American Century

There is much talk these days of which person should be considered the No. 1 force of the 20th century. For my money, the American is the person of the century -- male or female, whatever color, whatever religion, whatever class. The American. One might think differently if one happened to have the misfortune of being the kind of European who discovered that no amount of education or refinement protects a society from the use of technology to kill on a scale beyond nightmares. First, World War I put something on those kinds of Europeans.

The outcome of November's presidential election will affect the entire world. Yet until the attack on our consulate in Libya, issues of foreign policy and globalization were nearly absent from the political discourse. There was talk at both parties' political conventions about American exceptionalism and the nation's exalted place in the world, but little was said about the need for common action with other nations to secure our imperiled common planet. Even former President Bill Clinton stuck to the domestic agenda at his party's Charlotte, N.C., convention.

We will reduce your Merlin income tax $10 on condition that you wager $20. Otherwise, all bets are off.Now Jesse Helms imagines he's in charge of the U.N. budget. What won't he think up next?Don't look now but the Nikkei 225-stock average is falling through the floor. The Japanese Century has gone the way of the American Century.America Online is too much offline.Pub Date: 1/27/97

Mutual funds aren't horses. You don't pick them by name, color or by the celebrity who is involved in the ownership group. Yet two recent stories making headlines in the fund business make it clear that irrelevant details distract some people. The two stories have a common moral, a lesson that amounts to: "Keep your eye on the ball." To see why that is, let's go behind the headlines and determine how the news translates to the bottom line for an investor. The first news story involves the world's top cyclist, seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, teaming with American Century Investments to create the LiveStrong funds.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- American Century Investments has a new mutual fund that penalizes investors who think short-term.The company's Twentieth Century New Opportunities Fund, which opened Jan. 1, will charge fees of 2 percent, or $20 per $1,000, to any investor who pulls money within five years of buying shares.Christopher Doyle, a spokesman for American Century, said the redemption fee "emphasizes our position that investors should have at least a five-year time horizon."The fund requires a minimum initial investment of $10,000, far above average for U.S. stock funds, and limits investors to $500,000.

WITH NEW accounting scandals arising almost every day, it's easy to be a bit paranoid about investing. But mix fear with a less-than-complete understanding of how mutual funds work and you have a recipe for disaster. As an illustration, listen to the tale of James M. of Sacramento, Calif., a reader who sent me a letter stating that he was wronged by a fund company but who, on closer examination, perpetrated a crime unto himself by mismanaging an investment. It's a cautionary tale at a time when it seems as if the entire investing community is out to get the individual investor.

SHAREHOLDERS in the American Century Global Natural Resources fund are getting what they wished for. They might not want it. American Century had asked shareholders to liquidate the fund. Global Natural Resources isn't a great fit in the company's lineup, and its assets of $35 million are too small to make it profitable. Says company spokeswoman Deborah Larson, "We kind of believed investors had voted with their feet on this fund. The biggest it ever got to was about $50 million, and we felt it had never really grown into being a successful fund."

Be a 4Kids DetectiveWhen you know the answers to these questions, go to http://www.4Kids.org/detectives/1. Name Rockwell's 1921 painting at the Whitney.2. When was "The First Circus" animated? ( Go to http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ ammem/oahtml/oahome.html to find out.)3. How many species of seabirds live at Monterey Bay?THE AMERICAN CENTURYGet the big picture of 20th-century America. The Whitney Art Museum and Intel created The American Century Web site at http://whitney.artmuseum.net This site throws an interactive curveball into American history by showing how big events, trends and art grew together throughout the century.

Mutual funds aren't horses. You don't pick them by name, color or by the celebrity who is involved in the ownership group. Yet two recent stories making headlines in the fund business make it clear that irrelevant details distract some people. The two stories have a common moral, a lesson that amounts to: "Keep your eye on the ball." To see why that is, let's go behind the headlines and determine how the news translates to the bottom line for an investor. The first news story involves the world's top cyclist, seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, teaming with American Century Investments to create the LiveStrong funds.

Nearly a decade ago, Kit Blue wanted to help her grandchildren save for college, so she went hunting for a mutual fund that would teach the kids a lesson about the power of investing. Instead, the fund taught her - and thousands of people like her - a costly lesson. And now, for the first time, she has a chance to get out of this difficult classroom to go searching for something better. Blue, of Metairie, La., was like many fund investors in the early 1990s, wowed by the performance of American Century Giftrust.

Nearly a decade ago, Kit Blue wanted to help her grandchildren save for college, so she went hunting for a mutual fund that would teach the kids a lesson about the power of investing. Instead, the fund taught her - and thousands of people like her - a costly lesson. And now, for the first time, she has a chance to get out of this difficult classroom to go searching for something better. Blue, of Metairie, La., was like many fund investors in the early 1990s, wowed by the performance of American Century Giftrust.

WASHINGTON - Often, the view is clearest from a distance. A few years back, British author Harold Evans wrote a book calling the last 100 years The American Century. He was mostly correct. The United States did indeed dominate the 20th century - but it wasn't the American century, it was an American century. The next 100 years can belong to us also, although we can share them with the rest of the world, as we help make this, in President Bush's phrase, "liberty's century." Tuesday's vote confirmed that a clear majority of Americans want the president to lead us into that era. And there's plenty of work to do. Overseas, our troops are busy fighting terrorists - on their turf, not ours.

MUTUAL FUND firms may keep investors in the dark about their inner workings, but when it comes to educating consumers on how to operate an investment portfolio, they are quick to offer information. When I asked fund companies for their top handouts, more than 30 firms sent more than 300 pieces. The moral of this adventure is that it's worth contacting your fund company for educational materials. The return on that phone call will be sound guidance from a name you trust. In searching for the best educational printouts the fund world has to offer, it was easy to find goodies explaining everything from basic investing to complicated asset allocation.

SHAREHOLDERS in the American Century Global Natural Resources fund are getting what they wished for. They might not want it. American Century had asked shareholders to liquidate the fund. Global Natural Resources isn't a great fit in the company's lineup, and its assets of $35 million are too small to make it profitable. Says company spokeswoman Deborah Larson, "We kind of believed investors had voted with their feet on this fund. The biggest it ever got to was about $50 million, and we felt it had never really grown into being a successful fund."

WITH NEW accounting scandals arising almost every day, it's easy to be a bit paranoid about investing. But mix fear with a less-than-complete understanding of how mutual funds work and you have a recipe for disaster. As an illustration, listen to the tale of James M. of Sacramento, Calif., a reader who sent me a letter stating that he was wronged by a fund company but who, on closer examination, perpetrated a crime unto himself by mismanaging an investment. It's a cautionary tale at a time when it seems as if the entire investing community is out to get the individual investor.

IT'S ALWAYS a pleasant little shock to discover that your favorite dead celebrity isn't dead. One of the darker aspects of our popular culture is a star's peculiar ability to die in the public mind long before her flesh gives out. Movie stars from the golden age of Hollywood talkies have it particularly tough, endlessly offered up on cable, diminished, diminutive, flitting across our TV screens like gorgeous moths. Archaic dialogue and bizarre clothing swirl around them like embalming fluid.

INVESTORS IN THE American Century Giftrust know about pain and suffering. They agonized in 1996 when the fund returned 5.78 percent while the broader market shot up 20 percent. They grumbled a year later when the Giftrust lost money, and the market rose still higher. They protested the next year when the fund fell more than 13 percent and the market soared. Letters poured into the company, and some were "nasty," recalls Christopher Doyle, a spokesman for American Century Investments, a Kansas City-based mutual fund company.

"My American Century," by Studs Terkel. The New Press. 544 pages. $25. He is a legend, and the custodian of American democracy. In eight oral histories, whose themes range from the Great Depression and World War II to racism and aging, Studs Terkel has probed the national psyche. "My American Century," a "quasi-anthology," offers a sampling of these extraordinary books, and it is a rare treat and a privilege to have it.Terkel arrives armed. "Objectivity has escaped me," he says, tongue in cheek.

The Columbia Orchestra and its conductor, Jason Love, have designated their concerts of 2000-2001 as "An American Century Season." True to that spirit, the orchestra will open its 23rd year of concertizing Saturday evening with a program of works by Aaron Copland, the most quintessentially American composer of them all. Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man," "Lincoln Portrait" and Suite from "Our Town" will be performed at the 8 p.m. concert in Jim...

The music of 20th-century America will figure prominently in the Columbia Orchestra's 2000- 2001 concert season. Conductor Jason Love has organized the orchestra's musical offerings around a succession of compositions that reveal the country's artistic personality in all its multifaceted splendor. The arresting brass and percussion figures in Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" will open the season Oct. 21 at Jim Rouse Theatre for the Performing Arts, 5460 Trumpeter Road. That evening's concert will also include the stirring, reverent "Lincoln Portrait," in which the composer's uniquely evocative harmonies accompany the spoken words of the nation's 16th president.