russ[at]russ.net (Russ) writes:

- quote -

If you are willing and able to select funds on your own,
there's no reason to pay a load. The load is meant as
compensation for a professional who helps you make those
selections.

- quote -

How did you select them? Which funds are they?

"they don't seem great" can mean any of a zillion things -
ie. (a) they really are stinkers
(b) they are performing quite well for what they are,
but aren't what you thought they were
(c) they might be exactly perfectly chosen but your
expectations for a given asset class might be wrong.

- quote -

For just about any 'load' fund out there, a no-load fund
which behaves and invests similarly well exists. Whether
that no-load fund is appropriate for someone or not, however,
depends on that person's investment goals, his risk tolerance,
his time horizons, the rest of his portfolio, etc. One reason
to pay a load to a professional is so that he or she can
help you assess all those other issues.

If you have a good handle on your risk tolerance, the
balance of your portfolio, your time horizon, etc, then
your question should probably look more like this:

"I have XYZ fund, which invests in (ie.) small-cap value stocks.
It's not performing very well, so I'd like to replace it with
another. Can you suggest one?"

or, it might look more like this:

"I have X% of my portfolio in large cap domestic equities
and Y% in a diversified long-term bond fund. I think perhaps
I'd like to replace that large cap domestic fund with a
couple of equity funds, perhaps with some small cap and
maybe some foreign exposure. Can you suggest a balance
for that and, maybe, some funds to fill those roles?"

These are much more specific questions, you see, and folks
might be able to answer them or, at least, offer suggestions
as to how you might be able to find appropriate answers
for yourself.

Managing one's investments requires a certain amount of
time and effort and study -- or paying someone else to
figure things out for you.

If you are comfortable with how your investments are allocated
and just want some suggestions of alternate funds for the
ones you are already invested in, you might try plugging
in the symbols of your existing funds into Morningstar.
Their "star" ratings are sometimes a little misleading (and
they'll be the first to tell you that) but their analysis
and discussion and "analysts picks" are very informative.

Anyway, I apologize for being a little long winded above,
but the question, in isolation, of "please suggest some funds"
is really impossible, by itself, for any responsible person
to answer. Answering it responsibly will require a lot more
information from you, or at least a much more specific question.




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I have a Roth IRA with E-Trade. I will probably eventually move it
over to Fidelity, however for now it is in E-Trade.

I have been putting money in "No load no fee" funds that have no front
end or back end load, because the transaction fee for the other
accounts would eat my money alive I think.

Anyway, none of these no load no fee funds seem to be that great.

My question is, can anyone recommend a fund or few funds or something
to look at that I can put in my money in at E-trade and not be eaten
up by transaction fees?