Saturday, October 25, 2008

Thinking About Buying Mutual Funds? Be Careful

If you are thinking about adding to equity positions before the end of the year by means of a mutual fund, please be sure to read this piece. Despite the losses experienced by almost all funds this year, they may still have underlying taxable gains that have been realized. Such gains will be paid out in a distribution to the holders of record on that distribution date. What that means is that you may buy in to a fund for which you have no gain, and yet be hit with a tax bill. Funds are in the process of announcing their results and do publish their distribution date. Be sure to check on the information as it relates to the fund you are considering.

If you feel like the timing is right to add to equities, and do not have the time or inclination to do the research relating to mutual funds, consider an ETF for quick exposure. Two great site for information on ETFs are http://www.etfconnect.com/ and http://www.etf.com/ .

1 comment:

Dougist said...

Great post. I can just see the headlines now when the phantom gains start showing up. Can you just hear the cry of the guy who's down 50% and gets a 1099 for another 10%?

I wonder if we can "spread that around"?

(btw: Nice blog)

Doug
www.dougist.com