STAYING POWER The grass is always greener in the other mutual fund, and investors are jumping funds 47% faster than they did four years ago. The average holding period is down from 5.5 years to 2.9. In the '90s, performance chasers poured $91 billion into funds after they peaked. Result: bad. Leapfroggers paid a 20% penalty in performance, says a recent study.
Cumulative returns in the '90s
1 year 2 year 3 year Average fund 11.7% 23.2% 36.5% Average investor 6.7% 14.7% 28.4%
Source: Financial Research Corp., based on 10 years' data
ARRIVAL TIME IS MONEY Amid last year's record flight...