When it comes to choices and options for mutual funds, the opportunities are nearly limitless. As I mentioned last month, there are four areas that I look at when considering fund managers: people, process, performance and products.
Each is critical in determining where to invest. Beyond the four P’s, there is a further issue that matters: How do you find these mutual funds to consider?
Online, of course.
Like any great stock screener, a good fund screener narrows down your choices by filtering through different criteria to find the funds that meet your goals. Once you have a small list to choose from, researching each one should be easy. Here is an overview of many of the major screeners online from www.novelinvestor.com.
The Morningstar Fund Screener
The Morningstar Fund Screener comes with a wealth of information. Morningstar is the leader in investment research and is well-known for its fund analysis and ratings system. It offers its free mutual fund screener to anyone who signs up. The free screening tool has 18 different filters. While it could use an updated look, it still does the job. Once you add in the Fund Quickrank, compare tools and fund information, Morningstar has the best fund screener available.
Reuters Fund Screener
The Reuters Fund Screener is built around its Lipper Research data. It has 29 total filters, but you can only use 15 per screen, which should be more than adequate for the average investor. The Reuters Fund Screener offers a clean user experience and is probably the easiest to use, having simple selection boxes to click on.
WSJ Fund Screener
The WSJ Fund Screener is basically the Reuters Fund Screener with a slightly different look and feel, as well as much broader screening criteria. It has 38 screening filters with no limit on the number you can use. It uses the same Lipper Research data and also provides a rolling tally of matching funds as you filter your search.
CEF Connect
CEF Connect is a widely regarded resource for closed end fund investors. The screener allows you to refine your search with up to eight criteria from the most common like NAV, leverage, and premium/discount to others like performance, distribution and bond breakdown. For an investor that regularly deals in closed end funds, it’s very easy to use. Even new investors will find the site to be a great resource thanks to its education section.
The bottom line is this: If you want to be a savvy entrepreneurial investor in today’s world, you need to know what you’re looking for and where to look to find it.
Umberto P. Fedeli is president and CEO of the Fedeli Group, a Cleveland based firm specializing in employee benefits consulting as well as property and casualty risk management solutions. 1988, Umberto has served as president and CEO. thefedeligroup.com thefedeligroup.com.
