Ordinarily, serious investors aim to steer clear of financial instruments that are sold on late-night infomercials, but tax liens on real estate might well be the exception to this rule. In fact, the very things that makes such investments seem...
With the economy improving and interest rates still near four-decade lows, bond investors might be feeling afraid, very afraid. And with good reason a sharp rise in rates would punish most fixed-income holdings. Government bonds, which enjoyed a...
Whither income-oriented investments or is it wither? Investors living on the proceeds of their investments face hard times, as many retirees are fast discovering, while watching their monthly checks dwindle. Money market yields offer thin fare ...
The disclaimers regarding Morningstar's rating system have always been there for investors. Advisors have long warned that the company's famous star-based system is misleading in its simplicity, and academic researchers have concurred, saying...
For those of you still looking for that stock with the potential to double in a short amount of time, I say this: Please re-set your internal calendar. It must be stuck on 1999. For those with a more sensible appetite for risk and return, I have...
Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, a first-term Republican from Illinois, chairs the only Senate committee investigating mutual fund trading abuses the Governmental Affairs Subcommittee on Financial Management, the Budget and International Security. As such...
The term proven commodity is deadon accurate when it comes to investments: Time after time, commodities have proved resilient in downturns. For instance, natural resources funds stayed in the black while the S&P 500 lost more than 10 percent...
The 1906 Monet painting entitled Nympheas was purchased in 1960 at a Sotheby's auction in London for $50,000. That same 35-inch by 35-inch oil on canvas resold at Christie's New York in 1999 for $22.6 million. That's works out to an average annual...
When New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announced his investigations into improper mutual funds trading practices, the reaction in the press and on the Street was swift and overwhelmingly breathless. In a headline, Money magazine announced...