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Posts Tagged ‘index funds’

Investing in ETFs or index funds?

October 15th, 2010

I inherited a managed account at a large brokerage. I’ve read that index funds generall outperform index funds with less cost. I asked my broker about transferring to index funds and she wouldn’t acknowlege me. The fifth time I mentioned it, she said, "Oh, ETFs". She then picked out a handfull of investments and expects me to go along with it. I only have a very general knowledge of this. Any input would be appreciated.
Hmm, I just read this again and realized I said that I heard index funds outperform index funds – I should say index funds frequently outperform actively managed portfolios.
I didn’t see any answers here for almost a week, and finally called her. I kept asking her about index funds and she kept referring me to ETFs. I diversified between two of them.
I read some of them and still effectively managed abd she seemed acknowlege that but skirted around that issue when I mentioned it.
I’ve found it extremely frustrating that all of the reading I’ve done about this – it’s all been in very general terms with nothing said about any specific funds – of which there are hundreds to choose from.

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Technorati Tags: abd, brokerage, fifth time, general knowledge, handfull, index funds, investments, portfolios

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Tags: abd, brokerage, fifth time, general knowledge, handfull, index funds, investments, portfolios |

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Buy Vanguard Index Funds?

October 11th, 2010

Hey Guys
I have a brokerage account with my personal bank(lets call it ABC).ABC charges me some fees when i buy No-Load index funds from vanguard.is it possible to buy those funds directly from vanguard without having an account with them?
also a more general question,is it a good idea to invest in index funds (vanguard or any other) if i need a modest return (may be 7%-10%).i know it will be speculation but just some experience from investors will help:)
Thanks
@Martha
If you can’t add value to question,post don’t waste my and your time by posting your comments.

@Other experts
Yeah i know i can open an account with them,but just want to know if i can buy directly from them or not.

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Technorati Tags: abc, brokerage account, hey guys, index funds, investors, load index, martha, personal bank, speculation, vanguard

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Tags: abc, brokerage account, hey guys, index funds, investors, load index, martha, personal bank, speculation, vanguard |

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Index funds and Borkerage fee?

October 9th, 2010

Hello All,

I would appricate if someone can please answer my quesitons.
I am trying to invest in one of the vangauard index funds but not sure if i open an account directly with them,if it will save me any borkerage fee.
It will not be IRA account, just a regular joint taxable account. Initially I will fund 00 in it and then I plan to put 0/month.
If i do it through etrde, iassume that i will pay borkerage fee each month/quarter which will get expensive overtime.
Any idea if vangauard will charge me same brokerage fee if i keep funding my account every month?

thanks for help

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Technorati Tags: brokerage fee, index funds, ira account, overtime

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Tags: brokerage fee, index funds, ira account, overtime |

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Index Funds – making money?

October 9th, 2010

I’ve invested in 2 index funds through Vanguard and with the market fluctuating almost daily, I’m wondering if I should transfer the money made into my bank account when it’s at a higher price. How does this work? Would I get taxed on the money that I’m "making"? Is this recommended or should I just keep the money in the fund for awhile until I make a bigger sum? Perhaps I just don’t understand how this works, but if I started my fund at 0 and today it went up to 0, could I just take the and put it in my bank account as if it was money I earned? Please advise!

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Technorati Tags: index funds, money, vanguard

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Why do managed index funds seem to have a one-day delay on the market?

October 6th, 2010

In following index funds over the past few years, I’ve noticed a strange phenomenon. It seems that (passively and actively managed) index funds seem to have a one-day delay on the actual market. For example, if the DJIA has an awesome rally of +5% on Day 1, then the index funds don’t show the gains until Day 2. Some example index funds that demonstrate this phenomenon are VFINX, JMCVX, and JAVLX.

Thanks for your help!
Thanks for your answers so far. So, with non-ETF index funds, if I want to capture the state of the market’s performance on Day 0, I should buy on Day 0, and the price I pay is the price at the close of Day 0. Is this correct?

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Technorati Tags: close of day, djia, index funds, rally, strange phenomenon, thanks for your help

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Tags: close of day, djia, index funds, rally, strange phenomenon, thanks for your help |

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clarification on index funds?

October 5th, 2010

I’m 19 years old and trying to plan for my future. I’ve been trying to do research on things to invest in and originally i went into this looking into buying a mutual fund. most of the information i found said that mutual funds arent the way to go but index funds are where its at. Ive been looking into this "VTSMX" fund but I just don’t understand how i’ll really make money with it long term. I just don’t understand how its a good long term investment. The stock market goes up 2 out of every 3 years i read somewhere but it seems like like it takes 2 years to recover from how long it got at one point. so how do I make money on an index fund when it just platues. As far as the fund is concerned it went to 35$ at one point and then came back down to 14 and then continued to rise to 38 again. I guess I just don’t quite understand and have alot more learning to go. any insight would be wonderful

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Technorati Tags: 19 years, 3 years, how do i make money, index fund, index funds, insight, long term investment, mutual fund, mutual funds, quot, stock market

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Tags: 19 years, 3 years, how do i make money, index fund, index funds, insight, long term investment, mutual fund, mutual funds, quot, stock market |

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What index funds should I invest in? (I have Fidelity)?

October 4th, 2010

Okay, I keep reading that the best, safest way to invest is to buy Index funds. I have looked into these and most of these have minimums at least 2500, 10k, or even 100k. If I have 20k to invest and I want to have a diversified portfolio, how should I invest this 20k into the index funds?

I currently have an extra 1500 that i invest in individual stocks.

What is the difference between a mutual fund vs index fund?

Any input will be greatly thankful. Thanks and have a great day!

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Technorati Tags: diversified portfolio, index fund, index funds, mutual fund, stocks

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Tags: diversified portfolio, index fund, index funds, mutual fund, stocks |

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ETF vs. Index funds?

October 2nd, 2010

Please cite the differences between ETFs, Index funds and mutual funds..

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Technorati Tags: index funds, mutual funds

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I invest in 5 different index funds for my ROTH IRA. Do you think this mixture is good?

October 1st, 2010

I invest in 5 index funds through Vanguard but am always second guessing myself. I plan on holding these funds long term. I am currently 39 years old. The five funds are 1) Emerging Markets Index Fund 2) Total International Index Fund 3) 500 Index Fund 4) Large Cap Value Fund 5) Small Cap Index Fund.

What do you think? As you see above, I try to keep each fund at about 20% of the total value. So as you see, that means 40% is in international. 60% is in US index funds. Is this a good mixture?

Please help!!

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Technorati Tags: cap index, cap value, emerging markets, index fund, index funds, international index, large cap value fund, markets index, mixture, small cap, total value, vanguard

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Tags: cap index, cap value, emerging markets, index fund, index funds, international index, large cap value fund, markets index, mixture, small cap, total value, vanguard |

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Mutual funds transferred to an Index fund?

September 29th, 2010

Hey, certainly not the right place to ask important financial questions but did need some quick clarification…

Listening to NPR today and one of the top performing investor’s overall recommendation was that basically, a basic index fund will, on average, out perform any Mutual fund. And, because Index funds have less fees associated with them, the investor really will make out far better in the long run. His advice was, of course, not to pull your money out of your investment account but to perhaps transfer it to an Index Fund.

Since this was really limited information, my question was really about how the mutual fund works. I’ve lost, say, 30k in the 3 different mutual funds I have now. Shouldn’t I just leave the money in (since it’s already a loss) and hope the value goes up in the next 10 years? Or, within the mutual fund are the stocks constantly trading so the stock my mutual fund holds now, will not be the same stock in it 10 years from now. If the later is the case, I can see why moving it to an index fund makes sense. But if investors usually keep the same core stocks, then isn’t transferring my money to an Index fund the same as pulling out of the market? Does this make sense?