Inflation Investing

Inflation Strategy for Your Investments Inflation has been largely under control since the early 80's. The current economic conditions are anything but typical, however. The government is spending previously unheard of sums to try and get the jobs engine working again. The implications of this heavy federal spending are significant. In the past, heavy government spending has resulted in inflation. Economists generally agree that high rates of inflation and hyperinflation are caused by an excessive growth of the money supply (according to Wikipedia).

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Hedge Funds, Technology, and the Global Macro Trader

Until hedge funds started to become popularized in the late 1990's we really had a stagnant software market for the sophisticated investor. Since hedge funds tend to push the limits of traditional investing in their pursuit of profits it was a natural extension for them to go looking for new ways to profit and extract alpha or profit. Over the last fifteen years or so all manner of hedge funds whether they be a global macro trader or a guy doing volatility arbitrage have all built and used more and more sophisticated software and computing power to get more of the ever alluding edge that we all want.

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What Sort of Investor Are You?

Investing your money is certainly a game. We are all taking a gamble with our money when we speculate on where we are going to invest and we do so in the hope that we are going to make some decent money at some point in the future. Let's face it, if this wasn't our end objective why would we bother to invest. However, there is more to an investment than just speculating where to put your money and waiting. There is the journey and lots of people tend to ignore the fact that to make wealth you have to experience a journey. You need to go on a trip and that trip is full of many surprises and lots of ups and downs.

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Investment Performance Expectations and Broker Account Statements

As impossible as it is to predict the future of the markets, it's relatively easy to anticipate what you are going to experience when you view your next brokerage account statement. Whether you go the discount route through Schwab, Ameritrade, Fidelity, etc., or enjoy a higher level of service through an independent like LMK Wealth Management, you should never be surprised by the market values reflected on your monthly statement. None of the firms make it easy for you to examine asset allocation, particularly on a working capital basis, and most refuse to even acknowledge that Municipal CEFs should not be lumped in with the equities.

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Investing in Silver

For those who lost money in the stock market over the last two years in the aftermath of the banking and real estate debacles, the prospect of investing again can be somewhat frightening. Of course this assumes that we have money left to invest! For the sake of argument, we will assume you do. In addition to their homes, most Americans have increasingly invested in the stock market. While many of them may have researched in detail the companies they selected, the reality is that most did not and that many individuals did little more than invest in a piece of paper labeled stock.

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Why Choose Golden Eagle Coins? A Smart Investment Decision

Investors or collectors who want to start accumulating gold coins are often confused by the multitude of coins available. From the first collector targeted gold Krugerrand to the vast array of coins that are able to be purchased today, people have always had a tremendous amount of choice when it comes to buying gold products. However, it is often the case that the safest bets are from the largest, most reputable companies - or, putting it in the case of coins, buying from the U.S. government is certain to get you a quality product. For this reason, we're going to take a look at the golden Eagle coins to see if they are right for you.

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Private Equity - A Modern History

Private equity is a term that has developed over the 20th Century during various boom and bust cycles, and with this came the terming of various asset classes - namely the various kinds of private equity investment. Under this broad heading two major sub sectors came about in the form of leveraged buyouts and venture capital. The first era of the private equity age came about from 1946 through to 1981, which saw relatively low levels of private equity investment - where the term still did not mean a great deal to the vast majority of investors. What is known as the First Boom and Bust Cycle took place from 1982 to 1993, which saw a large increase in leveraged buyouts climaxing in the huge buyout of the RJR Nabisco.

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What Are the Largest ETF Companies?

The largest ETF was also the first of the exchange traded funds. Standard & Poor's 500 Index Depository Receipts or SPDR was created in 1993 and is still the most popular in terms of trading activity. Commonly referred to as "spiders", the fund is managed by State Street Global Advisors and tracks the S&P 500 index. The fund's assets are in excess of $60 million (US). It is considered a fairly inexpensive investment, although ETFs in general are less expensive than mutual and index funds. Anyone would agree that the spiders are the largest ETFs, but the next fund on the list, the second largest and subsequent ones, will vary depending on whose list you look at.

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What Are ETF Trends?

ETF trends are guidelines used by traders to identify market entry and exit points, in other words when to buy and when to sell. ETFs are "Exchange-Traded Funds". They are something like mutual funds, but there are differences. Funds, of all kinds, give small investors access to a wider range of investment choices. The funds are managed professionally and diversified. Assets held within the fund may include stocks, bonds and other securities. So, it resembles a smart investor's portfolio. Instead of being held by a single investor, funds are held by a large number of investors.

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What Types of ETFs Are There?

There are many types of ETFs or "Exchange Traded Funds". Let's start with the three basics. These are exchange traded: open end index mutual fund (passively managed) unit investment trust, abbreviated UIT (actively managed) guarantor trust The term "exchange-traded" means that the funds are traded on the stock market. By contrast, shares of standard mutual funds are bought and sold through the company that manages the fund. Shares of ETFs are bought and sold on the market floor, just like an individual stock. But, the items in the ETF portfolio will include a number of different assets.

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