April 22, 2012

Less risk offers more reward, study finds

A basic tenet of modern portfolio theory is that investors who are willing to take on greater risk can expect a greater reward. But a new study released last week turns that belief on its head and claims that less risky stocks, as measured by volatility, actually outperform more...

• equities

April 15, 2012

Dividend-paying stocks pay yet another dividend: Price increases

By Jeff Benjamin

With bond yields at historic lows, investors have turned to dividend-paying stocks as a source of investment income. Now investors are getting an extra boost — call it an added dividend — in the form of rising prices of dividend-paying equities. The long-...

• equities

April 1, 2012

Natural gas glut creating opportunities for savvy investors

By Jeff Benjamin

The rising price of crude oil makes it easy to overlook the bargain in another energy source: natural gas. As investment opportunities go, natural gas is ripe for the picking across a host of subsectors and related industries. Companies that convert diesel-based engines into ones...

• investments

March 25, 2012

The need for a new take on diversification

By Jeff Benjamin

With the S&P 500 up more than 100% from the market bottom in March 2009, and with the economy grinding out a slow recovery, it might be tempting to let your clients' portfolios enjoy the ride. That would be a mistake. Thanks to globalization, technology and product...

• investments

March 18, 2012

Scrutinize emerging-markets funds

By Jeff Benjamin

The growing middle class in many developing countries has made them an attractive place to invest. But most broad emerging-markets funds aren't giving investors the exposure to those economies that they probably expected. Consider, for example, the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, the...

• E*Trade Financial Corp.,
• emerging markets,
• ING Group,
• markets,
• mutual funds

February 26, 2012

Advisers should tread carefully in subprime market

Arecent rally in subprime-mortgage-backed bonds, which were widely reviled as being among the root causes of the financial crisis, should definitely be considered in a larger context. One thing that the latest news shouldn't do is drive financial advisers to run out and try to load...

• bonds / fixed income,
• mortgage-backed bonds

February 19, 2012

Markets hang in, despite Greek woes

By Jeff Benjamin

The global financial markets dodged another bullet last week when the floundering Greek economy once again managed to avoid the kind of implosion that some observers said is inevitable. The latest round of austerity measures, coupled with more bailout funds from the European Union,...

• investments,
• markets

February 12, 2012

Fight over commodities in funds

There is a growing regulatory movement afoot aimed at reducing commodities exposure within mutual funds dramatically just as this alternative strategy is gaining popularity. While this is something financial advisers will want to watch, it is not a reason to cash out of commodities- ...

• alternative investments,
• investments,
• legislation and regulation,
• mutual funds,
• regulation

February 5, 2012

Past performance may be a harbinger for future, after all

Despite decades of statements to the contrary, it turns out that past performance actually is a pretty good indicator of future mutual fund returns — provided that the performance is adjusted for risk. By measuring the volatility of mutual funds' average daily returns, some...

• investments,
• mutual funds,
• technology

January 29, 2012

Fed move intended to stoke investor appetite for risk

By keeping short-term interest rates near zero until at least late 2014, the Federal Reserve once again is doing its darned-est to encourage in-vestors to ratchet up risk in their portfolios. The Fed said last Wednesday that it now expects to keep short-term interest...