Tips For Choosing High-Performance Mutual Fund

Most people who invest in mutual funds don't know what they are doing. They take advice from someone at a bank or perhaps a friend and plunk down money into a fund. Sometimes this strategy works, but most of the time, it doesn't.

When you invest your money in a mutual fund, you are trusting someone to invest in the stock market for you. Because of this, you want to be sure this person knows what he or she is doing. Also, you want to make sure that this person is not charging you too much to manage your money for you. Mutual funds fees are "hidden," in the sense that they do not charge you an upfront fee but rather a percentage of the amount of money in your account. If this percentage is too high, you would do better just blindly picking stocks yourself.

Here are five helpful tips for choosing the right mutual funds.

1. Keep the fees low. Generally, expense fees should not be much higher than 1% if it is just a basic domestic equity fund. You should never invest money in a fund that also charges a "load," which is an additional fee that is ridiculous to pay. Never invest in funds that charge loads; those funds are for suckers.

2. Check the asset base. Mutual fund managers only know of so many good investments. When they have too much money to manage, they begin investing in stocks they don't like much but need to invest in anyway or else they'll just have money laying around. There's little reason to invest in a fund with over $5 billion in assets. It's best if it's under $2 billion generally.

3. Consider an index fund. This is a fund that tracks a stock index, such as the S&P 500. For these funds, the manager just buys whatever stocks happen to be in the index. Since this is not much work, the fees are much lower. Even though this method is simple, it has proven to perform better than most mutual funds. Some high performance index funds include FSMKX (Fidelity S&P 500) and VIMSX (Vanguard S&P 400 Midcap.

4. Evaluate the fund's strategy. If you have a long term outlook, look for a more aggressive fund that invests in small-cap stocks, international stocks, and riskier stocks in general. High risk tends to result in high performance in the long run. If you are more risk-averse, consider an S&P 500 index fund.

5. Keep the fees low. Did I mention this already? Well, I'll mention it again. This is where most people mess up. Make sure you are not paying a load or paying too much in fees to the mutual fund.

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Five mistakes to avoid when getting a home mortgage loan

Your home mortgage loan is the largest debt you will carry. Your home mortgage loan is also the highest bill you will pay each month.Avoiding mistakes when looking for a home mortgage loan can make you a smart and happy homeowner with more money in your pocket each month. First mistake

The first mistake you can make is not looking for the best home mortgage loan rates you can find. There are so many lenders that want your business, and taking the time to find out the best rates is time well worth spent. When you find a competitive rate, you may find that not only do you save money each month, but just think of the savings you will enjoy over the life of the home mortgage loan.

Second mistake

A mistake many new homeowners make when searching for a home mortgage loan is not checking their credit history before applying. Many times there are mistakes on your credit report that could affect the rate you are offered, and taking the time to take care of those problems before putting in your application with a mortgage lender, can save you time and aggravation in the long run.

Third mistake

Another costly mistake you may make when you are buying a new home is spending too much money and not being able to handle the payments each month. Before you decide the purchase price of a home you can afford, you will need to sit down and take a look at your monthly expenses and bills to see what type of payment you can easily afford each month. Lots of times after you buy a new home, something will go wrong and you may have to pay for costly repairs. This can be difficult if you are carrying a home mortgage loan that is too high for you. It can also make your life miserable if you have to worry each month about how you are going to make the mortgage payment.

Fourth mistake

Before you are ready to make a bid on the house of your dreams, be sure you are pre-approved for a home mortgage loan. When a lender looks at your current financialpicture, they can decide on a cap for your loan. This makes it easier to make an offer when you are ready as you will already have the financing set up.

Fifth mistake

Never agree to a pre-payment penalty fee. A home mortgage loan given to a borrower who has a poor credit rating can charge sometimes as much as thousands of dollars for those who pay off the loan in the first few years of owning their home. Many times the reason that people pay off a mortgage early is that you have found a more attractive interest rate that will put more money in your pocket each month. Keep this in mind, and read the small print before signing on the dotted line to ensure you are not agreeing to this practice.

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Making it in the Mortgage Industry

Now are very challenging times for Mortgage Brokers. One of the most important factors to surviving in this market is not listening to all the media and "bad news." A lot of the information is not based on fact and is being communicated by people who do not know what they are talking about. In fact I was flipping through the TV stations last night and I saw a woman who gives advice for credit & financial management on the TV. She said you need at least a 750 FICO, full income disclosure and money down to buy a home. She is a respected TV personality and she was telling America that you need a 750 FICO and money down to buy a home, that 100 is true but the rest is total garbage.

As we as brokers know, there are 100 financing program under their own proprietary names such as "Gain" "Champ" or "Flex100." Right now quite a few lenders will go down to 620 with 100 and there is talk of the LTV being raised to100 financing . Those who live by the sword, die by the sword… it was the media that created a panic several years ago that all of us benefited from. It was called the "Refi Boom." The media created a real sense of urgency to refinance before it was too late. Now we are experiencing another sense of urgency in our industry that is being fueled by the media. Unfortunately this one is not helping our business. Now the next important item here is to continue to promote your business and get prospects like never before. If you listen to the media and your fellow brokers you can go into apathy and stop promoting. That is the worst thing you can do. In fact I stop socializing with and talking to brokers and realtors that are continually negative. You need to be continually talking to people, handing out cards, making calls, whatever you need to do to keep your business going. I must admit, I have fallen a victim of all the bad news and stopped wearing my hat getting prospects for my own business. I won't do that again! The other item that will help you stay in business for a long while is to be vigilant for fraud. Make sure you check and verify all the information on the application is correct. If a borrower chooses to use stated, not verified income look up their profession on line and make sure their stated income is reasonable for that profession. Additionally, I have my borrowers sign a release form stating they actually make what they have stated and they have disclosed all their debts. If you work with investors make sure you disclose all the real estate they own. You do need to disclose real estate owned whether or not it shows up on their credit report. Also, remember that a primary residence is owner occupied and the owner can only occupy one home. Don't be afraid to say, "no" to a client. Particularly if you are not comfortable with the loan. Source : Free Articles

Key points of mortgage

A mortgage is a kind of an agreement made to pay the money, which was loaned, to a person by keeping the house as collateral. Mortgage is a promise made to pay the debts by putting it in writing basically. Mortgages have terms and interest rates which are either adjustable or fixed. Mortgage terms: Mortgages are designed in such a way that they can be paid in installments for a certain period. The time frame which allows the person to pay back his mortgage is called the term. The term may be 10 or 15 or even 30 years. The length of the term determines the amount of money to be paid, which is actually spread in installments. Mortgage interest rate: The interest rate depends on the percentage to be paid on the mortgage loan amount. The interest rates vary according to the credit score of the person. If the credit score of the person is very high, the interest rate and the amount of monthly installments are lower. If the credit score is lower then the interest rates and the monthly installment amount are higher. Hence a good credit score will help getting lower interest rates to the debtor. Types of mortgages: Mortgages - Adjustable rate of interest Under this type of mortgages, the interest rate changes from period to period according to the fluctuations of the market. The degree of change of mortgage interest rate is directly associated with the index to which it is tied. Since index will differ as they may be tied to a foreign bank rate of interest in certain cases, it is good to ask to which index the adjustable rate of interest is tied to. Usually they are fixed for a period of 1-5 years and then become adjustable. Mortgages – fixed rate: The interest rate of the loan amount is fixed in the case of fixed rate mortgage till the end of the term regardless of the market fluctuations. The debtor will never have to pay more than the fixed interest rate at any cost. The only means by which a fixed rate mortgage can change is through Refinancing. Refinancing: It is a process of changing the existing mortgage terms of agreement. The debtor can go for refinancing when the interest rates are lower so that he can save money qualifying for the lower rate of interest. The length of the term can also be adjusted to be either long or short using refinance option. Care needs to be taken when going for refinancing of mortgages as it entails for new closing costs. Fees and closing costs are involved in this method. Appraisal: The crucial part of mortgage is the appraisal. Before going for a loan from a bank, the value of the house must be assessed properly. An appraiser can determine how much the house is worth actually by inspecting the features of the house and by comparing it with the neighborhood houses. If any addition or embellishment is made to the house, it can raise the value of the house, but may require to appraise the new value of the document.

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