Fund Hot News

In today’s crazy interest rate world, investors are searching high and low for more interest income. One place to find it is in high-income bond mutual funds called HIGH YIELD bond funds. Let’s look at June of 2009. If you required a real high degree of safety, you could get a bit over 2% a year if you tied your money up for 5 years in a bank CD. If you were willing to accept a moderate level of risk, many bond funds were yielding (paying) 5% or 6%. High yield bond funds were also available from large mutual fund companies that offered yields of 10% and more.

How can a bond fund pay interest rate yields of 10% when interest rates are near historical lows? These high yield bond funds invest in lower-quality bonds, sometimes referred to as “junk”. Hence, the term often used to describe these mutual funds is JUNK BOND FUNDS. At the one extreme you have high quality “investment grade” bonds and bond funds. These are issued by entities with very high credit ratings, and the risk of default to investors is low. Continue reading ‘High Income Bonds and Bond Funds’ »

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Target retirement funds are mutual funds that do it all for you … one stop shopping. You tell them when you plan to retire, and they manage your money in a diversified investment portfolio that gets more conservative as your retirement date approaches. Once you retire, your money is managed conservatively for you.

That’s their story, and unfortunately they are sticking with it. I suggest you look before you leap. Your idea of conservative might differ from theirs. For example, let’s say that you plan to retire in 5 to 10 years. What percent of your retirement nest egg do you want at risk in the stock market? Or, if you plan to retire in 30 years, what’s your comfort level with owning stocks? How about when you are already retired? Continue reading ‘Target Retirement Funds – Look Before You Leap!’ »

You want to get started as a mutual fund investor. What funds should you invest in? You have thousands of different mutual funds to choose from. I suggest you first open an account with a major no-load mutual fund company like Vanguard, Fidelity or T. Rowe Price. Then pick these two funds to invest in, investing an equal amount in each.

Remember, you are just getting your feet wet and don’t want to start with a bad experience. So, here are what I suggest are your best mutual funds to get started with. Your overall risk will be low to moderate.

Your first pick is a no-brainer, a money market fund. These are the safest of all mutual funds and their value or price does not fluctuate. In this investment you simply earn interest in the form of dividends. The amount of interest you earn varies, based on interest rates in the economy. Continue reading ‘The Best Mutual Funds For New Investors’ »

If you want to start investing but don’t know the first thing about where you should your money, then mutual funds are a great way to get started. They essentially consist of a pool of money which is then allocated into assets such as stocks or bonds. What this essentially means is that your investment into a particular fund will give you holdings in different assets thus reducing your overall risk.

Of course, like with stocks and other assets not all mutual funds are created equally as there are literally hundreds of available funds. Load mutual funds charge a fee which pays the salary of the board of advisors. The fees typically vary but are usually a small amount so if you earn $100 you might get back $96 after all the fees. Continue reading ‘No Load Mutual Funds – Are They a Smart Investment Choice?’ »

Mutual funds should seriously be considered as part of your investment portfolio if they aren’t already as they allow for diversification and reduced risk. Gathering as much information is vital to becoming a successful investor. Here are the different types of mutual funds available.

Money Market Funds

These are generally categorized as having the lowest risk as these typically consist of Treasury bills and government bonds. While you shouldn’t expect a huge return on your investment, money market funds are ideal for those who are conservative or want to avoid risk altogether. The good thing about these types of funds is that you can expect to get back twice what you would get from a savings account. Continue reading ‘Types of Mutual Funds – Get the Facts on Choosing the Right Mutual Fund For You’ »

If you’re working with a top mutual fund company, they will know how to use your money to increase your profit margin as well as their own. They are able to make the most of every investment, which is exactly what you’re after. It never hurts if you know a little something about this type of funds, too, so that you can understand when you’re investing in the right fund. Investing in the wrong fund will only waste your investment capital, and you won’t see the return you should be seeing. Make sure you know exactly what you want from a fund before investing.

Mutual funds have become an industry favorite, because it doesn’t take a great deal of money to get started. A novice investor should spend some time educating himself about current market trends, though. When you purchase mutual funds, you’re buying shares in a company. As longtime investors say, your aim is to maximize your returns while minimizing your risks. Mutual funds certainly offer you the best option as far as being flexible, and they are very fast and easy to sell when that time comes. Continue reading ‘Low-Risk Investing in Mutual Funds’ »

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Engage is an established financial services company with over twenty – six years in the financial services industry. In 2005, Engage Mutual Assurance was launched as a trading subsidiary of Homeowners Friendly Society Limited.

They are the leading provider in the United Kingdom of tax-exempt savings plans, child trust funds and over fifties life insurance. Engage Mutual Funds Limited is dedicated to the provision of value for money products that are simple and easily accessible. Products are designed to enhance the welfare of people. Continue reading ‘Engage Mutual Funds Limited’ »

Craig and Jenny were a young New Zealand couple trying to make their way in life. They were renting their home, and they were saving for a first home deposit. They wanted to be able to own the home they lived in. To do that they would need to borrow around $300,000 for the purchase price.

They discovered that a $300,000 loan would cost them around $500 per week to service. That means that payments of around $500 would be made to the bank which would cover the cost of the loan and some repayment of the loan. This did not excite them at all.

They thought this was too expensive for them and they wisely decided that they were going to keep saving for their home deposit for the next three years. Continue reading ‘KiwiSaver – Can You Pull Money Out For a First Home Ownership Deposit?’ »

There’s a real problem with mutual funds and the investment industry that promotes them. Understanding how the mutual fund industry is hurting your future isn’t hard, but the solution is even simpler.

In this article, I’m going to introduce you to the source of problems in today’s mutual fund industry. The place I’ll start is someplace that you may not think is connected, but it is. I’m referring to a speech that was given on January 17, 1961. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had been running our country, and this was his farewell address to the country. This was a pretty dramatic moment. He had nothing to lose, no political office or fundraising to worry about. It was a moment of truth. Here, almost 50 years later, his speech is still remembered. It was really striking at the time.

He was warning us of a rising problem that he called the “military industrial complex.” As a former general of the US Army, he really had a front row seat to the workings of the military. And then, of course, he was not a general but also Commander-in-Chief for eight years. From his front-row seat, he watched the massive buildup this country was undergoing in regards to the industrial complex. He talked about how this sector was intrinsically prone to moral hazard. Continue reading ‘Today’s Financial Crisis Was Predicted Almost 50 Years Ago, But Few Believed Or Understood’ »