Stars are useful for astrologers to make money from their clients. The financial industry must have learnt business tricks from astrologers. It uses Stars, the Morningstar kind, to fool people and make money! There is a symbiotic relationship of mutualism between the industry and Morningstar. Unfortunately for investors, it’s “Catch 22.” It’s a sad situation for millions of people who … Read More

While mutual funds, index funds and ETFs can give a wide range of investment choices, it is important to remember that the goals of the industry providing these products are inherently different from your investment goals and guidance information.

Would it not be good to have hundreds of choices available to you right in your 401k account while you are employed? But what’s good for you might not be good for the employer, fund company, plan administrator or consultants.

We are totally surrounded by this myth. It’s deeply ingrained in us by the fund companies, brokers and advisors, and even by the universities. We have assumed that it is true, without looking at the facts.

Mutual funds, index funds and ETFs are portfolios consisting of stocks, bonds or other investible securities. All three provide convenient alternatives to creating your own portfolio of individual securities and then trading them periodically.

We have all heard these terms but what do they mean to us in terms of our investments? What do we need to be aware of when investing in funds? Do all these matter or are some less impactful on our investments than others?

There is a lot of talk about the adverse tax impact of dividends and capital gains (short and long term) distributions by mutual funds, while ETFs are said to not have such problems.

Are you investing successfully? In today’s uncertain global markets, the old ideas of buying a fund or even a stock, for that matter, and selling it only after 10 or 20 years, don’t work anymore.

Is your investment advisor looking out for you? We need to be careful in addressing this question. Unfortunately, there are so many misconceptions about the role, goals and skills of investment advisors, and there are so many differences between specific advisors and/or their companies, that we really cannot generalize.

Are ETFs and index funds better than mutual funds for investing?