A Strategy for Picking ETFs
Since the first ETF was launched in 1993, assets under management have increased to $830 billion as of April 30, 2010. Over the last 10 years the compound annual rate of growth in ETF assets has exceeded 30%. The remarkable success of ETFs is grounded in their many advantages over actively managed open-end... Read the full story
Emerging Market Stocks Up Over 110%
Emerging market stocks are up over 110% since hitting lows in March of last year. Net flows into foreign stock funds, much of it into emerging market funds, have been positive for 11 months in a row while U.S. stock funds have seen outflows in six of the last seven months. Those investors liquidating... Read the full story
Here’s the $64,000 Question
The current bull market in stocks is now 12 months old. The S&P 500 has risen 74% since the March 2009 lows. After a mini-correction to start 2010, investors have aggressively bid up shares, driving the S&P 500 up 11% over the last two months to a new 52-week high. Many institutional investors... Read the full story
Mutual Fund Cash
Cash levels as a percentage of total assets in stock mutual funds is bordering on an all-time low. When was that low hit? It was July 2007 – three months prior to the last bull market high. The dry powder in stock mutual funds that helped fuel a 72% rise in the S&P 500 from the March 2009 lows... Read the full story
The Real POP in Investment Returns
Putnam Investments’ full-page colored advertisement in this week’s WSJ was hard to miss—the Putnam marketing team made sure of that. In the ad, they tout their suite of Absolute Return Funds, which seek to do well in any type of market environment, up or down. As is often the case, and certainly... Read the full story
Pop Quiz
You’re right if you guessed that the largest stock fund is an exchange-traded fund (ETF), a fact I always find somewhat surprising when studying the list of the largest stock funds in The WSJ’s monthly fund report. The one at the top of the list is the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), with $91.11 billion... Read the full story
Investment of the Decade
Trust has been kicked to the curb by Washington and Wall Street. Not a smart move, as the former prepares for mid-term elections and the latter feels the effects of investors voting with their feet. Many clients and brokers have fled the big Wall Street firms for independent advisors. Washington and... Read the full story
Class A American Fund Nightmare
My mother is always finding things because she pays attention. And she’s passing that skill along to my kids. After a recent walk, they came back cheering about finding $2. It may as well have been $2,000. You too may be a person who knows how it pays to pay attention, and if so, you’ve probably... Read the full story
Top 10 Mistakes #3
October 23, 2009 Number three on my list of the top 10 mistakes that investors make is performance chasing. The quickest way to make a million investing in mutual funds is to invest two million in yesterday’s winners. No matter how often investors are warned not to select funds on the basis of past... Read the full story
Top 10 Mistakes #4
October 16, 2009 Mistake #4 on my list of the top 10 mistakes investors make is ignoring cost. Cost is a vital determinant of investment performance. Reams of academic and professional research show that no-load funds with low expense ratios and no 12b-1 fees consistently outperform their high-cost... Read the full story
