Kurt Brouwer November 6th, 2007
Richard Widows at theStreet.com wrote an excellent piece on the mutual funds leaders and laggards over the 20 years since the Crash of 1987. In it, he echoed a theme we discussed in The Stock Market Crash of 1987, namely that the 22% downturn that day was just a footnote in the annals of stock market history. Widows writes:
‘ Oct. 19, 1987, Black Monday produced the largest one-day percentage decline in stock market history. But for many buy-and-hold mutual fund investors, it proved to be little more than a relatively brief, albeit painful, bump along a path of long-term, annualized double-digit returns…’
Even though the Crash is but a footnote in the annals of stock market history today, back then it was a traumatic event. So, Richard Widows set out to find the funds that investors would have looked at back then. The theme of the piece is setting out which mutual funds have been leaders or laggards since the Crash (actually since September 30, 2020, which was just before the big drop on October 19, 2020). Here are the top five leaders and laggards from his list. He goes into more detail on them and other mutual funds in the piece:
LEADERS (since 9-30-87)
- Vanguard Health Care (VGHCX)
- Federated Kaufman (KAUAX)
- Vanguard Energy (VGENX)
- FPA Capital (FPPTX)
- Fidelity Select Software (FSCSX)
LAGGARDS (since 9-30-87)
- Vanguard Small Cap Index (NAESX)
- Progressive Capital Accumulation (PCATX)
- Midas Special Fund (MISEX)
- Midas Fund (MIDSX)
- GAMCO Mathers (MATRX)
Widows also points out some interesting facts about the mutual funds that made the list, either as leaders or laggards [emphasis added]:
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Tags: 1987, Crash, laggards, leaders, Mutual Funds, theStreet.com
Kurt Brouwer October 13th, 2007
This particular topic is a pretty hot one in the relatively staid world of mutual funds right now. Essentially, mutual fund companies want to compete more effectively with life insurance companies in meeting the retirement income needs of millions of upcoming Baby Boom retirees. Unfortunately, the topic is littered with appeals to emotion and confusion over how income is defined, but that’s nothing new, whether we’re talking about insurance companies or Wall Street.
Susan Kelly at Financial Week reports, Fidelity Seeks To Provide Cash for Retirees With Income Needs [emphasis added]:
‘…Brokerage giant Fidelity Investments today rolled out two new products—a set of mutual funds and a variable annuity—designed to help baby boomers turn their nest eggs into a steady stream of retirement income.
“What we hope these two products do is add another option in the solution set [baby boomers] have for their retirement income,” said Boyce I. Greer, president of the fixed income and asset allocation division of Fidelity Management & Research.
As the 78 million baby boomers begin to retire, the financial services industry is increasingly focused on the issue of generating income for them in retirement. That is perceived to be a bigger problem than it was for earlier generations of retirees because boomers are less likely to have traditional company pension plans, and their Social Security payments will replace less of their pre-retirement income. Last week Vanguard announced three Managed Payout Funds, funds of funds that help retirees generate income from their investments by providing monthly payments.
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Tags: annuities, income for life, Mutual Funds, Retirement, Wall Street