--Original Message--


Visit at 9/19/02 1:41:18 AM


Good morning from Spain.


Can you explain your figures to a newcomer to your site and mutual funds.


On the site reference can you explain if the "10 year total return" means what it says - that is if I invested $10,000 ten years ago then my investment is now worth $19,840 OR does the 19.84 signify the annual percentage return for that period - that is my $10,000 is now worth $61,096.


Sorry to be a nuisance but I am just trying to understand your terminology for my research.

-- Thank you for writing.


I understand that you are looking for clarification of the 10 year total return on Morningstar.com.


This figure is the percent that the fund has gained over the ten year period (not average annual returns, but total return).


If you have additional questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact us.


Best regards,

Dennis L

Morningstar Support

"The figure is the total percent that the fund has gained over the ten year period (not average annual returns, but total return)”.

So, over a 10 year period, the best performing mutual fund in America only grew by 21.85%, and that when the stock market grew at least 178%.

I don't know about you, but I would have expected better - much better - for my money.

And when you take into account the fees that you'll have paid - your rate of return is substantially less than 2% per annum or 21.85% total.

And what if you'd invested your money in an "average" fund instead of the "best performer".

Go back to the link above and scroll down to the bottom of the page.

There you'll see that over the same 10 year period, the average return of all 1434 funds was just...

7.24% Total Return (not annual return, total return over 10 years - a fraction over 0.5% per year).

Sheesh (again!)

That makes the return on a deposit account at the bank look good.

And as a humorous aside...

You'll notice that the best performer is called "Calamos Growth A".

Perhaps a better name would be "Calamity Growth A", but then I suppose they'd have nothing appropriate to call the rest of the "star performing funds".

And in case you didn't know...

Morningstar.com is probably the world's most respected analyst of fund performance. There's a wealth of information on their site about funds, 401ks, IRA's (don't worry if you're not American, it's not an Irish terrorist movement - it's a form of tax efficient savings), and all aspects of personal finance.

Again, I don't get a commission for recommending them. It's just a good site with an American perspective.

And if you're wondering why...

I refer to you and not to me?

It's because I don't have any funds tied up in mutual funds or other so-called savings vehicles.

I really have better things to do with my money - notably my own Work At Home, home based business opportunity

To me they're a waste of time and effort, and I'm not alone in thinking that.

Why not take a look at what some noted commentators think of the whole concept of mutual funds:

Dr William Bernstein in a 2001 study of the fund industry had this to say...

“...99 per cent of fund managers demonstrate no evidence of skill whatsoever...”

Click on the link to pick up the final reason why a Work From Home future is THE future and after that just follow one of the links to read about 7 popular ideas for a home based business

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