You might prefer a small community bank
.floatimg-left-hort { float:left; } .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 12px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 12px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Dear Mr. Berko:
Here is a copy of my 401(k) at Bunn-O-Matic. It did well last year, and I would appreciate your help in selecting the best of the 11 mutual funds available in the plan for the next 10 years. The past four years, as you know, have been terrible. Please tell me which funds I should own and which funds I should sell. I called JPMorgan and asked if there were more funds to choose from, but the man said that this list is it, and that he could not help me pick funds. It’s all very confusing to me. Please help me.
My next question concerns a “Move Your Money” movement, which recommends that people take their deposits from the big New York banks and re-deposit in local community banks. What do you think about this? There are lots of small banks here. Would you recommend one of them?
L.E., Springfield, Ill.
Dear L.E.:
The “Move Your Money” movement is a loosely organized grass-roots groundswell that encourages depositors to move their banking accounts from the big banks like Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo to smaller community banks that dot the highways and byways of thousands of American cities. It sort of reminds me of the Frank Capra film “It’s a Wonderful Life,” starring Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. In this story, a community building and loan led by George Bailey rescues Bedford Falls from a near-fatal grip of the predatory and rapacious banker Henry Potter. Every community bank should give a copy of this movie to each of its depositors.
There are many well-capitalized hometown banks in Springfield where you will be welcomed like a good neighbor. Unlike mega-banks, community banks value your business, remember your name with a smile and will work with you if you overdraw your checking account or are late making a credit card or loan payment. And unlike the mega-banks that have all the warmth and compassion of a rattlesnake, a community bank wants you to know that its success depends on your success. You’re an important part of the Springfield community, not a microscopic molecule in a metropolis 2,000 miles away where auditors play Whack-a-Mole with your mortgages and checking accounts. Community banks will treat you like a friend; step on a crack and those mega-banks will be all over you like a combat proctologist. So by all means, move your accounts to a community bank.
That Bunn-O-Matic plan has some of the worst mutual fund choices I’ve seen in 43 years. For instance, how can the adviser justify the JPMorgan Equity Index Select Fund, which has a 10-year performance of minus 1.12 percent? And how can the adviser justify the JPMorgan Mid Cap Growth Select, with a 10-year performance of less than 2 percent, unless he is paid by JPMorgan Chase? The adviser who recommended this portfolio of botched casualties is an articulate incompetent whose Slinky has kinked.
I’m sorry, but given the choice of investments in your plan, I can’t help you. All of the 11 funds in that plan had a good 2009. Big deal. You’ve got to be industrial-strength dumb to ascribe that short-term record to future performance. Heck, my two cats, Albert and Einstein, can do a better job of picking funds than the silver tongues at JPMorgan Chase. Meanwhile, there should be more than 11 funds from which to choose. Call your human resources department and ask them to inquire on your behalf.
I called JPMorgan Chase, but no one would give me any information. I called your human resources department and got the same answer. So it’s incumbent on you to row the boat from here, and you had better pull hard on those oars.
Please address your financial questions to Malcolm Berko, P.O. Box 8303, Largo, Fla. 33775 or e-mail him at mjberko@yahoo.com. © 2010 Creators.Com
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