Kinnel: 43 Fantastic Funds

I am always curious when people publish a list that takes 8,000 funds down to just 43!  So I decided to take a little time and run these funds with some others that fee-only Advisors commonly use for their portfolios.  I took this information and ran it through FI360 software to score each fund for fees, performance and a fiduciary scorecard.  My list has 88 funds and ETF’s.  Enjoy.

Here are some key thoughts and suggestions:

• If you hire an advisor, they should be a low-cost, fee only advisor and they should be a fiduciary for you 100% of the time.  Have them sign this pledge!
• Understand how you pay for financial services!  Most people need a coach.  Read this article to see some common red flags.
• Target to save between 12% to 20% of gross income each year (this includes company match).
• Avoid expensive funds, don’t pay sales loads (like American Funds 5.75%)
• With markets at all-time highs, it is important to manage risk.  Stocks can have huge risk over a 1 to 7 year period.  See this post, risk can happen fast!
• At my firm, we are big fans of low cost funds to get exposure to market beta.  We also think that adding factors like value companies, small cap companies, companies with high profit and companies with good momentum can enhance returns and diversification.  Thus, we are big fans of Dimensional Funds (DFA), AQR, Vanguard and iShares.  See this post – The perfect storm may be brewing for indexes!
• I encourage investors to look at periods much longer than 3/5/10 years.  Look at 40 or 50 years of data if possible.
• Click here to subscribe to my blog or email us  if you have a portfolio of over $750k and would like a free 2nd Opinion about your portfolio.
• Here is a link to Russ Kinnel’s article — http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=825546

Here is the entire fi360 scorecard report – Kinnel – 43 funds – monitoring report

• You don’t need to pay sales loads for American funds!  This dramatically reduces your performance over time!
• Notice that there are many good funds on a watch list for different reasons.  Some performance, some high fees.
• In the alternative space, I believe that AQR is the clear leader!

Please Remember: Past performance may not be indicative of future results.  Moreover, no current or prospective investor should assume that future performance of any specific investment, investment strategy, or product made reference to directly or indirectly in any general informational materials or educational sessions, will be profitable or equal any corresponding indicated historical performance level(s).  Different types of investments involve varying degrees of risk, and there can be no assurance that any specific investment will either be suitable or profitable for an investor’s retirement portfolio.  Moreover, you should not assume that any discussion or information contained in this website serves as the receipt of, or as a substitute for, personalized investment advice from Integrity Investment Advisors, LLC. To the extent that a reader has any questions regarding the applicability of any specific issue discussed above to his/her individual situation, he/she is encouraged to consult with the professional advisor of his/her choosing.