Lainey

We are working towards saving for retirement. There is no pension for either of us at our jobs. I have a simple IRA with a 3% company contribution, while +1 has nothing at his place. He has an IRA that we add to yearly. We'll retire (if we retire) with what we save, oh, and of course, Social Security.

I've been reading this and that, and see that there is such a thing as being too diversified, and/or having too many familes of funds. While I have no training in investing, I'm trying to see that that does not happen.

We have funds in various familes. These funds cover the large blend, world stock, large and small growth, foreign large blend, specialty/natural resources. We have a few conservative investments within the accounts as well. The next suggestion was a "bond fund", and some other international real estate fund. I gave that one a as the fund was too new for my comfort level.

I've asked that they keep us within the same familes of funds that we have, as moving money around from family to family is no cost, yet the latest suggestion on the bond fund was yet another family of funds.

I've pretty much given a to that idea as well and did a bit of research within the familes of funds we already have. I'm waiting to hear back on my suggestions.

So for those of you who manage your own investments or those who have experience in this sort of thing, can you give me your .02 on the "too many families/too many funds" issue?

Note: we've had various financial advisors give us some pretty lousy advice over the years, so I have to take their suggestions with a grain of salt. This was the first year since we started seriously saving towards retirement that I was happy with the growth of the accounts. I'm starting to think selecting funds may be like throwing darts and my aim may just be just as good, or even better than theirs.

goblueS2K

We do most of our investing through our jobs and with more than one investment company. That way, we are more diversified. Also, both of our employers have a pension plan. There is that nagging suspicion, however, that it might not be enough down the road.

There is a S2Ki board on "Money and Investing". I haven't really read any of the posts, but it may contain useful information.

PokS2k

I don't see anything wrong with spreading it out across a few different funds and families. I would rather be too spread than too concentrated. I've found that fund families tend to have an overall investment style and being too concentrated in one company can hurt. For instance when the tech bubble burst Janus funds suffered. It became clear that several of thier funds held the same stocks and shared the same philosophy (aggressive on tech). On the other hand T. Rowe Price did not have the gains Janus did during the tech boom but also did not suffer as much when it burst. They tended to have more diversification and an overall conservative approach.

I think the Morningstar site used to do a fund analysis. You might want to invest some time there.

Brother Honda

Lainey,
We are really lucky to have a very good financial advisor now. He has done a great job investing for us and, most importantly, making Darlene feel comfortable that if I check out she has someone that will help her manage to provide for herself. The process is very dynamic and we meet at least quarterly to assess where we are and discuss any adjustments that we have to make to the investment mix. IMO it's worth the effort to continue to search for an advisor that you and Rick have confidence in. Even if you get good advice here today it will more than likely be wrong in a short period of time.

dlq04

I've mention more than once now that I'm a big fan of Vanguard. They manage more than a trillion dollars, so I'm not alone. They have systems that constantly show you where you are in relation to all the factors that matter. Worth a look on line if you are interested.

valentine

^^ We use Vanguard as well and I have an investment fund with Fidelity. We also like to invest in cds when the rates are good and just roll them over or shop for a better rate elsewhere. You really cannot make much money on just simple savings.

Lainey

[QUOTE=dlq04,Jan 25 2007, 05:42 PM] I've mention more than once now that I'm a big fan of Vanguard.

cordycord

The whole idea of a mutual fund is to spread risk among many investments, although the fund itself may focus on a specific portion of the market. That's a great benefit over simply investing in a single stock. Vanguard is always good. I manage my Lord Abbett funds through UBS, which returned between 3.6% (all value fund) to 50.2% (securities trust international).

If you can review your return every other month or so, then you can re-allocate depending on return and your appetite for risk. I'm sure you've heard the general rule--the older the investor, the less risk in the portfolio.

Last, MSN Money Central has a wealth of information (pun intended!) regarding funds. You can run a screen for "no load mutual funds", and it will come back with fund that don't charge fees and are also giving great returns.

Have fun, Lainey!

Wind Chaser

Yes, there are too many mutual funds and all of them claim to be better than average...

At work, we can choose from 5 index funds, which is an approach I like, low overhead and good diversification.

I've tried investing on my own and failed miserably. I didn't lose that much, but I've learned my lesson, I don't have the time to look at that stuff on a daily basis. I've even taken a further hands off approach and am now putting all my retirement $s in a lifecycle fund which changes the portfolio mix to become more conservative as I grow closer to retirement.

Works for me and I can sleep at night!

willinathen

I absolutely agree with Vanguard,

They have my money spread out among 3 different plans,

I've chosen to take a moderate risk and have done very well over the past 20 years.

As I'm sure you know, the real beauty of investing in the mutual funds is that you gain shares when the market is down that increases your profit when the market is up.

I did mine all out of payroll deduction, a very painless way to invest. I don't think I could have done as well if I'd sent them a check monthly.

I like the variety of programs they offer and I feel comfortable with their reputation and results.

Willinathen