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• Why the Target Funds are Good Marketing but Lousy Investing

  by Scott Burns Q. Can you talk about the pros and cons of creating your "five-fold" portfolio vs. investing in a targeted retirement mutual fund? Could you also touch on the practical aspects of trying to create and rebalance a "five-fold"... Posted Oct 31 2007, 03:30 PM by admin with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: Mutual Fund Investing, Q&A (from print)

• Spoiling a Good Thing

  On Wall Street, if a little of something is good, then a lot of it must be magnificent. How else to explain the proliferation of exchange-traded funds (ETFs)? From the launch of the first in 1993 (to duplicate the performance of the S&P 500 index... Posted Aug 17 2007, 03:30 PM by scottb with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Index & ETF Investing, Mutual Fund Investing

• How to Improve the Odds of Selecting a Superior Mutual Fund

  With the number of mutual funds approaching the population of Cleveland, you and I face a dilemma. How do we choose? Is it possible to select a fund that has a good chance of earning a higher return than at least 50 percent of its competitive peers? Is... Posted Aug 03 2007, 04:30 PM by scottb with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Mutual Fund Investing

• The Best of Two Worlds: Vanguard Inside USAA

  Q: I will soon have about $74,000 from the sale of my 90-year-old mother’s house. The house is in an irrevocable trust, and I am the trustee. My mother recently moved to an assisted-living facility and does not need any additional income from the house... Posted May 16 2007, 06:00 PM by scottb with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: Mutual Fund Investing, Q&A (from print), Resources

• Income Limits from Your Nest Egg

  Q. It is recommended that retirees withdraw no more than 4 percent a year from their retirement nest egg. Is this in addition to any income that is generated from their funds? Bonds and CDs pay more than 4 percent. And some higher-dividend stocks pay... Posted Jan 03 2007, 06:00 PM by scottb with | with 8 comment(s) Filed under: Index & ETF Investing, Mutual Fund Investing, Q&A (from print), Retirement

• No-load Mutual Funds vs. Exchange-traded Funds

  Q: I read your column about ETFs. What I don't understand is what advantage ETFs have over regular no-load mutual funds. All of my investments are in no-load mutual funds, mostly index funds at Vanguard and Fidelity. Why should I pay a commission, even... Posted Nov 22 2006, 06:00 PM by scottb with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: Index & ETF Investing, Mutual Fund Investing, Q&A (from print)

• First, Do No Harm

  Which would you rather be: a government employee or a surgeon? Yes, this is a trick question. It came to mind as I read a recent Investment News article announcing a new mutual fund. Here's the story. Given the choice, most people would choose to be surgeons... Posted Nov 04 2006, 06:00 PM by scottb with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Mutual Fund Investing

• Hidden Gems vs. Obvious Winners

  Most of us have a secret wish: We'd like to find the perfect little mutual fund. We can close our eyes and imagine this fund. It will have good performance, year after year. It will never suffer from market downturns. It will be interesting. But it will... Posted Sep 26 2006, 04:00 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Mutual Fund Investing

• Prowling the Mutual Fund Database

  Sometimes it's good to prowl around the data and see what turns up. While there is no guarantee that past performance in a mutual fund will be repeated in the future, a long and positive history of superior performance is a pretty good indication that... Posted Aug 15 2006, 03:55 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Mutual Fund Investing

• Cash: It's Not Trash Anymore

  Call it the silver lining effect. While the talking heads wring their hands over rising interest rates and the danger they present to life in the known universe, I have to confess a tingling sense of comfort. I like the idea of earning something on my... Posted Jul 16 2006, 10:49 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Financial Planning, Mutual Fund Investing

• Are Mutual Funds Really Lousy Investments?

  Q . I found an article on Yahoo Finance, titled "Why Mutual Funds Are Lousy Investments: Why the Rich Get Richer," very interesting. Have you done any columns on this subject--- fund fees---which you can point me to. You have always recommended... Posted Jul 13 2006, 03:57 AM by scottb with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: Couch Potato Investing, Mutual Fund Investing

• Bonds Lose Value When Interest Rates Rise

  Q. I have a portion of my investments in Federated U.S. Government Securities II. It has had a negative return for the past quarter. One reason I invested in it was for fixed income and preservation of capital. As a retired senior on fixed income, I am... Posted May 18 2006, 11:10 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Mutual Fund Investing, Q&A (from print)

• Why Some Mutual Funds Are Discussed More Than Others

  Some reader letters deserve answering, even if they are put-up jobs. P.W. in Dallas writes: "You get e-mails all the time from readers such as myself, who, looking for long-term results, continually ask, 'Why not run a feature on loaded mutual funds as... Posted May 11 2006, 03:16 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Mutual Fund Investing

• Fee Pyramiding Damages Long Term Returns

  Q. We have about $50,000 in Wells Fargo and Janus mutual funds. Both are currently in money market accounts. We are thinking about moving out of these and putting our money into a managed advisory service account with a major mutual fund company. The... Posted Apr 20 2006, 11:59 AM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Mutual Fund Investing, Q&A (from print)

• Urban Legends in Mutual Funds

  "My husband had a hallway conversation with a financial planner who shares an office building with him. The planner said something like, 'Index funds can cost more than load funds because people can buy and sell in and out of the index fund. This triggers... Posted Mar 07 2006, 04:44 PM by scottb with | with no comments Filed under: Mutual Fund Investing