Category Archive

The media was at it again analyzing the great fund performance record of fund manager’s Bill Miller’s Legg Mason Value Trust. They did it in all fairness (this time) by giving credit to his great 15-year performance, during which he prevailed over the S+P 500 every year. In fact, his fund showed an average annual rate of 15.8% vs. the …

2006 was a year of extremes. In the ETF world, 2 funds ruled on the extreme end, one by superior performance, the other by a devastating loss. The clear winner was the China fund (FXI) with a yearly gain of about +81%. While the 1-year chart shows this fund as being in a solid uptrend, it doesn’t tell the entire …

Happy New Year! I still have some unfinished business from 2006. My preference is to pay attention to people who have actually done or experienced what they are writing about. It doesn’t matter if it’s a blog, an article, a book, or investments for that matter. To me, it increases credibility. This really hit home a few days ago when …

Wall Street has been all giddy last week over the nice 2nd half-of-the-year rebound rally, after the heart stopping pullback during May/June 06. With the S + P 500 having managed to gain almost 14%, the question is being asked how a Trend Tracking approach to investing in the market has fared. Well, in my practice, on average, we gained …

This is the time of the year when the media is having a field day again. Over the next couple of months, you will find headlines such as the following: 10 top stock picks for 2007 The perfect portfolio for 2007 My best stock for the year ahead 2006 losers ready to rebound 10 stocks for 2007 and beyond It …

With the explosion of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), one of the more frequent questions I get is whether ETFs are better than mutual funds. The issue has been somewhat distorted by several large investment management firms and newsletters proclaiming that “we will never buy another mutual fund.” I think that this is a little extreme, because there is a place …