Good growth stock mutual fund recommendations

[Scallywag]

Hello, could you give me some good growth stock mutual fund recommendations? My spouse's 401K has brokerage options but they only allow him to invest in mutual funds, not ETFs or individual stocks.

We would like recommendations for growth, aggressive & International growth funds. He would like to funds with no load but that's just a preference. If the performance in the last 20 years or so has been good he would be ok with a load / higher expenses.

Please advice? Thanks.

[srblanco7]

As a DIY investor, I generally stick with index funds rather than actively managed funds. The longer your investment horizon, the more likely an index fund will outperform an actively managed fund (the percentage of large cap funds that underperformed the S&P 500 index was 64.5% for a 1 year period, 85% for a 10 year period, and 91% for a 15 year period). Index funds also meet your no load criteria and typically have very low expense ratios.

[disneysteve]

I agree. You want index funds like an S&P 500 index or a Total Stock Market index. The same for international funds.

Personally, we use Vanguard. If he can access those, he'll be all set. By all means, stay away from load funds and managed funds.

[Jluke]

VASGX

vanguard LifeStrategy Growth fund. 90:10

Expense is a measly 0.14%

not sure if that would appeal to you (tax perspective if applicable, risk, growth and minimal fees).

I invest in VTI in taxable. 100% US stocks

[cypher1]

Majority of my US stocks are in VTSAX (Total US) spread out in Roth, traditional, taxable. VTIAX for Total International. Smaller amount for aggressiveness VSIAX (small cap value).

[Nutria]

Hello, could you give me some good growth stock mutual fund recommendations? My spouse's 401K has brokerage options but they only allow him to invest in mutual funds, not ETFs or individual stocks.

We would like recommendations for growth, aggressive & International growth funds. He would like to funds with no load but that's just a preference. If the performance in the last 20 years or so has been good he would be ok with a load / higher expenses.

Please advice? Thanks.

What's your timetable to retirement? (I like bond funds, and equity funds that are heavy on solid, blue chip dividend stocks. They tend to perform well, but aren't as volatile as growth funds. However, I'm single digits from retirement, so don't have time for my portfolio to recover from another "lost seven years" like the SP500 had from 2000-2007 and "lost 6 years" from 2007 to 2013".)

[Scallywag]

What's your timetable to retirement? (I like bond funds, and equity funds that are heavy on solid, blue chip dividend stocks. They tend to perform well, but aren't as volatile as growth funds. However, I'm single digits from retirement, so don't have time for my portfolio to recover from another "lost seven years" like the SP500 had from 2000-2007 and "lost 6 years" from 2007 to 2013".)

We have 20 years to retirement (mid/late 40s), but we can technically put off taking money out of our retirement accounts until we're 75. And one of our ROTHS is only for our autistic son as he may not be able to earn a living and this account will be his for his life. This is one reason I want to be as aggressive as possible, as we're looking at a really long time period for him.

[Nutria]

We have 20 years to retirement (mid/late 40s), but we can technically put off taking money out of our retirement accounts until we're 75. And one of our ROTHS is only for our autistic son as he may not be able to earn a living and this account will be his for his life. This is one reason I want to be as aggressive as possible, as we're looking at a really long time period for him.

Well, aggressive also means volatile, and I'm certain that would also be Very Bad for your son. I'm trying for a Goldilocks approach, and "high dividend stocks" is the plan I'm taking.

[disneysteve]

Well, aggressive also means volatile, and I'm certain that would also be Very Bad for your son. I'm trying for a Goldilocks approach, and "high dividend stocks" is the plan I'm taking.

Somebody with a 20 or 30 or 40-year timeline can afford to ride out that volatility and benefit from that aggressive approach.

[creditcardfree]

We have 20 years to retirement (mid/late 40s), but we can technically put off taking money out of our retirement accounts until we're 75. And one of our ROTHS is only for our autistic son as he may not be able to earn a living and this account will be his for his life. This is one reason I want to be as aggressive as possible, as we're looking at a really long time period for him.

It might be a good idea, if you already haven't, to talk to a professional or an estate planner. Planning for the care of a loved one with special needs is unique. Part of that plan may be an annuity at some point, but definitely do your due diligence on those as they are higher in fees and the payout parameters vary. You may even need a trust.

[amarowsky]

Makes me sick that this is true... again. But if we walking into more regime change type conflicts, the U.S. Defense & Aerospace ETF’s will go gangbusters for a while. Especially w/ the extra 130$ billion those “politicians” approved to the President, above what the original budget was supposed to be.

I did a little digging on these. And these have basically been paying sound returns. Especially since the early 2000’s. I think the 5 year return is 18% for the Ishares version. (Assuming these aerospace & defense index funds are all fairly similar distributions).

In the article I skimmed they referred to (2) brands of ETF’s: “U.S. Aerospace & Defense Index ETFs;
SPDR = XAR & Ishares = ITA

Did a search for both of these and made a comparison chart. And they are out pacing the SP500 in the past 10 years, and by a significant margin.
<— Quick comparison on morning star (also attached)


I don’t know that I feel very comfortable regarding supporting these companies... Their products are designed to kill people. Thought I should share this, as it IS a fact that these defense companies are making boatloads of money for their stockholders.

**Edit - Re-read original post. Sorry I just realized you said No ETFs. You could follow the same principle with a mutual fund. Sorry for my carelessness before researching.

[amarowsky]

*worth mentioning.

90% of my assets are in typical index funds. Primarily 1) Total Stock Market & SP500 (bout 50/50 split). 2) International exposure Index 3) Bond market index.

Not sexy, but holy cow does it work well. With almost no maintenance either. *Thanks to all of you guys for getting me on the straight and Narrow back when I joined around 2008, hard to think I was only 20 back then! I’m an old man @ 32 now! (Will be ding’n 33 @ the end of this month).

Anywho, if you want the simplest plan. Just buy a total stock market index, like vanguard’s VTI. Even if you put every dime in there, I’d be you’d be in better growth shape than 90% of those who are normal people investing and not using the “passive index strategy”.

[Scallywag]

*worth mentioning.

90% of my assets are in typical index funds. Primarily 1) Total Stock Market & SP500 (bout 50/50 split). 2) International exposure Index 3) Bond market index.

Not sexy, but holy cow does it work well. With almost no maintenance either. *Thanks to all of you guys for getting me on the straight and Narrow back when I joined around 2008, hard to think I was only 20 back then! I’m an old man @ 32 now! (Will be ding’n 33 @ the end of this month).

Anywho, if you want the simplest plan. Just buy a total stock market index, like vanguard’s VTI. Even if you put every dime in there, I’d be you’d be in better growth shape than 90% of those who are normal people investing and not using the “passive index strategy”.

Congratulations! You were caught young!

Which index funds are you investing in (aside from the VTI)?

[amarowsky]

Congratulations! You were caught young!

Which index funds are you investing in (aside from the VTI)?

SP500 (SPY - ETF).
BND (Bond fund index)
VXUS (total international stock index)

I have some other accounts too that basically mirror those.

*For the 10-20% that is not “Practice what I preach” (that I know we all have). My favorite funds have been Calamos Close ended funds. They are pretty solid. I have had them for about a decade and they have consistently paid about 10-13% dividends on a monthly basis. They’re a bit risky, as they include some lower rated bonds. But they have been really helpful for increasing my cash flows in my taxable account. And what I tend to do with that extra cash flow (like $300 a month) and turn around and buy SPY w/ it. (Figured SPY is much less risky than close ended funds.... but that extra income is nice!).


***Yes, I would love everyone to know that I am bathed in gratitude for the wisdom, advice, friendliness, and general good conversation that has came from this forum. I have. Learned a lot from this gang, and don’t plan on throwing in the towel any time soon. (although people probably notice that I disappear from here for long periods of time, I always come crawling back).