Why do mutual funds get such a bad rap on here?

[SuitedPair]

The 10-year total return for the S&P500 is 138.3%
The 10-year total return for AMCPX is 184.8%
The 10-year total return for CWGIX is 256.6%%

[Sniper]

I think this is going to depend on the charting service, so you should check to see how they are handling these distributions.

[krishan]

[ QUOTE ]
The 10-year total return for the S&P500 is 138.3%
The 10-year total return for AMCPX is 184.8%
The 10-year total return for CWGIX is 256.6%%

[/ QUOTE ]

Can you tell me how you figured this out? What service you used?

Krishan

[SuitedPair]

Bloomberg. It is out of the reach for individual investors, but I couldn't live without it.

I'm trying to think on the easiest way for an individual to do this. I can post the total return % for the S&P going back x number of years so people can use them. Then if you can get the div. info for the mutual funds and year ending price (along with the price on the day after the dividend was paid - that would be your reinvestment price)it should be easy to plug it into excel to get the total returns for the fund. I could do a mock up, if needed.

[krishan]

[ QUOTE ]
Bloomberg. It is out of the reach for individual investors, but I couldn't live without it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Can I use this somehow to get what I need?

link

Krishan

[buffett]

[ QUOTE ]
I can post the total return % for the S&P going back x number of years

[/ QUOTE ]
This could also be calculated (only back to 1990) using this spreadsheet.

[krishan]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I can post the total return % for the S&P going back x number of years

[/ QUOTE ]
This could also be calculated (only back to 1990) using this spreadsheet.

[/ QUOTE ]

Can you go over the calculation once?

Never mind... Looks like this works....

=(1+K19)*(1+K18)*(1+K17)*(1+K16)*(1+K15)*(1+K14)*( 1+K13)*(1+K12)*(1+K11)*(1+K10)*(1+K9)*(1+K8)-1

Basically a formula for as many months as you need. It's not in the 2005 12 month total return column but can be found lower down.

Krishan

[krishan]

Comments on the morningstar graph.
[ QUOTE ]

"Total returns calculated on a calendar-year basis. Total return includes both income (in the form of dividends or interest payments) and capital gains or losses (the increase or decrease in the value of a security). Morningstar calculates total return by taking the change in a fund's NAV, assuming the reinvestment of all income and capital gains distributions (on the actual reinvestment date used by the fund) during the period, and then dividing by the initial NAV.

Unless marked as load-adjusted total returns, Morningstar does not adjust total return for sales charges or for redemption fees. Total returns do account for management, administrative, and 12b-1 fees and other costs automatically deducted from fund assets. "

[/ QUOTE ]

So morningstar graphs do give you total returns assuming dividends, capital gains are reinvested. They do not take into account load fees or sales charges. Also,

[ QUOTE ]

" A benchmark index gives the investor a point of reference for evaluating a fund's performance. In all cases where such comparisons are made, Morningstar uses the S&P 500 as the primary benchmark for stock-oriented funds. The +/- (Trailing Time Period) figure indicates the amount by which a fund over or underperformed the S&P 500 during the specified time period.

Note: The total returns for the S&P 500 assume reinvestment of dividends on the last day of the month. This may account for differences between the index returns published on Morningstar.com and the index returns published elsewhere."


[/ QUOTE ]
So it looks like the S&P line that is graphed is the total returns assuming dividends are reinvested also. So this tool actually works to compare apples to apples between funds and the comparable index.

Krishan

[jedi]

[ QUOTE ]

I just want to point out that he didn't post the Top 25 funds for the year... he posted the 25 largest funds!

While mutual funds generally get a bad rap as not being able to outperform the indexes, this year a significant number did. That doesn't mean that they will outperform next year, but it does mean that mutual funds shouldn't be completely ruled out as a way to outperform the market!


[/ QUOTE ]

So how did these funds do in the last 10 years compared to an index fund?