It's no wonder over 90 percent of individual investors pursue an investing strategy that has historically underperformed a globally diversified portfolio of low management fee stock and bond index funds. You are inundated with misinformation generated by the financial media, and sponsored by the securities industry. They have a vested interest in leading you astray. The consequences have been devastating.
Assuming the asset allocation is appropriate for you, most investors would be better off putting all their assets in the Vanguard Target Retirement Fund appropriate for them. I prefer Vanguard's Target Retirement Funds because the underlying funds are all index funds and the expense ratio of the funds is very low at 0.18 percent, compared to the average expense ratio of 0.49 percent for similar funds, according to Vanguard's website. These funds automatically adjust their asset mix over time to become more conservative. Once you purchase the fund, there is no maintenance. Just leave it alone. Since inception in October, 2003 to September 30, 2012, the Vanguard 2025 Fund (VTTVX) returned 5.79 percent before taxes and 5.26 percent after taxes on distributions. At present, it has 71 percent of its portfolio invested in stocks and the balance in bonds.
Note that Vanguard reports its returns both pre-tax and after-tax. Most actively managed funds (where the fund manager attempts to beat a designated benchmark) engage in significantly more trading than index funds, generating higher taxes for their investors. Higher taxes reduce your after-tax returns. As the saying goes, it's not what you make, it's what you keep that matters. If you hold an actively managed fund, ask your broker or adviser to provide you with after-tax returns of that fund.
It's unfortunate that most investors succumb to the sales pitch of brokers and advisers who tell them they can "beat the markets." If your broker falls into this category (and almost all of them do), ask her to describe her methodology. If it is based on past performance, is she able to predict tomorrow's news? Since tomorrow's news is what will affect stock and bond prices, why does looking backward have any predictive value?
If there was a reliable way to "beat the market," you can be sure it would be uncovered by the millions of investors and thousands of academics focused on the market every day. It would also be published in a peer-review journal. I have yet to find any credible evidence of investment expertise permitting anyone to consistently "beat the market." Nothing can beat good ol' investors Due Diligence.
I issue the same challenge to brokers every day. Tell me your methodology for beating the market. Demonstrate that it works. I will check it out and will publish the results. I am still waiting for takers.
While I am waiting, you don't have to engage in market beating behavior that historically has rewarded your broker and punished your returns. You have many options for breaking the cycle of below market returns. One of the easiest ones is to consider whether Target Retirement Funds are appropriate for you.
Article Source: huffingtonpost.com
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