For wealthy families, 529s may not be the optimal way to save and pay for education. Altair's Rebekah Kohmescher explains in this Worth magazine article.
A study by Morningstar for the decade beginning in 2000 suggests that average investors underperformed the mutual funds they invested in by 1.5 percent per year due to investing near highs and exiting near lows. The fear of making a mistake is especially heightened in those who retire or sell a business. They are faced with investing the majority of their wealth for the first time—and in a very turbulent market.
Ultra-short-duration bond funds seek to improve on the strategy underlying money market funds. By holding a variety of fixed income instruments with very short average durations in a fund structure, investors may be able to achieve higher yields from the current market environment than they typically could in a money market fund, albeit with little additional volatility and limited sacrifice of liquidity.
This issue of Eton's Investment Outlook explores the concept of confidence level, using the familiar example of airline travel to illustrate our need for higher confidence levels in certain activities than in others. An investor’s level of confidence, both desired and actual, is a key driver in the Goals-Based Investing framework. This article describe how confidence levels are a function of our priorities, our time horizon, and the amount of portfolio risk we assume when investing.
History shows a number of scenarios could lead to significant losses for bond investors. Based on an examination of fixed-income markets since 1919, researchers found that even the most gradual rate increase scenario models an annualized return expectation of 0 percent for almost six years.
Emerging markets have been recognized for quite a while as a place where investors can earn greater returns than in developed economies due to higher economic growth, strong balance sheets and more attractive demographics. Although investing in emerging markets remains an area of opportunity for investors, navigating an emerging market economy is challenging.
This paper examines several factors impacting investors' commodities exposure and the current sentiment on downside risks.
This paper identifies four channels through which the shock of a Greek default could spread across the Eurozone and the global economy.
Market turmoil has brought the topic of Minimum Variance Portfolios (MVP) to the forefront. But examined within a broad U.S. universe alongside the closely related Low Volatility Portfolio (LVP) counterpart are investors who employ an MVP strategy appropriately compensated for the relative risk they assume?
The national economy is showing signs of life, state and local tax receipts are on the rise, local budgets are returning to balance. Nevertheless, Moody’s and S&P are downgrading more tax-supported credits than they are upgrading. On the surface such rating actions may seem incongruous with the economic conditions. But, in fact, they are all too predictable for those familiar with the municipal market. Ratings assigned by the major public ratings companies are a backward-looking indicator of an issuer’s credit worthiness.