The Great Mutual Fund Trap: An Investment Recovery Plan - Softcover

If you've been burned on Wall Street (and who hasn't?) but still need a practical place to park your savings (who doesn't?), Gregory Baer and Gary Gensler have your number. While somewhat mistitled because it decries "active investing" in individual stocks as well as in mutual funds, The Great Mutual Fund Trap is nonetheless a clearly and even entertainingly written argument in favor of the alternative: investing broadly in stocks that mirror the performance of the overall market. During their years in private investment and with the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve, Baer and Gensler have come to believe the high fees and high risks that go with always trying to beat the market make "active investing"--be it constantly fiddling with your own portfolio or relying on professionals to do so for you--a no-win proposition. Instead, they say, you can actually improve returns by shifting to "passive investments" that offer lower costs and greater tax efficiency. After explaining why they feel as they do, the authors thoroughly describe the appropriate vehicles--index mutual funds, exchange-traded index funds, and several other products--in a way that makes these staid options seem almost exciting and gives interested readers all the tools they need to utilize them. --Howard Rothman

Praise for The Great Mutual Fund Trap

"This is a must-buy. It should be in every Main Street investor's library. In fact, The Great Mutual Fund Trap is so good I could cry. "What distinguishes The Trap is this: While most recent books on investing and personal finance focus on Wall Street as the evil giant, this one focuses on America's new evil giant, the mutual fund industry, which for years has portrayed itself as Main Street's protector against Wall Street's robber barons. "Not so. As Gensler and Baer point out, it's becoming painfully clear that the fund industry is emerging as the fund investor's worse nightmare..." --Paul B. Farrell, CBS MarketWatch.com

"In this fascinating book, investors will get a new take on how the odds are stacked against them by Wall Street’s vested interests. Gary Gensler and Gregory Baer, two of the stars of the Treasury Department during the Clinton years, tell consumers how to avoid the traps and make the markets work for them for less risk."

—Arthur Levitt, former Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and author of Take on the Street

"This wonderful book explodes many of the myths that impoverish mutual fund investors. Its hard-hitting message may be only common sense, but it will assure you of long term investment success."

—John C. Bogle, founder of the Vanguard Group

"A compelling work that takes a hard look at how Americans invest their money and suggests better options. A serious book by serious people. The Great Mutual Fund Trap also contains practical and humorous illustrations guaranteed to engage any reader."

—Lawrence Summers, former Secretary of the Treasury

"Mutual funds have brought millions of Americans into the investment markets—and for that alone they deserve much praise. Unfortunately, the returns that many of these investors have received have been less than spectacular. The Great Mutual Fund Trap exposes many of the flaws that drag down fund performance and suggests ways that investors can tune out the noise and focus on meeting their long-term goals. The mutual fund industry isn’t going to like this book one bit, but its story needs to be heard."

—Don Phillips, Managing Director, Morningstar, Inc.

"The folks at Fidelity are not going to like this book, but anyone who still invests via actively managed mutual funds or who buys variable annuities or who favors Social Security privatization should read it."

—Andrew Tobias, author of The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need

"The Great Mutual Fund Trap explains how you avoid wasting remarkable amounts of time and money in a futile search for the mutual fund or money manger that is going to beat the market. It does the job in clear English but without oversimplifying." --Charles Rossotti, former Commissioner of the IRS

"The insights the authors gleaned as watchdogs [for the U.S. Treasury] give this well-organized, well-researched book a heft that many investment primers written by fund-industry insiders typically lack. "With a light touch and a conversational tone, Baer and Gensler do an admirable job of maintaining a quick pace. .... For investors still suffering a hangover from the bull-market party of the late 1990s, this book is medicine that should be quite easy to take." --Amey Stone, BusinessWeek Online "[An] excellent new book...makes a compelling case for low-cost, tax-efficient index investing no matter how much or little money you have."

—Humberto Cruz, Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinal

"For investors still suffering a hangover from the bull-market party of the later 1990s, this book is medicine that should be quite easy to take."

—BusinessWeek Online

"Conversational and easy-to-read, Baer and Gensler present realistic advice that will be useful to everyday investors."

—Publishers Weekly