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Avoid These 3 Mutual Fund Misfires - January 20, 2020

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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.

Timothy Plan Defensive Strategy A (TPDAX - Free Report) : This fund has an expense ratio of 1.41% and a management fee of 0.6%. Without even doing any in-depth analysis, just the fact that you are paying more in fees than you're earning in returns is reason enough not to invest. TPDAX is an Allocation Balanced mutual fund. Allocation Balanced funds look to invest across asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, and including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. The fund has lagged performance-wise, so perhaps a simpler index future investing strategy might be more effective.

Victory RS Global Natural Resources R : RSNKX is classified as a Sector - Energy mutual fund. Throughout the massive global energy sector, these funds hold a wide range of quickly changing and vitally important industries. RSNKX offers an expense ratio of 1.86% and annual returns of -17.4% 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.

Glenmede Long/Short Fund (GTAPX - Free Report) - 2.46% expense ratio, 1.2% management fee. This fund has yielded yearly returns of 1.87% in the course of the last five years. Too bad!

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.

Janus Henderson Global Technology T (JAGTX - Free Report) is a fund that has an expense ratio of 0.92%, and a management fee of 0.64%. JAGTX is a Sector - Tech mutual fund, allowing investors to own a stake in a notoriously volatile sector with a much more diversified approach. With yearly returns of 20.22% over the last five years, this fund clearly wins.

MainStay Large Cap Growth R6 (MLRSX - Free Report) has an expense ratio of 0.64% and management fee of 0.62%. MLRSX 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 annual returns of 13.87% over the last five years, this is a well-diversified fund with a long track record of success.

Neuberger Berman Mid Cap Growth R3 (NMGRX - Free Report) has an expense ratio of 1.33% and management fee of 0.76%. NMGRX is a Mid Cap Growth mutual fund. Mid Cap Growth funds pick stocks--usually companies with a market cap between $2 billion and $10 billion--that demonstrate extensive growth opportunities for investors compared to their peers. With yearly returns of 10.34% over the last five years, this fund is well-diversified with a long reputation of salutary performance.

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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