Russell Wild

If you want to invest in bonds, you need to know how to read the bond ratings that the big three rating companies use in order to help you select bonds in a risk-aware way. Knowing the right questions to ask about a bond can save you money, and you can find answers to many of those questions on the Internet.How to read bond ratingsBefore you buy a bond, get an idea of how much financial muscle the issuer has.

When, in November 2004, State Street Global Advisors introduced the first gold ETF, it was a truly revolutionary moment. You buy a share just as you would buy a share of any other security, and each share gives you an ownership interest in one-tenth of an ounce of gold held by the fund. Yes, the gold is actually held in various bank vaults.

If you want to invest your money in companies that are smaller than small, you can invest in ETFs based on micro caps. These companies are larger than the corner delicatessen, but sometimes not by much. In general, micro caps are publicly held companies with less than $300 million in outstanding stock.Micro caps, as you can imagine, are volatile little suckers, but as a group they offer impressive long-term performance.

You may think of bonds as thoroughly modern financial instruments, but they have a long history. They played an important part in helping the Allies win World War II, for example.Every bond needs to be identified, which is where its CUSIP comes in. When you reach a certain age, the government requires that you begin withdrawing at least some money from your accounts, and you need to pay close attention to this, because if you don’t cash out the minimum amount, big fines are levied.

An ETF, or exchange-traded fund, is a relatively new investment product. It's something of a cross between an index mutual fund and a stock. ETF investing has grown exponentially in the past few years, and it makes sense for most individual investors to take a look adding ETFs to their portfolios.Comparing ETFs to other investment optionsInvesting in ETFs differs from investing in mutual funds and individual stocks in some important ways, as the following table shows.

One of the hottest debates among investors — one that will never end — is whether actively managed investments are any wiser than index fund investments. The simple answer is usually no, they are not. The vast majority of index investors do better than the vast majority of active investors. Although various studies show various results, none contradicts the basic premise that indexing works, and works very well.

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is something of a cross between an index mutual fund and a stock. It’s like a mutual fund but has some key differences you’ll want to be sure you understand.Here, you discover how to get some ETFs into your portfolio, how to choose smart ETFs, and how ETFs differ from mutual funds.

Bond investing has a reputation for safety, not only because bonds provide steady and predictable streams of income, but also because as a bondholder you have first dibs on the issuer’s money. A corporation is legally bound to pay you your interest before it doles out any dividends to people who own company stock.