ARBITRAGE STRATEGIES Convertible Arbitrage: Managers invest in companies' convertible securities. Typically, they will be long the convertible bond and short the common stock of the same company. Positions are designed to generate profits from the...

When stocks plunged in 2000, dispirited fund investors looked enviously at hedge funds. By selling short or investing in mergers, hedge fund owners could make money even when the S&P 500 collapsed. But hedge funds are far from a perfect solution...

If a recent SEC staff report is any indication, it may not be long before hedge fund investment professionals are regulated as heavily as their brethren at brokerage firms. The Sept. 2003 report, entitled Implications of the Growth of Hedge Funds...

Canada has a long history as a haven for prescription-drug bargain hunters, for instance, and for draft-dodgers. Soon, we might well add American investors to that list of shelter seekers. A number of Canadian investment vehicles most notably...

Say a neighbor pays you to shovel the snow in front of his house. But the neighbor on the other side of your house gives you 10 times as much for the same service, plus a bonus if the sidewalk doesn't have a speck of ice on it. Wouldn't you be...

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...