August 19, 2014

Prudential Day One Funds Review

You probably have seen Prudential Day One Funds advertisement from financial magazine or newspaper. This article will review these Prudential target date mutual funds.

Target Date Funds

If you have a 401k account, you might find target date mutual funds as part of the fund selection. These balanced funds are popular among any investors. You can also invest in individual retirement account (IRA), or regular investment account. If you invest in it, the fund will adjust its assets between stocks & bonds. These funds will adjust their assets based on your retirement year target.

Investment Ad:

A Target Date Fund That Understands Your Life Has No Target Date.
Prudential Day One Funds. 
DAY ONE 
Prudential Day One Funds and Prudential Day One IncomeFlex Target Funds are insurance company separate accounts issued by Prudential Retirement Insurance and Annuity Company.
Combined Strength in Asset Management and Retirement
  • A top ten global asset manager
  • Asset manager for 24 of the 25 largest retirement plans – both public and private
  • 5th largest defined contribution, 7th largest defined benefit asset manager

August 17, 2014

Biggest Gain Stocks Week 33, 2014: Oil & Gas Pipelines

Find biggest gain stocks of week 33 of 2014. Top stock industries are oil & gas pipelines.

Best Stocks

This post will look into the top performing stocks, industry, and sector. The S&P 500 index has a weekly return of 1.28%. NASDAQ Composite has a weekly return of 2.15%. Dow Jones Industrials Average has a weekly return of 0.78%. The small cap (Russell 2000) has a return of 0.95%.

Best weekly performance of industry stocks of week 33, 2014 (August 11, 2014 – August 17, 2014) are:
    Biggest Gain Stocks Week 33, 2014
  1. Basic Materials Wholesale
  2. Oil & Gas Pipelines
  3. Internet Service Providers
  4. Major Airlines
  5. Biotechnology
  6. Catalog & Mail Order Houses
  7. Broadcasting - Radio
  8. Semiconductor- Memory Chips

August 15, 2014

Top Limited Duration Closed End Funds

Top limited duration closed end funds are Wells Fargo Advantage Multi-Sector Income, Eaton Vance Limited Duration Income.

Fixed Income Funds

Top Limited Duration Closed End FundsLimited duration funds invest mainly in variety of income asset classes with low duration strategy. This bond fund will provide limited interest rate risk and has low average duration of two & five years. This bond funds provide decent yield or distribution for investors.

Using closed end funds, investor can enhance their return or income. You can invest in your retirement account or regular brokerage account. These bond closed end funds (CEFs) can be bought with as little as 1 share like ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) or stock.

Top limited duration closed end funds are:
  1. Wells Fargo Advantage Multi-Sector Income
  2. Eaton Vance Limited Duration Income
  3. Eaton Vance Short Duration Diversified
  4. BlackRock Limited Duration Income

August 13, 2014

Best Mutual Funds List

MEPB Financial Mutual Fund Review provides a diverse selection from variety of investment and financial analysis from more than 6,000 mutual funds. We review rankings from Morningstar, Lipper, Zacks, TheStreet.com, U.S. News, and Standard & Poor’s. You can learn from our methodology from variety of our previous articles.

These best mutual funds are selected based on its performance, fee, management, investment style. You can find the fund list below.

Most Popular Mutual Funds Rankings

Short Term Bond

    Best Mutual Funds
  1. Thompson Bond Fund (THOPX) - Performance 1 Year: 4.38% Expense Ratio: 0.74%
  2. Frost Total Return Bond Fund (FATRX) - Performance 1-Yr: 5.96% Expense Ratio: 0.74%
  3. Vanguard Short Term Investment Grade Fund (VFSTX) - Performance 1-Yr: 2.64% Expense Ratio: 0.20%
  4. Metropolitan West Low Duration Bond Fund (MWLDX) - Performance 1-Yr: 2.03% Expense Ratio: 0.57%

Long Term Bond

  1. PIMCO Long Duration Total Return Fund (PLRIX) - Performance 1-Yr: 12.77% Expense Ratio: 0.50%
  2. Vanguard Long-Term Bond Index Fund (VBLTX) - Performance 1-Yr: 12.34% Expense Ratio: 0.20%

August 11, 2014

Top Municipal Bond ETFs 2014

Find top municipal bond ETFs 2014. Muni bond funds provide tax free income for investors.

Best Muni Bond Funds

Top Municipal Bond ETFsMunicipal bond funds are investing mainly in tax free municipal bonds issued by various U.S. municipalities such as state of California, state of Texas, Los Angeles city, New York City, and more. The interests are exempt from federal income tax, it may also exempt from state and local tax. You can buy these bond funds from your brokerage such as Vanguard, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade, ETrade, etc.

There are 2 types of municipal bond funds: investment grade muni bond funds, & high yield municipal bond funds. This article will look into top investment grade muni bond ETFs. These bond ETFs are traded like stocks or closed end funds.

These top diversified municipal funds are selected based on its YTD performance in 2014. Unlike mutual fund, these exchange traded funds don’t have a sales load or a transaction fee. You can find the fund review and other fund information below such as the yield, expense ratio, fund manager, top holdings, top sectors, etc.

Top municipal bond ETFs 2014 are:
  1. Market Vectors CEF Municipal Income ETF
  2. Market Vectors-Long Municipal Index ETF
  3. PowerShares National AMT-Free Municipal Bond ETF
  4. db X-trackers Municipal Infrastructure Revenue Bond Fund
  5. Market Vectors-Intermediate Municipal Index ETF
  6. SPDR Barclays Municipal Bond
  7. iShares National AMT-Free Muni Bond ETF
  8. PIMCO Intermediate Municipal Bond Strategy Fund

August 9, 2014

Best Industry Stocks Week 32, 2014: Home Furnishings & Fixtures

Find best performing industry stocks of week 32 of 2014. Top stock industries are home furnishings & fixtures, textile industrial, retail, etc.

Best Stocks

Best Industry Stocks Week 32, 2014: Home Furnishings & FixturesThis post will look into the top performing stocks, industry, and sector. Major market indices have been down a lot this week. The S&P 500 index has a weekly return of 0.40%. NASDAQ Composite has a weekly return of 0.42%. Dow Jones Industrials Average has a weekly return of 0.47%. The small cap (Russell 2000) has a return of 1.50%.

Best weekly performance of industry stocks of week 32, 2014 (August 4, 2014 – August 10, 2014) are:
  1. Toy & Hobby Stores – 7.72%
  2. Home Furnishings & Fixtures – 5.83%
  3. Textile Industrial – 5.38%
  4. Recreational Goods, Other – 5.25%
  5. Sporting Goods – 4.37%

August 7, 2014

Target Date 2031-2035 Mutual Funds: Best Fund

Find best target date 2031-2035 mutual funds. This target date funds are popular among 401k or individual retirement account (IRA) investors.

Best Target Date Funds

Target Date 2031-2035 Mutual FundsTarget date mutual funds are popular among any investors. Whether you have a 401k plan, individual retirement account (IRA), or regular investment account; you will find the target date mutual funds for your choice. These funds are suitable for passive investors that want to balance between stocks & bonds. These funds will adjust their assets based on your retirement year target.

Target Date 2031-2035 fund provide a diversified exposure to stocks, bonds, and cash for those investors who have a specific date in mind (in this case, the years 2031-2035) for retirement or another goal. The investment risks may include market risk, index tracking risk, investment style risk, etc. These target date mutual funds are also known as lifecycle mutual funds.

These top performer target date mutual funds are sorted based on its 1 year total return. You may find other information such as expense ratio fee, portfolio turnover rate, management or index approach, performance, etc. You can find the fund review and comparison below.

Best Target Date 2031-2035 Mutual Funds 2014 are:
  1. T. Rowe Price Retirement 2035 Fund
  2. American Funds 2035 Target Date Retirement Fund
  3. AllianceBernstein 2035 Retirement Strategy Fund
  4. Vanguard Target Retirement 2035 Fund
  5. TIAA-CREF Lifecycle Index 2035 Fund

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