Are you considering a particular investment, do you need assistance with establishing what your risk tolerance is, do you need help with a particular investment, do you want to know which passively managed funds have the lowest fees, or do you want to know an actively managed fund that has outperformed the market? Are you in the camp that people cannot beat the market and thus to go for the lowest cost fund?
Only 18% of people actually beat the market (through actively-managed funds) so you need to pick someone who is consistently in the top 5th just to match market returns so passive investing is a decent strategy. Are you a long-term investor, a trader, a short-term investor, or a little of each?
Are you interested in owning individual stocks and doing the research on each stock or are you interested in investing in a wide array of stocks through a mutual fund or ETF? Do you need any assistance reading a balance sheet, income statement, or cash-flow statement? We can provide basically any help you need as we all have specialties in different areas; some are good at value investing, some are good growth trend investors, some are technical analysis people, some have financial engineering techniques, and some are fundamental analysis people. If you need a strategy, you'll likely find it here. If you pick mutual funds,
pick only no-load mutual funds and if you choose funds that don't belong to the broker, make sure they are NTF no-load funds. ETFs tend to be better than mutual funds since they have much lower fees and expenses. As long as you have enough money ($2,500 or more), you can get free trades via Zecco or $7 trades via Scottrade. Hope this helps.
Share a little a bit about yourself and we would be glad to help. An ETF is usually the best investment vehicle for a long-term investor. The expenses on an ETF tend to be minimal. For a full list, go to
https://us.etrade.com/e/t/invest/mfs...&skinname=none
Hit stop or go back. Also consider,
ETF list - MSN Money
P.S. For your information,
read on if you have any questions about investing.
I would buy your ETF or stock at Zecco since they allow up to 40 trades per month free of charge; within 3 days, you could buy up the Dow Jones Industrial Average. If you don't have the money for Zecco, I would use Scottrade.
If you want good no-load NTF funds, I would choose either Fidelity or Scottrade. Unless you have at least $5,000, Vanguard and T Rowe Price should be considered second. If you have more than $5,000 to invest, you should consider Vanguard as a priority. I think you should be 50% balanced fund, 50% ETF as this will provide you with about 80% stocks, 15% bonds, 5% Cash.
Investment Horizon Time Table
Less than 2 years: TIPS, Savings Accounts, CDs, short-term municipals, Treasury Notes (when notes pay a competitive rate)
2-5 years: Conservative Funds (VASIX or FASIX), as well as 80% savings and 20% ETF, investment grade bonds, insured municipal bonds, TIPS or long-term CDs. 1/3 balanced fund and 2/3 savings is also acceptable.
Sample Mutual Fund/ETF Portfolio
FTHRX/FBNDX/FTBFX/VFICX
/LQD/
AGG/
IEF/
SHY/
TIP - 60%
VALIX/VGSTX/FGBLX/PAXWX/FSICX - 40%
or 50% VASIX and 50% FASIX
or 80% FTHRX/FBNDX/FTBFX/VFICX/
LQD/
AGG/
IEF/
BIV/SHY/
TIP and 20% VTI, VGK, VPL, EWJ, SPY, DIA, QQQQ, VO, and VBK.
5-12 years: Balanced Funds (VGSTX/FGBLX/VALIX/PAXWX), 1/2 ETF and 1/2 Savings, Intermediate Municipal Bonds, preferred stock, principal-protection notes (for intermediate/experienced investors only), dividend-paying stocks, GNMAS, Strategic Income Funds (FSICX) (40% minimum bonds)
Sample Mutual Fund/ETF Portfolio
FSICX/FTHRX/FBNDX/FTBFX/VFICX/VBLTX/GMNAs/
LQD/
AGG/
TLT/
IEF/
BIV/
SHY/
TIP - 40-60% (pick three or more investments)
FIVLX/FDVLX/
SPY/
VTI/
VV- 20-30% (pick 2 or more investments)
VLEOX/VBK/VO/FIGRX/FWWFX/
ADRE/
VPL//
FEZ/EWN/
EWT/
MDY/
VGK/
EWJ/
EWO/PZI/EEM/VWO/EWM - 10-30% (pick at least one investment per 15%)
or FGBLX 1/3; VGSTX 1/3; VALIX 1/3
12-15 years: Value Funds (FDVLX), international debt, international value funds (FIVLX) (20-30% bonds minimum). The main priority in this time frame is diversification as you don't want to blow your cash. However, you do want to continue to earn decent returns (8-11% per year) so that your money out-paces inflation. Bear markets can last 15-20 years (look at the Nikkei), thus growth funds aren't really appropriate for this time frame.
Sample Mutual Fund/ETF Portfolio for 12-15+ year period
FSICX/FTHRX/FBNDX/FTBFX/VFICX/VBLTX/GMNAs/
LQD/
AGG/BIV/TLT/
IEF/
SHY/
TIP - 15% (pick one or two investments)
VALIX/VGSTX/FGBLX/PAXWX - 10% (pick one investment)
FIVLX/FDVLX/
SPY/
VTI/
VV- 30% (pick 2 or more investments)
VLEOX/VBK/VO/FIGRX/FWWFX/FAGIX (junk bonds) /
ADRE/
VPL//
FEZ/EWN/
EWT/
MDY/
VGK/
EWJ/
EWO- 30% (pick two or more investments, no more than one small/mid-cap)
PZI/EEM/VWO/EWM = 10% (pick one investment)
5% Cash
Approximate Asset Ratio
76% Stocks, 19% Bonds; 5% Cash
or
Sample ETF-Only Portfolio for 12-15+ year period
GMNAs/LQD/AGG/TLT/BIV/IEF/SHY/TIP - 10-30% (pick at least one investment per 15% invested)
VGK/SPY/VTI/EWJ/IOO/EWO/VPL/FEZ/EWN/MDY - 55-80% (pick 2 or more investments)
VBK/VO/ADRE/PZI/EEM/VWO/EWM/EWT - 10-30% (pick at least one investment per 15% invested)
0-5% Cash
Approximate Asset Ratio
65-90% Stocks; 10-30% Bonds; 0-5% cash
Goal
A sample portfolio may consist of:
30-60% developed market international (non-emerging markets)
10% emerging market
30-60% domestic
&
60-70% large cap
20-30% small/mid cap
10% micro cap.
&
60% value funds
20-30% bonds
10-20% growth funds
15-20 years: Broad-based market funds (VTI/VTSMX), international funds (VGK/EWJ/VGSTX/FIGRX/IOO), emerging market funds (EEM), REITS (FIREX), municipal revenue bonds, junk bonds (FAGIX) (when risk-premiums are higher) long-term bonds (15-25% bonds minimum) as well as any investments listed above.
20-25 years: Growth Funds , emerging markets, emerging market debt, small companies stock (VLEOX), microcap stocks (PZI), income bonds, limited partnerships, and other forms of speculative stock as well as any stocks above on the list (15-25% bonds)
25+ years: Speculative plays, individual stocks, shorting stocks/ETFs, leveraged stocks (such as SSO (200% long S&P), SDS (200% short S&P), DDM (200% long Dow), DXD (200% short Dow), SRS (200% short real-estate)), stock options, as well as any item above on the list
If you want to buy individual stocks, I would ask, are you diversified? You should have at least five equity groups and a fixed-income (cash) portfolio.
Am I Diversified?
Group 1 are your consumer staples / health-care stocks.
Group 2 is your financial service stocks.
Group 3 are your tech stocks
Group 4 are your defense/conglomerate stocks
Group 5 are your construction stocks
Group 6 are your reliable retail stocks
Group 7 are your telecommunication stocks
Group 8 are your oil/energy stocks
Group 9 are your utilities stocks
Group 10 are your real estate stocks
Group 11 are your commodities/currency stocks
Group 12 are your speculative stocks.
Group 13 is your fixed income (cash/bond) portfolio