Investing
Prosper Relaunches, Becomes Prosper Loans Marketplace
Prosper, once the largest operator of peer-to-peer lending until it shut down its operation in October 2008 amid regulatory scrutiny, has relaunched yesterday and now it’s called Prosper Loans Marketplace, with a twist on how to lend and borrow. However, since the Prosper is still in the process of completing registration with the Security and [...]
Investing in My SEP-IRA Account
Before the April 15th tax deadline, I opened and funded a SEP-IRA account with Fidelity. The reason I chose Fidelity is that it is also the custodian of my 401(k) and my daughter’s 529 account (I am using the Fidelity UNIQUE plan which is tied to the Fidelity 529 Rewards Card). In addition, I also [...]
Index Mutual Funds Are Still Not Popular, But
Are you investing in equity mutual funds? If so, are you using index funds or actively managed funds?
I have mentioned a few times in the past that even though I use all index funds in my retirement savings accounts, I have nothing but actively managed funds in taxable accounts. The reason isn’t that I don’t [...]
Target-Date Funds Aren’t That Safe
One of the main advantages of target-date funds, or lifecycle funds, is that the asset allocation of these funds is automatically adjusted as the target date approaches, going from aggressive (more stocks, less bonds) in the early stage to conservative (more bonds, less stocks). With target-date funds, investors leave the the job of adjusting and [...]
Morningstar’s New Chart Tool Is Impressive
Whenever I need data on mutual funds, whether it’s a fund’s expense ratio, risk measures, or return, I always go to morningstar.com. It has been my trust tool for fund research for year, not only for mutual funds, but for ETFs as well. Then yesterday when I went to Morningstar to get some data for [...]
Discount Broker Comparison
The best online discount brokers don’t necessarily offer the best value for investors. Before selecting an online brokerage, it’s better to know how much it will cost you to invest with it, even though cost isn’t the only concern.
When I look for a discount broker, one of the most important pieces of information I always [...]
IPOs on Deck: Rosetta Stone (RST) and Bridgepoint Education (BPI)
The U.S. IPO market is pretty much dried up. In 2008, a total of 43 companies went public, only 8 in the second half of the year, according to a report from Renaissance Capital, as the crisis in the financial market forced companies abandon plans to go public. So far in 2009, only 2 initial [...]
How Long Does It Take Your Broker to Answer Your Call?
I am sure you have called your broker on occasions when you had a problem with your account. Usually, how long did it take for your broker to answer your phone call? Were you be able to talk to a broker when you needed immediate assistance with your trades?
I have a few brokerage accounts and [...]
Vanguard Launched FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap ETF
Mutual fund giant Vanguard Group launched a new exchanged-traded fund (ETF) last week. The Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US Small-Cap ETF (VSS), incepted on April 2, tracks the performance of the FTSE Global Small-Cap ex-US Index. According to FTSE, the Global Small-Cap ex-US Index is a freefloat-adjusted, market-capitalization-weighted index that covers more than 3,300 small-cap stocks [...]
Zecco Introduced New Services
I haven’t used Zecco for a long time, especially after they introduced the new pricing structure , which requires $25,000 account minimum or 25 trades every month in order to get 10 commission free trades per month, early this year. All my recent trades were done with Scottrade, using free trades I neared from the [...]
