Posts Tagged mutual fund
Forget Stocks. This Year, Bonds Have Had More Fun
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Fund Markets on Сентябрь 14th, 2010
It’s no secret U.S. stock investors have suffered through roller-coaster volatility this year for no real return, while fixed-income investors have been having a ball. The longest-dated Treasury mutual funds have returned nearly 20%. Equities, meanwhile, have done zilch.
Even short-term Treasury debt has been a better bet than anything benchmarked to the three major market averages — and the yields on 3- and 6-month T-bills are negative.
Take the S&P 500 ($INX) as the benchmark for the U.S. stock market. It has generated a return this year of negative 0.07%, according to Morningstar. (That’s price performance plus dividends though Sept. 8.)
Now have a look at the Barclays U.S. Aggregate Float Adjusted bond index, a broad benchmark for U.S. bond market performance. It has generated a total return of 7.42%. That’s been great news for investors in the retail-friendly Vanguard Total Bond Market Index (VBMFX) which tracks the index: It has returned a healthy 7.28% so far.
No wonder more than $30 billion flew out of U.S. equity mutual funds from January to July, according to the Investment Company Institute — and more than $185 billion gushed into bond funds. Bond prices have gone bonkers. Read the rest of this entry »
How To Rob An Individual Investor
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Investing on Июнь 29th, 2010
THE RICH HAVE BEEN DOING IT TO THE POOR SINCE THE BEGINNING OF TIME.
Fortunately for us, it’s a heck of a lot more blatant (and therefore easier to spot) on Wall Street than it is in many places.
Some call it a «hustle». Others call it a «con job». Whatever your pet name for it is, one thing is certain: if you don’t see it coming, you’ll likely wind up much poorer as a result and very, very sorry you ever ran into it.
On Wall Street, as opposed to Main Street, the con takes a couple of different shapes. One is the famous and well discussed «bucket-shop hustle».
Now, many people automatically think of small, dingy firms – akin to a boiler room – when they hear the name «bucket-shop». But those firms are responsible for a small fraction of the damage done to individual investors. To this very day, the most harmful «bucket-shop» practices are engaged in by many of the largest brokerage firms in the world.
It goes a little something like this: you get a call from a well-intentioned broker who has the «deal of a lifetime» for you. After getting you all worked up into a lather, you’re convinced that it’s something you should purchase. What you don’t know is that the broker who just convinced you to buy shares of XYZ was secretly selling them for one of the firm’s largest customers. Before you know it, you’re left holding shares of a stock or bond that have decreased in value by as much as 90%. Read the rest of this entry »
Mutual Funds: 10 questions to test your IQ
Posted by Oksana Grebenjuk in Favourites, Fund Markets, Investing on Май 14th, 2010
Mutual funds are a cornerstone of retirement planning. Yet they’re widely misunderstood and investing ignorance can really cost you. Do you know the difference between an expense ratio and a turnover ratio? What about an open-end fund versus a closed-end? Try this quiz, and check out the answers at bottom:
1. What percentage of households own mutual funds?
(a) 10 percent; (b) 27 percent; (c) 43 percent
2. When was the key law governing mutual fund operations adopted?
(a) 1929; (b) 1933; (c) 1934; (d) 1940
3. How many mutual funds are there in the U.S.?
(a) Nearly 1,000; (b) Nearly 4,000; (c) Nearly 8,000 Read the rest of this entry »
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