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15 Years of Funds and Investors Continued From Page 3

Two Fidelity funds are next on the list. Fidelity wasn’t as extreme as Janus, but it does have a lot of growth funds that tend to win the rallies and lose the cor- rections. Fidelity Select Technology FSPTX and Fidelity Growth Discovery FDSVX have respect- able total returns, yet they didn’t make investors any money. Growth Discovery’s path hasn’t really been exceptional, but it did switch to a growth strategy from a core strategy when Jason Weiner returned for a second run in 2007 . That came following a poor stretch as a large-blend fund under Adam Hetnarski. Weiner had a good 2007 only to have dismal 2008 and 2009 . Thus, too many investors had given up before the fund’s strong 2009 and 2010 . For Fidelity Select Technology, returns and managers have both been too volatile for most investors. The fund had eight managers over the past 15 years. Nearly all of its returns in the past 10 years have come in 2003 and 2009 , so it required either great patience or great timing. Conclusion As you can see, getting good results for investors requires effort from investors and fund companies alike. Fund companies need to provide stability in management and process and close funds in a timely manner. Investors need to understand a fund’s risks, set expectations appropriately, and lean toward more- conservative funds when in doubt. If an asset class has had a great run, consider trimming or at least re- balancing to where you were before. Patience is one of the greatest virtues in investing. œ

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