Christine Benz Quotations

We're hearing from a lot of value-oriented managers that they're taking this opportunity to move into stocks with growth prospects. My goodness, Cisco is in the portfolio right now, which isn't something that Windsor shareholders might be expecting.

Leverage has been a profitable trade in the past and it has allowed many closed-end funds to deliver very compelling yields, but the risk is your total return could suffer. Leverage can cut both ways; it can magnify your gains but it can also accentuate your losses. ... On the flip side, if you are delving into these more unusual strategies, one could argue the closed-end format lends itself to them pretty well, because your manager is not having to redeem shares everyday.

Some at Fidelity in top management view it as a concern.

Fund companies are increasingly looking at this as a retention tool. Perhaps its one way to keep your fund manager on board. I don't know if it's a full blown turning point, but companies realize it could be a brain drain so they're taking steps to stay competitive.

If Spitzer's allegations prove true, it's a clear indication that all four fund firms were willing to put their companies' own profitability ahead of the interests of their fund shareholders.

He has one of the longest records, he's more a pure quant investor, ... He's got a phenomenal record.

I would say it's a dueling trend that retail mutual fund companies are starting hedge fund like vehicles to retain that talent. That is a weapon in a fund company's arsenal.

It is a huge run right in the beginning of the year. Some of the best performers are on the 'Who's Who list' of the worst of 2000.

It has been hard to go wrong in stocks. The main performance determinant was whether you invested in small caps.

We continue to believe that mutual funds run by such shareholder-friendly firms represent worthwhile investment opportunities for most investors.

The predicament is not particular to (Janus) in any way.

Dividends can be a significant component of total return.

People had come to expect the world of them. (They're) a little disappointed.

That's what we've been telling investors all along.

They rack up records and don't get noticed.

A lot of the large growth stocks are taking a breather.

You don't want a fund that had its best years with $5 million in assets.

They're not chartbusters, and that's what gets funds noticed. (But) there are plenty of funds that haven't garnered a lot of assets and are good investment vehicles all the same.

They're not chartbusters, and that's what gets funds noticed, ... (But) there are plenty of funds that haven't garnered a lot of assets and are good investment vehicles all the same.

It's a classic rotation away from everything that did well in 1998 and the first quarter of 1999. Everything that did lousy in that time has picked up.

For investors who aren't sure about how to select a fund appropriate for their time horizon, these funds really make it simple for you to do that and to get a lot of diversification in a single package. They help investors with the two things they have the most problems with. The first is arriving at an appropriate asset allocation, and the second is maturing that asset allocation as you approach your goal.

It's the worst year in a big way.

It's a point I'd make regarding any mutual fund, but it's particularly important in a mutual fund type where you expect a low absolute return. If you're paying 1 percent in expenses and you're earning just 3 percent, you're forking over literally a third of your return.

It's hard to say whether he's making brilliant choices because it's hard to go wrong in Internet stocks, ... It's hard to say whether he's a good stock picker or just lucky.

In general, in any sort of tax-deferred account, you have a little more leeway to look at fund types that might be undesirable for your taxable account. If you're going to own a high-turnover, aggressive growth fund, for example, putting it in a tax-sheltered wrapper is a good idea. By the same token, a high-yield bond fund might be a good thing to put in a tax-deferred account.

Internet-heavy funds took some of the biggest hits yesterday, but most people watching the tech area have long thought that there's probably been some froth among those stocks.