February 2007

Weekend Reading: Mutual Funds, ETFs

Be Socially Responsible via an ETF
Now you can invest in a socially responsible manner via exchange-traded funds (ETFs), which offer some advantages over traditional mutual funds.

Fidelity aims to grow beyond mutual funds
Fidelity's parent, FMR Corp., now absorbs the research costs rather than the individual mutual funds, which has lowered commission costs for the funds.

NYSE lists 16 ETFs, says leads in US ETF volume
16 new iShares exchange traded funds (ETFs) have transferred listings to the New York Stock Exchange

INDEX INTELLIGENCE: Major Changes in the ETF Industry
Historically, exchange-traded funds have been used to track and trade specific benchmarks such as the S&P 500 Index ($SPX) and the Dow Jones Industrial

MUTUAL FUNDS
to the hedge-fund virus, and Bill Donoghue outlines an investment strategy using leveraged ETFs, all on MarketWatch's Mutual Funds/ETF page this week.

GOLD SALES BENEFIT FROM ETF DEMAND
Gold sales jumped 22.4 per cent to a record $65.3bn last year in spite of a 10 per cent fall in demand in tonnage terms, according to the World Gold Council

How much cash reserve should you keep in your bank account?
The only downside to a "cushion" is the interest income you lose in a bank account compared to a higher-yield money market mutual fund or even a bank CD. That was a primary motivator for me moving most of my banking away from

Model Portfolios Built with ETFs  Couch Potato Portfolio
However, the recent development in the exchange traded funds (ETFs) world presents an opportunity to rethink the ways to build portfolio based on those classic asset allocations. In fact, as ETFs rapidly gaining ground on mutual funds,

Mutual Funds Search For Buyout Targets
Mutual funds are turning their eyes to potential buyout candidates as a means of boosting their returns. Gains from traditional long-term investments that

MUTUAL FUNDS
Plus, columnist Bill Donoghue says fund-performance results can be misleading, all on MarketWatch's Mutual Funds/ETF page this week.

ETF Polluton?
Exchange traded funds (ETFs) have proliferated in the past year but some insiders feel this has gone from ETF evolution to ETF pollution. If surging stocks take a rest, some of the specialty ETFs may not have a future. 

Weekend Reading: Mutual Funds

Scott Burns: 10 paths to a stronger portfolio
If you have a larger portfolio, use a smaller number of blocks, or use a few index mutual funds instead of ETFs, your costs could be much lower.  

Mutual funds treated like hedge funds may do better
Hedge funds are a glamorous, private-investment-pool cousin to mutual funds; they are the domain of the wealthy and are largely unregulated, allowing them  

New Insights Into Mutual Funds: Performance and Family Strategies
New Insights into Mutual Funds is a bundle of four empirical studies on mutual    We show that the returns of both equity and bond mutual funds are persistent.    We suggest that factor proxies based on mutual fund returns rather than  

Mutual Funds: Ridiculous US tax system in serious need of  
In an age of political and business scandals, let's never overlook one of the biggest offenders of them all - the US income-tax system.  

Mutual funds thrive despite high fees
A month ago, Bloomberg columnist Chet Currier wondered whether mutual funds were becoming obsolete, a view taken by many investors after the bear markets  

Watch Your Mutual Fund Fees
It's not uncommon for an actively managed mutual fund to be pushing over 1.5% in    index fund that mirrors the S&P, but compare that with your own mutual funds.    You also shouldn't compare your domestic stocks to an S&P index fund,  

Dated Stocks, Married Mutual Funds
Index funds like Vanguard's dirt cheap 500 Index (FUND: VFINX) can play a role in a smartly designed portfolio -- they offer strategic diversification  

Separately Managed versus Mutual Funds
Discover whether separately managed accounts, mutual funds or a combination of both are the best way for you to take advantage of the equity markets.

ETFs News

ETFs Popularity Rises at Money Show
The number of exchange traded fund (ETF) panels and workshops has doubled since last year's conferences, which highlight the growing popularity of ETFs. When asked, half of the attendees in the audience currently invest in ETFs

Bogle on ETFs
John Bogle gives his opinion of ETFs in a WSJ commentary today. He doesn't like them because they are contrary to the index mutual fund model he invented. Why are ETFs doing so well? Because, he says, ETFs are

ETFs vs. Classic Index Mututal Funds
Fund managers love the ETF (exchange-traded funds). But what's in it for the investor? Vanguard founder John Bogle expresses his skepticism of ETFs in today's WSJ: So long as the truism that "the more financial intermediaries take

Weekend Reading: Mutual Funds, ETFs

Easy to Study Mutual Funds, Hard to Pin Them Down: Chet Currier
Two newsletters, the No-Load Fund Investor and the Independent Adviser for Vanguard Investors, claim frequent success with strategies based on picking funds

Try Building a Portfolio Block by Block
Picking managed mutual funds is good for cocktail party conversation, if you have nothing more interesting to talk about, but it isn't a good way to build a portfolio

The Case for Mutual Funds
The Motley Fool's resident fund jockey takes on all doubters.

Mutual Funds Get Greedy
by Robert Kiyosaki

ETFs: Top 20 Favorite Resources
ETF Digest: Dave Fry's newsletter with daily commentary & charts. ETF Investment Outlook: Newsletter-focused website with helpful breadth rankings. ETF Screen: ETF screener and ETFs ranked by relative strength

ETF Securities' Massive Commodities ETF Launch
Richard Kang submits: I don't believe I've ever written about ETF Securities out of the UK, which is a shame because I'm all for the little guy getting into the market and making a name for themselves