Dear Dagen: What That Letter to Shareholders Is Really Saying

Editor's note: Did you put your 1998 tax return on extension again back in August? Many traders did. Before you file, chat with TSC tax reporter Tracy Byrnes and trader tax specialist Ted Tesser, author of The Trader's Tax Survival Guide, Sept. 21 at 5 p.m. ET on Yahoo! Log into chat.yahoo.com.

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Every quarter, mutual fund companies send out scores of letters explaining their funds' performance during the past three months.

When times are good, you can usually figure out what the fund managers are trying to say. ...