Using Morningstar for Mutual Fund Research

When you're gearing up to make those important investment decisions, sites such as MorningStar.com can provide a variety of tools and resources you will need. MorningStar.com is a comprehensive website of market trend reports, fund analyst summaries, stock analyst notes, and dozens of articles on mutual funds and market trends. You'll also find a tax planning guide, 401(k) information, and college planning segments to help with other investment strategies.

The Funds section is a great resource for going through fund analyst reports and reviewing fund analyst picks. The Mutual Fund Quickrank displays current mutual funds and trading information. You'll select a fund category from the list of markets then pick the total return percentage. Each of the broad categories contains a handful of narrower fund categories, and you can gauge and compare each performance ranking.

The Mutual Fund screener allows you to review critical areas and score all the data. You'll start by setting the criteria with:

• Fund type
• Cost and purchase
• Ratings and risk
• Returns
• Portfolio

The website also lists all the funds and fund families for easy reference. Oull find leading fund families from Schwab, Fidelity, Janus, Vanguard, and Artisan. Each mutual fund type is also broken down into its own category; it's easy to take a look at closed-end funds, emerging markets, and monitor growth rates.

The best way to stay up to date with the funds and markets is to sign up for the e-newlsetters. Fund Spy, Weekly Wrap, and SmartInvestor can give you continuous updates and highlights of the stock market at any given time.

Knowing where to turn when you are investing in mutual funds is a much simpler process with the help of websites such as MorningStar.com