cute fuzzy bunny
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Well, he did compare the American Funds to the Vanguard TOTAL MARKET INDEX
Simply because the American funds said they held equities at all cap levels. The TSM seemed to be a good analog. If nothing else, I figured I wouldnt be accused of comparing the poor American funds with some hybrid ferrari fund
then complained that the American Funds compare themselves to the S&P 500? Morningstar and their brethren set up their software to have the S&P 500 Index as the "benchmark", so how is that American's or anyone else's fault?
American uses the S&P 500 as a comparative benchmark in their prospectus. That is clearly their doing.
There is no real pure index to compare American's portfolios to. They use a multicap strategy with a value bent.
Then isnt it a bit disingenuous to suggest that they 'beat the indexes' as Art has claimed several times and American claims? Against a large cap blend index thats been on a roller coaster ride over the last 12-14 years, you can draw all sorts of favorable comparisons. You carefully pick your start and end dates and you can make all sorts of appealing numbers appear.
I have yet to have ONE client leave American to go somewhere else, Vanguard or otherwise. Mutual funds are a very small part of my business
Hell, if I paid 5.75% up front and believed the pitch that I was getting funds that 'consistently beat the index' when there isnt even a comparable index, I'd probably grit my teeth and stick with it.
Note that I aint saying these are bad investments or bad funds. They're probably the best of the breed. Its just that the breed isnt necessarily the best.
As far as a fight? I presented some data, charts and analysis and asked the experts to tell me if/how the info was wrong. One guy called me a liar and said he'd already posted the info. He hadnt. The other guy disappeared from the discussion.
So I called shenanigans.