analyze mutual funds and ETFs and to publish Fund Authority Score articles, it will be impossible to develop summaries for all diversified investment funds. To manage this investment fund over-abundance problem, The Skilled Investor uses a priority system based primarily upon total fund assets, as we tackle this mountain of funds. We also consider reader requests, which you can make through our Contact Us page.
To find our growing number of ETF and mutual fund evaluation articles in the future, go to The Skilled Investor’s website home page and select the main articles category entitled “The Fund Authority for Mutual Funds and ETFs.”
You will find logical subcategories that group these mutual fund and ETF rating articles by security type, investment asset class, and geography. In addition, you will find that we already have an extensive collection of articles about methods for screening, selecting, and evaluating ETFs and mutual funds.
Because mutual funds and ETFs tend to change their fees and trading strategies little over time, you can expect that Fund Authority Scores will remain relatively stable over time.
When you are looking for top mutual funds, the Fund Authority Score helps long term investors quickly find the best mutual funds and top ETFs for their purposes. Other investment fund rating systems far over-emphasize what are really just lucky, historical performance records. Performance records tell you very little about how a fund is likely to perform in the future.
A customer comment from the sidebar: "VeriPlan's financial projection graphics simply lay out what the future might hold for my family. Also, VeriPlan is a very fast and automated financial investment calculator that allows me to change anything and to test alternate investment decisions rapidly. Its integrated documentation explains clearly how it works, and it also includes a wealth of well-researched personal finance and investment information that has been very helpful." T. F. in Muncie, IN
Find Home Financial Planning Software
A customer comment from the sidebar: "I do most of my own financial modeling, and I like the way VeriPlan generates “what if” scenarios that I like to compare, such as possibly buying a rental property, selling my house and renting, moving social security retirement age payment timing, and pulling out IRA money after taxes. Plus, I like VeriPlan for its automated projection of detailed investment costs. Thanks for making a great product." K. W. in Naperville, IL
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A customer comment from the sidebar: "I am 10 years out from retirement, and I needed to start thinking more seriously about having enough to retire on. I'm following the suggestions of you and others in opting for more hands-on retirement planning. I am also using lower cost index investing. There are too many wealth management companies out there, all ready to charge an arm and leg for what should be straightforward financial planning work." G. B. in Smith Mountain Lake, VA
Financial Planning Software for Individuals
A customer comment from the sidebar: "Larry, Hello again! I've continued to work with VeriPlan, and the more I work with it the more I'm amazed at how much it does. It's an incredible decision support tool for my financial planning. Since I have already built a model of my lifetime finances, it is easy to test new ideas as they come to me. Thanks again." M. W. R. in Austin, TX
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A customer comment from the sidebar: "I first learned about the zero federal taxes on long term capital gains when under the 25% marginal income tax rate from working with VeriPlan a number of years ago. I’m no longer working but not yet receiving RMD’s or social security so my ordinary income is relatively low. So I’ve been taking full advantage of zero federal capital gains taxes by selling off my high expense ratio mutual funds which have a lot of capital gains built in since I’ve held them a long time and then I reinvest them in index mutual funds which don’t generate as much capital gains distributions. So the education that you and VeriPlan provide has saved me thousands in taxes, not to mention the expenses on high cost mutual funds. Thanks again." M. D. in El Paso, TX
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In contrast, the Fund Authority Score rating system zeros in on fund expenses, transactions costs, fund operating efficiency, and fund maturity, and it penalizes very poor historical performance. These are the economic factors that have been shown to be the most reliable predictors of better future investment fund performance. (See this article: The Mechanics of the Fund Authority Score System for ETFs and Mutual Funds)
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