If you own even one mutual fund, this special gala edition of Money and Markets is absolutely must-reading for you.
If your mutual funds are making money, I’ll show you why you should be making even more.
And if they’re not, I’ll show you why not — and give you a much better way.
Diversification is a great way to lower your risk of catastrophic losses. And mutual funds were traditionally popular because they helped diversify your money over a large number of stocks.
But over the past 15 years, nine out of ten mutual funds underperformed the S&P 500. If you own one of them, that means you lost out on money you could have — should have — been earning. Here’s why:
Reason #1
Obscenely High
Fees and Taxes
Many mutual funds seem to think they should get rich whether you do or not. So they pile on the fees: Entry fees … management fees … 12b-1 fees (to pay for their own advertising!) … exit fees … and even penalties if you need to break one of their rules.
Say, for example, that your broker convinced you to invest $100,000 in one of his old-fashioned mutual funds.
And say the S&P 500 rose about 9% — and like so many funds, yours lagged by 33%. So you at least cleared a 6% gain — a $6,000 profit — right?
Wrong!
In a typical example, the 3% load … the 1% management fee … and the 1% 12b-1 marketing fee are charged on the amount in your account — not just on your gains. So, they deduct more than $5,300, leaving you with a gain of just $700 — a mere seven-tenths of one percent!
Next, the taxman raises his ugly head, demanding Uncle Sam’s pound of flesh: A tax on every profitable transaction the fund made in the previous year, with no deductions for its losses!
You could be sucker-punched with hundreds of dollars in taxes … in a year when the value of your original investment barely rose, or actually declined. And you get taxed even though you still own the shares and have taken no real profit whatsoever!
Your $700 gain is now whittled down to nearly nothing. Or worse. Meanwhile, you spent a year of your life … put up your own, hard-earned money … exposed yourself to the possibility of a crippling loss … and all you got for your trouble was a big, fat goose egg.
And throughout it all, the broker made money. The mutual fund managers made money. Even Uncle Sam made off with a few hundred bucks.
Reason #2
Large Mutual Funds Often Force
You to Own Bad Investments
If you had a reasonable amount of money to invest — say $100,000 … $500,000 … up to $1 million or even more, you could insist on owning only the highest-quality, highest-potential companies in the world today.
But, when you’re the manager of a big mutual fund, you have to invest billions of dollars — or even tens of billions. And that means you have a serious problem.
Even after you’ve bought all the best stocks you can lay your hands on, you still have billions left over. That means you have no choice but to also buy as many “second-best†and “third best†stocks you can find.
And you still have a lot of money to invest. So you have no choice: You blow it on junk you wouldn’t be caught dead holding in your personal brokerage account.
Then, the market makes a move: Your best stocks rise nicely. Your not-so-good stocks go nowhere. The junk you had to buy goes south. And the S&P leaves you — and all of your investors — in the dust. Again.
Reason #3
Too Many Fund Managers Take
Greater Risks Than You Would
Being a mutual fund manager is a high-pressure job. The marketing department demands that your quarterly returns are impressive enough to attract new investors.
So, you’re nearing the end of the quarter, and you’re lagging well behind the competition. What do you do? You throw a bunch of investors’ money at a crapshoot, hoping it will pay off and save the quarter for you.
Of course, crapshoots often backfire. So instead of making your investors richer, you wind up costing them even more money than they would have lost if you had done nothing.
Result: They slash your overall return and leave you where the scenery never changes: Bringing up the rear of the pack.
No wonder Vanguard founder John Bogle is disgusted with the entire mutual fund industry! “I do not believe,†says Bogle, “the mutual fund industry is giving the investor a fair shake today.â€
Congratulations, Mr. Bogle, on what is sure to be the understatement of the year!
And, as if to add insult to injury …
Reason #4
Their Rules Force You to Hold Their
Funds Even When They’re Losing Money
Even if your fund is having a very bad day, you can count on your fingers the number of mutual funds that let you sell in the middle of the trading day.
And even if you call in your sell order before the trading day begins, you get the closing price seven painful hours later.
Worse, most mutual funds have recently slapped increasingly severe restrictions on how frequently you can buy and sell. So even if their performance is poor, they force you to hold.
But there’s no reason why anyone should have to put up with all that mutual fund misery one day longer.
Exchange Traded Funds:
Everything You Love about
Mutual Funds … and
Nothing That You Don’t!
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are investment holding companies, whose stock you can buy just like you would any other. When the investments these companies hold make money, their stock rises and you make money. When they don’t, it falls, and you lose money.
It’s that simple.
Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) offer you the diversification, convenience and everything else you love about mutual funds. Plus, they also let you …
“Just say no†to the outrageously high minimums many old-fashioned mutual funds demand: Because ETFs let you start with as little as $200, you can diversify your assets across many sectors or countries and even take a flyer on a developing trend — without betting the farm on it!
Sidestep the ridiculous loads and 12b-1 fees ordinary funds nick you for: Instead of paying a penalty to buy or sell — or worse, to reimburse the fund’s advertising expenses — you keep your money right where it belongs — in your account!
Say “so-long!†to the outrageously high management fees many mutual funds are known for: Costs are minimized and if you use a discount or online broker, your brokerage commission can be slashed to the bone.
Always know precisely which investments you own: Unlike mutual funds that make it nearly impossible to know where they’ve invested your money until the information is outdated, ETFs tell you precisely what they own — and how much — every single day — right on their websites.
Free yourself from the tyrannical trading limits funds are famous for: ETFs were made for traders. So go ahead: Buy and sell to your heart’s content any time of the trading day or night!
Get sweet relief from the miserable tax headaches run-of-the-mill mutual funds give you: Since all that money stays in your account — is never pilfered away by endless fees, penalties and taxes — it can compound faster.
Because ETFs are like common stocks, they give you all the flexibility that stocks do. You can use “stops†to protect your principal and your profits. You can get in cheap with limit “buy†orders. You can even use margin to multiply your profit potential. And you can even get buy options on many ETFs!
A World of Profit Opportunities And
An ETF for Almost Every One of Them
Looking for a way to grow your wealth in red-hot economies overseas? No problem. There are ETFs on the Brazilian stock indexes (up 33% in 2006), the Russian stock index (up 71% in 2006), the China stock market (up 130% in 2006) and many more.
Want to grow richer when natural resource stocks surge? Easy. There are more than 15 ETFs that focus exclusively on energy stocks … PLUS 10 ETFs that are dedicated to mining stocks.
Want to diversify from stocks into the world’s most important commodities, without ever touching commodities or futures? Fine. There are now ETFs based on the price of gold bullion, silver bullion and crude oil.
Want to diversify across a large number of blue chip stocks … or mid-cap stocks … or small caps for greater safety? Just buy one of the many ETFs that mirror the Dow or S&P 500 … or the S&P MidCap 400 index … or the Russell 2000 index.
Want to grow your wealth as a particular industry sector soars? You’ll find ETFs that let you diversify your money across tech stocks … software stocks … telecommunication stocks … financial services stocks … and many more!
Interested in income-producing investments? ETFs have you covered: You can buy ETFs that own one, two, five or ten-year U.S. government Treasuries, plus ETFs that own strictly dividend-paying stocks.
Worried that the stock market may tumble? No problem. You can buy ETFs that are designed to go up in value as fast as the Dow goes down, or even twice as fast! And you can now do the same with the Nasdaq or the S&P 500.
Altogether, there are now close to 300 ETFs waiting to help you grow your wealth without high fees … without trading restrictions … and without the other headaches mutual funds give you.
Best of all, you can do all this without ever leaving your desk — without ever opening a special account, without ever touching a foreign stock or currency — or any exotic investment of any kind. You can do it simply by buying the stock of a U.S.-based company with an effortless online trade or a quick call to your regular broker.
No wonder sales of ETFs have been off the charts. No wonder a quarter of a trillion dollars is invested in ETFs and that amount is skyrocketing faster than ever.
How ETFs Could Make
You 1,992% Richer
The best way I know to build wealth is to stick to a strategy that gives you the flexibility necessary to take advantage of individual sectors that are moving steadily and sharply higher — right now, today — no matter where they are.
And now, I have a way to help you do precisely that …
Without highly leveraged investments — You never use debt, buy options or futures.
Without high minimums — You can begin with as little as $5,000 (or, if you like, as much as $100,000 or more).
Without complicated strategies — Just follow our simple, plain-English, “sell-this-buy-that†signals two or three times per month.
And with reduced risk — Naturally, with any trading strategy, losses can and do happen. But I insisted on a strategy that protects your investment with not just one … but four powerful risk barriers that help minimize losses.
And I found it: A fund-trading strategy with a real-world record that …
- Earned top rankings from the widely respected Hulbert Financial Digest since 1993 …
- Generated 21.7% average annual returns for over 15 years …
- Could have helped you beat the gains generated by the S&P 500 by a factor of more than six to one since 1990, and …
- Could have handed you a total cumulative return of 1,992% — enough to make you more than 19 TIMES RICHER.
Think of it: A 1,992% cumulative return is enough to …
- Turn your $10,000 investment into $209,210 …
- Turn your $25,000 investment into $523,025 …
- And to turn your $50,000 nest egg into a $1,046,050 cash windfall.
A very important point: These returns are not based on hindsight. They are based on what an investor could have achieved from faithfully following live recommendations issued in the real world!
What Could Possibly be Better
Than a 1,992% Return?
Needless to say, I was blown away with the results — live recommendations issued in the real world … over 16 long years … in almost every market environment imaginable … and highly ranked by the Hulbert Financial Digest!
But I started wondering: What if — instead of using ordinary, old-fashioned mutual funds with this strategy, what would have happened if we had used the same trading signals with the most efficient new investment vehicle in the world today — Exchange Traded Funds.
What if you could take full advantage of the same exact program with equivalent ETFs that let you use any broker anywhere … online or offline … with reduced commissions and reduced fees?
So we ran the numbers to see how it would do. What would the result be if, instead of traditional mutual funds, we used the same trading signals with equivalent ETFs, starting when ETFs became available:
Result: Using this top-rated model to trade ETFs would have boosted the already-spectacular returns approximately 26%!
Deceptively simple, remarkably
profitable: Just follow the Money!
I was so impressed, I decided to create the ETF Power Trader — the only ETF trading strategy that is based on a documented history of 19-for-1 returns and that uses a strategy with a real-world track record top-rated by Hulbert.
Every trading day of the year, ETF Power Trader scans the markets, isolating the ETFs with the steadiest and strongest rising pattern … and then issues a “buy†signal before those ETFs become top-performing investments — early in their uptrend.
At the same time, ETF Power Trader isolates the ETFs that are being rejected by institutions and other investors … whose investments are declining in value … that are under price pressure … and issues a “sell†signal early in a new downtrend.
8 Key Advantages That Our
ETF Power Trader Gives You
1. Low cost of entry: Get started for with as little as $5,000 in investment capital.
2. Based on a documented, world-beating strategy: The trading signals ETF Power Trader uses has given investors the opportunity to produce a 1,992% cumulative return trading sector funds since inception!
3. Comfortable: No shorting, no options, no futures or exotic investment vehicles needed — just ETFs to keep you where the best potential is.
4. Nothing to learn: Just follow the plain English trading signals two to three times a month!
6. Cautious: No shorting, no margin trades — just sensible investments in ETFs that are already rising!
7. Convenient: Just check your e-mail or fax each weekday for instructions. When you get a signal, just make the trade!
8. You’ll be delighted with the profits you could earn, or it’s FREE! You must be delighted with the money ETF Power Trader makes you, or cancel for a full membership refund!
You Get All This — PLUS Four
Crucial Layers of Protection!
I have designed ETF Power Trader to help minimize losses and maximize your gains in FOUR powerful ways:
First: You are never exposed to the higher risk of holding individual stocks. Instead, ETF Power Trader uses exclusively Exchange Traded Funds to diversify your risk across many stocks.
Second: You never buy futures, options, short positions or any leveraged investments. You never need a margin account or any form of debt.
Third: ETF Power Trader never locks you into a buy-and-hold strategy. It’s flexible and nimble — a critical risk-protection feature in today’s volatile market. By spotting the steadiest and strongest confirmed trends, ETF Power Trader strives to get you into the right ETF at the right time to deliver maximum profits …
… And then, when that trend begins to slow, ETF Power Trader is designed to tell you to take your profits, or cut your losses short — before you’re exposed to an increased risk of loss.
Fourth: ETF Power Trader aims to always select the ETFs that we feel are currently providing not only the greatest return but also the steadiest and most reliable rising pattern.
Will ETF Power Trader eliminate all your risk? Of course not. All investments involve some risk, and with any trading strategy you can lose money. But ETF Power Trader is carefully designed to cut any losses short while letting your profits run.
Remember: ETF Power Trader is based on the top-rated Hulbert approach that could have made you more than 19 times richer — and turned every $50,000 you invested into a $1 million-plus cash windfall.
And that’s using traditional mutual funds. With ETFs this model shows you could have done even better!
I Also Created ETF Power Trader to Be
The Easiest Trading Service Ever Devised
To begin with, you get a free copy of ETF Windfall 2007, with virtually everything you’d ever want to know about Exchange Traded Funds … how to maximize your profits while minimizing your risk.
You’ll discover …
The case against traditional mutual funds — and how Exchange Traded Funds can help you grow richer, quicker, with the likelihood of less risk than you’re exposed to now …
How our ETF Model spots the Exchange Traded Funds that are most likely to outperform the market — and how you could cash in as the strongest sectors move higher …
How ETF Power Trader is designed to cut your risk by helping you take your profits when the time is right — and cut your losses short by moving you out in the trickiest of times …
Why I consider the ETF Power Trader approach to be the most practical, and reliable way to build wealth over the long haul …
A comprehensive description of the ETF Power Trader signals you’ll be receiving — and step-by-step instructions on what to do with each one …
An introduction to the Exchange Traded Funds we’ll be using to help grow your wealth …
An IRS-approved strategy that allows your profits to compound without the drag of taxes, thereby helping your money to grow even faster …
How to make sure you can reap 100% of the service’s profit potential in just a few minutes per week …
And much more!
Next, I’ll rush you complete instructions on your first ETF Power Trader trades, and all upcoming trades the minute they’re issued.
Every signal you receive — whether by e-mail or fax — will tell you in plain English …
Why the trade is being recommended …
What to say to your broker — word for word — when making the trade.
So when you receive your ETF Power Trader signals, just READ them to your broker. Or, if you prefer, do it online.
All I ask is that you execute these and all other ETF Power Trader trades as soon as possible after receiving them.
Less Than the Cost of
A Daily Cup of Coffee!
As you probably know by now, we offer many specialized trading services to our subscribers. Some sell for as much as $5,000 per year. And when I created ETF Power Trader, we placed a $2,190 price tag on it.
But I don’t want you to have to pay that much for ETF Power Trader. I don’t even want you to pay half that much.
So if you’ll sign up now for a no-risk one-year trial membership, you’ll save 55% and get all our ETF Power Trader trading signals for just $995 per year.
You save a whopping $1,195 on the ETF Power Trader signals that could have turned a $50,000 investment into more than one million dollars!
That’s less than $2.73 per day — less than what most folks pay for a single cup of daily Starbucks coffee!
Looking for an even better deal? Great! Join me in a no-risk, two-year trial membership for just $1,795 (just $2.46 per day!) and you’ll save nearly 60% off the normal rate — a whopping $2,585 in savings!
Test-drive ETF Power Trader Risk-Free!
Just call 1-800-393-1706 now and you’ll receive your FREE copy of ETF Windfall 2007 in minutes and your first trading signals as soon as they pop.
Then just sit back and give ETF Power Trader the chance to make your money grow. If you like what you see, do nothing.
Otherwise, cancel anytime in your first 60 days for a full refund, or anytime thereafter for a refund on the remaining months in your unused membership.
And no matter what, your free copy of ETF Windfall 2007 is yours to keep completely without cost or obligation!
Don’t Miss Out on the Greater Potential
Profits ETF Power Trader Can Give You!
In this special gala edition of Money and Markets, I have demonstrated the great advantages of ETFs over most traditional mutual funds …
I have introduced you to the top-rated mutual fund trading signals that have a documented 1,992% gain since 1990 — and that have beaten the S&P 500 by more than six to one …
I have shown you how these signals could have helped you turn $50,000 into more than $1 million, just using traditional mutual funds, and …
I have shown you how these signals could have done 26% better when used with Exchange Traded Funds.
Now, it’s up to you. Call 1-800-393-1706 to give ETF Power Trader a try! Or click below:
Right off the bat, you’ll get ETF Windfall 2007 — which we’d normally charge $149 for — free.
You’ll get the EFT Power Trader signals that received Hulbert’s top ratings for more than 15 years and could have handed you a 21.7% average annual return since 1990 …
You’ll get it all for as little as $2.46 per day — 60% below the regular price …
You are completely protected by our best-in-the-business guarantee …
And no matter what, you get to keep your free copy of ETF Windfall 2007 without cost or obligation.
I have every confidence you’ll make the right decision.
Good luck and God bless!
Martin
About MONEY AND MARKETS
MONEY AND MARKETS (MaM) is published by Weiss Research, Inc. and written by Martin D. Weiss along with Sean Brodrick, Larry Edelson, Michael Larson, Nilus Mattive, and Tony Sagami. To avoid conflicts of interest, Weiss Research and its staff do not hold positions in companies recommended in MaM. Nor do we accept any compensation for such recommendations. The comments, graphs, forecasts, and indices published in MaM are based upon data whose accuracy is deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Performance returns cited are derived from our best estimates but must be considered hypothetical inasmuch as we do not track the actual prices investors pay or receive. Regular contributors and staff include John Burke, Amber Dakar, Wendy Montes de Oca, Kristen Adams, Jennifer Moran, Red Morgan, and Julie Trudeau.
Attention editors and publishers! Money and Markets issues can be republished. Republished issues MUST include attribution of the author(s) and the following short paragraph:
This investment news is brought to you by Money and Markets. Money and Markets is a free daily investment newsletter from Martin D. Weiss and Weiss Research analysts offering the latest investing news and financial insights for the stock market, including tips and advice on investing in gold, energy and oil. Dr. Weiss is a leader in the fields of investing, interest rates, financial safety and economic forecasting. To view archives or subscribe, visit http://legacy.weissinc.com
From time to time, Money and Markets may have information from select third-party advertisers known as “external sponsorships.” We cannot guarantee the accuracy of these ads. In addition, these ads do not necessarily express the viewpoints of Money and Markets or its editors. For more information, see our terms and conditions.
The track record information in this report is based on published recommendations issued in real time — not by back-tested modeling. Moreover, although we do not know what investors actually achieved, the success of the approach is substantially corroborated by third-party independent analysis by the widely respected Hulbert Financial Digest.
The 1,992% total return and the 21.7% yearly average return are based on market price data which we deem to be reliable but which has not been independently verified. It assumes faithful execution of published signals at the first opportunity after signals were issued, includes dividends and capital gains distributions were reinvested, and assumes trades were made in an IRA or other tax-deferred account at Fidelity.
All the investments recommended by ETF Power Trader are qualified for such accounts. This data does not take into account certain mutual fund fees or broker commissions. The track record is based upon recommendations for Fidelity sector funds. However, since the editors feel that equivalent, or approximately equivalent Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) provide better flexibility and performance, these will be used in ETF Power Trader. Whether using Fidelity sector funds or ETFs, however, past performance is no assurance of future success For more details, see our terms and conditions or call 1-800-393-1706.
© 2007 by Weiss Research, Inc. All rights reserved.
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