By the way, don't bother reading a mutual fund prospectus. They are worthless when it comes to making money. Consider that most of the information in it is about a year old by the time you read it. Think about this seriously for a minute. Is there anything you can find out in the document that will show up in your bottom line? I'll wait while you think. OK? There really wasn't anything was there? All prospectuses are basically worthless.

But you say the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) in Washington approved this. No, they did NOT. They don't approve of anything; they just read it to be sure it meets the regulatory requirements for disclosure. There is almost no difference between the prospectus for the worst mutual fund and the best mutual fund and both of them may have been read by the same Dilbert in his cubicle at the SEC.

There is one excellent way to find out which fund to buy. It is based on performance. How much has the fund increased in price during the past 12 months? Just 12 months. Many financial analysts want you to look at 3-year, 5-year and 10-year performance. Remember that horse? I don't care how many races he won 3 or 5 years ago. Can he run NOW? There are many publications and web sites that tell you the best performers. Investor's Business Daily prints a list of best performing funds each day. You might have to see the paper every day as they sometimes just tell about the long-term performance. You want the last 12 months and the last 3 months.