BRH wrote:
- quote -

yahoo finance- look up symbols, it will suggest similar, better
performing funds in same category
smartmoney.com- look up symbols and find similar funds in category

another question to ask is WHY did your advisor recomend these funds?
Share that here for more insight/ suggestions.

Sandra Loosemore wrote:
- quote -

PRFWX T Rowe Price Capital Appreciation
PRFDX T Rowe Price Equity Income

These are a little different than a Balanced fund, but could suit same
purpose in some portfolio's. I own both funds in my Roth IRA.

BRH <BRH[at]giganews.com> wrote:

- quote -

Vanguard Asset Allocation (VAAPX)?

-- Doug

BRH <BRH[at]giganews.com> wrote:

- quote -

I think Morningstar is $14.95 a month, but it's hard to figure out from their
site. They do have a 14 day free trial. How much are you investing? Don't be
penny wise and pound foolish.

-- Doug

BRH <BRH[at]giganews.com> writes:

- quote -

Ah. This is helpful. Not only are these load funds, but they both have
high expenses and no track record to speak of. I'd definitely steer clear.

Instead of OIDAX, you might look at DODFX or OAKIX, both highly-regarded
diversified international funds.

OAAAX is a balanced fund with about a 60% allocation in stocks. You might
look at OAKBX, FBALX, or VWELX instead.

Probably other people could chime in with some other suggestions for
specific funds.

-Sandra the cynic

Sandra Loosemore wrote:

- quote -

Yes -- I came across Morningstar's offering, but since this is basically
a one time (or very infrequent) inquiry, I was hoping to find something
similar that didn't require me to pay a fee.

I've just contacted my advisor to ask him to recommend similar no-load
funds, but haven't gotten answer yet.

I thought that I'd ask here just as a double-check.

HW "Skip" Weldon wrote:
- quote -

The funds that were recommended to me are: a) Oppenheimer International
Diversified Fund (OIDAX) and b) Oppenheimer Portfolio Series - Active
Allocation (OAAAX).

Thanks.

On Wed, 14 Jun 2006 09:49:28 -0500, BRH <BRH[at]giganews.com> wrote:


- quote -

You'd probably get more info by telling us the fund names - preferably
trade symbols too.


-HW "Skip" Weldon
Columbia, SC

BRH <BRH[at]giganews.com> writes:

- quote -

Morningstar has a "find similar funds" tool, but you have to sign up for
premium membership to use it.

Did your financial advisor explain *why* he/she was recommending these
particular funds? I'm thinking that you might end up with a better
portfolio if you shared more details about the advice you were given
and asked real people without a vested financial interest to suggest
no-load funds with a similar asset allocation, rather than just
mechanically searching for similar funds. Maybe your financial
advisor was restricted to a particular set of funds that pay him/her
commissions but that are real dogs, for instance, and if you restrict
yourself to funds "similar" to those, you might overlook much better
no-load funds in the same categories.

-Sandra the cynic

John A. Weeks III wrote:

- quote -

analysis I do before picking a fund, but that might have resulted in a
pretty long, boring post. Rest assured that I do look at the entire
expense/fee picture, not just the up-front fee. That said, I do still
believe that there are enough no-load funds out there, that perform just
as well as any fund with an up-front load. Once winnowed down to a list
of no-load funds to choose from, I do look not only at performance, but
I compare expense ratios and any fees, etc.

I would still appreciate any info on my main question -- a means of
finding no-load funds comparable in investment outlook to a given loaded
fund.

Thanks.

In article <6YqdnZY4WrlCdhLZnZ2dnUVZ_u2dnZ2d[at]comcast.com> ,
BRH <BRH[at]giganews.com> wrote:

- quote -

If all you are looking at is load fees, you might end up getting
taken by the no load people. The up front fee is not the only fees
that you pay. The ongoing annual fees, and the costs to run the
fund that is burried in the accounting details are far more
important. The front end load is only paid once, whereas annual
fees are paid every year, year in and year out.

If often turns out that a fund with a front end load can have
lower annual fees than a similar no-load fund, and thus, be
cheaper in the long run.

The trick is to look for funds that perform they way you want,
and then pick the ones with the smallest annual fees over time.
Then if you get two that are similar, the one with the smaller
load fees is preferable.

-john-

--
================================================== ====================
John A. Weeks III 952-432-2708 john[at]johnweeks.com
Newave Communications http://www.johnweeks.com
================================================== ====================

Can someone tell me where (online) I can compare mutual funds? A number
of Load funds have been recommended to me in by a financial advisor, but
I would like to do some research to find equivalent No-Load funds.
(Preferably without incurring any sort of service fee to do the research.)

I know that morningstar.com has lots of info, but it has so many tools
that I'm confused on which one to use for this. Note that I do know the
names of the mutual funds that I want to find no-load equivalents to.

Any help (as specific as possible) with this would be greatly appreciated.