Tag: Mutual Funds
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All About Mutual Fund Loads
I avoid mutual funds with loads at all costs. A load is just another term for a sales commission or sales fee for a mutual fund. It’s paid by the mutual fund to a broker whenever they sell shares of that mutual fund, it’s exactly like a sales commission. It’s a perfectly legitimate way for…
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Start Saving with Low Minimum Investment Mutual Funds
I’m a big fan of Vanguard’s low cost mutual funds but they aren’t particularly friendly to the young and new investor because they often have decently sized minimum investments. Most require $3,000 to start, though their STAR Fund requires a mere $1,000, which is a lot when you consider most people are looking to save…
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Introducing: Life-Cycle ETFs!
It was only a matter of time before ETFs, or exchange traded funds, came in life-cycle flavors. Brokerages started offering life-cycle mutual funds, or target date and target retirement, a few years ago and they’ve become very popular options for folks who want a simple investment product that does all the work for them. No…
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Vanguard LifeStrategy Funds
Lifecycle, Lifestyle, Target Retirement… and now LifeStrategy. Are these all the same things? Are they different? Is it just branding at work? LifeStrategy is Vanguard’s trademarked name for a Lifestyle fund. If you recall the differences between a Lifestyle and a Lifecycle fund, a lifecycle fund is one that changes its asset allocation as time…
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How To Analyze 401(k) Fund Offerings
If you just opened your 401(k) or are investigating where you should be invested, my advice to you is to keep things as simple as possible. If it’s your first 401(k), or your first time looking at it with this company, it can be a little overwhelming to figure out what you should be doing.…
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Strata of Mutual Fund Expense Ratios
One of the most important characteristics about a mutual fund is its expense ratio. The expense ratio is the cost of running the fund and is charged to cover the expenses of running that fund, usually represented by a percentage of assets. Some of the things the expense ratio covers include, but are not limited…
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Lifestyle vs. Life-Cycle Funds
A Lifestyle Fund and a Life-Cycle Fund are two totally different types of mutual funds, despite the presence of “life” in both of their names. In fact, they are so radically different that to invest in one when you meant the other could be classified as a very bad move. Life-cycle Funds Life-cycle funds, or…
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10 Rules: KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid
The third tip of Forbes ten rules for building wealth is one that, I think, applies to almost everything in life: keep things simple. Forbes recommends that you choose three or four index funds that will give you some good exposure – that is, a nice mix of risk and reward instead of all in…