Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF (VGK)

Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF (VGK) is an international stock exchange traded fund. This index ETF uses its assets to purchase stocks of companies located in major markets of Europe. This fund will invest in companies located in Austria France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and more.

This equity fund is tracking the return of the FTSE Developed Europe Index since 2013, before it is tracking MSCI Europe Index. This equity fund has high potential for growth, but also high risk.

VGK Fund Profile

• Fund Inception Date: 03/04/2005
• Ticker Symbol: VGK
• CUSIP: 922042874
• Rank in category (YTD): 37%
• Category: Europe Stock
• Yield: 3.16%
• Capital Gains: -
• Expense Ratio: 0.10%
• Total Assets: $ 14.0 billion
• Annual Turnover Rate: 28%

Updated May 2017

The fund manager is Gerard C. O'Reilly since 2008. It has a low expense fee of 0.10%. The current dividend yield is 4.28%. The share price is valued at $53.68. This popular ETF has large assets of $18 billion.

Best Performing Short Term Government Bond ETFs 2015

Short term government bond ETFs are investing in high quality U.S. treasury bonds with short duration such as 1-3 years. These taxable exchange traded funds are less volatile than long duration bond funds. The yield from this fund is also smaller than other bond funds due to its shorter duration.

Popular Bond ETFs

These top short government ETFs in 2014 are sorted based on its 1 year return. 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 performing short term government bond ETFs 2015 are:

1. SPDR Barclays Short Term Treasury ETF (SST)
2. Vanguard Short-Term Government Bond ETF (VGSH)
3. iShares 1-3 Year Treasury Bond ETF (SHY)
4. Schwab Short-Term US Treasury ETF (SCHO)
5. PIMCO 1-3 Year U.S. Treasury ETF (TUZ)

Top American Funds Mutual Funds 2015

American funds are part of Capital Group. It is a private firm with offices throughout Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America. American funds provide actively managed stock and bond mutual funds. As one of the largest investment companies in the world, the firm offer varieties of products such as mutual funds, retirement account, 529 plan, etc.

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.

Popular American Funds

You can find these popular American Funds for different sectors such as U.S. stock fund, international stock fund, municipal bond fund, balanced fund, target date fund, taxable bond fund. Depend on your risk tolerance; you may pick and choose from this best mutual funds list.

Top American Funds mutual funds 2015 are:

• American Funds 2030 Target Date Retirement Fund (AAETX)
• American Funds American Balanced Fund (ABALX)
• American Funds Europacific Growth Fund (AEPGX)
• American Funds Global Balanced Fund (GBLAX)
• American Funds International Growth and Income Fund (IGAAX)
• American Funds New Economy Fund (ANEFX)
• American Funds New Perspective Fund (ANWPX)
• American Funds New World Fund (NEWFX)

Best Performing US Equity Closed End Funds

Find the best performing US equity closed end funds in 2015. This list is sorted based on its 1 year total return up to January 18, 2015.

US Stock Funds

The US equity funds are investing in U.S. companies’ stocks. These funds are typically less volatile than international stock funds. You can find the fund review below.

Best performing US general equity closed end funds in 2015 are:

1. Denali Fund (DNY)
2. Boulder Total Return Fund (BTF)
3. Nuveen Core Equity Alpha Fund (JCE)
4. Boulder Growth & Income Fund (BIF)
5. Adams Express (ADX)
6. Guggenheim EW Enhanced Equity Fund (GEQ)
7. Tri-Continental Corporation (TY)
8. Source Capital Inc (SOR)

Top Precious Metals, REIT, Utilities Stocks

The gold & silver stocks are still out performing in week 3 of 2015. Other top performing sector stocks of weeks 3, 2015 are healthcare REIT, utilities, etc.

This post will look into the top performing stocks, industry, and sector. The S&P 500 index has a weekly return of -1.22%. NASDAQ Composite has a weekly return of -1.48%. Dow Jones Industrials Average has a weekly return of -1.25%. The small cap (Russell 2000) has a return of -0.75%.

Best weekly performance of industry stocks of week 3, 2015 (January 12, 2015 – January 18, 2015) are:

1. Gold 8.12%
2. Long Distance Carriers 8.07%
3. Silver 5.53%
4. Publishing - Books 4.14%
5. REIT - Healthcare Facilities 3.99%
6. Beverages - Brewers 3.44%
7. Basic Materials Wholesale 3.35%
8. Processing Systems & Products 3.26%
9. Consumer Services 3.18%
10. Diagnostic Substances 2.96%

JPMorgan Strategic Income Opportunities Fund (JSOAX)

JPMorgan Strategic Income Opportunities Fund (JSOAX) is an actively managed bond mutual fund. This popular mutual fund seeks to provide high total return. It has an absolute return orientation and doesn’t manage relative to an index.

This top JPMorgan fund invests in various debts instruments. It may invest in U.S. market, international market such as developed and emerging markets, and non-investment grade bonds (junk bonds).

JSOAX Fund Profile

• Fund Inception Date: 10/10/2008
• Ticker Symbol: JSOAX
• CUSIP: 4812A4385
• Beta (3yr): 0.10
• Rank in category (YTD): 78%
• Category: Non-Traditional bond
• Distribution Yield: 1.27%
• Capital Gains: -
• Expense Ratio: 0.90%
• Net Assets: $ 24.4 billion
• Number of Years Up: 4 years
• Number of Years Down: 1 years

Top iShares ETFs for 2015

Finding best ETFs for 2015 is essential. The following will look into best iShares exchange traded funds. There are several of sector fund, U.S. stock fund, bond fund, international stock fund, etc.

Popular Mutual Funds Family

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. You can also find the 1 year average returns of these best mutual funds from this list.

Top iShares ETFs for 2015 are:

• iShares Aggressive Allocation ETF (AOA) 9.88
• iShares Cali AMT-Free Muni Bond ETF (CMF) 9.31
• iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) 17.25
• iShares Core S&P Mid-Cap ETF (IJH) 12.79
• iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF (IJR) 6.42
• iShares Core S&P Total US Stock Market ETF (ITOT) 16.52
• iShares Core US Growth ETF (IUSG) 16.93
• iShares Core US Value ETF (IUSV) 15.11
• iShares Dow Jones US ETF (IYY) 16.35
• iShares Emerging Markets Infrastructure ETF (EMIF) 5.09
• iShares Floating Rate Bond ETF (FLOT) 0.5
• iShares Global Energy ETF (IXC) -1.93
• iShares Global Timber & Forestry ETF (WOOD) 4.43
• iShares Gold Trust ETF (IAU) -3.73