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| BondsOnline.com: instant access to and extensive coverage of over 3.5 million stocks, bonds, indexes and other securities covering major and emerging markets and exchanges across the globe. |
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| Bonds Online |
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| 5/10/2013Market Performance |
| Municipal Bonds |
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S&P National Bond Index
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3.00% |
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S&P California Bond Index
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2.96% |
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S&P New York Bond Index
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3.13% |
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S&P National 0-5 Year Municipal Bond Index
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0.70% |
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| S&P/BGCantor US Treasury Bond |
400.09 |
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| Income Equities: |
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| Preferred Stocks |
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S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index
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848.03 |
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S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (CAD)
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636.26 |
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S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (TR)
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1,701.05 |
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S&P U.S. Preferred Stock Index (TR) (CAD)
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1,276.26 |
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| REITs |
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S&P REIT Index
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174.07 |
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S&P REIT Index (TR)
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425.30 |
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| MLPs |
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S&P MLP Index
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2,469.58 |
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S&P MLP Index (TR)
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5,428.50 |
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See Data
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When should an investor turn to ETFs? |
USA Today - Jan. 28, 2011 - By John Waggoner
Investors have poured $1 trillion into exchange traded funds, making them the fastest-growing sector of the fund industry. When should you prefer an ETF over a garden-variety mutual fund?
If you're a money manager, you've probably already switched to ETFs. About half the investors in ETFs are institutional investors, such as large money managers, who use ETFs to invest new money quickly or gain exposure to more exotic areas, such as currencies and commodities.
WHAT'S BEST? ETFs or index mutual funds?
ARE ETFS RIGHT FOR YOU? Look past the hype
SPELL IT OUT: The ins and outs of ETFs
The rest are either long-term investors or traders. If you just want to create a cheap, diversified portfolio, ETFs will fill the bill. If you're a trader, you can try several different strategies — provided you realize that there's no such thing as a foolproof trading strategy. And even if you're just trying to build a portfolio bit by bit, you might consider an ETF, as long as you invest with a brokerage that offers free trades.
Go big, go cheap
If you have a large distribution from a pension or 401(k), you may want to create a low-cost ETF portfolio, rather than a portfolio of actively managed funds.
One reason: The average actively managed mutual fund charges about 1.25% a year, vs. less than 0.5% for an ETF. Those costs add up quickly over time. Suppose you invest $100,000 in two funds: One fund charges 1.25%, and the other charges 0.5%. By a remarkable coincidence, the two funds have exactly the same return over time — 8%. After 20 years, the high-cost fund will be about $50,000 behind.
You can create a basic mix of stocks and bonds with just three ETFs:
•Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (ticker: VTI). Represents the entire U.S. stock market — 70% large-company stocks, the rest in midcaps and small-caps.
•iShares MSCI EAFE Index (EFA). Tracks foreign large-company stocks.
•iShares iBoxx Investment Grade Bond (LQD). Invests in high-quality corporate bonds. If you fear inflation, consider the iShares Barclay TIPS fund (TIP), which buys Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities.
If you put $50,000 in the Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF, $10,000 in iShares MSCI EAFE and $40,000 in iShares iBoxx Investment Grade Bond, you'd pay $130 a year in management fees, or 0.13%.
Harold Evensky, a financial planner in Coral Gables, Fla., uses a core-and-satellite strategy, meaning he uses a basic grouping of ETFs and reserves a portion of the portfolio for shorter-term investments — ones that he plans to hold for about 13 months rather than five years.
For the complete article.
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| Stuff to look at |
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| BondsOnline Advisor |
Income Security Recommendation January 2013 Issue.
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