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Avoid These 3 Mutual Fund Misfires - November 18, 2019

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If your financial advisor made you buy any of these "Mutual Fund Misfires of the Market" with high expenses and low returns, you need to reassess your advisor.

The easiest way to judge a mutual fund's quality over time is by analyzing its performance and fees. Our Zacks Rank of over 19,000 mutual funds has identified some of the worst of the worst mutual funds you should avoid, the funds with the highest fees and poorest long-term performance.

First, let's break down some of the funds currently part of our "Mutual Fund Misfires of the Market." If you happen to have put your money into any of these misfires, we'll help assess some of our best Zacks Ranked mutual funds.

3 Mutual Fund Misfires

Now, let's take a look at three market misfires.

AQR Multi Strategy Alternative I : 1.96% expense ratio and 1.75% management fee. ASAIX is a part of the Allocation Balanced fund category; these funds like to invest in a variety of asset types, finding a balance between stocks, bonds, cash, and sometimes even precious metals and commodities; they are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. With a five year after-costs return of -1.14%, you're for the most part paying more in charges than returns.

John Hancock2 Emerging Markets A (JEVAX - Free Report) : 1.47% expense ratio, 0.92%. JEVAX is a Non US - Equity option, focusing their investments acoss emerging and developed markets, and can often extend across cap levels too. This fund has yearly returns of -0.01% over the most recent five years. Another fund liable of having investors pay more in charges than what they receive in return.

Oppenheimer SteelPath MLP Alph Plus A (MLPLX - Free Report) : Expense ratio: 2.8%. Management fee: 1.25%. MLPLX is a Sector - Energy mutual fund, which encompasses a wide range of vastly changing and vitally important industries throughout this massive global sector. With annual returns of just -12.4%, it's no surprise this fund has received Zacks' "Strong Sell" ranking.

3 Top Ranked Mutual Funds

Since you've seen the most noticeably lowest Zacks Ranked mutual funds, how about we take a look at some of the top ranked mutual funds with the least fees.

Capital Group US Equity (CUSEX - Free Report) is a fund that has an expense ratio of 0.43%, and a management fee of 0.43%. CUSEX is a Large Cap Growth option; these mutual funds purchase stakes in numerous large U.S. companies that are expected to develop and grow at a faster rate than other large-cap stocks. With yearly returns of 10.61% over the last five years, this fund clearly wins.

PIMCO StockPlus Long Duration Institutional (PSLDX - Free Report) is a stand out fund. PSLDX is categorized as a Government Bond - Long option, which holds securities issued by the U.S. federal government; these funds focus on the long end of the curve, which can result in higher yields but greater sensitivity to interest rate fluctuations. With five-year annualized performance of 17.08% and expense ratio of 0.59%, this diversified fund is an attractive buy with a strong history of performance.

Eagle Mid Cap Growth R6 (HRAUX - Free Report) has an expense ratio of 0.65% and management fee of 0.52%. HRAUX is a Mid Cap Growth mutual fund. These funds aim to target companies with a market capitalization between $2 billion and $10 billion that are also expected to exhibit more extensive growth opportunities for investors than their peers. With annual returns of 11.92% over the last five years, this fund is a well-diversified fund with a long track record of success.

Bottom Line

These examples underscore the huge range in quality of mutual funds - from the really bad to the astonishingly good. There is no reason for your advisor to keep your money in any fund that charges more than you get in return (unless they're getting something out of it, like a high commission).

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