Someone Will Make Money on Your Funds - Why Not You?: A Better Way to Pick Mutual and Exchange-Traded Funds

by Gary L. Gastineau

Book Overview

SOMEONE WILL MAKE MONEY ON YOUR FUNDS-WHY NOT YOU?

"This book is a treasure trove of practical research and pithy thoughts based on Gastineau's decades of experience; a valuable guide for the thoughtful investor."
--Harold Evensky, Chairman, Evensky, Brown & Katz

"Someone Will Make Money On Your Funds - Why Not You? will jar armchair mutual fund investors out of their PJ's. If you think checking out your funds in Morningstar and...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471744824
• ISBN13: 9780471744825
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Wiley
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 2.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Guide to investing in funds with low fees

This is one of the better short guides to fund investing. Although the title emphasizes exchange-traded funds (ETFs), in fact the book covers much more. Gary L. Gastineau reviews the basics of mutual-fund investing with a particular emphasis on risks and expenses of which many retail investors are unaware. He is frank about the scarcity of reliable comparative information about funds, but offers some useful pointers for investors aiming to assemble a portfolio. He covers index funds, actively managed mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, pointing out the relative advantages and disadvantages of each. He provides useful insight into the tax and expense advantages of exchange-traded funds, but he never gives the impression of becoming a salesperson or promoter. His style is low key, sometimes to the point of dullness. However, exciting investment writers are usually not the most credible. This author gives an impression of sound good sense and steady balance. getAbstract recommends this book to new investors in particular, but old hands may also encounter a few new ideas.

Written by an expert in the field

Gary is an expert in the field of index funds and ETF's. The book is a critical review of the products on the market to use passive investing techniques.The book however lacks clear direction for the average investor as compared to a book I recently added to my investing library. I also recommend a little book titled How to Make Money in the Stock Market-Buy 2,500 different stocks for $1000 - Pay no Commission This book is a must for those wanting to find out about indexing (passive investing) and why it is the superior method for the small investor (and big one too). This book is an outstanding guide to personal investing. It will be useful to all investors from novices to highly the highly experienced. This book prepares the reader to approach investing from the standpoint of the underlying science. It is the antithesis of a 'get rich quick scheme'.How to Make Money in the Stock Market-Buy 2,500 Different Stocks-Pay no Commission All aspects of Modern Portfolio Theory and passive (index) investing are explained in a through and easily understood manner. The aspect I like most is that as well as a solid theoretical foundation the book is very practical and shows the reader how to create (and more importantly) and manage over time a successful portfolio. This is a great book- for the beginning investor, it's a great place to start and for the experienced investor there are many valuable suggestions.

An industry insider discusses ETFs and Mutual Funds at a very high level

I would have given it five stars if the book had been better paced; after a gentle warm-up it's continuously intense. He tells the reader to skip over dense sections but who wants to do that? By page 169 I was too mentally tired to continue. All that said, I STRONGLY recommend this book to anyone who ever wanted to listen to an financial services insider explain the real problems with today's financial "sausage". The book gives the best overview of the complex issues facing the financial services industry today. This book doesn't baby its readers, that's its strength and weakness.

Authoritative EFT treatment plus more

While Gastineau is helpful on managed and index mutuals, his authoritative treatment of EFTs is the most detailed and useful I know of. Of particular, immediate use was specific recommentations of stable inexpensive EFTs in Chapter 8 for both taxable and tax-deferred portfolios. I also appreciated his deep consideration of many other investment problems and solutions. This book will always be at hand.