Top 7 Fidelity Mutual Funds 2010

This article is all about Popular Fidelity Mutual Funds. The list includes Top 7 Popular Fidelity Mutual Funds. All in the list are classified stock fund (equity fund) or diversified fund. The top funds include Fidelity Contrafund, Fidelity Spartan 500 Index, Fidelity Diversified International and more.

Top 7 Popular Best Fidelity Mutual Funds:

1. Fidelity Contrafund
2. Fidelity Spartan 500 Index
3. Fidelity Diversified International
4. Fidelity Growth Company
5. Fidelity Low-Priced Stock
6. Fidelity Puritan
7. Fidelity Total Bond

You can also check my new post.

Top 6 Popular Diversified Emerging Market Stock ETF

There are 3 different ways to invest in diversified emerging market stock funds such as through mutual fund, exchange traded fund (ETF) and closed end fund (CEF). In this post, it is all about Top 6 Popular Diversified Emerging Market Stock ETF such as iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index, iShares MSCI BRIC Index  and more.

Top 6 Popular Diversified Emerging Market Stock ETFs:

1. iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index
2. Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock ETF
3. SPDR S&P Emerging Markets Small Cap
4. iShares MSCI BRIC Index
5. Guggenheim BRIC
6. WisdomTree Emerging Markets Equity Inc

Marsco Online Stock Broker Account Review

Marsco provides brokerage account for investors who want to trade in stocks, bonds, mutual funds, and options. You can find this online stock broker account review in this article.

Marsco is one of the oldest online discount stock brokerage which offers several financial or cash management services. Marsco’s brokerage account is designed for investors who want the flexibility to invest.

Product & Services

Investors or traders can trade stock online for $3.95 per trade with no shares limit and option for $3.95 per trade plus $1.25 per contract. It also offers a complete web based trading platform.

• Products: Stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds
• Market Orders: $3.95 per trade
• Limit Orders: $3.95 per trade
• Broker Assisted: $25.00 / trade
• Mutual Funds: $15.00 for no-load funds.
• Options: $3.95 /trade + $1.25/contract
• Minimum to Open: $2500
• Inactivity Fee: $0.00
• Online Statement: Free
• Mailed Statement: $2 / statement
• IRA Maintenance Fee: $30 / year
• Some Other Fees: Tender Fee: $25.00. DTC Out: $20.00/security. ACAT Out: $50.00. 
• Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate

Top 7 Real Estate REIT Specialty Mutual Funds 2010

In this article, I’ll provide the Top 7 Best REIT Mutual Funds. Real Estate investment should  be part of investor’s asset diversification. Investing in real estate has become steadily more popular over the last 50 years and has become a common investment vehicle. The REIT Fund include: Vanguard REIT Index, Fidelity Real Estate Investment, etc

The following is the Top 7Best Real Estate REIT Mutual Funds:

1. Vanguard REIT Index
2. Fidelity Real Estate Investment
3. Cohen & Steers Realty Shares
4. DFA Real Estate Securities I
5. T. Rowe Price Real Estate
6. First American Real Estate Securities A
7. Invesco Real Estate A

Note: You can check my latest article about Best Real Estate Mutual Funds 2012.

Top 8 Precious Metals Mineral Mutual Fund

Top 8 Precious Metals Mineral Mutual Funds are Fidelity Select Gold Portfolio, Tocqueville Gold, First Eagle Gold, etc. These gold and silver funds are part of portfolio diversification.

Introduction

Investing in precious metals such as gold, and silver should be part of investor’s investment diversification. With uncertainty of various government action or inaction, precious metals can provide a solid asset.

The top 8 precious metal mutual fund includes Fidelity Select Gold, Oppenheimer Gold & Special Minerals, Franklin Gold and Precious Metals, First Eagle Gold and USAA Precious Metals and Minerals. Also there is more table comparison.

Top 8 Precious Metals Mutual Funds are:

1. Fidelity Select Gold Portfolio
2. Oppenheimer Gold & Special Minerals A
3. Franklin Gold and Precious Metals A
4. First Eagle Gold A
5. USAA Precious Metals and Minerals
6. Tocqueville Gold
7. Van Eck Intl Investors Gold A
8. Wells Fargo Advantage Precious Metals A

For latest article, please check Best Precious Metals Mutual Funds 2012.

BCA Bank Central Asia Online Internet Banking Review

BCA is an Indonesia based financial services company. The bank offers various individual and business product services such as insurance, credit card, checking account and saving account. BCA is also known as Bank Central Asia.

Some of the products and services are:

• Customers may check, do, and track financial transactions
• You can view and print account statements (up to 12 months)
• You can transfer funds online between BCA accounts as well as other bank accounts
• Update and change personal contact information such as address and email info
• Pay bills online or through mobile banking (m-BCA)
• Contact bank customer service or representative (Halo BCA)
• Access account at any time and any location
• Monitor accounts for any suspicious financial activity
• Manage credit cards account and debit card account
• Check various currency rates
• Provide demo on online banking

More on: BCA Bank Central Asia Online Internet Banking

Top 5 Popular Equity Income Mutual Fund plus Dividends

This post is about Top 5 Popular Equity Income Mutual Funds. The best funds are T Rowe Price Equity Income, BlackRock Equity Dividend, Vanguard Dividend Growth Fund, etc.

I have listed various types of mutual funds such as equity fund and fixed income fund. In this article, I'll focus on dividend equity mutual fund or also known as equity income fund. The list includes T Rowe Price Equity Income, Vanguard Dividend Growth...

Top 5 Popular Equity Income Mutual Funds are:

1. T Rowe Price Equity Income
2. BlackRock Equity Dividend Inv A
3. American Century Equity Income Class A
4. Vanguard Dividend Growth Fund
5. Columbia Diversified Equity Income

More on: Top 5 Popular Equity Income Mutual Fund plus Dividends

SogoTrade Online Stock Broker Account Review

SogoTrade is an online discount brokerage services that offers low cost options and stocks trades for investors or traders. To trade stock as well as ETF, it only cost $3.00 per trade with unlimited shares. To trade option, it will cost $5.00 per trade plus $0.65 per contract with unlimited shares.

• Products: Stocks, Options
• Market Orders: $3.00 per trade
• Limit Orders: $3.00 per trade
• Broker-Assisted Orders:$27.00 per trade
• Options: $5.00 + $0.65/contract
• Mutual Funds: Not Available
• Minimum to Open: $500
• Account Maintenance Fee:$0.00
• Account inactivity fee: $0.00
• Abandoned Account fee: $10 / month
• Account Closing Fee: $0.00
• Some Other Fees: Wire Fees: $25.00 per transfer.
• Outgoing ACAT: $75.00.
• Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate

More on Hubpages: My SogoTrade Online Stock Broker Account Review

Invesco Van Kampen Muni Oppo (VMO) Price Action

The price action of Invesco Van Kampen Muni Opportunity (Ticker: VMO) is reversed. This National Muni bond CEF provides a short term swing between gain and loss on December 6, 2010.

Looks to me, the price action on last Friday is a fluke. Probably due to fat finger or computer algo went crazy. :).

The Invesco Van Kampen Muni Oppo (VMO) fund lost another -10.60% after 10% moved last friday. Lucky me I sold it.

Top 8 Popular Exchange Traded Funds for Investment

Exchange Trade Funds or ETFs are another popular investment fund choice for investor. The low cost index exchange traded funds can provide significant boost for long term investor in term of performance. Some of the best exchange traded funds are: SPDR S&P 500, SPDR Gold Shares, Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock ETF, etc.

Intro

Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) are similar to mutual funds; they also can be categorized into 2 main classes such as Equity Exchange Traded Fund (stock ETF) and Fixed Income Exchange Traded Funds (bond ETF). As usual, the bond ETF is less volatile than stock ETF. In this article, I will get into details about Top 10 Popular ETF to invest in either bond ETF or Stock ETF.

Bond ETF can be classified into two main categories such as taxable bond ETF and municipal bond ETF. Taxable bond ETF can consist of short term bond, intermediate term bond, and long term bond ETF including Investment Grade Bond or High Yield Bond ETF. The other bond ETFs are non taxable bond ETF or municipal bond ETF. The municipal bond has advantages especially for people that pay high income tax on Federal and state level since these Bond ETFs are tax free.

Stock ETF can be classified into three main categories such as Domestic Stock ETF, International Stock ETF and Emerging Market ETF. Domestic Stock ETFs include domestic small cap stock ETF, mid cap stock ETF, and large cap stock ETF. International Stock ETFs include European Stock ETF, Pacific Stock ETF, and more. Emerging Stock ETF include most developing countries in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. Some of these countries are known as BRIC acronym (Brazil, Russia, India and China).

Other sector ETFs are: REIT ETF, commodity ETF (Gold, Silver, Natural Gas etc), and specific country ETF (Brazil, Russia, India etc)

Best Exchange Traded Funds

The Top 8 Popular ETF to invest is:

1. SPDR S&P 500
2. SPDR Gold Shares
3. iShares MSCI Emerging Markets Index
4. iShares MSCI EAFE Index
5. Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock ETF
6. iShares S&P 500 Index
7. iShares Barclays TIPS Bond
8. PowerShares QQQ

Parabolic National Municipal CEF - $VMO

This post is about the parabolic move of national municipal bond closed end fund (CEF). The Invesco Van Kampen Municipal Opportunity (ticker: VMO) has a parabolic move on December 3, 2010.

This is why I invest in Muni CEF. There will be a day when institutional money come in and create a big gain for small investor. I sold my remaining VMO and swab them with VGM which is higher yield and sell at slightly premium than VMO. 

Interactive Brokers Online Brokerage Account Review IB

Interactive Brokers Review is one of the best online brokerages. It offers low commission rates for customers. There are two main trading platforms. More review can be found in this post.

Interactive Brokers (IB)

Interactive Brokers (IB) is popular among active traders, experience and professional investors and hedge fund. It was established and began executing trades for public in 1994. It offered its own clearing trading in 1998. Interactive Brokers Group is traded publicly on the NASDAQ under IBKR ticker. It has a market capitalization of $710 million. The current headquarter is located in Greenwich, Connecticut. The Chairman and CEO is Thomas Peterffy.

As one of the best brokerages, IB offers stock trading, option trades, ETF, mutual funds, future, Forex, CFDs, and bonds. It offers global products. You can trades in over 100 market centers in 19 countries using single IB Universal Account. There are 2 types of trading platforms: Trader Workstation (TWS), and WebTrader. Trader Workstation is one of the best desktop applications for trading. It also offers advance tools such as BookTrader, OptionTrader, BasketTrader, ScaleTrader Algo, Accumulate/Distribute algo, FXTrader, and SpreadTrader. There are 50 order types and algos supported.

The WebTrader is a web based trading platform. It is a scaled-down version of TWS with simplified interface. It offers in fourteen languages. As an online discount brokerage, it provides 11 supported order types.

Opening an account with IB can take a little longer than typical online broker. You need to fill your application online, and then you need to verify two deposits IB makes into your bank account. Then, Interactive Brokers will send you a code through a regular mail to start trading. You also need to deposit $10,000 initial funding to open an account. Most traders choose bundled commission to get the lowest cost for trading.

Products and Services

• Products: Stocks, bonds, ETFs, bonds, mutual funds, options, foreign investments, currency
• Market Orders: $0.005 per shares ($1.00 minimum)
• Limit Orders: $0.005 per shares ($1.00 minimum)
• Broker-Assisted Orders: $0.01 per shares ($100.00 min)
• Mutual Funds: $14.95/ trade
• Options: $0.70/contract
• Minimum to Open: $10,000 for US-based accounts; varied for foreign accounts
• Account Maintenance Fee: $10.00 - $20.00
• IRA maintenance Fee: $7.50 per quarter
• Some Other Fees: Wire Transfer outgoing: $10.00 per transfer.
• ACH Transfer Fee: $1.00 per transfer.
• Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate

Pros:

• Low commissions for stocks and option trading
• Low margin rates
• Offers several trading platform

Cons:

• High minimum requirement to open an account ($10,000)
• There is a commission fee of $10/month if you don’t trades more than $30 commission fee per month
• It can get quite expense for trades over 1,500 shares
• There is a quarterly IRA fee

Top 10 Popular Taxable Investment Grade Bond Closed End Funds

This article will be all about Top 10 popular Investment Grade Taxable Bond Closed End Funds. The fund providers include Western Asset, Eaton Vance, Federated, John Hancock, PIMCO, BlackRock and MFS. The list also include Western Asset Premier Bond, PIMCO Corporate Opportunity and more.

The following is the Top 10 Best Taxable Investment Grade Bond Closed End Funds:

1. Western Asset Premier Bond (WEA)
2. EV Limited Duration Income (EVV)
3. Federated Enhanced Treasury Income (FTT)
4. John Hancock Income Securities
5. PIMCO Corporate Opportunity
6. Franklin Limited Duration Inc
7. BlackRock Credit Alloc II
8. Blackrock Credit Allocation IV
9. MFS Government Markets Income
10. BlackRock Credit Alloc III

Best National Municipal Bond Closed End Funds

Closed End Funds or CEFs can provide an attractive alternative for investors to invest in municipal bond. These municipal debt funds provide tax free income for investors. Some of the best municipal bond closed end funds are: PIMCO Municipal Income III, EV Municipal Income, Invesco VK Muni Opps. Trust, etc.

Municipal Bond Fund

Closed end funds are not very popular in investment world and they rarely will get any respects. The closed end funds unlike mutual fund are being traded like stock. This article will provide top 10 national municipal bond closed end funds (CEF) which are tax free. The CEF sponsors include PIMCO, Eaton Vance, BlackRock, Invesco.

The following is the Top 10 Best National Municipal Bond Closed-End Funds:

1. PIMCO Municipal Income III - PMX
2. EV Municipal Income - EVN
3. Invesco VK Muni Opps. Trust - VMO
4. Invesco VK Muni Invst. Grade T - VGM
5. EV Municipal Bond II - EIV
6. BlackRock MuniVest Fund II - MVT
7. Invesco VK Adv Muni Inc II - VKI
8. Putnam Managed Muni Income - PMM
9. Invesco VK Select Sector Muni - VKL
10. PIMCO Municipal Income - PMF

updated on 11/27/2010

Happy Thanksgiving 2010

Happy Thanksgiving! Have a safe holidays!

Turkey anyone?

Top 8 Best Municipal Bond Mutual Funds

The following article will provide top 10 list of municipal bond mutual funds also known as non taxable bond funds. The non taxable bonds consist mainly the municipal bonds either investment grade municipal bond or non investment grade municipal bond. The list include Vanguard Intermediate Term Tax Exempt, Vanguard Limited Term Tax Exempt, American Funds Tax Exempt Bond, and more.

Tax Free Muni Bond Funds

My list mainly consists of 3 or more star of Morningstar rating and big asset underlying the municipal bond mutual funds. Usually, big asset means lot of confident by investor as well constitutional to invest in these funds. With 3 or more star rating, this means the fund has consistently perform under any market condition and should perform better or at least average compare to many of its index benchmark. I also provide list that doesn’t include only 1 state municipal bond funds, this means the list is more diversify and includes multiple states in US.

The following is the Top 8 Best Municipal Bond mutual funds:

1. Vanguard Intermediate Term Tax Exempt Fund - VWITX
2. Vanguard Limited Term Tax Exempt Fund - VMLTX
3. Franklin Federal Tax Free Income - FKTIX
4. American Funds Tax Exempt Bond - AFTEX
5. Franklin High Yield Tax Free Income Fund - FRHIX
6. Vanguard Long Term Tax Exempt Fund - VWLTX
7. Wells Fargo Advantage Ultra Short Term Municipal Income Fund - SMAVX
8. Vanguard High Yield Tax Exempt Fund - VWAHX

Top 5 Vanguard Mutual Funds

The following article will provide top 10 popular Vanguard Mutual Funds list including stock and bond fund. The list is as follows: Vanguard Total Stock Market,Total Bond Market Index, Emerging Markets Stock Index, Vanguard Wellington and more. Top 5 Vanguard Mutual Funds are:

1. Vanguard Total Stock Market - VTSMX
2. Vanguard 500 Index Fund - VFINX
3. Vanguard Total Bond Market Index - VBMFX
4. Vanguard Emerging Markets Stock Index
5. Vanguard Wellington

1. Vanguard Total Stock Market (VTSMX)

This Vanguard Total Stock Market fund has $190 billion total net assets. As part of index fund, this large blend mutual fund has an expense ratio of 0.17%. The annual turnover holding rate is 5%. It is rated with 4 stars rating and gold rating by Morningstar. This fund is passively managed by Gerard C. O'Reilly. This domestic stock fund has returned 19.66% over the past 3 year, 1.27% over the past 5 year, and 4.82% over the past 10 year.

2. Vanguard 500 Index Fund (MUTF: VFINX)

This Vanguard 500 index fund's objective is to track the performance of he Standard & Poor's 500 index. This large blend fund has total net assets of $114 billion. The expense ratio is 0.17% per year. It also has a yield of 1.75%. Michael H. Buek is the fund manager. Investor can start buying this fund with $3,000 minimum initial investment. As of January 2012, the top 5 stocks in its assets are: Exxon Mobil Corporation, Apple Inc, International Business Machines Corp, Chevron Corp, and Microsoft Corp.

3. Vanguard Total Bond Market Index (Ticker: VBMFX)

Rated with gold rating, this Vanguard Total Bond Market Index fund is another popular mutual fund offered by Vanguard. It has an expense ratio of 0.22%. This intermediate term bond fund has a yield of 2.98%. The average effective duration is 5 years and the average effective maturity is 7.2 years. Managed by Kenneth Volpert, this bond mutual fund has returned 7.68% over the past year, 6.89% over the past 3year, and 5.46% over the past decade. As of January 2012, the top 5 sectors are U.S. Treasury (35.65%), Agency MBS Pass-Through (25.60%), Corporate Bond (20.63%), U.S. Agency (4.15%), and Other Government Related (1.95%).

Reasons to buy

If you are interested in Vanguard Brokerage Services account to buy ETF, please check my previous article. There are several reasons why you should consider a Vanguard:

1. Vanguard is owned by its shareholders (i.e. not for profit company)
2. Most of the products whether ETFs or Mutual Funds have the lowest expenses in industry
3. As an investor, you can have many products to choose from whether they are stocks funds or bond funds.
4. Most of the fund follows index and passively managed which can provide a way to follow the market closely. There is less second guessing by its fund manager.

Disclosure: No Position updated on 4/20/2012

Best Taxable Diversified Bond Mutual Funds

The following article will provide top 10 taxable bond mutual funds list. Bond funds are another good way to diversify your investment portfolio since they are also less volatile than stock funds. The list include Pimco Total Return, Vanguard Total Bond Market Index and more.

Intro

Bond also known as fixed income can be classified into two main categories such as taxable bonds and non taxable bonds. Taxable bond can consist of short term bond, intermediate term bond, long term Bond, Investment Grade Corporate Bond, High Yield Corporate bond (Non Investment Grade corporate bond), Treasury Inflation Protected (TIP) Bond. These taxable bonds can be either domestic bonds or global bonds.

The non taxable bond consist mainly the municipal bonds either investment grade municipal bond or non investment grade municipal bond. Non taxable bond mutual funds dividend is usually non taxable. I will provide more details about non taxable bond in my later article. For this article I will focus on taxable bond mutual funds.

The following is the Top 10 list of taxable bond mutual funds:

1. Pimco Total Return
2. Vanguard Total Bond Market Index
3. Templeton Global Bond
4. Vanguard Short-Term Investment-Grade
5. Vanguard GNMA
6. Vanguard Inflation Protected Securities
7. Dodge & Cox Income
8. PIMCO Low Duration A
9. Vanguard Short-Term Bond
10. Loomis Sayles Bond

You can also check my other top bond funds article:

• Best Municipal Bond Mutual Funds September 2011
• Best International Bond Mutual Funds of 2011

Free ETF Trades by Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab, TD Ameritrade

The exchange traded fund or ETF sector is growing much faster than mutual funds. Recent data has shown that investors have pouring money into this investment fund. More providers and brokerages have provided free ETFs trading option. There are currently 4 brokerages which offer Free ETF trades such as Schwab, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade and Vanguard.

Intro

Most of these ETFs are Passively managed ETFs or index ETFs. This index ETFs track various indexes such as Nasdaq, S&P 500, Russell, and MSCI.

• Fixed income / Bond: short term bond fund, intermediate term bond fund, diversified bond fund, government bond fund, Investment Grade Corporate Bond, High Yield Corporate bond (Non Investment Grade corporate bond), Treasury Inflation Protected (TIP) Bond, emerging markets bond fund, etc.
• Equity / Stock: S&P fund, NASDAQ index fund, large cap fund, Russel 2000 index fund, REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust), Emerging Markets stock fund, International Foreign Large Cap, Foreign Small Cap.
• Commodity: gold, silver, palladium, copper, sugar, cotton more
• Country Specific or Regional countries Specific ETF such as Brazil, China, Malaysia, Singapore

Vanguard

Known for its low cost mutual funds, Vanguard began offering their ETFs for free this May 2010. There are currently 62 free ETFs for trading. Most these ETFs can be traded in Vanguard Brokerage Services (VBS) account which is separate from main Vanguard account.

Fidelity

Fidelity offered 30 commission free iShares ETFs. Fidelity also offers variety of  financial products like mutual funds, cash management, full brokerage service, annuities and many more. The top 6 well known iShares ETFs are: iShares S&P 500 ETF (ticker: IVV), iShares Russell 2000 (IWM), iShares MSCI EAFE (EFA), iShares MSCI Emerging Markets (EEM), iShares Barclays Aggregate bond ETF (AGG), and  iShares Barclays TIPS ETF (TIP).

Charles Schwab

Schwab currently offers 15 commission free Schwab ETFs. These Schwab ETFs include domestic equity ETFs, International Equity ETFs, and Bond ETFs. Schwab also offers $8.95 per trade for trading stock or other ETFs. To open an account, you need $1,000.

TD Ameritrade

TD Ameritrade has offered one of the largest commission free ETFs. It has provide various ETFs from many different providers. There are currently more than 100 ETFs available for investors to choose. These exchange traded funds include 31 Equity ETFs, 3 REIT Sector ETFs, 32 Bond ETFs, 31 International ETFs, and 4 Commodity ETFs.

TD Ameritrade also offers a full brokerage service. It currently offers $9.99 per trade for trading stock or other ETFs.

Note: ETF = Exchange Traded Fund

Bubble burst on Municipal Bond CEF and ETF?

After my initial listing about Top 10 Municipal Bond CEF, the muni bond CEF has been down big time this past week (7-15% drop). Since most of the muni CEF is leveraged, investor should expect a higher volatility than usual non-leveraged fund.

As of Please trade accordingly. I still think it can be a long term investment vehicle. In my opinion, Couple factors can contribute this decline:

1. Treasury has been down after Fed announced QE2. Please check TLT (10 years+ Treasury ETF)
2. Unknown from new tea party congressman/woman. Many new elected congress had campainged about cut spending. This may affected less fed fund for state level etc and state ran big deficit especially California, Illinois, and more.
3. Unknown about tax structure. Extending Bush Tax Cut for all or only for middle class.

Looks at BKN, PMX, PML, PCK (CA Muni CEF), and more

OptionsHouse Online Discount Brokerage Review

OptionsHouse is an online brokerage services that offers low cost options and stocks trades to its large client base of investors or traders. As one of the known discount broker, they also provide low cost stock trades and other financial services (checking & Debit card) for their customers.

To trade stock, it only cost $3.95 per trade. It also doesn't have any minimum account balance. Only need $1,000 to open cash account and $2,000 for margin.

The following is the standard pricing or commission fee of Optionshouse brokerage account:

• Products: Stocks, Options, mutual funds, treasury & corporate bonds
• Market Orders: 3.95 per trade
• Limit Orders: 3.95 per trade
• Broker-Assisted Orders: $3.95 per trade
• Mutual Funds: $9.95 per trade for no load fund; additional fees for load funds
• Options: $8.50 + $0.15/contract or $1.00 per contract
• Minimum to Open: $1,000 (Cash) & $2,000 (Margin)
• Account Maintenance Fee: $0.00
• Account inactivity fee: $0.00
• IRA Closing Fee: $15.00
• Some Other Fees: Wire Fees: $15.00 per transfer.
• Outgoing ACAT: $50.00.
• Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate
• Extras: Check writing available. Debit cards are available at a fee for certain accounts.

Advantages using OptionsHouse:

• The commission is one of the lowest with $2.95/trade flat fee for stocks trading or ETF trading
• Also offers two structure of flexible commission plans for options trading
• There is variety of useful tools for options traders.

OptionsHouse used to have $2.95 per trade for trading stocks or ETFs.

More details on My Review of OptionsHouse Online Discount Brokerage Account

Top 5 Popular International Stock Mutual Fund

With USA economy is cooling down or at least is slow down, everyone will look at growing sector or market to invest. One of these markets is International stock sector. The funds are American Funds Europacific Growth, American Funds Capital World G/I, Dodge & Cox International, Fidelity Diversified International, Harbor International, Vanguard Total International Stock Index.

Top Bond Funds

The following is top 5 International stock mutual funds plus 1 in term of asset according to MorningStar. What I like is usually big asset is equal to big confident by investor or institutional money to invest in this fund. I also like most of these asset managers as they are well known to many investors. Looking at this list, you will find 2 American Funds mutual funds on this top 6 list.

American Funds Europacific Growth, AEPGX

American Funds family is very famous in various 401k accounts and compare to other international stock mutual fund EuroPacific Growth has almost double or triple from other competitor mutual funds. This fund is part of actively managed mutual funds. The fund's investment objective is to provide long-term growth of capital.

The fund invests primarily in common stocks of issuers in Europe and the Pacific Basin that the investment adviser believes have the potential for growth. If you choose this fund, please note that some fund classes have a front end sales load of 5.75%. The fund is managed by a lead manager, Stephen E. Bepler as well as portfolio counselors since 1984.

American Funds Capital World G/I, CWGIX

American Funds Capital World Growth and Income Fund is known for its slow and steady growth. The fund has focus on long-term capital growth and is providing income through consistent dividend since its 1993 inception. It has low expenses and volatility compare to other international stock mutual funds. If you choose this fund, please note that some fund classes have a front end sales load of 5.75%. The fund is managed by a lead manager, Stephen E. Bepler as well as portfolio counselors since 1993.

Dodge & Cox International, DODFX

The Fund invests primarily in a diversified portfolio of equity securities issued by non-U.S. companies from at least three different foreign countries such as emerging markets.

Top 10 International Large Cap Stock Mutual Funds 2012

The Fund invests primarily in medium-to-large well established companies based on standards of the applicable market. The fund is managed by a lead manager, Diana A. Strandberg, since 2001.

Fidelity Diversified International, FDIVX

Fidelity Diversified International invests in a wide-ranging mix of stocks from countries throughout the world.  The lead manager is William Bower since 2001. There is no front end sales load & is part of No Transaction Fee fund. The expense ratio is 1.01% for this class (FDIVX). It is currently a Fidelity Fund Pick.

Harbor International, HIINX

The Harbor International fund investment seeks long-term total return of capital growth. The fund invests primarily (no less than 65% of total assets) in common and preferred stocks of foreign companies that have market capitalizations in excess of $1 billion, including those located in emerging market countries.The fund is managed by Hakan E. Castegren since its inception on 1987. There is no front end sales load for this mutual fund. The Harbor International Fund (HIINX) has 1.20% expense ratio and 0.25% Max 12b1 fee.

Vanguard Total International Stock Index, VGTSX

Vanguard Total International Stock investment seeks to track the performance of a benchmark index that measures the investment return of stocks issued by companies located in Europe, the Pacific region, and emerging markets countries. The fund is passively managed by Michael Perre since 2008.
more can be read:Top 5 Popular International Stock Mutual funds plus Vanguard

TD Ameritrade Online Brokerage Account Review

TD Ameritrade is another online financial brokerage service provider with an abundant online stock trading platform for its investors as well as traders. It offers an opportunity to trade stock, option and mutual funds. The commission fees for trading stock is $9.99 per trade. Recently, TD Ameritrade offers 100+ Free commission ETFs with 30 days holding period.

The following is the standard commission for trading using TD Ameritrade platform:

• Products: Stocks, bonds, CDs, UITs, mutual funds, options, forex
• Market Orders: $9.99/trade
• Limit Orders: $9.99/trade
• IVR Phone Orders: $34.99/trade
• Broker Assisted Orders: $44.99/trade
• ETF Market/Limit Orders: $9.99/trade
• Commission Free ETFs: $0.00/trade with requirement
• Mutual Funds: $49.99 for no-load funds. NTF mutual funds: $0.00
• Options: $9.99/trade+$0.75/contract
• Futures: $3.50/contract
• Minimum to Open: $0, $2000 for margin account.
• Electronic funding minimum: $500
• Inactivity Fee: $0.00
• Some Other Fees: Paper Statement: $2.00, DTC Out:$25.00/security, ACAT Out:$75.00.
• Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate

Free ETF trading


Recently, it offers 100+ free commission ETFs. The current ETFs offering include:

• 31 Equity ETFs:
• 3 REIT Sector ETFs
• 32 Bond ETFs
• 31 International ETFs
• 4 Commodity ETFs

Several Pros  of TD Ameritrade

• Feature and research rich offering for all client types including research by Morningstar, S&P, and Market Edge, etc
• Customer service is very friendly and knowledgeable
• Offer thinkorswim by TD Ameritrade trade platform.
• Also offer Pre market and Post Market trading for no additional fees

More details: My Review of TD Ameritrade Online Brokerage Account and Free ETF

My current position - Bought FAM & NZH -- Sold FLIR & SRS

Wow... what a day it was. After a non event QE2 day for yesterday, all indexes were closed positve huge. In my opinion, most investor need to be careful. Don't chase anything and please raise your stop to protect gain or take some off.

Lucky for me, I sold my SRS hedge yesterday for +2.6% profit otherwise I would have lost -2.4% (a 5 % swing).

I also sold FLIR (+9.6%), I just don't see any big risk reward profile for this stock in near term. This selling maybe early. Today, it prints another doji.

I also add NZH and FAM this week for my long term. NZH is a CA Municipal CEF with 6.8% yield after tax.
I also add FAM (global bond CEF). If the dollar keep dropping like a rock, the other currency will rise. I also think QE2 is a big mistake. US consumers have no purchasing power (aka Broke), this will only create a speculative bubble for trader.

So, My current stock holding (small position) is
FLIR (Flir System) - Defense
MCK  (Mckesson Corp) - Drug Service
URS (URS Corp) - Engineering Services
ACL ( Alcon) - Drug / Healthcare
MRK (Merck) - Drug /healthcare

Hedge:
SRS (Ultra Short REIT)
Long term:
JNK - Junk Bond
VMO - Muni Bond Closed End Fund (CEF)
VGM - Muni Bond Closed End Fund (CEF)
NZH - Muni Bond California CEF
FAM - Global Bond CEF
Cash -- Ton of them

Please trade responsibly!

Charles Schwab Online Brokerage Account Review

Charles Schwab is one of online brokerage site which offers financial service as well as a trading platform to buy online stock for its investors. Schwab also has over 300 local offices. They are able to offer a full range of banking, brokerage, and investment advisory services to their large client base. Other financial services include retirement planning, mutual fund trading, equity trading or stock trading, and financial planning. They are one of the largest financial brokers in the world with > 7.5 million accounts with customer assets in excess of $1.4 trillion. It also 11 Free commission ETFs for trade recently.

Schwab aka Chuck Details

As one of largest brokerage in the world, Charles Schwab was founded in 1971 as First Commander Corporation. The current headquarter is located at San Francisco, CA USA. Charles Schwab Corporation is a brokerage and banking company listed in NYSE with ticker: SCHW.

It currently uses its own clearing service to hold the client asset. Charles Schwab Clearing Services (CSCS), member of FINRA & SIPC, holds and clears all client trade. All Charles Schwab accounts are insured under SIPC up to $500,000 ($100,000 cash) and supplemental Lloyd’s of London coverage up to $150 million ($1 million cash).

Products: Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options, CDs, insurance, annuities, foreign investments
Market Orders: $8.95 / trade
Limit Orders: $8.95 / trade

Auto Phone Orders: $13.95 / trade

Broker-Assisted Orders: $33.95 / trade

Schwab’s ETF Market/Limit Orders: $0.00

Mutual Funds: $49.95 & $0.00 for NTF funds.
Options: $8.95/trade+$0.75/contract
Minimum to Open: $1000 for US-based accounts, $25000 or $10000 for foreign accounts

Inactivity Fee: $0.00
Some Other Fees: Wire Transfer Outgoing: $25.00 per transfer. ACAT Out: $50.00.
Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate

Commission & Pricing

For stock or ETF order, the standard commission is $8.95 per trade with no limit of shares amount. As noted, for broker-assisted trades, the commission is $33.95 per order. When trading during pre and post market hours, there is no additional fees such as ECN fees.  Charles Schwab applies a simplified flat-fee based commissions structure. There is no catches or fine print notes for trading using Schwab. There are no limits on total trade size or price. If you are trading more than 10,000 shares or $500,000, you may be eligible for special handling and pricing.. 

Stock trading (i.e. buy stock online) can be done through web based platform as well as software platform, StreetSmart Pro. StreetSmart Pro is available to active trading customers.

For option, the customer can use their option platform thru web. The cost of 1 contract will cost $9.70 commission fee ($8.95 ticket fee + $0.75 per contract), while 10 contracts will cost $16.45 commission fee.

For mutual funds, there are about 1,900+ no load no transaction fee mutual funds with no commission fee for buy or sell through OneSource Funds. There are 3,000+ mutual funds for selection with $49.95 per trade of mutual funds.


Also featured in My Review of Charles Schwab Online Brokerage Account and ETF

Top 5 Best Domestic Stock Mutual Funds

As part of stock mutual fund, investing in domestic stock funds are essential for assets allocation. These domestic stock mutual funds are also known as U.S. stock mutual funds. These best rated domestic stock mutual funds include American Funds Growth Fund of America fund, Vanguard 500 Index Fund, Vanguard Total Stock Market fund, etc.

Intro

As we know, there are three types of mutual funds. They are stock mutual fund, bond mutual fund, and balanced fund. Stock mutual funds can be classified into 2 main classes such as domestic stock funds or US stock funds, and international stock funds (including emerging markets). The domestic stock funds invest mainly in US companies.

There are 9 categories of domestic stock mutual funds. The categories are: large growth, large blend, large value, mid-cap growth, mid-cap blend, mid-cap value, small growth, small blend, and small value. These domestic stock funds may specialize in a particular sector of the market such as technology, financials, health care, utilities, communications, natural resources, real estate, and miscellaneous.

Position update - MCK, FLIR, URS & SRS

My position is still healthy and is gaining momentum especially MCK (Mckesson) and FLIR (FLIR System). MCK reaffirmed the earning and announced new shares buyback. FLIR has posting good earning last week. I continue to like the chart and look to be slightly breakout today after 2-3 days flagging.

URS also reverse course and closed out only slightly negative for the day.

My SRS hedge also turned positive. I'll keep holding this hedge just in case the market turn violently.

I'm also eyeing some bond CEFs and solid stocks. I'll see how these CEFs will react to downside after more down day. Usually, it will create an arbitrage opportunity for short term trade. Some solid stock also turn negative such as Pepsi (PEP), FirstEnergy (FE), TEVA and SWN . I'll look into these stocks if the market turn negative.

Overall, it was a good day for MEPB Financial.

Note: Please trade responsibly.

Top 10 Cheapest Online Discount Brokerage Account and More

With the current stock market, finding a good & cheap online discount brokerage is important. Fees can cut into the trading profit. The following top 10 cheapest discount brokerages are: Lightspeed Trading, Interactive Brokers, Just2trade, OptionsHouse, eOption, SogoTrade, Zecco, TradeKing, MB Trading, and Lowtrades.
I will provide a summary of various online stock brokerages with their commissions and fees. I have been using multiple trading platforms such as Fidelity, Zecco, Vanguard, Lightspeed, and Just2trade. For me, the brokerage needs to satisfy the following requirement:

1. Low commission fees or cheap fees to trade or buy stocks, etfs, and mutual funds
2. Reliable, can be access freely, stable trading platform
3. Offer ACH electronic transfer
4. Responsive and contactable customer service

To get the low commission fee, usually an investor or trader will need to sacrifice some investment tool such as good charting, tax tool, financial services, transfer capability etc. So don't be surprised about the barebone platform for this discount brokerage. You can essentially supplement the lack of features by open another account with full service brokerage such as Fidelity, Schwab, etc or you can just use internet service such as stockcharts & finviz for charting and filter.

Brokerages Logo

Top 10 cheapest online discount stock brokers to trade stock or ETF are:

1. Lightspeed Trading

Lightspeed offers stock, etf, option, forex and future for trading. The cost to buy stock online is the cheapest discount brokerage as far as I know. To trade stock, you only pay for $0.00395 per shares with $0.40 per 100 shares. The minimum is $0.40 per trade. There is no ticket fee to buy option; it only cost $0.50 per option contract. The minimum balance to open is only $1,000 for cash account and $2,000 for margin account using Lightspeed Web Trader. If you are using Lightspeed Trader which is software based platform, the minimum balance requirement is $10,000.

more can be read at: Top 10 Cheapest Online Discount Brokerage Account and More

My thought about the current market & my holding update

Although most indexes were in red, I still don't think any trader should turn bearish right away. Most bond is still up junk bond is still only down a little. Should be interesting to see what tomorrow will bring. A correction of 3-5% is expected after 12-15% run up for dow jones and S&P 500.

I have decided to post my holding for the first time. I'll try to track and update as I buy or sell my position. My current stock holding (small position) is:

• FLIR (Flir System) - Defense
• MCK  (Mckesson Corp) - Drug Service
• URS (URS Corp) - Engineering Services
• ACL ( Alcon) - Drug / Healthcare
• MRK (Merck) - Drug /healthcare

Long term:

• JNK - Junk Bond
• VMO - Muni Bond Closed End Fund (CEF)
• VGM - Muni Bond Closed End Fund (CEF)
• Cash -- Ton of them

Please trade responsibly!

updated on 10/20/2010

Another crash on SPY ETF or bad print?

This post is about an unknown phenomenon on stock market especially the S&P 5000 SPDRs ETF (SPY). You can find another crash on SPY ETF or bad print on October 18, 2010.

SPY chart

I noticed this chart when I do my end of day analysis. I hope this is a bad print and not another crash.

Top 5 Emerging Market Mutual Funds

With developed countries (USA & Europe) economy is cooling down or at least slow down, everyone will look at growing sector or market to invest. One of these markets is diversified emerging market.

Emerging market usually include most developing countries in Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe. Some of these countries are known as BRIC acronym (Brazil, Russia, India and China). Most analysts predict emerging market will drive all future growth for the next decade. Investor should look to invest in emerging market. Emerging market is part of international market; this mean investing in this emerging market can be volatile at the times. Please invest responsibly.

Best Emerging Markets Funds

I think emerging market should be part of your investment portfolio whether it is in your 401k retirement or brokerage account. The question is how to invest in emerging market; there are two easy ways to invest such as using ETF and Mutual Funds.

The following article will discuss about Top 5 mutual funds in emerging market. The following is top 5 emerging market mutual funds in term of asset. What I like is usually big asset is equal to big confident by investor or institutional money to invest in this fund. I also like most of these asset managers as they are well known to many investors

1. Vanguard Emerging Market Stock Index, VEIEX
2. American Funds New World Fund A, NEWFX
3. Lazard Emerging Markets Equity, LZOEZ
4. Oppenheimer Developing Markets, ODMAX
5. DFA Emerging Markets Value Portfolio DFEPX

Vanguard Emerging Market Stock Index

The Vanguard Emerging Market Stock Index portfolio tracks the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, which is weighted toward the largest companies in the largest emerging markets. The fund performance is as follows (VEIEX): 1 Year: 19.73% per year 3 Year: -2.19% per year 5 Year: 13.50% per year 10 Year: 13.66% per year.

American Funds New World Fund

This American Funds’ New World Fund is a diversified international fund that has managed to stay less volatile than most other emerging-market rivals.

Lazard Emerging Markets Equity

The Lazard Emerging Markets Equity Portfolio fund has performed better by picking undervalued stocks of companies based in a wide selection of emerging-market countries. The Lazard Emerging Markets Equity fund objective is to provide long-term capital appreciation by investing in companies with strong, sustainable financial productivity at attractive valuations.

Oppenheimer Developing Markets Fund

The Oppenheimer Developing Markets investment aggressively seeks capital appreciation. The fund normally invests more than 80% of assets in equity securities of issuers whose principal activities are in at least three developing markets.

DFA Emerging Markets Value Portfolio Fund

The primary objective is to seek long-term capital appreciation. The fund invests normally at least 80% of net assets in emerging markets investments that are defined as Approved Markets securities and may purchase emerging market equity securities across all market capitalizations whether it is large cap, mid cap and small cap.

More can be read at: Top 5 Best and Popular Emerging Market Mutual funds

Fidelity Brokerage Account Review

Fidelity Investments is one of financial service provider that offers to buy stock online with various trading platforms for its investors. In addition to low cost stock and options trading Fidelity also has investment management, retirement planning. Fidelity is the largest mutual fund company in the US. They also offer various accounts specialize in IRAs/Rollovers (Roth IRA, Traditional IRA and 401k), CDs, Bonds, and 529 Plans. Fidelity also offers mobile trading application.

Fidelity main page

For me, the brokerage needs to satisfy the following requirement:

1. Low commission fees to trade stocks, etf, mutual funds (if necessary)
2. Reliable, can be access freely thru web, stable trading platform
3. Offer ACH electronic transfer
4. Responsive and contactable customer service

Fidelity definitely fit into my criteria. Ever since they offer 25 ishares ETF for free, my interest using fidelity is growing even more. I have been using my fidelity account for the past 3 years for Roth IRA, investment brokerage account and interest checking account. I also use their credit card which provides 2% cashback on any daily purchase. This is one of the best credit card cashback from my experience. Also please check my other brokerages review such as just2trade, vanguard, Lightspeed, E*trade, Scottrade and Zecco.

The following is the Fidelity details:

Products: Stocks, bonds, mutual funds, annuities, insurance, commercial paper, CDs, IPOs, precious metals, managed portfolios Market Orders: $7.95 Limit Orders: $7.95

Phone FAST Orders: $12.95

Broker Assisted: $32.95

ishares ETFs Orders: $0.00 for 25 ishares ETFs Mutual Funds: $0.00 for Fidelity & NTF funds. Non-NTF: $75.00. Options: $7.95/trade+$0.75/contract Minimum to Open: $2500 Inactivity Fee: $0.00 Some Other Fees: Tender Fee: $38.00.
Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate. 

More detail can be read at hubpages: My Fidelity Brokerage Account Review

Scottrade Stock Brokerage Review

If you are investor or trader and buy stock online as well as buy mutual fund online, you probably know about Scottrade. Scottrade is an online brokerage site that offers various products such as stocks, options and mutual funds. They offer their low cost commissions of $7.00 per trade on three different trading platforms: Scottrade, Scottrade Elite, and Scottrade OptionsFirst. 


Also, Scottrade has over 480 branch offices throughout the United States and has had a consistent track record of being recognized as an industry leader by several different magazines and review groups. While not one of the cheapest online trading platform, Scottrade has been known by investor as well as trader due to its platform, research and community. 

Products: Stocks, options, mutual funds, CDs, munis, Canadian stocks

Market Orders: $7.00 Limit Orders: $7.00

Broker Assisted: $27, Touchtone IVR Phone system: $17

Mutual Funds: $17.00. Load funds also incur a $17.00 redemption fee. Also has NTF funds. Options: $7.00/trade+$1.25/contract

Minimum to Open: $500 Inactivity Fee: $0.00 Some Other Fees: Paper Statement: $2.00 per statement. ACAT In/ Out: $60.00.  
Maximum Margin Rate: Based on proprietary base rate

more details can be read on Hubpages: My Scottrade Brokerage Account Review