Welcome to the Family Mutual Funds
25 and done! *
The family mutual funds were started with a Christmas gift in 1992. Each of four family members received $250 and a gift of an additional $50.00/mo. The catch? The mother, father, and two daughters (then 12 (E) and 14 (K)) had to select the initial mutual fund and to direct the investment of all future monies received (increased to $75/mo and later $100/mo). At the same time, a matching savings account was opened and received identical funding. Performance of the four portfolios and the savings account has been tracked monthly.
For 25 years, each of us directed his or her investments. On May 17, 2002, the value of the mutual funds and the savings account topped $100,000 for the first time. On October 1, 2004, the value of the mutual funds alone first exceeded $100,000. On March 17, 2006, the value of the mutual funds and the savings account exceeded $150,000 for the first time. On May 4, 2007, the value of the mutual funds alone first exceeded $150,000. In October, 2008, the value of the mutual funds dropped dramatically, calling into question the purpose of the family mutual funds.
Effective with a divorce in August, 2010, the funds owned by "Dad" and "Mom" were liquidated and the savings account was reduced to zero. From that time, cash placeholders increasing $100 a month and earning no interest were substituted until contributions stopped. On April 1, 2011, the value of the mutual funds and the savings account topped $200,000 for the first time. Contributions ended effective August 31, 2014, with total contributions equaling $25,000 per family member and for the savings account. Valuations continued to be calculated and posted monthly until the expiration of the 25th year.
Who is the best investor? Click on the links below.
Present monthly investment policy (updated 2013)
Contributions by year (1993 -- 2014)
Rules (including 2004 changes)
Past values (1/93 to 12/31/17)
Bonus results (year 2000 only)
Investing history by family member (not current):
M's funds (Mom)
K's funds (oldest)
E's funds (youngest)
D's funds (Dad)
Current Values of FMF2 (is dollar cost averaging working?)
* End note written 12/31/17: Values shown on this site are accurate and were checked at the mutual fund companies involved. Interest earned on cash holdings was added through the divorce in 2010. Thereafter, no interest was added in any account consisting of cash. For many of the ultra low interest rate years, this was not a material omission. Beginning in 2017, some values are skewed from the omission of interest earned.
For the past decade, records have been kept and the website maintained using a 17" MacBook Pro with 2 GB of memory. The software is Dreamweaver CS4. I am grateful for the dependable hardware (Apple no longer makes such quality products) and software. I thank my daughters for allowing me to track these investments for twenty five years in their personal accounts.
There are financial details not apparent from the data presented. For example, all of one daughter's fmf holdings are inside a Roth IRA (where they should be). The other daughter has more substantial assets of which her fmf holdings are a small part; her Roth IRA contributions came from non-fmf assets.
Did the four of us learn the basics of investing from this twenty five year exercise? Ask each of us. My answer is yes.
Email is familymutualfunds@hotmail.com. Thanks for visiting. This website will receive no future updates.
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