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3 Mutual Fund Misfires to Avoid - January 21, 2020

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You may need to start looking for a new financial advisor if your current one has put any of these high-fee, low-return "Mutual Fund Misfires of the Market" into your portfolio.

High fees plus poor performance: It's a pretty simple formula for a bad mutual fund. Some are worse than others - and some are so bad that they have earned a "Strong Sell" on the Zacks Rank, the lowest ranking of the nearly 19,000 mutual funds we rank daily.

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 Total Return Investor (LCTRX - Free Report) : 2.42% expense ratio and 0.75% management fee. LCTRX 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 a five year after-expenses return of 1.18%, you're mostly paying more in fees than returns.

HSBC Frontier Markets A : 1.85% expense ratio, 1.25% management fee. HSFAX 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 an annual returns of 0.56% over the last five years. Another fund guilty of having investors pay more in fees than returns.

Ivy Natural Resources N (INRSX - Free Report) - 1.03% expense ratio, 0.85% management fee. This fund has yielded yearly returns of -3.15% 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.

VALIC Company I Large Cap Growth Fund (VLCGX - Free Report) : Expense ratio: 0.75%. Management fee: 0.64%. VLCGX 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. This fund has achieved five-year annual returns of an astounding 13.05%.

JPMorgan Equity Income Fund R6 (OIEJX - Free Report) has an expense ratio of 0.48% and management fee of 0.4%. OIEJX is a Large Cap Blend fund, targeting companies with market caps of over $10 billion. These funds offer investors a stability, and are perfect for people with a "buy and hold" mindset. With annual returns of 10.04% over the last five years, this is a well-diversified fund with a long track record of success.

Franklin International Growth Adviser (FNGZX - Free Report) has an expense ratio of 0.8% and management fee of 0.75%. FNGZX is a Non US - Equity option, focusing their investments acoss emerging and developed markets, and can often extend across cap levels too. With annual returns of 10.41% 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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