Most of the cash flowing into exchange-traded funds (ETFs) has focused on a few big funds, especially ones that track popular benchmarks, such as the S&P 500. Such funds are excellent choices for advisors seeking a core holding for clients. But...
FundAlarm.com may not be a household name, but the Web site, founded by Roy Weitz in 1996, has an influence more powerful than the 125,000 user hits the site receives a month, (about a third of them are on the site's discussion boards). It is a...
The market may have been flat for much of 2004, but it didn't affect investors' enthusiasm for mutual funds. Total assets in the nation's mutual funds grew by $177.5 billion, or 2.2 percent, to $8.1 trillion in December, according an Investment...
Investors have been flocking to foreign stocks, and for good reason. But there is also good reason to remain wary of overseas investments. During the first 10 months of 2004, international funds had inflows of $83 billion, a record pace and more...
The SEC's requirement that mutual fund boards be stocked with more independent executives met with jeers when it was passed last year. Now, the raspberry blowers have some research to back up their disdain. Missouri University's School of...
The mutual fund scandals have put advisors in a tough position: Recommending a fund that ends up in the headlines can deal a serious blow to an advisor's reputation and can even mean lost clients. One way to be safe is to stick with companies that...
The overhaul of the mutual fund industry spearheaded by Eliot Spitzer is widely viewed as a victory for investors, but some analysts are challenging that notion. In September 2003, Spitzer set off a firestorm, charging mutual fund companies with...
During the 1990s, Tom Marsico made investing look easy. As manager of Janus Twenty, Marsico recorded huge gains while limiting his portfolio to two dozen stocks. The fund often held well-known stars such as Lucent Technologies and Pfizer. Plenty...
During the late 1960s, best-selling author Adam Smith called Fidelity Investments the Green Bay Packers of the mutual fund world. Just as Green Bay dominated professional football, Fidelity attracted a record following because of growth-oriented...
No one likes paying taxes, but clients get extra steamed when they are blindsided by a particularly hefty IRS bill. Unfortunately, such tax surprises could become increasingly common for shareholders of municipal bond funds. The source of the...
