Mutual Fund Investors Hit Hard

Spokane, WASo, you've spent the past few months watching your mutual funds decline in value, wondering what you should do next. You counted on your funds to get you through the tough times, or at least to get you through retirement, and the sudden mutual fund losses have hit you hard. On top of that, your other investments are dropping (if you have other investments) and everyone is in a panic over what to do about the situation.

It is important to remember that this is not your fault and there is nothing you could have done about this. You likely relied on the advice of your financial advisor, or believed mutual fund managers when they smiled and told you that everything with the fund was fine. And why shouldn't you? After all, they are the experts, not you. That's why they are making the big bucks off advising your financial decisions.

You are also not alone. Many people face important decisions ahead over what to do about their investments, including their mutual funds. They are asking whether they should leave the money alone or pull it out and try to invest in something better, try to salvage what they have.

The year ahead, does not look particularly good, with The New York Times noting that Morgan Stanley suffered a $2.63 billion quarterly loss. In fact, revenue in nearly every business fell during the forth quarter, showing just how bad things have become. Morgan Stanley's asset management, which includes mutual funds, dropped to negative $386 million in the forth quarter from a positive $647 million in the third quarter. That's quite a drop for a very short period, and customers even pulled out $76.5 billion of assets, further hampering the firm.

If you are like many people, your mutual fund may have been your only retirement investment. You cannot rely on other investments to turn around quickly and make back some of what you lost. Unfortunately, you may also be looking at cashing in your investment to help meet costs, which puts you in a huge bind. It means, of course, that you don't have time to make back what you've lost—and that can have a huge impact on your retirement. The amount you lost may seem small to people who invest millions of dollars, but it's more than you can afford to lose.

It is important to determine whether your money was lost because of unforeseeable forces or whether your money was lost because of poor managing on the part of the mutual fund managers. If mutual fund managers made decisions that were not in the best interests of their investors, instead choosing to help themselves or their company, then you may be eligible to file a FINRA complaint. After all, it is their duty to act in your best interests. Without investors, there wouldn't be a fund to sell.

Furthermore, if fund managers lied about the fund, telling you there was nothing to worry about or that the fund was still safe, which caused you to leave your money in when you should have pulled it, you may be eligible to file a complaint. Managers have a duty to be upfront and honest about the status of the funds they manage. If they breach that duty, then you may be able to recover some or all of your lost money.