Conference nyoss1::market_investing

    Mutual funds offer better than 5 - 6% Thats the way to go and most
    mutul funds have a minum initial deposit so you are in the ball park
    with your 1k.
    
    I like Janus Group, Fidelity, and T. Rowe Price to mention a few. Call
    and get a prospectus and read it carefuly before you invest into
    any of the funds.
    
    Frank 

Or look into a short-term bond fund.  You can get around 7% interest and
have check-writing privs which gives you faster access/more stability to your 
money than you'd have with a stock mutual fund.

John Piekos

    Are these bond funds insured? That is if the company (like Fidelity)
    were to go belly-up, would I still have the bonds? (I told you - I am
    naive about investing).	
    		Cindy

    In this day and age, if you want to have any return higher than money
    market rates and "flexibility", you'll most likely to take on to some
    kind of risk. Bond or GNMA mutual funds are fine investments and you
    can get around 6% or 7% on them. But, your risk is the share price 
    fluctuation. A 6-7% share price drop will wipe out all of your returns. 
    If it drops more than that, you lose out. Of course, if it goes up, you
    make more than the 6-7%. But, that's your risk. If you can't afford to
    take any risk with this money and it is only short term, I would 
    recommend you keep them in a money market account and be happy about
    it. That way, at least you know you won't lose any money and can sleep
    well at night.
    
    Mike 

      Cindy,

      If this is truely money that you may want quickly, and if you fear
      any loss of that $1,000, then a bank or DCU money-market at 3-4% maybe 
      may be what you really should go into. Remember, it is always suggested
      that you keep 3 months living expenses in a fairly liquid state. If
      this is the case for this money, then by all means, don't feel bad
      about a money-market bank account.

      Don't forget about another safe investment at 6%, sorta. Savings bonds.
      They only tie you up for 6 months and can be cashed out in a year for
      over 4% I think, min. 6% at maturity.

      But, if you can tolerate a little risk, then a short-term bond or
      mortgage backed fund with checking (and no load) would be good and
      could still look like cash. Since I assume you to be selling DEC
      stock to get this $1000 each 6mo, you have some risk tolerance but
      not if it's all in one direction...

      Mutual funds can not invest more than 5% in any one security. And
      I'll bet that's high. No, the big guys will be around. That's where
      the risk of capital comes into play. (BTW, junk bond funds are
      averaging almost 17% this year! -Kiplingers, Jan93)
    
      Money mag rates funds monthly, as do other mags. I would suggest you
      decide if you want a mutual fund approach or not. If so, then choose
      a family of funds with no-load, if possible. Then, if you feel like 
      taking more risk for higher return, you can transfer within the fund
      to a growth+income or growth fund.

      I like 20th century and Janus. T Rowe Price and Fidelity are also 
      good choices. If you need more help on a fund family, or need phone
      numbers, just ask.

      Bob
    

    
    Try Kemper Money Market for a short term.
    
    Kevin
    

    
    Cindy;
    
    I would recommend that you consider taking on some stock exposure
    through a mutual fund.  By some exposure what I mean is to invest
    over the next couple of months up to 40% of your $1,000.00 into a 
    mutual fund of stocks that should perform well in an economy which
    is showing signs of slow steady improvement.  For the novice 20th
    Century Investments at 1-800-345-2021 is a good place to start.
    
    20th Century has several funds with different investment themes and has 
    some of the lowest average initial investment criteria in the fund 
    industry.  20th Cent is a no load fund with an excellent track record,
    good customer communications, and good customer service.  There are
    many other fund families as well; however, many of these others have a
    large number of funds, various loads - ie. commissions - from fund to 
    fund, and significant initial investments which could limit your
    flexibility.
    
    By exposing some of your capital to the market you can potentially 
    benefit from the improving economy while at the same time keeping a
    portion of your assets completly liquid in a money market fund.  Also,
    as you identify additional savings over time you can easily add to
    your market exposure a little at a time thereby reducing your risk
    for the added exposure.
    
    I would recommend a trip to the local library and check out an
    investment book or two on mutual fund investing.  There are many good
    ones from which to choose.
    
    My 2-cents FWIW...Have a prosperous 1993!
    
    
    Rgds,
    
    JG

Cindy,

Have I got a deal for you!  I read that as a promotional stunt to advertise a 
new fund, Gabelli has agreed to guarantee a min 6% return on his new SixPlus 
fund for one year.  Mario Gabelli has been running some high performing mutual 
funds of the last few years (someone else may have more specifics...)

Two catches:  
 1) you have to pay $10 for a prospectus (refunded on purchase)
 2) take note of the previous comments on keeping liquid assets.  I don't know
    what happens here if you need to withdraw before the year is up.

Mark

	Re. .8

	Many of Gabelli's funds have high loads (although he has some no-loads
	as well). If you are going to lose 3% to a front-end load to earn
	minimum 6%, it would hardly be a good deal. 

	Read the prospectii. 

The 3% front-end load is waived for the first $2000.00.  So, you can get a 
"guarenteed" 6% on your first $2000 in this new fund (whose goal is to 
consistantly return 6%, I believe).  This fund requires $1000 minimum to open.

This info is from some mailing I recently got.

John Piekos

    A few people mentioned 20th Century- I put a chunk of money into them
    this year , mainly because of their past track record, but they have
    been dogs this year. I'm looking for another fund family? (no-load)
    Kathy

    
    Re: .11
    
    Kathy;
    
    One of the biggest mistakes in fund investing, and or stock investing
    for that matter, is expecting to much to fast, and then moving your
    investment before the next good up wave.
    
    Most general purpose funds, like 20th Select and Growth, have not had
    particularly good performance in 1992.  The market as a whole has not
    necessarily been very rewarding.  It has been a theme based year, or
    what I would consider as a stock pickers year.
    
    If you are looking for a theme, or would like to participate with a
    fund that is focused on a certain industry, market, or type of stock
    such as small caps - international - utilities etc. then consider
    Fidelity where you have the broadest menu in the fund industry to
    choose from for your portfolio.
    
    With that said, I would lokk again at 20th Century for the coming 18
    months if you believe that growht oriented stocks are going to
    participate in the coming economic rebound.  According to my experts
    this has now been underway since March "91 which means that slow steady
    growth in the economy has been putting some underpinnings in place from
    which to propel growth in the future.  I like 20th Cent Growth based on
    past performance during this type of market of which I speak.
    
    In any event this is a long answer to your question, and no, I am not a
    commissioned rep for 20th Century.  But my recommendation earlier for
    the origianl noter was based on the fact they offer a good track record
    and the amount of choices are not overwhelming.
    
    Interesting, it has just occurred to me that maybe this is the problem
    with our product lines today.  TOO MANY CHOICES AND WE ARE
    OVERWHELMING THE CUSTOMERS.  Well anyway, good luck on whatever
    decision you make and if it is working out let us all know!
    
    Rgds,
    
    JG

    One need not be in a big hurry.  I think that on May 1 the market will
    be well under today's level, and then would be a better time to invest.
    If you can buy low and sell high it doesn't matter too much what you
    buy and sell.
    
      John

    
    John - 
    
    	why do you think may 1 will be market low ? --- Is it by then that
    you think that Clinton-economics will start hurting wall street ? ...
    What investments would you consider risky in the next 6 months ?
    
    	Bonds ? ... T-bills ? ... Equity Funds ? ... Blue-Chip Stocks ? ...
    	Utililities ? ... to name a few ...
    
    	jgk
    

    
    	Re: .10
    
    >The 3% front-end load is waived for the first $2000.00.  So, you can get a
    >"guarenteed" 6% on your first $2000 in this new fund (whose goal is to
    >consistantly return 6%, I believe).  This fund requires $1000 minimum to open.
    
    	If the goal of the fund is to "consistantly return 6%", I would
    presume that the goal of an investor in this fund would be the same. 
    In this case, going out and buying long-term Treasuries will give you
    the same 6% with far less risk.  Or perhaps I misread the goal and the
    goal of the fund is to return _at least_ 6% a year?
    
    								-craig

	Re. .10, .15

	Perhaps the Gabelli fund actually invests in LT Treasuries themselves!!
	They get their money from the load above the investments of $2000. 

	Not a bad deal for such a straightforward transaction. For Gabelli, 
	that is. :-)

Craig,

I can't remember if the goal was to return 6%, or return at least 6% per
year.  A definite point, that I hand-waved over when I wrote the reply.
Unfortunately, I no longer have the paper that had the info.

John Piekos

    I would first check Morningstar, which is a mutual fund watch
    periodical.  Probably your local library gets it (subscription is about
    $350/year).  In the Index issue, they list what they call all their 5
    star rated funds (1 star is naturally a dog).  Look at the 5 star list
    for funds marked LOW RISK (not all 5 star funds are low risk, of
    course).  Also, look at the ones which have been around for a few
    years.  In your situation, with the interest rate low, I would go for a
    short term bond fund (if there is a 5 star one there).  Also, avoid
    load funds - I think you can get a better deal with a no-load.  Another
    problem that you might bump into with your search is the minimum
    investment.  Fidelity, for example, doesn't have any funds that start
    at less than $2500 (but there are some excellent Fidelity funds). 
    Financial Industrial Income minimum is $250, I think, and that's a well
    rated fund.  
    
    The 4 star funds in Morningstar are not necessarily inferior.  I would
    advise you to read, read, read.  It's boring stuff (better than
    Sominex), but the average person spends more time investigating new car
    specs than looking at investment stuff.  In the back of the Index
    issue, they also list the top (and bottom) funds for returns for 1
    month, 6 months, ytd, 5 years and ten years.  
    
    If you select a fund, you should not only read the Morningstar full
    analysis, but get the prospectus and read it.  (It's boring too)
    
    As far as access to your money is concerned,  you can get check
    writing, electronic funds transfer to your bank, or have them send you
    a check for most mutual fund companies. 
    
    The advice I have read in this file stating that mutual funds are a
    long term investment is correct.  You cannot expect to achieve
    unbelievable returns in one year.  The funds that I own have gone thru
    some bad years.  Five years is a realistic minimum for a stock fund.  
    
    You can also set up automatic investment mechanisms with many of the
    mutual fund companies.  That means that you give them authority to
    deduct say $50/month from your bank account.  It's a great way of
    forced, painless investing and takes advantage of dollar cost
    averaging.
    
    Not all funds of a mutual fund company are good, so don't be lulled
    into thinking that one stellar performer means that all funds from that
    company are good.  Fidelity Magellan, for example, has been doing well,
    but Fidelity also has some poorly performing funds.

    Well, I'm finally back. Now that it's after Christmas and I've finally
    paid off my bills, I know what monies I have available.
    I wanted to thank everyone for their replies. I'll try 20th century and
    Fidelity and see what they have. Actually, since they have check
    writing privileges, I can probably invest more money since I would have
    some access to it.
    
    As what some of you folks mentioned, for alot of folks - we just want
    to invest but have no idea how to go about it. 
    		Cindy
    

	Re. .19

	> Actually, since they have check
    	> writing privileges, I can probably invest more money since I would 
	> have some access to it.

	Be aware that writing a check from your mutual fund is a redemption
	transaction, and can involve capital gains/losses. Don't plan on
	doing a lot of check-writing, unless you enjoy doing your taxes.

Re: 333.13

> VMSDEV::HALLYB "Fish have no concept of fire."        
>                       -< That's May 1, 1993 >-

> I think that on May 1 the market will
> be well under today's level, and then would be a better time to invest.

John,  In note 387.16 you predict a big rally, namely:

>     BIG rally coming mid-March to mid-April.  New all-time highs.

But in this note, you predict low market levels on May first and tell us that
then would be a better time to invest.  Predicting a big crash between mid-April
and May 1st? :-)

John Piekos

>But in this note, you predict low market levels on May first and tell us that
>then would be a better time to invest.  Predicting a big crash between mid-April
>and May 1st? :-)
    
    I've looked and found some longer cycles (those topping mid-April) will
    turn down and stay down through the end of April, ALL of May and
    possibly ALL of June.  At this point I would replace "May 1" with "July 1"
    
      John

Thanks John. I find your preditions interesting to follow.

John Piekos