Saving log - $1 tip box
Spending log - $8 lunch

So in the last episode of 403B doings, I wrote out the basic rules of my 403 - when money gets put in, match mechanism, and what funds I can choose from.

Now comes the research. There are several reasonable places that I like to look at:

Morningstar
Value Line

And for a little bit of fun, useful for the larger stocks and funds -
Map of the Market (Stocks)
Map of the Market (Mutual Funds)

For all of these tools, I type in the ticker, and collect as much info as I can. I especially like the Data Interpreter tab in Morningstar, which talks about a fund in relatively plain English. I also pay a visit to the Top 25 holdings, because that is very instructive. Often you will find that large cap (capitalization) funds have similar blends of companies, so then you want to decide on other criteria - lower fees, or a higher fund rating...if you believe in ratings.

Right now, during my fact finding mission, I construct a note narrative...tell a story so I can tell the difference between my funds. And that can sometimes be depressing.

GCMAX - mid cap, above 1% fees, mostly utilities, gas, and chemicals
GSGOX - gov bond, 1% fees, 50% of the fund short bond positions
MASRX - S&P 500 Index, .35% fees, 3 star, many dividend stocks w/decent yield
MDBAX - value, .8% fees, similar to MASRX, P/Es lower
MDHQX - bond fund, .91% fees, top 2 holdings are long euros at 2010, short euros at 2009 (kiddies, long and short pairs like this are known as a hedge)
MDLOX - international, 4 star, 1.18% fees, multi-national, large position in US bonds
MDLRX - large cap core, 1.17% fees, 2 star, similar to MASRX, P/Es higher
MRAXX - cash, yield 2.21%, fees .65%, so really 1.55%
OPMSX - small cap, above 1% fees, 2 star, lots of little companies in energy consumer. Big Lots at top.
RGACX - growth, .93% fees, 5 star, google near the top along w/other software
RIDCX - income, .93% fees, 4 star, seems like a good pair w/RGACX more value-y
SPEGX - social choice, 2.93% fees, 4 star, but BP, Walmart, and Coke in a social choice fund???!!!
THVRX - international, 1.7% fees, similar to MDLOX