In a welcome development, “ETFs Slowly Displace Mutual Funds in 401(k)s:” BlackRock(BLK), the largest seller of exchange traded funds, is helping to push more Americans toward ETFs instead of mutual funds in their 401(k) plans. Americans held $3.9 trillion in employer-based defined-contribution retirement plans, of which $2.7 trillion was held in 401(k) plans as of Sept. 30, according to the …
Protection Against Rising Interest Rates
Lately, dealing with the specter of potentially rising interest rates has been a frequent question. In “Three ETFs For Rising Interest Rates,” several possibilities are discussed: We’ve been enjoying historically low interest rates for the last decade … even more so in the last two years. You know the party is going to end at some point. And I’m beginning …
All Emerging Market ETFs Are Not The Same
Two of the most well known emerging market ETFs are EEM and VWO. If you chart them side by side, they appear almost identical, but are they? Actually, there are tracking differences more closely described in “Vanguard Sector Funds Get Facelift:” At the close of February, Vanguard altered the benchmarks on its family of index-backed sector exchange-traded funds and mutual …
Traveling
Since I’ll be traveling most of this weekend, I won’t be able to post this Sunday. Regular posting will resume on Monday when I return to the office.
Wealth Destroyers
MarketWatch had this to say in “Wealth creators vs. wealth destroyers:” To learn that your mutual-fund firm’s lineup posted negative returns over a decade is one thing; to realize that almost $60 billion of investors’ wealth was wiped out is another matter entirely. That’s what happened at Janus Capital Group Inc. from 2000 through 2009. The fund giant’s offerings collectively …
No Load Fund/ETF Tracker updated through 3/4/2010
My latest No Load Fund/ETF Tracker has been posted at:http://www.successful-investment.com/newsletter-archive.phpA better than expected unemployment report pushed the major indexes higher with the S&P; 500 gaining 3% for the week. Our Trend Tracking Index (TTI) for domestic funds/ETFs has now crossed its trend line (red) to the upside by +4.91% keeping the current buy signal intact. The effective date was June …