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Hi Mary and welcome. I'm of the opinion that like any tool in the box the VIX might have a use but I wouldn't use it to make any decisions on an average broad based mutual fund. The linked article below suggests that even those ETF's and ETN's designed to play with the VIX have quite a bit of trouble with that critter. Of course YMMV.
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http://blogs.barrons.com/focusonfunds/2014/06/17/no-your-etf-doesnt-track-the-vix-volatility-index-and-here-are-the-numbers/