As an investor you will want to check\rout any equity before you buy it. Many investors\rgo to Morningstar which is one of the largest\rproviders of mutual fund information in the world.\rIt is assumed that their information is correct.\rAfter all that is what you are paying for.

Recently the SEC (Securities and\rExchange Commission) called them on the carpet for\rnot correcting an error within a reasonable time\r(whatever that is according to the SEC). Everyone\rmakes errors and this was no big deal.

It seems that when you went to their\rsite and drew up a chart or asked for statistics\ron Rock Canyon Top Flight mutual fund it failed to\rnotify the potential buyer that the fund had\rissued a very large dividend of approximately 25%\rand the NAV (Net Asset Value) dropped from $15 to\r$11 to reflect the $4.00 dividend.

When you ask for a chart of this fund\ron MarketWatch, Yahoo, TheStreet or Bloomberg they\ronly post the NAV and do not make any adjustment\rfor the dividend or capital gains distributions.\rLooking at the chart it appears the fund fell out\rof bed. Because I look at so many charts I knew\rimmediately that this was a distribution and not\rsome calamity. It is best to call the fund to\rverify this.

Most funds that make dividend and capital gains\rdistributions usually do so in December, some in\rNovember and very few at other times during the\ryear.

Some nitpicker called the SEC and made\ra complaint about Morningstar. Not that I am a big\rfan of them (in fact I think their reports are\rworthless) they get their price information from\rother sources such as the above. If you are not\rfamiliar with the requirement of mutual funds to\rdisburse their profit before year end you might be\rfooled when you see the price suddenly drop.

This is important for potential\rinvestors. I caution everyone to get a chart on\rthe Internet of at least a one year performance of\rany mutual fund before buying. It is better to go\rback to year 2000 to see if the fund manager was\rable to keep from losing money during the last 4\ryears. Almost none of them could so they bamboozle\rabout how they did better than the S&P500 Index\rwhich had a huge loss of 50% and remains down 25%\rfrom those highs at this time. Don¡¯t fall for that\rone.

Once again I caution that any purchase\rshould have an exit plan. One of the basic rules\rof investing is never to lose a lot if you are\rwrong. Small losses will not ruin your portfolio,\rbut big losses can ruin your retirement. Set your\rloss limit (5%, 10% or ?) and stick with it.

Charts can help you with\rbuying/selling decisions, but check out their\raccuracy as charting is not an exact science.

Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" \rhas helped thousands of people make money\rand keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. \rRead the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com \rand discover why he's the man that Wall Street does\rnot want you to know.