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Does Your Retirement Portfolio Hold These 3 Mutual Fund Misfires? - November 19, 2019

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If your advisor has you invested in any of these "Mutual Fund Misfires of the Market" with high fees and low returns, you need to rethink 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.

Below, you'll read about some of the funds included in our current list of "Mutual Fund Misfires of the Market." And if by chance you're invested in any of these misfires, we'll help and review some of our highest Zacks Ranked mutual funds.

3 Mutual Fund Misfires

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

Leader Short-Term Bond Fund C : 2.16% expense ratio and 0.75% management fee. LCMCX is an Investment Grade Bond - Short fund. By investing in bonds that mature in less than two years, Investment Grade Bond - Short funds are focused on the short end of the curve. With a five year after-expenses return of -0.75%, you're mostly paying more in fees than returns.

Brandes International Small Cap Equity I (BISMX - Free Report) : BISMX is a Non US - Equity option, focusing their investments acoss emerging and developed markets, and can often extend across cap levels too. BISMX offers an expense ratio of 1.15% and annual returns of -0.65% over the last five years. Even if this fund can be positioned as a hedge during the recent bull-market, paying more in fees than returns over the long-term should never be an acceptable result.

Legg Mason BW Absolute Return Opportunity C (LAOCX - Free Report) : This fund has an expense ratio of 1.86% and management fee of 0.64%. LAOCX is an Investment Grade Bond - Intermediate fund, which targets bonds that mature in more than three years but less than 15 years, and are a middle of the curve option for investors. With an annual average return of -0.26% over the last five years, the only thing absolute about this absolute return fund is that it absolutely deserves to be on our "worst offender" list.

3 Top Ranked Mutual Funds

Now that you've seen the worst Zacks Ranked mutual funds, let's have a look at some of the highest ranked funds with the lowest fees.

BMO Large-Cap Growth Fund Y : Expense ratio: 0.79%. Management fee: 0.35%. MASTX is part of the Large Cap Blend section, and these mutual funds most often invest in firms with a market capitalization of $10 billion or more. By investing in bigger companies, these funds offer more stability, and are often well-suited for investors with a "buy and hold" mindset. This fund has achieved five-year annual returns of an astounding 12.48%.

T. Rowe Price New Horizons (PRNHX - Free Report) is a stand out fund. PRNHX is one of many Small Cap Growth mutual funds; these funds tend to create their portfolios around stocks with market capitalization of less than $2 billion. With five-year annualized performance of 15.81% and expense ratio of 0.76%, this diversified fund is an attractive buy with a strong history of performance.

Neuberger Berman Mid Cap Growth Trust (NBMTX - Free Report) is an attractive fund with a five-year annualized return of 10.87% and an expense ratio of just 0.95%. NBMTX is a Mid Cap Growth mutual fund. These mutual funds choose companies with a stock market valuation between $2 billion and $10 billion.

Bottom Line

So, there you have it - if your advisor has you invested in any of our "Mutual Fund Misfires of the Market," there is a good probability that they are either asleep at the wheel, incompetent, or (most likely) lining their pockets with high fee commissions at your financial expense.

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