15 Best No-Load Mutual Funds for 2009 and Beyond

Amey S — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 05:52:01 +0000

Within the stock trading community, mutual funds tend to be looked down upon. Mainly because these funds are commonly associated with high costs and low performances.

Now that banks have cut their 5% savings interest rates down to below 2, there are actually some enticing no-load mutual funds available for people looking to make more than what their banks currently offer.

To even the playing field…

A mutual fund is essentially a collection of money from several investors, which is then invested and managed by some investment firm.

Originally, mutual funds were looked down upon because of their high commissions and fees with lackluster returns; however, with the popularity of no-load mutual funds, now investors can avoid paying commission for every share traded.

Many people are now also looking at ETF’s as a substitute to mutual funds.

Below are the best 15 no-load mutual funds as rated by Kiplinger’s. Use MorningStar to conduct market research and look up symbol data.

No-Load U.S. Stock Mutual Funds

Baron Small Cap (BSCFX)
CMG Focus (CGMFX)
Dodge & Cox Stock (DODGX)
Fidelity Contrafund (FCNTX)
Longleaf Partners (LLPFX)
Selected American Sahres S (SLASX)
T. Rowe Price Equity Income (PRFDX)
T. Rowe Price Mid-Cap Growth
T. Rowe Price Small-Cap Growth

No-Load International Stock Mutual Funds

Artio International Equity II A (JETAX)
Dodge & Cox Int’l Stock (DODFX)

No-Load Bond Mutual Funds

Dodge & Cox Income (DODIX)
Harbor Bond Institutional (HABDX)
Loomis Sayles Bond (LSBRX)
Vanguard Infl-Protected Secs (VIPSX)

Check out the best brokerages and commissions for mutual fund investing.

What Is An Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF)

Amey S — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:18:26 +0000

You probably hear it all the time now. It seems like over the last couple of years, traders are looking to broaden their diversity like a mutual fund, but seek the same returns and benefits of stock. Thanks to exchange-traded funds (ETFs). This is all possible.

The official definition of an exchange-traded fund is (according to investopedia)

A security that tracks an index, a commodity or a basket of assets like an index fund, but trades like a stock on an exchange. ETFs experience price changes throughout the day as they are bought and sold.

Why invest in an ETF?

Like stated at the very beginning of this article, an ETF allows you to increase your diversity, but still trade it like a stock. For example, if you like the financial sector, then why pick just one stock to invest? You could find an ETF that traces the gains and losses of a collection of financial stocks. That way you are not required to pick the winner out of the group.

It seems like there are ETFs that cover almost every sector and index now. You can see a full list of ETF’s over at Yahoo’s database and 40 Great Inverse / Short ETFs For Bearish Investors. There is also a form called a leveraged ETF, which makes 2 to 3x returns of the index its tracking.