With credit markets jittery and the economy on the lip of recession (or in recession, depending upon whom you ask), real estate funds have plummeted. During the 12 months ending in January 2008, the category lost 21 percent. Should investors stay...

Academics have long scorned actively managed mutual funds. Instead of spending money on managers who attempt to beat the market (however that is defined), academics argue, investors should stick with index funds. Lately the index proponents have...

Competing fiercely for the attention of investors, fund companies have brought out a wave of specialized offerings. Many of the choices which include mutual funds and exchange-trade funds focus on hot-sounding industries, or growing areas of the...

With markets soaring last year in places such as India and Turkey, investors poured cash into international funds. Of the $6.6 trillion invested in equity funds, about one quarter is in overseas portfolios, according to the Investment Company...

When markets turn down, the hated short sellers appear. The volume of short sales bets that stocks will drop spiked after technology shares began collapsing in 2000. Not surprisingly, short volume has climbed again in recent months. But in the...

Long a Favorite of Investors in Europe, structured products are rapidly gaining popularity in the United States. Last year, $114 billion in structured products were issued in the U.S., according to the Structured Products Association. That's a 78...

When a client brings in new assets to invest, you probably start by weighing the virtues of bonds versus stocks, mutual funds versus ETFs and global markets versus the good old U.S. of A. But before you throw down an eight-pound leather-bound...

Despite mounting sub-prime mortgage woes, hedge funds are doing better than ever. In fact, the second quarter of 2007 saw hedge funds accumulate net new assets of $59 billion, making it the industry's second best quarter on record after first...

Stanley Brooks was living the dream. With a $16,000 investment in 1990, Brooks built Brookstreet Securities of Irvine, Calif., into a $150 million revenue firm placing it among the top 25 independent broker/dealers. By 2007, the firm had amassed ...

What happens if you make an unsuitable variable-annuity sale, or simply fail to dot all your i's and cross all your t's in implementing the sale? That depends