Disadvantages of Mutual Funds?

I recently wrote a piece listing the advantages of mutual funds. Since I have personally invested in and recommended other investment vehicles, I thought it would only make sense to make a list of the disadvantages of mutual funds compared to other investment vehicles (ETFs, closed-end funds, stocks, etc.).

It's true. There are disadvantages of mutual funds. I agree with many investors, media folks, financial advisors, and competing product pushers who say there are disadvantages of investing in mutual funds. So I put my thoughts about the cons of funds on paper, but quickly became frustrated.

I had trouble finding a disadvantage of mutual funds that applied to every mutual fund. Of course, high fees are a disadvantage. The answer was to buy one of the thousands of mutual funds with low fees. High fees are not a disadvantage of mutual funds. Sales charges imposed by mutual funds are a disadvantage. The answer is to buy one of the thousands of no-load mutual funds. I can't say that sales charges are a disadvantage of all mutual funds. I can go on and on.

In some cases there were certain issues that seemed like disadvantages. But those seemingly disadvantageous issues didn't apply in all cases. At the very least, they didn't apply to all investors.

If you have a chance, take a look at my article regarding the disadvantages of mutual funds. What do you think are the real disadvantages of mutual funds? List a comment below this blog post. I would enjoy a healthy debate. If we come up with a few true disadvantages of mutual funds, I'll write a follow up article entitled: "Those No-Good, Awful Mutual Funds" (or something like that).