Index (mutual) funds

[joey2000]

Anyone a fan? I'm warming up to the idea....even possibly to the point of making most of my 401K index funds.

[Bryn Mawr]

Originally Posted by joey2000

Anyone a fan? I'm warming up to the idea....even possibly to the point of making most of my 401K index funds.

If by that you mean investments where the repayment is linked to the movement of a particular index (like the Dow or Nasdaq) then you're a little late

[joey2000]

No idea what you mean by "repayment" or being "late" - ?

[Bryn Mawr]

Originally Posted by joey2000

No idea what you mean by "repayment" or being "late" - ?

Repayment being the amount the fund pays out and late as in you should have been in nine months ago.

[joey2000]

Repayment has nothing to do with being/not being an index fund.

And I give up: what happened 9 mos ago?

[Bryn Mawr]

Originally Posted by joey2000

Repayment has nothing to do with being/not being an index fund.

And I give up: what happened 9 mos ago?

Sorry - do not understand you.

My best guess from your original post was that you we referring to a fund where the investment was linked to the stock market - hence the reference to the Dow and Nasdaq. If that is not what you mean by an index fund then I apologise but the term does not translate into English.

If my assumption was correct then you should have jumped in immediately after the crash happened and the markets stopped falling (about nine months ago) because they have risen significantly since and you returns will now be that much the smaller.

[joey2000]

Well we're both speaking English but that's about as far as I'll go. When you said "repayment," I thought you were talking dividends, since no fund otherwise "pays out" unless you sell it.

As for trying to time the market, I think many if not most of us have learned the hard way what a dicey game that is (in fact it's the very argument for Index funds) - sigh

[Bryn Mawr]

Originally Posted by joey2000

Well we're both speaking English but that's about as far as I'll go. When you said "repayment," I thought you were talking dividends, since no fund otherwise "pays out" unless you sell it.

As for trying to time the market, I think many if not most of us have learned the hard way what a dicey game that is (in fact it's the very argument for Index funds) - sigh

Take the Footsie (on the grounds it's the one I know best and I don't have time to research).

By August 2001 it had reached 6400+ but, after 9/11 it dropped to about 3900.

By September 2008 it had worked its way back to about 6200 but by the start of this year was down to about 4200.

By mid 2011 we can expect it to be back to around 6300 - trouble is, it's already at 5300 so you've lost half the profit to be gained during this downturn.

Welcome aboard, you're late