Ad of Putnam Funds: Alternative Mutual Fund

Find alternative mutual funds offered by Putnam Funds include Putnam Absolute Return Funds, Putnam Diversified Income Trust, etc.

Popular Putnam Mutual Funds

Putnam mutual funds are provided by Putnam Investments. Putnam has $156 billion in assets under management. There are 80 mutual funds and 50 institutional strategies across a range of assets classes and investment styles.

Top 5 popular funds include Putnam Capital Spectrum Fund, Putnam Diversified Income Trust, Putnam Equity Spectrum Fund, Putnam Equity Income Fund, and Putnam Dynamic Asset Allocation Balanced Fund. These mutual funds can be invested in your brokerage account, 401k plan, retirement account (Roth IRA & traditional IRA).

You can find an investment ad by Putnam as follows:

Alternatives@Putnam 

Markets demand new ways of thinking. 

Discover Putnam’s proactive approach to managing volatility and pursuing superior results. 

Robert L. Reynolds 

President and CEO, Putnam Investments 

With today’s volatility, simply beating a benchmark may not be enough. Take a targeted approach. Putnam Absolute Return Funds 100 (PARTX), 300 (PTRNX), 500 (PJMDX), 700 (PDMAX) 

When economic factors weigh on an index, individual companies can offer opportunity. Pursue the best ideas, wherever they are. Putnam Capital Spectrum Fund (PVSAX), Putnam Equity Spectrum Fund (PYSAX)

20 Largest Mutual Funds

Most investors may have invested in mutual funds through their brokerage or retirement account (IRA or 401k plan). More than 50% of American households own a mutual fund. The stock market or bond market aren’t going away anytime soon – but it’s certainly one that investors can and should be a lot smarter about if they pick to keep mutual funds in their portfolios.

As a prospective buyer, you need to ask whether you should invest in the biggest and most popular mutual funds. Are these popular mutual funds really worth your money? The answer isn’t as easy to find as you might think. You can find many companies which provide ratings on mutual funds including Morningstar, US News, Lipper, Forbes, Money, Kiplinger, etc.

Popular Mutual Funds for Investment

The top 20 largest mutual funds are:

1. Vanguard Total Stock Market Index Fund (VTSMX) - $343 billion
2. PIMCO Total Return Fund (PTTAX) - $223 billion
3. Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VFINX) - $176 billion
4. American Funds Growth Fund of America Fund (AGTHX) - $139 billion
5. Vanguard Total International Stock Index Fund (VGTSX) - $129 billion
6. American Funds Europacific Growth Fund (AEPGX) - $125 billion
7. Vanguard Total Bond Market Index Fund (VBMFX) - $119 billion
8. Fidelity Contrafund (FCNTX) - $106 billion
9. Franklin Income Fund (FKINX) - $94 billion
10. American Funds Capital Income Builder Fund (CAIBX) - $94 billion

Principal Mutual Funds for Retirement Account

Find top Principal mutual funds for your retirement account. The mutual funds include Principal Global Real Estate Securities Fund, Principal LifeTime 2010 Fund, etc.

Principal Funds

Principal Financial Group (PFG) is a global financial services company.  It is offering a wide range of financial services including retirement solutions, insurance, investment, planning center, financial, and banking products. It offers mutual funds, annuities, saving accounts, and certificates of deposit (CDs) in its investment business. The mutual funds are offered from its Principal Funds arm.

Should you invest in your brokerage, retirement, or 401(k) account? Find my fund review below. Select the best funds for your investing account or long term account. I provide various aspects of review including fund performance, expense fee, sales load, etc.

The investment ad by Principal is as follows:

We won the awards. 

You got the results. 

Lipper Fund Awards 2013 United States 

Top Asset Class 

Best Mixed-Asset Fund Manager over the 3-year period 

Among 40 Firms in the Large Company Category 

Top Individual Funds 

Principal Global Real Estate Securities Fund – Class I (POSIX)
Best Global Real Estate Fund over the 5-year period

Top Stocks Week 35, 2014: Research Services & Oil Exploration

Find top industry stocks of week 35 of 2014. Top stock industries are oil & gas drilling & exploration, research services, etc.

Best Stocks

This post will look into the top performing stocks, industry, and sector. The S&P 500 index has a weekly return of 0.80%. NASDAQ Composite has a weekly return of 0.92%. Dow Jones Industrials Average has a weekly return of 0.63%. The small cap (Russell 2000) has a return of 1.24%.

Best weekly performance of industry stocks of week 35, 2014 (August 25, 2014 – August 31, 2014) are:

1. Photographic Equipment & Supplies - 23.50%
2. Oil & Gas Drilling & Exploration - 7.90%
3. Research Services - 7.36%
4. Healthcare Information Services - 4.83%
5. Foreign Regional Banks - 4.80%
6. Jewelry Stores - 4.16%
7. Biotechnology - 3.87%
8. Diversified Computer Systems - 3.59%
9. Meat Products - 3.47%
10. Water Utilities - 3.18%
11. Tobacco Products, Other - 3.01%
12. Toy & Hobby Stores - 3.00%

Top Investment Grade Bond Closed End Funds

Investment grade bond closed end funds invest mainly in high quality fixed income. These funds may invest in U.S. bonds and foreign bonds depending on the fund’s objective.

Popular Fixed Income Funds

Closed end funds are traded like stocks and ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds). These investment grade bond funds invest in corporate as well as government debts. Some may provide high yield income for investors.

The top performing list is sorted based on its year to date performance in 2014. You can find the fund review, performance, expense ratio, dividend yield, fund’s NAV, management, leverage, fund’s sponsor, premium/discount info, etc.

Top investment grade bond closed end funds are:

1. PIMCO Corporate & Income Opportunity (PTY) – 14.34%
2. Guggenheim Credit Allocation Fund (GGM) – 12.51%
3. PIMCO Corporate & Income Strategy (PCN) – 12.41%
4. Invesco Bond Fund (VBF)
5. JH Investors Trust (JHI)
6. MS Income Securities (ICB)
7. Cutwater Select Income Fund (CSI)
8. Western Asset IG Defined Opp (IGI)
9. Western Asset Global Corp Defined Opp (GDO)
10. BlackRock Credit Allocation Income (BTZ)

Best Real Estate ETFs 2014

Real estate ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) are investing mainly in real estate companies including REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts). These stock ETFs may provide high yield of income for investors.

Best REIT Exchange Traded Funds

Real estate funds use their assets to purchase real estate investment trusts (REITs), which invest in and own commercial real estate properties. Generally, a REIT offers a high yield because it's required to distribute a large amount of its taxable income to its shareholders in the form of a dividend.

These top real estate ETFs in 2014 are sorted based on its year to date performance in 2014. You can find the fund details and review below. Some of these ETFs can be bought for free from variety of brokerages such as Fidelity, Schwab, TD Ameritrade, and Vanguard.

Best real estate ETFs 2014 are:

1. iShares Residential Real Estate Capped ETF (REZ) – 24.27%
2. iShares Cohen & Steers REIT (ICF) – 22.24%
3. Schwab US REIT ETF (SCHH) – 21.1%
4. SPDR Dow Jones REIT ETF (RWR) – 20.93%
5. Vanguard REIT ETF (VNQ) - 20.77%
6. Wilshire US REIT ETF (WREI)
7. PowerShares Active US Real Estate ETF (PSR)
8. iShares Real Estate 50 (FTY)
9. First Trust S&P REIT ETF (FRI)
10. iShares US Real Estate ETF (IYR)

Top Stocks Week 34, 2014: Department Stores

Find top industry stocks of week 34 of 2014. Top stock industries are department stores, home improvement stores.

Best Stocks

This post will look into the top performing stocks, industry, and sector. The S&P 500 index has a weekly return of 1.75%. NASDAQ Composite has a weekly return of 1.65%. Dow Jones Industrials Average has a weekly return of 2.10%. The small cap (Russell 2000) has a return of 1.65%.

Best weekly performance of industry stocks of week 34, 2014 (August 18, 2014 – August 24, 2014) are:

1. Toy & Hobby Stores – 17.11%
2. Internet Service Providers – 11.53%
3. Department Stores – 8.31%
4. Home Improvement Stores – 7.61%
5. Electronics Stores
6. Property Management
7. Office Supplies