Funds & ETF Investing

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ETF Guide

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) continue to grow in popularity. There are now approximately 330 ETFs that each manage more than $200 million in assets.

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Top Mutual Funds

Data downloads and “how-to” editorial are the perfect companion to our annual book.

Fund/ETF Investing Know-How

Beyond the Numbers: Getting to Know a Manager

Performance statistics are probably the single most scrutinized feature of any stock mutual fund.

These figures are, of course, important indicators of how well a portfolio manager has performed in the past. As such, they can serve as useful flags of a possibly good manager or a possibly bad manager.

But the question facing any prospective investor is: Will a stock fund manager with good past performance be able to sustain his or her track record?

Good past performance can be the result of sheer luck, or it can be due to a well-thought-out approach that is consistently applied. If it was due to luck, chances are the good performance will not continue. But if the performance was due to a consistent approach, there is at least the possibility of good performance continuing.

That means...

The Dividend Yield: Stock Mutual Funds and ETFs That Generate Income

Are you looking for an investment that has the potential to produce a growing income stream and long-term capital appreciation along with reasonable risk? Bond funds won’t suffice; their income is a prisoner of prevailing interest rates, and their capital appreciation in the long term is essentially zero, a combination that is exposed to inflation risk.

REITs (real estate investment trusts) come close, but the dividends from REITs...

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