
In this section, you will find timeless educational articles that have been written to help financial advisors and individual investors learn more about investing in mutual funds. We look at mutual fund basics, how to choose the right mutual funds, expenses, tax implications, investing strategies, and everything else you need to know when getting involved in these investment vehicles. Click on any of the articles below to read more, and if you require more information, please contact us to let us know what we're missing.
Factor Investing: An Overview
2019-01-29The impact of data and technology on our investment decisions has elevated the role of factors in...
Learn About Class R Shares
2019-01-15Mutual funds have become a staple of the modern investor. If you have a 401(k) or...
Traditional IRA vs. Roth IRA: Which Is Right for You?
2019-01-01Perhaps the biggest single item you’ll save for is retirement. It takes a hefty amount of cash in...
Who Are Institutional Investors?
2018-12-18In the world of finance, institutional investors are a powerful force. They dictate supply and...
Fulcrum Fees May Save Active Management & Your Portfolio
2018-11-20There are a couple of really big detriments that help govern success when it comes to investing....
How to Buy Mutual Funds
2018-11-06’How to buy mutual funds’ is a topic that comes up frequently among new investors. Luckily, the...
Understanding Fund of Funds
2018-10-23Considering that there were close to 8,000 different mutual funds in the U.S. alone by the end of...
Alternative Mutual Funds vs. Hedge Funds
2018-09-25Despite being overlooked by a large segment of the investing community, alternative mutual funds...
Understanding Socially Responsible Investing
2018-09-11For many investors in today’s world, profitability is no longer the sole motivation of successful...
Investing in Precious Metals Funds
2018-08-28Precious metals like gold and silver stand out among commodities for being a little different....
Global Mutual Funds vs. International Mutual Funds
2018-08-14It might not seem obvious, but there’s a big difference between global and international...
Top 10 Dividend Funds to Own
2018-08-07Any serious investor should have a deep understanding of the importance of how dividends affect...
What are Green Bond Funds?
2018-07-24In the age of environmental awareness and corporate social responsibility, green bond funds are...
Bonds Versus Bond Funds
2018-07-17Most investors know that the two basic components of any diversified portfolio includes stocks...
Bill Making Munis HQLA Passed
2018-07-10On May 24, 2018, President Donald J. Trump signed into effect the bill S. 2155, also known as the...
SEC to Let Mutual Funds Go Paperless in 2021
2018-07-03On June 4, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) voted to improve the experience for...
Growth Funds Versus Value Funds
2018-06-26There’s no lack of diversity when it comes to equity mutual funds.
Five Tricks You Can Learn From Professional Money Managers
2018-06-19Mutual fund managers like John Neff and Peter Lynch are revered in the financial industry because...
Index Mutual Funds Versus ETFs
2018-06-12One ongoing debate in the investment community has always been: Which is the better investment,...
Decoding the Mutual Fund Prospectus
2018-06-05An extremely important document often overlooked by investors is the mutual fund prospectus.
Introduction To IRAs
2018-05-22Individual Retirement Accounts, more popularly known as IRAs, are one of the most common...
Implications of Holding Mutual Funds Outside Tax-Advantaged Accounts
2018-05-15Mutual funds are great investment vehicles for the average person since they offer professional...
Tips for Picking the Best Active Fund Managers
2018-05-08Investors are routinely faced with pertinent questions about how to best manage their portfolio....
Mutual Funds vs. Hedge Funds
2018-05-01Mutual funds are one of the most commonly used investment vehicles available to the general...
When Should Mutual Fund Investors Rebalance or Adjust Their Portfolio?
2018-04-17One of the fundamentals of investing that is often overlooked is rebalancing.
Rebalancing a...
Do Interval Funds Belong in Your Portfolio?
2018-04-10Mutual funds are one of the most common investment vehicles available to the public today, with...
Series D & N Mutual Funds: The New Share Classes of the Future
2018-04-03Mutual funds are a great way for the typical person to invest because they offer diversification...
Different Types of Liquid Alternative Investment Strategies (Part 2)
2018-03-27It wasn’t so long ago that the idea of adding more than just stocks and bonds to an...
Different Types of Liquid Alternative Investment Strategies (Part 1)
2018-03-20It wasn’t so long ago that the idea of adding more than just stocks and bonds to an...
A Brief Guide to Investment Companies
2018-03-13Investment companies come in many different flavors in order to appeal to any investor no matter...
Mutual Funds vs. Annuities
2018-03-06Mutual funds and annuities are very common investment vehicles that the average person might...
Mutual Funds vs. Unit Investment Trusts (UITs)
2018-02-27Mutual funds and Unit Investment Trusts are both investment vehicles that allow investors to own...
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About 401(k) Retirement Plans
2018-02-26Retirement planning is probably the longest-running action plan you’ll ever have in your...
Benefits of Core-Satellite Investing
2018-02-20The core-satellite investing strategy involves splitting a portfolio into two parts.
The “core”...
Understanding the Core-Satellite Approach to Portfolio Construction
2018-02-13In a world where analysts and advisors are espousing any number of ideas to help build the ‘right...
Understanding the Shadow Price of a Money Market Fund
2018-02-06Money market funds are popular cash management vehicles as they seek to maintain a stable net...
How to Choose Donor-Advised Funds
2018-01-30Donor-advised funds (DAFs) are investment vehicles administered by charities that can invest in...
What Are Donor-Advised Funds?
2018-01-23Donor-advised funds (DAF) are investment vehicles administered by charities. Similar to a mutual...
New Liquidity Risk Management Rules: Overview
2018-01-16On October 13, 2016, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a new set of rules to...
Evaluating the Top 5 Winners and Laggards of 2017
2018-01-092017 might be remembered as the year in which you could make money by investing in almost...
Introduction to "Clean Shares" in the Mutual Fund Space
2017-12-26The Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule has been great for investors looking to operate on a...
Evaluating the Most Important Criteria for Selecting an Appropriate Mutual Fund
2017-12-19Regardless of what your specific investment goals are, there are several easily identifiable...
Impact of Investment Advice on Portfolio Returns
2017-12-12For many investors, the financial markets and managing a portfolio of investments are far from...
Implications of Liquidity Risks in Mutual Funds
2017-11-28If you think commission is the only price you pay for buying or selling stocks and other...
Understanding the Trend in Mutual Fund Expenses
2017-09-05The markets will always go up and down and investors can never know for sure what type of return...
Top 5 Reasons for Retail Investors to Invest in Passive Funds
2017-08-22Index funds have been around for decades, but it’s only in the past several years that investing...
Introduction to Hedge Fund Strategies in Mutual Fund Investing
2017-07-25As billions of dollars continue to pour into passively managed index mutual funds, active...
How Short Selling and Leverage Impact Your Mutual Fund Returns
2017-07-18One of the downsides of the fund industry boom is that it has produced some offerings that are...
Implications of the UK Election on Your Portfolio
2017-07-11When British Prime Minister Theresa May called for a snap election back in April, her...
A Long-Term Perspective on Infrastructure Funds
2017-06-13One of President Donald Trump’s campaign promises was to commit up to $1 trillion toward...
How to Capitalize on Rising Populism in the UK
2017-06-06British citizens will be going to the polls on June 8 in a surprise snap election that could...
Differentiating Between a Fund’s NAV and Total Return
2017-05-30Many investors assume that changes in a mutual fund’s net asset value (NAV) correlate directly to...
What Is Floating NAV for Money Market Funds?
2017-05-23For decades, investors in money market mutual funds have assumed that their shares will always be...
What Is Swing Pricing for Mutual Funds?
2017-05-16Fund providers continue to establish policies designed to protect their shareholders from...
What Is Fair Value Pricing for Mutual Funds?
2017-05-09Most investors understand that a mutual fund’s net asset value (NAV) reflects the total value of...
Who Trades on Momentum, and Who Is on the Other Side?
2016-08-17Momentum is the tendency for assets that have performed well (poorly) in the recent past to...
Short-Term Performance and Mutual Fund Size
2016-07-20Javier Vidal-García, author of the June 2016 paper Short-Term Performance and Mutual Fund Size,...
Alpha and the Paradox of Skill
2016-07-06What most people fail to comprehend is that in many forms of competition — such as chess, poker,...
“Sin” as an Investment Strategy
2016-06-29An increasingly popular method of investing has been socially responsible investing (SRI), an...
Actively Managed Mutual Funds and the Negative Alpha of Taxes
2016-06-08An overwhelming body of evidence demonstrates that the majority of investors who engage in the...
The Nominal Price Illusion
2016-05-24While the level of a company’s stock price is arbitrary, because it can be manipulated by firms...
Fundamental Analysis for Mutual Funds
2016-05-12Understanding how to analyze a financial product is an essential skill that investors need to...
The Influence of Recent Market Returns on the Risk Tolerance of Individual Investors (Part 2)
2016-05-03Last week, we examined a study that found investors’ risk tolerance fluctuates positively with...
The Influence of Recent Market Returns on the Risk Tolerance of Individual Investors (Part 1)
2016-04-26The recency effect—that the most recent observations have the largest impact on an individual’s...
What (De)Regulation Q Means for Your Portfolio
2016-04-13Federal laws and regulations that are enacted can last decades, but they tend to change after a...
Mutual Fund Classifications You Should Know
2016-03-23Most investors know that diversification helps increase risk-adjusted returns, but...
Should You Invest in Alternative Mutual Funds?
2016-01-05The investment community is a dynamic environment, with new products arising constantly to meet...
Mutual Fund Diversification Fundamentals
2015-12-28Mutual funds are attractive investments because they offer a lot of diversification in an...
Analyzing Mutual Funds Beyond Expense Ratios
2015-12-24Investors have more than 8,000 different mutual funds to choose from in the U.S. alone, according...
Why You Need Mutual Funds in Your Portfolio, Even if You Own ETFs
2015-12-23Everyone loves ETFs: Business magazines, news channels, analysts and finance websites—no one can...
The Top Small-Cap Mutual Funds
2015-12-21Small-caps are stocks with market capitalizations of generally $2 billion or less. Market...
Taking A Closer Look At Index Funds
2015-12-08If you have a retirement account such as a 401K or IRA, you’re probably already at least...
Mutual Fund-amentals
2015-11-23The mutual fund industry is a highly competitive space, with thousands of possibilities available...
Top 5 Mutual Fund Managers
2015-10-29Chasing alpha means following fund managers with the greatest success records. Most investors are...
Mutual Fund Primer: Don’t Invest Till You Learn the Basics
2015-10-27Mutual funds give investors access to some of the brightest minds in finance. There are three...
How to Access Hot IPOs Through Mutual Funds
2015-10-23Initial public offerings (“IPOs”) have long captured the public’s imagination, as popular...
Redefining What Proper Asset Allocation Really Means
2015-10-21Asset allocation is a critical component to the success of any investment plan, whether it’s...
What Is A Mutual Fund SIP?
2015-10-15A systematic investment plan (SIP) is a simplified way to invest in mutual funds. A predetermined...
How to Know If You Are Paying Too Much in Fees
2015-10-15Paying fees on your investments is a given. Here’s how to spot them and what to do about them.
...
Dollar-Cost Averaging Explained for Mutual Fund Investors
2015-03-31There are many different types of systematic savings plans for mutual funds, but dollar-cost...
Buy and Hold vs. Market Timing: A Guide for Mutual Fund Investors
2015-03-19One of the many common debates in the mutual fund industry pits the advocates of a buy and hold...
An Introduction to Drawdown Risk
2015-03-10Mutual funds can be vulnerable to many types of risks. The type and amount will vary according to...
Mutual Funds and Securities Lending
2015-02-24On the surface, investing in a mutual fund seems pretty straightforward. However, even buying the...
7 Behavioral Biases Mutual Fund Investors Must Avoid
2015-01-27The majority of investors in mutual funds will underperform the market time and time again, and...
Dividend Reinvesting Explained for Mutual Fund Investors
2014-12-02Dividend reinvestment plans, or DRIPs, are one of the easiest ways to cut investing expenses and...
Everything Mutual Fund Investors Need to Know About Cost Basis Reporting
2014-11-13For investors, buying and selling shares of mutual funds isn’t just as simple as clicking a few...
10 Reasons Why Financial Advisors Choose Mutual Funds
2014-10-28Mutual funds have grown in popularity over the past several decades for many reasons. They are...
Under the Hood of the 10 Biggest Mutual Funds
2014-10-14Since their creation, mutual funds have helped investors—both retail and...
10 Biggest Mutual Fund Investing Myths Debunked
2014-10-08Mutual funds as an investment offer a variety of benefits. They allow individual investors access...
7 Essential Tax Tips for Mutual Fund Investors
2014-10-01How to Research Mutual Funds
2014-09-26For investors looking to add mutual funds to their portfolio, making the decision on what fund to...
How Big Is the Mutual Fund Industry?
2014-09-25[Updated on August 29, 2017 by David Dierking] The $17 trillion mutual fund industry remains one...
The 7 Biggest Mistakes to Avoid When Investing in Mutual Funds
2014-09-23A Guide to the Turnover Ratio
2014-09-23There are many technical characteristics that reflect how a mutual fund is operated and its...
ETFs vs. Mutual Funds: The Similarities and Differences
2014-09-22Mutual funds have been very popular to invest in for the past few decades. Exchange traded funds,...
10 Ways to Beat Inflation with Mutual Funds
2014-09-19The Benefits of Mutual Funds
2014-09-18The 15 Most Notorious Wall Street Villains
2014-09-18A Guide to the Different Types of Mutual Funds
2014-09-17When looking at mutual funds, there are many different types to choose from. It is important to...
25 Online Tools for Mutual Fund Investors
2014-09-17Mutual funds provide investors with an easy way to participate in the financial markets. While...
How Are Mutual Funds Traded?
2014-09-16How Mutual Funds Are Taxed
2014-09-15What Happens When Mutual Funds Are Redeemed or Sold?
2014-09-12For most investors, the idea of buying a mutual fund is easy. After you choose a fund and...
25 Tweeples to Follow During Earnings Season
2014-09-11Earnings season is by far one of the busiest times of the year on Wall Street, as companies...
The Cheapest Mutual Funds for Every Investment Objective
2014-09-11What Does a Mutual Fund Manager Do?
2014-09-10For investors, one of the key selling points of mutual funds is that someone manages the...