Reading mutual fund quotes and benchmarks

Information moves at a fevered pitch. Wherever you go, youre connected. The Internet, cable TV and cell phones can all tell you what fund is down and how well its doing for the year. Youre besieged with information 24 hours a day.

And youve probably seen the mutual fund section of the newspaper. It may be filled with important information on how your funds are doing. Heres help on how to read it.

What does a quote tell you?

Simply look for the section in your local newspapers business or financial pages to track the progress of your mutual funds. Although your newspapers table may vary slightly, it will look something like this.

(Prices for Class R shares and unit classes arent available in newspapers. Please refer to your total account value online or in your statement.)

Click on the boxes to see an explanation about that specific item.

What doesnt a quote tell you?

A mutual fund quote on its own doesnt give you enough information about the value of your account. Since all of your retirement funds earnings get reinvested in a retirement plan, they go toward buying additional shares of the fund. So, you may own more shares today than when you first invested in the fund. The number of shares you own is another important piece of information you need in order to value your account. Check your statement to see the full picture. If you know the current number of shares you own, multiply it by the NAV quote in the paper to calculate the full value of your holdings.

Measure your results

How do your funds stack up against the rest? One of the best ways to know is to compare the funds results with those of its benchmarks. The idea behind benchmarks is to see how your mutual fund compares with an index, one that most closely resembles the holdings of your fund. You can also get benchmark information from your papers business section by looking under Lipper Indexes. Lipper is a company that supplies mutual fund information and analysis. Youll need to know what categories your funds fall into. Check your funds annual and semi-annual reports to shareholders if youre not sure.

Click on the boxes to see an explanation about that specific item.

Another way to measure your fund results is to see how a funds returns compare with one of the major market indexes. Some of these indexes are listed below.

The oldest and most frequently cited index, it tracks the movement of 30 blue chip stocks, primarily industrials. When you think of the Dow, think of big companies: IBM, Coca-Cola and General Motors, to name a few.

It tracks 500 blue chip stocks, primarily of U.S.-based companies. Its widely considered the benchmark for tracking the results of the stock market.