What are the best bond funds to buy now? This is a simple question that is often unnecessarily complicated by investors. The best bond funds to buy now are the same bond funds you should have bought yesterday and the same bond funds you should buy tomorrow. But isn't past performance a poor predictor of future results? Indeed it is, but the best bond funds are not those that earned the highest return in any given year. The best bond funds are the cheapest bond funds. Cost is one of the most reliable predictors of mutual fund performance. Who offers the cheapest bond funds? For my … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2014
A Retirement Worth Living For
You don't have to have a ton of money to have a retirement worth living for. I was reminded of this last week while spending time at our log cabin in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The highlight of our trip ended up being a hike, which was basically free, and not all of the other attractions that drain the wallet and add to the waistline. We did three hikes. Two were pretty easy and one was tough. Mount Jackson was the tough one. It's one of the 4,000 footers in the Presidential Range. The nice thing about this 4,000 footer is you start at around 1,000 ft. What stands above … [Read more...]
The Monday Melee: Sunken Ships and Sinking Yields
Greenspan Says Stocks to See ‘Significant Correction’ July 30 (Bloomberg) -- Former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan discusses central banks' monetary policies on “In The Loop.” (Source: Bloomberg) What We're Reading: David Epstein: Are athletes really getting faster, better, stronger? Finance 101 in Kindergarten. (The Wall Street Journal) A hawk in a sea of doves. (The Wall Street Journal) This time is different...really, I promise! (Yahoo! Finance) Secrets of ancient ship found beneath World Trade Center revealed (Washington Post) Another huge default threatens China. (Bloomberg) China's … [Read more...]
Top 10 S&P 500 Stocks
You can learn a lot about the nature of a stock market rally simply by observing which stocks are leading the market. Below I present to you the list of the 10 best performing S&P 500 stocks since the Federal Reserve officially announced the third round of its quantitative easing program in September of 2012. It is true that the last leg of this bull market started earlier, but since QE3 officially started, the gains have been relentless and the corrections shallow. COMPANY SYMBOL RETURN SINCE 9/13/12 NETFLIX INC NFLX 628.8 MICRON … [Read more...]