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3 Mutual Fund Misfires To Avoid In Your Retirement Portfolio - April 01, 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 coupled with poor results: It's a straightforward equation for an awful mutual fund. Some are more regrettable than others - and some are bad to the point that they have got a "Strong Sell" from our Zacks Rank, the lowest positioning of the almost 19,000 mutual funds we rank every day.

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.

Guidemark Opportunity Fixed Income Service Class : This fund has an expense ratio of 1.55% and a management fee of 0.7%. 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. GMIFX is an International Bond - Developed mutual fund. Focusing on fixed income securities outside from developed nations besides the U.S., International Bond - Developed funds invest in assets from countries like Japan, Germany, the UK, France, and Australia. The fund has lagged performance-wise, so perhaps a simpler index future investing strategy might be more effective.

CM Advisors Small Cap Value I : CMOVX is a Small Cap Value fund, and these funds are known for investing in companies with market caps under $2 billion. CMOVX offers an expense ratio of 1.25% and annual returns of -1.12% 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.

Goldman Sachs N-11 Equity Fund IR : This fund has an expense ratio of 1.49% and management fee of 1.05%. GSYRX is a Non US - Equity fund. Many of these funds like to allocate across emerging and developed markets, and will often focus on all cap levels. With an annual average return of -2.53% 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 we've covered our "worst offender" list, let's take a look at some of Zacks' highest ranked mutual funds with some of the lowest fees you may want to consider.

Janus Henderson Enterprise R (JDMRX - Free Report) is a fund that has an expense ratio of 1.41%, and a management fee of 0.64%. JDMRX 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 13.74% over the last five years, this fund clearly wins.

American Funds Growth Fund of America F2 (GFFFX - Free Report) has an expense ratio of 0.42% and management fee of 0.27%. GFFFX is a Large Cap Growth mutual fund, and these funds invest in many large U.S. firms that are projected to grow at a faster rate than their large-cap peers. Thanks to yearly returns of 12.63% over the last five years, GFFFX is an effectively diversified fund with a long reputation of solidly positive performance.

Victory Sycamore Small Company Opportunity I (VSOIX - Free Report) has an expense ratio of 0.92% and management fee of 0.76%. VSOIX is a Small Cap Value fund, and these funds are known for investing in companies with market caps under $2 billion. With annual returns of 11.03% 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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