High-Yield Bonds – Effect on Portfolios

You should never look at an asset class or investment in isolation when considering it for your portfolio.

Looking only at returns ( while not considering risk ), the Vanguard High Yield Corporate Fund looks like a good investment compared to its benchmarks. ( Please note that the Vanguard fund’s annualized return is measured from its [...]

Investing – How Mutual Funds Work

So how do mutual funds work? Each fund is actively managed by a mutual funds professional. This is someone who has several years of experience analyzing and trading stocks or other securities. Also they probably have an advanced degree and have worked his or her way up the ladder to what is essentially the top [...]

Stock picks from professionals

Money tapped the brain power of the lead managers of “six top-performing mutual funds” in every major category. Here’s what they’re buying.
MORE >>>> http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2010/moneymag/1001/gallery.Investors_guide_fund_managers.moneymag/index.html?section=money_funds

Mutual funds that are highly rated by Morningstar

Each June, Morningstar updates investors on how its ratings are doing. It compares the performance of five-star funds to one-star funds. (Not surprising that Morningstar would set an easy hurdle. To find superior performance, all you would have to do is rank funds by expenses and give the lowest cost funds five stars and the [...]

Investing – Balanced funds

In the world of balanced funds, Vanguard Wellington (symbol VWELX) is an institution. The 80-year-old fund is one of the oldest mutual funds in existence, and with $45 billion in assets, it is one of the largest. But neither age nor girth has hampered its steady, peer-beating returns. Over the past 10 years through the [...]

Galleon ‘Not Good News’ for Hedge Funds

The Galleon Group insider-trading investigation may sap investor confidence in the hedge-fund industry, already under scrutiny after Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, said Michael Coleman, chairman of the Singapore chapter of the Alternative Investment Management Association.
“It’s obviously not good news for the hedge-fund industry from the top level, but it seems to be a very specific [...]

Green Investing Strategy

Green investing options can include renewable energy stocks and alternative energy funds, and these can be good forms of socially responsible investing
Buying mutual funds can include renewable energy mutual funds and international mutual funds, and the best energy mutual fund will depend on the investor and the specific circumstances
Green investing option 1. Examine All Aspects [...]

Central Provident Fund : What you should know

In the coming weeks, about 700,000 Central Provident Fund (CPF) members aged 55 and above will be invited to join the CPF Lifelong Income Scheme For The Elderly (CPF Life). The annuity scheme offers a choice of four plans that pay a monthly income for as long as you live.
These plans offer various combinations of [...]

Retirement Planning : Asset allocation made easy

Asset allocation made easy
Most retirement planning rests on the foundation of asset allocation. Depending on your age, the amount you have to invest, and your risk tolerance, you first figure out how much of your money you want to invest in stocks, bonds, and other types of assets. Then, within each of those categories, you [...]

Heavy Metal Jacket For Defensive Investors

“Gold has a place in almost every investment portfolio as a hedge or safety mechanism,” says Burton Rothberg, Ph.D., a former senior trader with Commodities Corporation, who has invested in the gold markets for decades.
In February, gold briefly pierced the $1000-an-ounce mark before retreating, and while prices have been volatile this year, they have mostly [...]

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