The Answer Desk . . . [archives]

Volume 42: To submit a question to MFI's panel of experts, please write to us.

Questions and Responses

(Answers this week are from Frank Armstrong, financial advisor and author of the online book Investment Strategies for the 21st Century)

Where can I find affordable portfolio software?

What happened with Nationwide?

What books would you recommend for the beginning investor?

Previous Volume

Where can I find affordable portfolio software?

from Lance

Q: I am interested in developing and managing my own modern portfolio. For the last year I have taken 8 of 9 classes for financial planning. During this time I have spent hours on the Internet and in the library looking for a software program that is affordable to the individual investor. Ibbitson seems to be what I want but the cost is prohibitive. It seems even with a software program, the updates are essential and that is also one of the highest costs.

Frankly, if there is an affordable program available it certainly hasn't been in the best financial interests of my instructors to share it with me. Your portfolio 5 seems to be a good one for me. But I get bogged down trying to compile a list of mutual fund and stocks to meet the standard deviation and return I want. That's what the a program such as Ibbitson does.

Any ideas of a solution ?

A: I spend what seems like my whole allowance on Ibbotson's software. If you need the full optimization process and a graph of the efficient frontier, I'm not aware of anything with its capabilities at any lower price.

However there is another approach that might solve your particular problem. Morningstar's Principia Plus will allow you to construct portfolios of mutual funds then give you a report of past performance on the portfolio in some detail. So, you could test the effect of different combinations of funds.

The program costs $95 on CD ROM if you get annual data, more for quarterly or monthly data. Annual data should be sufficient to meet your needs. Call M* at 800 735 0700. The sales/tech people are pretty good, and you can discuss your exact needs further.

What happened with Nationwide?

from Sam

Q: I am a new investor, and this may be a really dumb question with an obvious answer, but it troubles me.

I tracked and studied the Nationwide Fund (MUIFX) for quite a time, and, in April I opened an account. Shortly after I did this something happened: I saw something about fund reorganization, but I did not understand. Now I am no longer able to get charts that go back before May 5. After a month or so lull, my investment is doing pretty good, but I wish I knew whether whatever happened is something I should worry about.... Can you help?

A: Nationwide expanded their product offering, and increased their load costs. They also added new classes of shares, the tradtional A and B Shares. Existing investors will not be charged the higher load for purchases in their current accounts.

The family of funds is now called Portfolio Select, and includes selected additional funds from other companies including Dreyfus, Oppenheimer, and Fidelity as well as the Nationwide funds.

The Ticker has not changed, and I was able to find current quotes and information on MFI, Morningstar, and Quicken by searching for the symbol MUIFX.

Nationwide sent out complete information to current investors at the time of the reorganization. If you have additional questions call Nationwide at 800-848-0920.

What books would you recommend for the beginning investor?

from G.M.

A: You are right to read up on investing. No one can do it for you. The more you learn about modern finance, the better investment decisions you will make. Even if you decide to hire an investment advisor, you will still be a better investor if fully informed.

I've got a whole section devoted to my favorites published at MFI.

MFI also maintains its own bookstore along with readers' comments. Feel free to suggest additions or add your comments to the board.

Finally, you may wish to read my online book: "Investment Strategies for the 21st Century".

There should be something for almost everybody's taste.

Frank Armstrong

Frank Armstrong is author of Investment Strategies for the 21st Century, published here, and president of Managed Account Services, Inc., a fee-only advisor specializing in global asset allocation strategies utilizing no-load mutual funds. Frank is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) with 24 years' experience helping investors build wealth. The firm, an SEC Registered Investment Advisor currently manages in excess of $60 million for over 140 clients worldwide. Visit Frank's Managed Account Services, Inc. for more information about the Alternative to Business as Usual on Wall Street or call 1-800-508-8500. Answers provided by Frank Armstrong are Copyright © 1998, Frank Armstrong.

Disclaimer

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