Review of the JPMorgan SmartRetirement® Income Fund

The JPMorgan SmartRetirement Income Fund is a retirement fund that goes after your current income and usually some capital as well. This is a fund that invests in other JPMorgan funds as well, typically underlying funds, It has been called “the fund of funds” for this reason. It is intended for investors that are already retired or who will be retiring soon.

This funds performance has returned -1.24% over the past year. This fund is one of JPMorgans that is not listed in the top 10 for holdings. It was originally designed to give the investor a variety of asset classes with investments in the previously mentioned underlying funds, focusing on funds with a fixed income over equity.

Although the fees for this fund are below average when seen nest to funds in the same category, the risk is above average in the same sense. It has an expense ratio of 0.27%. When broken up, you can clearly see the risk percentage. The majority of invests in 35.31% of stocks and 50.11% in bonds while cash is at a 13.99%. Much more risk than other investments such as a savings account.

Sales fees

The initial sales fees for this fund are 4.5%, generally paid to the brokers as commission, and deferred fees are charged when the investor redeems a share. The Net Expense Ratio reported annually is at an alarming 0.27% and Prospectus Net Expense Ratio rises some, at just 0.76%.

Cost Projections

The Total Cost Projections were last updated in January of this year. These figures, typically found in a funds prospectus, show how much an investor would pay in expenses, sales charges and fees based on a $10,000 investment that only grows by 5% a year with the redemption period being at the end of every year. The lowest amount allowed to open or invest is $50 for the Additional IRA while the Initial IRA is $500, as well as the Initial AIP.

Volatility

Volatility measures, last reviewed in December, 2015, reflects the risk of change in the security’s value. The Bear Market Decile Rank is a whopping 93% and the Standard Deviation is 4.77%. At the lowest risk are the Mean and Sharpe Ratios at 0.31% and 0.78%.

Portfolio Theory

The Modern Portfolio Theory Statistics, also last reviewed in December, 2015, are calculated from comparing the funds excess and benchmarks excess returns, based on three years of monthly returns. The Beta risk at standard index sits at 0.7 while the Beta Best Fit Index is at 0.85, an alarming difference. Also alarming is the R-Squared Standard Index, which is at 91.78, while the R-Squared Best Fit Index sits at a slightly higher 94.77. While The Alpha Standard Index and Alpha Best Fit Indexes are close at being only 0.01 apart.

Measuring the returns

Measuring the returns of companies in the energy industry, plus metal and mineral extraction industries is The Euromoney Global Gold, Mining & Energy Index. Which has equal weightings across gold, mining and energy at each realigning of the weightings and covers both emerging and developed markets. While the performance of the index doesn’t reflect the deduction of expenses associated with a fund, like an investment management fees.

According to The Street.com, “prices of Gold and silver are at record high and these days physically backed traded funds are very tempting investments. There are total five physically backed ETFs traded here in the US. The biggest being SPDR Gold Shares and the cheapest being iShares Comex Gold Trust. For one share of gold ETFs you only actually own 1/10 of an ounce and for silver its one ounce.

Which seems to be one of the biggest losses to an investor. Although prices for gold and silver are high at the moment, investing in Gold & silver in funds like these isn’t a good idea. Which investors aren’t openly realizing as of yet. JPMorgan Chase had to pay $367 million for secretly steering clients to investments that benefited the bank. Ultimately, these types of funds and investments aren’t a good choice unless you literally like to throw away your money.

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