Does Your Retirement Portfolio Hold These 3 Mutual Fund Misfires? - September 26, 2019 (Revised)

If your advisor has you invested in any of these "Mutual Fund Misfires of the Market" with high fees and low returns, you need to rethink your advisor.

The easiest way to judge a mutual fund's quality over time is by analyzing its performance and fees. Our Zacks Rank of over 19,000 mutual funds has identified some of the worst of the worst mutual funds you should avoid, the funds with the highest fees and poorest long-term performance.

First, let's break down some of the funds currently part of our "Mutual Fund Misfires of the Market." If you happen to have put your money into any of these misfires, we'll help assess some of our best Zacks Ranked mutual funds.

3 Mutual Fund Misfires

Now, let's take a look at three market misfires.

Dreyfus GNMA C GPNCX: 1.92% expense ratio, 0.5% management fee. GPNCX is part of the Government Mortgage - Intermediate fund section. Government Mortgage - Intermediate funds focus on the mortgage-backed security (MBS) market and securities that usually have at least three years to maturity but less than 10. With a five year after-expenses return of 0.75%, you're mostly paying more in fees than returns.

Loomis Sayles Strategy Income A NEFZX: NEFZX is an Investment Grade Bond - Long mutual fund. These funds focus on the long end of the curve, generally with bonds that mature in more than 10 years. NEFZX offers an expense ratio of 1.52% and annual returns of 0.98% over the last five years. Even if this fund can be positioned as a hedge during the recent bull-market, paying more in fees than returns over the long-term should never be an acceptable result.

Putnam International Growth M PINMX: This fund has an expense ratio of 0.93% and management fee of 0.91%. PINMX is a part of the Non US - Equity fund category, many of which will focus across all cap levels, and will typically allocate their investments between emerging and developed markets. With an annual average return of 0.47% over the last five years, the only thing absolute about this absolute return fund is that it absolutely deserves to be on our "worst offender" list.

3 Top Ranked Mutual Funds

Now that you've seen the worst Zacks Ranked mutual funds, let's have a look at some of the highest ranked funds with the lowest fees.

JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) Large Cap Growth I SEEGX: 0.68% expense ratio, 0.5% management fee. SEEGX is a Large Cap Growth mutual fund, and these funds invest in many large U.S. firms that are projected to grow at a faster rate than their large-cap peers. With annual returns of 15.2% over the last five years, this fund is a winner.

MSIF Growth Portfolio A MSEGX: Expense ratio: 0.82%. Management fee: 0.41%. MSEGX is a Large Cap Blend fund, targeting companies with market caps of over $10 billion. These funds offer investors a stability, and are perfect for people with a "buy and hold" mindset. MSEGX has managed to produce a robust 16.14% over the last five years.

Fidelity Select IT Services FBSOX: Expense ratio: 0.74%. Management fee: 0.54%. FBSOX is an All Cap Growth mutual fund. In order to increase diversification, these funds have holdings across small, medium, and large-cap levels. FBSOX has produced a 19.07% over the last five years.

Bottom Line

We hope that your investment advisor (if you use one) has you invested in one or all of the top-ranked mutual funds we've reviewed. But if that is not the case, and your advisor has you invested in any of the funds on our "worst offender" list, it might be time to have a conversation or reconsider this vitally important relationship.

If you have concerns or any doubts about your investment advisor, read our just-released report:

4 Warning Signs That Your Advisor Might be Sabotaging Your Financial Future

(NOTE: We are re-issuing this article to correct an inaccuracy. The original article, published Tuesday, September 26, 2019, should no longer be relied upon.)