Convenient math and cherry picking at American Funds

[Bumperpuff]

I saw this add pop up on facebook and thought I'd share: 

https://www.americanfunds.com/individual/insights/investment-insights/five-american-funds-that-beat-the-first-index-funds-lifetime-results.html?k_clickid=502b23e4-add9-4f38-8e90-a7794f4777cc&cid=ps_ggl_73041



So, if i'm reading this correctly, their cherry picked funds have under-performed VFINX over the past ten years once you account for the front load and fees. I'm not sure how this is helping their cause.

[jinga nation]

That's an ad for VFINX. ER=0.16 and 3% turnover.
Unless the suckers be looking at 1 year returns only, before front-load fees and commissions.

[secondcor521]

From the ad:  "†The Vanguard 500 Index Fund has no up-front sales charge"

Yeah.  And no back end sales charge.  And no annual sales charge.  And better tax efficiency.

Oh, and once you have over $10K (which shouldn't take that long for an average Mustachian to accumulate), Vanguard will *automatically* convert those shares tax-free and sales-charge-free to VFIAX.  With an ER of 0.04%.

[Travis]

American Funds likes to selectively advertise funds that had one good year and imply their entire portfolio does just as well (not mentioning ER and front-loaded fees of course). I'm sure other companies do the same, but I seem to see more of their advertising than other companies.