Mutual Funds

null Getty For many older adults today, especially those aging solo, there is a stage of life in which they feel capable of continuing to live on their own, completely independent. In urban areas that means being able to navigate public transportation, walk comfortably and confidently for several blocks, and shop for the necessities of

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – May 3: Guests at the Frederick Olmsted luncheon arrive and depart from Central … [+] Park’s conservancy garden on May 3, 2017 in New York City. The annual charity event raises money for Central Park and traditionally has a guest list of many of the New York City area’s wealthiest

The People Overseeing Your Pension Lack Investment Experience. What could possibly go wrong? Getty In the United States, the combined value of pension plan assets held by state and local governments is over $4 trillion. These pensions are overseen by boards of trustees comprised of lay men and women who generally lack any knowledge or

In the world of exchange-traded funds, the big keep getting bigger, not just drawing more of the investing pie but also making a mark on how the industry defines itself. Meanwhile, several funds with exposure to commodities have spent the past several weeks blowing up. For all that, Jan van Eck, CEO of a small

Be sure to understand the implication of mortgage forbearance Getty I have heard disturbing reports that some mortgage borrowers who are able to make their monthly payments have opted to take advantage of the forbearance option offered by lenders — evidently because they view forbearance as a benefit. It is a benefit for borrowers who

Locked-down music lovers are dusting off golden oldie playlists to reminisce about time spent with friends, lip-syncing songs such as Don’t Stop Believin’ through kitchen-tong microphones. The 1981 classic by Journey, Don’t Stop Believin’, is seeing 362,000 streams a week, launching it back into the top 200 chart, and a Nielsen survey showed almost two-thirds

Less than two months since Congress passed the CARES Act in response to the coronavirus pandemic, another massive economic relief bill made its way through the House. However, it still has an uncertain future in the Senate. The HEROES (Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions) Act is a $3 trillion bill that is designed

Man holds information about Coronavirus stimulus checks. Getty The CARES Act provided a $1,200 Economic Impact Payment, commonly referred to as a stimulus payment or stimulus check. To date, the IRS has already issued over 140 million of these payments. The majority of these payments were made via direct deposit. But there are still millions

As long as I can remember, people have worried about ETFs. When I was trading ETFs back in 2005, my partner and I used to wonder if they would increase correlation in the stock market — the property of stocks moving together, like a marching band. Over the short term, as in seconds and minutes,

Getty On Friday, May 15th, the SBA issued the Loan Forgiveness Application that will be used by PPP borrowers to determine and report how much of their PPP loan will be forgiven. Most readers know that the Payroll Protection Program loans are extended based upon 2½ months of payroll, health insurance and retirement plan expenses,

The biggest problem with exchange traded funds (ETFs) has to do with concept of indexing itself. Indices cover different asset classes (equity, bonds, currencies, commodities), geographical markets or investing styles and strategies. An index, effectively a basket of securities, is provides a proxy for price movements, returns and relative performance of an individual portfolio. Except

Basement of a bank full of banknotes, at the time of the Mark devaluation, during the economic … [+] crisis, Weimar Republic (Germany), 1923. (Photo by Albert Harlingue/Roger Viollet via Getty Images) Roger Viollet via Getty Images In the news today: “Biden Taps Top Bernie Allies to Craft Economic Agenda,” Washington Free Beacon. “The Biden

Amid the coronavirus-led shutdown, the internet has become an increasingly important part of people’s lives and the economy. As a result, it just makes sense that stock market investors want to invest in internet-related stocks. If you could buy only one ETF on a market pullback, maybe it’s not the S&P 500 ETF SPY, -1.76%,

TOPLINE New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal for an “Americans First Law” that would require corporations to give back federal funds if they do not rehire employees to pre-pandemic levels will be introduced in Congress by the state’s delegation, elevating the governor’s high-profile response to the pandemic to Washington, D.C. The “Americans First Law” floated

Getty Imagine, if you will, an alternate reality, in which all 50 states had an equivalent track record in terms of sound fiscal management. They paid their bills on time, they spent responsibly, workers received fair market wages for their services, corruption inflating spending was not an issue, or was evenly prevalent everywhere. To an

TOPLINE The stock market finished nearly 2% higher on Friday, despite one of the worst monthly jobs reports in history, as investors continued to look toward a reopening of the economy and bet that the worst of the economic impact from coronavirus has passed. The market moved higher, despite over 20 million job losses in

S&P Global Inc. said Wednesday that it kicked out big-name companies and added others to its sustainable version of its bellwether S&P 500 index, a move that will impact a growing swath of investments tied to the benchmark. Following this year’s rebalance of the S&P 500 ESG Index, the New York–based ratings agency firm now

Getty The Internal Revenue Service has issued a series of questions and answers regarding the CARES Act coronavirus-related relief for retirement plans and Individual Retirement Accounts. That’s helpful as folks consider tapping these accounts in the economic downturn.  As of April 17, Fidelity Investments found that 164,950 individuals (nearly 1 out of 100) covered under

Don’t panic by reading the headlines; find out where you stand Getty “Retirement accounts have been decimated by the recent stock market crash.”  I heard this statement recently from a professional who really should know better. While the recent stock market volatility is indeed disturbing, the reality of the situation for most workers and retirees

Members of Forbes Finance Council share outdated investing “rules” you should actually steer clear of. Photos courtesy of the individual members. As the times change, so does the world of finance. Some investors are still stuck on “rules” of investing that have become obsolete, and sticking with these old adages may hurt you in the

Research company CFRA on Monday said it was upgrading a low-volatility exchange-traded fund that has a history of underperforming, saying its recent record and defensive portfolio may give it an edge in the future. The Invesco S&P 500 Low Volatility ETF SPLV, -0.84% beat the broader market during the March selloff, CFRA’s head of ETF

You might call it the “ETF-ication of everything.” Mutual fund managers are launching special products that allow them to use the exchange-traded fund structure but keep their portfolios hidden. Others are exploring outright conversions of their funds to ETFs. And brokerages are becoming more comfortable with buzzy marketing, lower fees and fractional share trading. But

It’s been a rough couple of months for all investors, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +1.71% and S&P 500 SPX, +2.05% and Nasdaq Composite COMP, +2.88% indexes plunged more than 30% from their all-time highs before bouncing back nicely through last week. (They sold off again Monday, but were higher midday Tuesday.) And

Investors have spent the past couple of weeks in a “sell everything” mind set. That’s turned into a windfall for money-market funds. Money flowed into those funds at a breakneck pace in the most recent week, data from Refinitiv Lipper show. It was the third straight week of record highs, each one nearly doubling the

The benefits of index funds include diversification and low cost. But the trade-off investors endure is that these funds lurch downward with the market — as they did last week. Despite Monday’s strong U.S. market rebound, some investors may not have the patience (or the stomach) to sit on their hands until the market gets

Many stock market bulls are expressing surprise that a net $88 billion was pulled out of U.S. equity funds and ETFs last year. They would have predicted that the net fund flow would have been in the opposite direction. After all, the stock market in 2019 had one of its best years in modern U.S.

Almost since its founding in 1975 by the late, great John Bogle, I have held Vanguard Group, the mutual-fund giant, in only the highest regard. Vanguard’s mission has been to deliver the lowest possible cost for services to investors and to conduct itself in a highly ethical manner. By structuring itself — unlike other mutual

Many investment firms have been touting new products as socially responsible. Now, regulators are scrutinizing some funds in an attempt to determine whether those claims are at odds with reality. The Securities and Exchange Commission has sent examination letters to firms as record amounts of money flow into ESG funds. These funds broadly market themselves

Should you invest in any of the new breed of non-transparent ETFs that the SEC recently approved? The best advice might be to wait and see how they are received by the market. They represent such a radical departure from the traditional ETF model , it’s unclear they will even work. To appreciate just how

Internet memes can be funny — and annoying — but they can also remind us of lucrative investment opportunities from time to time. A current trend is for young adults to make fun of baby boomers for being clueless. Elizabeth Tippett recently tied the “OK, boomer” fad to age discrimination in the workplace, while Grace