How to Select a Mutual Fund - A 10-Part Guide to Picking Winning Mutual Funds

You know, you’d think we’d get tired of saying it but dollar cost averaging really is the single best way to lower your risk over long periods of time and help lower your overall cost basis for your investments. In fact, you can find out all the information on dollar cost averaging – what it is, how you can implement your own program, and how it can help you lower your investment risk over time – in the article Dollar Cost Averaging: A Technique that Drastically Reduces Market Risk. Take a moment and check it out right now; your portfolio could be much better served because you invested a few minutes of your time.

In Conclusion …

There are a ton of great resources out there about choosing and selecting a mutual fund including About.com’s very own Mutual Fund site which goes into much greater depth on all of these topics and more. Morningstar is also an excellent resource (I personally have a copy of their Funds 500 book on my desk as I write this article.) Just remember that the key is to remain disciplined, rational, and avoid being moved by short term price movements in the market. Your goal is to build wealth over the long-term. You simply can’t do that moving in and out of funds, incurring frictional expenses and triggering tax events.

Good luck! We here at Investing for Beginners wish you many happy returns!