The truth about investing in mutual funds

Investors earn returns over time that are far lower than those quoted by mutual fund firms.  In fact, it’s not even a close race.”

This is the conclusion of DALBAR, Inc., the well-respected independent investment research firm.1

For the past 20 years, “the average equity investor barely managed to eke out an annualized return that outpaced inflation.”  The average return was 3.49% per year – just slightly more than the inflation rate for that period!

Asset allocation and fixed income investors weren’t so lucky (if you can call that “luck”); they lost ground after adjusting for inflation.

Why most investors don’t come close to getting the returns touted in mutual fund prospectuses…

There are plenty of reasons for this.  For starters…
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