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3 Mutual Fund Misfires to Avoid - January 07, 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.

Wells Fargo Absolute Return A (WARAX - Free Report) : Expense ratio: 1.53%. Management fee: 0.72%. After expenses, the 5 year return is 0.07%, meaning your fees are far higher than the fund's returns.

Commonwealth Africa Fund (CAFRX - Free Report) : 1.75% expense ratio, 0.75%. CAFRX 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 -4.62% over the most recent five years. Another fund liable of having investors pay more in charges than what they receive in return.

Templeton Global Balanced Fund C (FCGBX - Free Report) - 1.95% expense ratio, 0.73% management fee. FCGBX is a Global - Equity mutual fund, which invests their assets in large markets, leveraging the global economy. FCGBX has generated annual returns of 0.32% over the last five years. Ouch!

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.

MFS Mid-Cap Growth Fund R4 (OTCJX - Free Report) : 0.83% expense ratio and 0.71% management fee. OTCJX 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 an annual return of 13.81% over the last five years, this fund is a winner.

Mar Vista Strategic Growth Institutional : Expense ratio: 0.7%. Management fee: 0.6%. MVSGX is a part of the Large Cap Growth mutual fund category, which invest in many large U.S. companies that are expected to grow much faster compared to other large-cap stocks. MVSGX has managed to produce a robust 11.23% over the last five years.

Fidelity Advisor Small Cap Growth I (FCIGX - Free Report) has an expense ratio of 1.06% and management fee of 0.84%. FCIGX is a Small Cap Growth mutual fund and tends to feature small companies in up-and-coming industries and markets. With annual returns of 14.27% over the last five years, this fund is a well-diversified fund with a long track record of success.

Bottom Line

Along these lines, there you have it - if your financial guide has you put your money into any of our "Mutual Fund Misfires of the Market," there is a strong likelihood that they are either dormant at the worst possible time, inept, or (in all probability) filling their pockets with high fee commissions at the cost of your financial objectives.

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