Gary D. Halbert President & CEO

The amount of information and data available on mutual funds is nothing short of mind-boggling. With the Internet juggernaut, there are now dozens of large organizations that track and analyze mutual fund performance.  There are hundreds of websites that offer information on how to pick the best mutual funds.  Almost all of these outlets focus on one thing: past performance.

With only limited knowledge of a computer, an investor can find the top performing funds over any given period with just a few clicks on a keyboard.   You can “slice-and-dice” mutual fund performance information endlessly – if you have the time, that is.

Even if you don’t use a computer, you can find mutual fund rankings in a host of different magazines.  There are dozens of newsletters that focus only on mutual funds. And there is an endless stream of “experts” on TV who will tell you about the hot mutual funds.

The problem, as always, is that today’s “hot” funds may go cold tomorrow.   Many investors make the mistake of buying the hot funds of the day, and then when they underperform or go down, they sell and go look for the latest hot funds.  I call it the “Mutual Fund Merry Go-Round.”

If you are on the Mutual Fund Merry Go-Round, and want to get off, read these three articles I wrote in early 2003.  Find out how you can get successful professionals, with the quantitative tools and research, to select the most suitable mutual funds for you.

The "Mutual Fund Merry Go-Round" - Part 1

The "Mutual Fund Merry Go-Round" - Part 2

The "Mutual Fund Merry Go-Round" - Part 3