DEAR DAVE: Where can I find mutual funds with a 12 percent rate of return?
—Jason
DEAR JASON: There aren’t a lot of them, but they are out there. Currently, there are about 8,000 different mutual funds floating around. You have to get online and do some serious research, or talk with an investing professional with the heart of a teacher, but I own several mutual funds that have an average annual return in excess of 12 percent over the lifetime of the fund.
Now, do they make that every single year? Of course not. The figure I’m talking about is an average. I own one in particular that has done that for about 70 years. But the stock market in general has averaged just under 12 percent a year since its inception. So yes, with solid research and due diligence on the part of the investor, it is possible to get that as an average annual rate of return.
—Dave
