Ken Kam's Best Ideas Blog

A good track record does not guarantee future results. After all, even skilled investors do not make money all the time and in every market. But, does it ever make sense to follow the advice from someone with no track record, or worse, a bad track record?

If you are evaluating someone to assist you with your investments it still makes sense to look for someone with a superior long-term track record. In our view, it takes at least a 5 year track record before you can begin to judge an investor’s skill.

It is surprising how few people in the investment industry can show you a 5 year track record. Only about 16% of mutual funds have had the same manager for 5 or more years (Source: Morningstar). When a mutual fund changes managers, the fund’s long-term track record no longer reflects the skill of the current manager. If you don’t know the current manager’s track record, it’s impossible to say whether the next Warren Buffett is managing your money, or someone who is unproven.

We started Marketocracy to let managers, analysts, and everyone else establish their own track record so we could identify the skilled investors we all want to have managing our money. We do this through a website that enables anyone to manage a model portfolio that is priced each day as if it were a mutual fund. The big difference? The manager that started the fund’s track record is the same one managing it today.

Since we started, more than 100,000 people have set up a model portfolio. There are now over 30,000 whose track records are more than 5 years old. The cream of the crop, are designated mFOLIO masters.

Our affilated registered investment adviser uses this unique pool of investing talent to manage money for clients.

For information about advisory services go to http://advisor.marketocracy.com or call us at 650 472-2274.

For information about a no-load mutual fund go to http://www.masters100fund.com or call 888 884-8482.