Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Managed Mutual Funds Underperform the S&P for the 44th Consecutive Year

It's not new news that the majority of Mutual Fund Managers fail to turn in performance equal to the S&P 500. If you think about it, this is quite a feat. Mutual Fund Managers cannot match the performance of a group of stocks selected based on a simple minded formula. The S&P 500 represents the 500 companies that have the highest number when you multiply the number of shares outstanding by the stock's price. S&P gives no preference based on business factors, such as; growth potential, dividend return, historic performance etc.

I was interested to see the 2008 result. If ever there were a year when the professionals could trounce, (not just match), the results of the S&P 08 was it. Why was I so sure the managed funds would finally win in 2008 after 43 consecutive losses? Because by definition the S&P is always fully vested in the stock market and no mutual fund is 100% in equities. Hence, as the market dropped, the mutual funds had the cushion of all that un-invested cash sitting in their accounts thus giving them protection from the falling market and even earning a little interest to boot. On the other hand, the S&P was locked in riding the downward wave.

Yet, Fund Managers did it again: 68.6% of the large cap funds underperformed the S&P 500. If that's not bad enough, 77.8% of mid cap funds underperformed the S&P 600 Mid Cap.

P.S. In 2008, Mutual Funds charged investors over $200 Billion to hold and manage our money.

FREE – IRA ALERT; The quarterly newsletter exclusively for IRA owner. To receive a one year of IRA ALERT at no charge CLICK HERE. .

The IRA Club offers Self Directed IRAs and Checkbook IRAs for investors who seek to take control of their funds. A self directed IRA can be opened for as little as $49. Simply go to the IRA Club web site CLICK HERE.

Publisher by:
Dennis Blitz, President
Phone - 312-795-0988 Ext 11
Toll Free – 888-795-7950 Ext 11
E- Mail -
dblitz@IRAclub.org

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Why This May be A Great Time for Your IRA to Invest in Real Estate

http://www.iraclub.org/


We all know that in a free enterprise economy the pendulum keeps swinging from one investment category to another. The idea has always been to invest when something is out of favor; thus making it possible to pick up the investment at a bargain price. Alas, this is not the way most people invest. They wait until they hear about all the people who are making a killing in an investment category and; not wanting to be left behind, they invest their money after the cost of investing has already been driven up.

So, let’s look at an out-of-favor category; Real Estate, particularly residential real estate. The fundamentals for investing in residential real estate at this time present a compelling case.
A. Everyone has to live somewhere; residential real estate is not going to go out of style.
B. No new supply. Since its pick in late 2007, each month has witnessed fewer new building permits and an ever reduced number of new building starts.
C. A Pool of Motivated Sellers. And not just on distressed properties.
Not everyone wants to take on the effort and work of owning real estate in their IRA. For those people, there are several very good real estate syndicators who have offerings available.

One hint: If you plan to invest with a real estate syndicator, always check out their history:
· How many syndications has he completed
· Are there investor complaints in their past
Are two good places to begin your background check.


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FREE – IRA ALERT; The quarterly newsletter exclusively for IRA owner. To receive a one year of IRA ALERT at no charge CLICK HERE.

The IRA Club offers Self Directed IRAs and Checkbook IRAs for investors who seek to take control of their funds. A self directed IRA can be opened for as little as $49. Simply go to the IRA Club web site CLICK HERE.

Publisher by:
Dennis Blitz, President
Phone - 312-795-0988 Ext 11
Toll Free – 888-795-0988 Ext 11
E- Mail -
dblitz@IRAclub.org

The IRA Club
Web Site - IRAclub.org