May 21, 2012

Top 8 Best Bank Loan Mutual Funds 2012

As part of taxable bond mutual funds, bank loan funds provide high income for investors. Some of the best bank loan funds are: Credit Suisse Floating Rate High Income fund, Eaton Vance Floating-Rate Advantage fund, Fidelity Floating Rate High Income fund, etc.

Top Bank Loan Funds
Intro

There are several types of taxable bond mutual funds. They are corporate bond, government bond, multisector bond, bank loan, etc. Bank loan are popular among investors who are concerned about rising interest rates. Bank loans or floating rate loans are debts that offered by banks to companies as part of a leveraged buyout deal.

These bank loan funds have limited interest rate risk, but they have high credit risk. These bond funds typically have low credit quality or non-investment grade rating. They also have higher yield than investment grade rated bond funds.

Best Bank Loan Funds

You find the fund review from this top mutual fund list. Investors can find the fund performance, management, expense fee, sales load, top holding, effective duration, etc.

Top 8 Best Bank Loan Mutual Funds of 2012 are:
  1. Credit Suisse Floating Rate High Income A (CHIAX)
  2. Eaton Vance Floating-Rate Advantage A (EAFAX)
  3. Fidelity Floating Rate High Income (FFRHX)

May 20, 2012

Fidelity Total Bond Fund (FTBFX)

One of the most popular bond mutual funds is Fidelity Total Bond Fund. More about this fixed income mutual fund review can be found below. Investing in diversified bond mutual funds is essential for investors. Diversified bond funds can provide a predictable income stream.

Fidelity Total Bond (Ticker: FTBFX)

The Fidelity Total Bond fund’s objective is to achieve a high level of current income. This bond fund typically invests majority of assets in debt securities of all types. The fund’s adviser uses the Barclays Capital U.S. Universal Bond Index as a guide for allocating its assets through the investment-grade, high yield, and emerging market asset classes.

Fund Profile
  • Fund Inception Date: October 15, 2002
  • Ticker Symbol: FTBFX
  • CUSIP: 31617K881
  • Beta (3yr): 0.81
  • Rank in category (YTD): 58%
  • Category: Intermediate-Term Bond
  • Yield: 3.54%
  • Capital Gains: 0%

May 18, 2012

Vanguard Target Retirement 2015 Fund (VTXVX)

Vanguard Target Retirement 2015 fund is suitable for investors who want to retire around 2015. More fund review below. Finding the right target date mutual fund is important for passive long term investor. By selecting Vanguard fund, investor can find a wide selection of target date mutual funds

Vanguard Target Retirement 2015 Investor (VTXVX)

The Vanguard Target Retirement 2015 fund objective is to achieve capital appreciation and current income consistent with its current asset allocation. This balanced fund mainly invests in other Vanguard mutual funds according to an asset allocation strategy designed for investors planning to retire and leave the work force in or within a few years of 2015 (the target year). This fund will allocate its asset to become more conservative over time (fewer stocks and more bonds when over long term).

Fund Details
  • Fund Inception Date: October 27, 2003
  • Ticker Symbol: VTXVX
  • CUSIP: 92202E300
  • Beta (3yr): 0.97
  • Rank in category (YTD): 45%
  • Category: Target Date 2011-2015 
  • Yield: 2.39%
  • Capital Gains: 0%
  • Expense Ratio: 0.00%  
  • Net Assets: $ 15.35 billion

May 17, 2012

How to Distinguish Good Vs Bad Investment in Mutual Funds

Trying to pick individual stocks is a difficult proposition for regular investors. Investors will face with infinite risk and low return with wrong stocks selection. Most investors can achieve the same result by using mutual funds. There are several advantages using mutual funds such as having good management, reduce risk with diversified portfolio, invest in other risky area, and more.

Good vs Bad Mutual Funds
Good Management

Reputable manager or management team or professional analysts will devout many hours of study and research. Fund manager will analyze various stocks or bonds to invest in. Some mutual funds are also known to hire market experts to analyze their portfolio or divide their portfolio to co-managers & advisors. Analyzing various financial reports is not an easy task for investors; you need to sacrifice a large portion of your free time to get the good result. Unless you are willing to do this, then you won’t have as much information to make a decision as a mutual fund manager.

Good managers are staying with the mutual funds longer. Long tenured managers typically have a high level of competence in running the mutual fund business or entity he oversees. Managers usually face steep learning curves when they first enter a new organization, making long management tenure a valuable asset.

May 16, 2012

Lord Abbett Intermediate Tax Free A (LISAX) Fund

One of the income producing mutual funds is municipal bond mutual fund or muni bond mutual fund. This municipal bond mutual fund provides regular income which is exempted from federal income tax. Some of these muni bond funds also provide tax free income from state tax. One of the popular choices is Lord Abbett Intermediate Tax Free fund. More fund review can be found below.

Lord Abbett Intermediate Tax Free A (LISAX)

The Lord Abbett Intermediate Tax Free fund objective is to seek the maximum amount of interest income exempt from federal income tax as is consistent with sound risk. This bond mutual fund uses its net assets to purchase municipal bonds issued by states, territories, and possessions of the U.S. (including the District of Columbia). The interest from this municipal debt is typically not taxed from federal personal income tax (i.e. tax free).

Fund Profile
  • Fund Inception Date: June 30, 2003
  • Ticker Symbol: LISAX
  • CUSIP: 543912604
  • Beta (3yr): 0.94
  • Rank in category (YTD): 39%
  • Category: Muni National Interm
  • Distribution Rate: 3.44%
  • Capital Gains: 0%

May 15, 2012

Best California Municipal Bond Closed End Funds 2012

These Best California Municipal Bond Closed End Funds of 2012 are Nuveen CA Quality Income Municipal, BlackRock MuniHoldings CA Quality, Nuveen CA Performance Plus Municipal, etc. These CA municipal bond funds invest mainly in tax free CA municipal debt obligations.

Intro

There are two types of bond closed end funds. They are tax free bond CEF and taxable bond CEF. The tax free fixed income fund invests mainly in municipal bonds. These muni bonds are obligation issued by a state, city, local municipality for governmental needs or to finance specific public projects. One of the advantages in investing in this fund is investor will get an income on regular basis which is exempted from federal income tax.

The California municipal bond closed end fund invests mainly in California state municipal debts. These CA muni bond funds also provide tax free income from federal and California income taxes.

Top 10 Best California Municipal Bond Closed End Funds of 2012 are:
  1. Nuveen CA Quality Income Municipal (NUC)
  2. Nuveen CA Investment Quality Municipal (NQC)
  3. Nuveen CA Select Quality Municipal (NVC)
  4. BlackRock MuniYield California (MYC)
  5. BlackRock MuniHoldings CA Quality (MUC)
  6. BlackRock MuniYield CA Quality (MCA)
  7. Nuveen CA Performance Plus Municipal (NCP)
  8. Nuveen CA Premium Income Municipal (NCU)
  9. BlackRock CA Municipal 2018 (BJZ)
  10. Nuveen CA Dividend Advantage Municipal 2 (NVX)

May 14, 2012

Worst Performing Closed End Funds in Week 19, 2012

The following post will look into the worst performer closed end funds in week 19. Some of them are RENN Global Entrepreneurs fund, BlackRock EcoSolutions fund, Greater China Fund, etc. More review can be found below.

Worst Performing CEFs

Closed-end funds are traded like stocks and exchange trade funds (ETFs). There are top performer and worst performer funds. The following are the worst performer CEFs in week 19, 2012. Most of these funds are stock CEFs. Among the worst performer classes are sector equity, international stock, and emerging market stocks.

The Worst Performing Closed End Funds in Week 19, 2012 are:
  1. RENN Global Entrepreneurs (RCG)
  2. GAMCO Global Gold Natural Resources & Income (GGN)
  3. BlackRock EcoSolutions (BQR)
  4. Greater China Fund (GCH)
  5. Morgan Stanley China A (CAF)
  6. Templeton Russia & East Europe (TRF)
  7. Central Fund of Canada (CEF)
  8. Aberdeen Chile (CH)
  9. ASA Gold & Precious Metal Ltd (ASA)
  10. Central GoldTrust (GTU)
Note: Week 19 = May 7th, 2012 – May 13th, 2012

The Importance of Diversification in Investing

Diversification is a key principle in investing, and it's especially important in today's uncertain economic climate. By spreading y...