Investor's Business Daily recently did an interview with Ron Baron, founder of the Barons Fund Family. Ron has long been a favorite money manager of ManagingMoney.com, as he puts an emphasis on "buying the business", not "trading the market". In particular, Ron is not too conservative like many value managers and is not afraid to buy growth. He is kind of like Warren Buffett on steroids. Also, Ron puts major emphasis on management. For example, he started investing in Steve Wynn businesses many years ago and has stuck with him on his new projects like Wynn Resorts (WYNN), generating nice profits for his fund investors.

Continue reading "Fund Eyes Those That Spend To Grow" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 8:09 AM | Permalink

New Commodities-based ETFs are opening up commodities markets and commodities-based strategies to the average investor that previously would have been difficult and require sophisticated expertise to implement in their portfolios.

Continue reading "ETFs Offer Access to the Commodities Markets" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 3:59 PM | Permalink

There are two broad classes of mutual fund costs: selling costs related to marketing of the mutual fund and operating costs related to the actual operation of the mutual fund. It is extremely important to understand these costs, as mutual fund expenses are the largest determinant of a fund's relative long-term performance.[1]

Continue reading "Understanding Mutual Fund Costs" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 7:21 AM | Permalink

On December 19th, right before the Holidays, State Street Global Advisors launched the first Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) designed to track overseas real-estate stocks. The streetTracks Dow Jones Wilshire International Real Estate ETF is traded under the symbol RWX on the American Stock Exchange.

Continue reading "First International Real Estate ETF Launched" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 9:54 AM | Permalink

Morningstar Corp. added a new fund category earlier this year called Long - Short Funds. Morningstar, founded in 1984, is considered by most to be the leading provider of independent research and data on the Mutual Fund Industry. They are probably best known for their Star Ranking System, a "quick and dirty" way for an investor to see how a particular mutual fund is performing relative to its' peers on a risk-adjusted basis. Five stars is the best and one star is the worst. They now provide data on over 23,000 Mutual Funds and also track Private Money Managers and Hedge Fund performance.

Continue reading "Morningstar Introduces Long - Short Fund Category" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 11:20 AM | Permalink

Warren Buffett, perhaps the greatest investor alive today, has an amusing way to describe his rules for investing:
Rule #1 — never lose money
Rule #2 — don’t forget rule #1
Although this may seem like an overly simple and conservative way to succeed, I hope to show you that these simple rules hold the key to successful investing for the vast majority of people: understand when you are playing a loser’s game and then play accordingly.

Continue reading "The Loser's Game" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 10:38 AM | Permalink

What a difference a weekend makes. On Friday, the Dow Jones Newswire announced that Wachovia was in talks to buy MFS Mutual Funds from Sun Life. Well, today, Sun Life has now announced that after a strategic review they have decided not to sell the MFS unit. We were not enamored in the first place with the Wachovia Evergreen Investments division owning MFS, so it appears Wachovia management must have read our review on Friday. Another thought is that recent stock market gains have "helped" the performance of many of the MFS Equity Funds, not to mention increasing fees to MFS as fees are a function of assets. Many analysts are saying that this hurts Sun Life's credibility, but we are actually pleased as no deal is better than a bad deal. This still leaves Putnam Funds hanging out there as they were also mentioned as a buyout candidate. We will keep you informed as events unfold.

Click Here to View the YouTube Video News Release

Posted by Mike - Editor at 2:22 PM | Permalink

As a follow up to a story we first reported on September 20th of this year about both MFS and Putnam Funds being on the market, the Dow Jones News Service reported on Friday that Wachovia Corp. (WB) is a potential suitor or joint venture partner for MFS Funds.

Continue reading "Wachovia Is In Talks To Buy MFS Funds" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 1:35 PM | Permalink

Franklin Templeton Investments announced this week the launch of their Templeton Emerging Markets Small Cap Fund. This fund will be the first actively managed fund available to U.S. retail investors that focuses on smaller emerging market companies.

Continue reading "Franklin Templeton Launches Emerging Markets Small Cap Fund" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 2:11 PM | Permalink

The trend towards consolidation in the Mutual Fund Industry continued this week as two of the biggest players said they were considering selling or merging their mutual fund operations. Marsh & McClennan Cos. (MMC), the owner of the Putnam Family of Funds, and Canadian based Sun Life Financial, the owner of the MFS Family of Funds, both announced they had hired Investment Bankers to look at strategic alternatives for their money management operations.

Continue reading "Putnam Funds and MFS Funds May Be Sold or Merged" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 12:24 PM | Permalink

Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. announced yesterday the launch of Schwab Managed Portfolios (TM). Schwab Managed Portfolios consists of eight pre-defined mutual fund portfolios, each of which has a different objective and risk profile. Available for a minimum investment of $50,000, each portfolio will consist of upwards to 12 different mutual funds, with the specific fund selection and allocation managed by Charles Schwab Investment Management.

Continue reading "Schwab Launches Managed Mutual Fund Product" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 7:16 AM | Permalink

Franklin Templeton Funds announced on Monday the launch of their new Franklin Global Real Estate Fund. This comes on the heels of ING Funds that announced back in March of this year the launch of their International Real Estate Fund. It appears that the "securitization" of the global real estate market has started.

Continue reading "Franklin Templeton Launches Global Real Estate Fund" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 7:32 AM | Permalink

ManagingMoney.com sat down recently with Jim King, The Director of Portfolio Management, for Rydex Investments. Rydex Investments manages in excess of $13 billion dollars in over 51 mutual funds. Long known for innovation, Rydex is currently one of the largest sponsors of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs), and one of the few Fund Families offering Short and Leveraged Funds. Jim gives insights as to how investors can use Rydex's unique investment vehicles to gain market exposure to specific market sectors or control market risks.

Continue reading "Exclusive Interview with Rydex Investments" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 8:12 PM | Permalink

Fidelity Investments has announced that they will be closing their Contrafund to new investors effective April 28th. 2006. The Contrafund is currently Fidelity's largest fund, surpassing even their better known Fidelity Magellan Fund.
Why are they doing this? Is this a good thing?

Continue reading "Fidelity Contrafund is being Closed to New Investors" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 11:42 AM | Permalink

ProFunds announced today the launch of the first country-specific mutual fund for investors who believe the Japanese markets are ready to drop. Called the UltraShort Japan ProFund, the funds objective is to gain twice as much on a percentage basis as any decline on the U.S. traded, dollar-based Nikkei 225 futures contract on a daily basis.

Continue reading "ProFunds Launches First "Short" Japanese Fund" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 3:11 PM | Permalink

Posted by Mike - Editor at 10:29 AM | Permalink

Continue reading "Fidelity Funds Team up with Amazon.com" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 11:25 AM | Permalink

Continue reading "ING Launches International Real Estate Fund" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 11:56 AM | Permalink

Continue reading "Morningstar Begins Assigning "Star Rating" to Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 11:33 AM | Permalink

Continue reading "Fidelity Funds Improve Life-Cycle Freedom Funds" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 1:04 PM | Permalink

Continue reading "Schwab Launches Inflation Protected Fund" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 11:02 AM | Permalink

Continue reading "American Century Funds Team Up with Lance Armstrong" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 11:42 AM | Permalink

Continue reading "State Street Global Advisors Launch Three New ETFs" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 11:35 AM | Permalink

Continue reading "Vanguard Group and Harbor Fund both Introduce Small Company Funds" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 11:04 AM | Permalink

There are basically two ways to invest your money, either do-it-yourself or hire someone to do it for you. If you decide to hire an outside money manager, one of the most popular investing vehicles is the mutual fund. The first step in selecting an appropriate fund is being sure you understand the basics.

Continue reading "Mutual Fund Basics" »

Posted by Mike - Editor at 8:13 PM | Permalink