opions on these funds

[fruitbowlk]

I'm ready to open up an esa for my dd. I'm looking at these funds. what do you all think?

GABAX
GABSX
GABEX
WEMMX

[MonkeyMama]

The #1 rule of investing is to not let fees eat up your investments. These funds all have a 1.5% or so expense ratio. Way too high. You also don't want 12b-1 fees or sales loads.

A good place to check is: Yahoo! Finance - Business Finance, Stock Market, Quotes, News

You can look up the mutual funds at the top of the page. Enter the symbol and a summary pops up. Click on "profile" on the left, and look to the lower right for "Fees and expenses." You want an expense ration less than 1%, generally, and no other fees or loads. I'd also look at the performance, holdings, etc.

Of course, from there, if it looks good, it's wise to read the actual porspectus. But I always start with yahoo to narrow down funds. Also read the news section for the fund. The last VG fund I Was going to invest in? Under investigation by the SEC for some shady dealings. I saw the news article in yahoo and decided it was best to skip that one for the time being.

Vanguard, Fidelity and T. Rowe all have GREAT mutual funds that are much cheaper.

[disneysteve]

These funds all have a 1.5% or so expense ratio. Way too high.

I agree completely. Stay away from these. What made you look at them?

Stick with low-cost, no-load funds.

[Snodog]

I agree completely. Stay away from these. What made you look at them?

Well they are all 4 and 5 star funds according to Morningstar. I agree with the others- stick with low cost index funds. Past performance is no predictor of future performance.

[disneysteve]

Past performance is no predictor of future performance.

True, but over time, high expenses are a predictor of sub-par performance.

[Snodog]

True, but over time, high expenses are a predictor of sub-par performance.

Ahhhh, yes very true. Let me rephrase what I said earlier. Expenses aside, past performance is no predictor of future performance.

[MrPolarZero]

Well, one thing that you need to keep in mind when investing is that you need not rush. Take your time in studying all the factors that come in. so that you have a pretty good idea of what can happen to your investment.