Mutual Funds For Dummies, 5th edition

Cash in on the latest wealth-building techniques with America's #1 best-selling mutual fund book

Want to make the most of mutual funds? Personal finance expert Eric Tyson shares his time-tested investing advice, as well as updates to his fund recommendations and revised coverage of tax law changes, in this user-friendly resource. Sample fund portfolios and updated forms show you exactly how to accomplish your financial goals.

• Pick the best funds and avoid losers

• Assemble and maintain a portfolio

• Evaluate your funds' performance

• Track and invest in funds online

• Fix common fund problems

Tyson covers nearly everything in this book, from how to build a portfolio, to what returns you can reasonably expect, to where to buy the funds. He covers stock funds, bond funds, and money market funds, and shows how you can evaluate them. He does all of this in easy-to-read prose.

I have one small complaint about the book. If Tyson is not paid by Vanguard, he should be. I can understand that given its dedication to low cost and its unique corporate structure among brokerages, Vanguard might be the best place around to buy mutual funds, but Tyson should have made a point to back off just a bit on highlighting the company so egregiously to avoid the appearance of being the company's shill.

But despite this small lapse, I believe Tyson has the best interests of people who want to make a little money for retirement, their children's education, or some other modest goal, but aren't comfortable speculating. He encourages that healthy skepticism towards their ability to make a quick buck and instead teaches them to invest in a way they can have reasonable confidence -- instead of an irrational exuberance -- that they will get the expected return on their money.


Excellent Primer   March 11, 1999
21 out of 22 found this review helpful

How many people out there have no clue about mutual funds? I belonged to that mass until I read this book! My situation was what to do with the money slowing accumulating in my employee retirement fund; and if your employer is like mine, it's put by default in some lame savings account. This book explains in a clear simple manner what the big deal is about mutual funds. As such it's directed for beginning investors, probably in their 20's and 30's. It's a long book, but easily digested in just a few nights. This will help you put together a reasonable portfolio and make you the envy of your co-workers!


Excellent for beginners   July 31, 2002
Lemas Mitchell (Chengdu, Sichuan (China))
15 out of 15 found this review helpful

Many people who are going into mutual funds and investing do so without any knowledge of basic things.

The good points of this book are too many to go into, but I'll say that several things were helpful:

1. Discussion of Indices and the mention that they tend to cary lower expense ratios, etc.

2. Mention of how much you "should" be paying in terms of mutual fund expenses.

3. Demonstration of reasonable rates of returns and fraudulent rates of return as well.

For people who think that it is "worth their time" to pay a consultant or an advisor, this is the book that will save them a lot of money.