Best Mutual Funds | Mutual Funds In The Current Market

So how is everyone’s mutual funds doing in the current stock market. If you are like most people you probably are not doing very good. Over the past year the DOW was a little over 14,000 and closed today at about 11,400. That is a big drop. The credit crisis does not seem to be cleared up yet. But the CEO of JP Morgan was on CNBC today and did seem to calm some fears.

When the markets are getting beat up like they are now its important to be in mutual funds with low fees. This is when its nice to have quality funds that don’t have crazy fees like the best vanguard funds. People seem to forget that they pay fees when their mutual funds go up or down. They are coming out all the time. Nothing hurts more than seeing your fund lose money plus you also get charged a fee even when you are already losing lots of money.

Also when the markets are tanking many people will sell out of their stocks and mutual funds. Now this might be a good idea if you need the funds on a short time frame. But it has been proven time and time again that it is all but impossible to time the markets. Instead of putting a set amount each month into their mutual fund portfolio some people will try to time the market and invest a lot at one time when they think they picked a bottom. But if you look at the chart of the the DOW or any other index how could you ever be certain you picked the bottom. With mutual funds you shouldn’t be trying to trade them like stocks. They are long term investments that you just continually keep stocking money away in. It is tempting to try to pick a bottom or sell your mutual fund at a top and then jump back in if it falls back but take heed from all the past investors who tried this method.