Long term investments

As the S&P 500 bottomed in late March, mom-and-pop darlings enjoyed weeks of inflows. Since then, the trend has shifted.

Analysis of their performance — and fees — may reveal some surprises.

The percentage of workers who say they are ready to retire has dropped by more than 5% in last month, a survey found.

“These funds got an assist from the Fed when they were told they would backstop the higher end of the high-yield credit industry,” an expert says.

“People are just saying, ‘Why should I pay for an active manager when most of them lose to the benchmark anyway?’ This is a big deal,” an expert says.

“I do believe that clients sometimes get too caught up in expense ratios,” an expert says.

Analysis of funds that have sustainable equivalents shows there’s neither a long-term edge nor a sacrifice for picking one strategy over the other.

Steady gains made in equity markets last year were "clearly a tailwind,” an expert says.

Stock plunges can hurt more than some clients may know, due to their asymmetrical relationship with gains.

“Investment allocations can differ from one fund to another, and so do the expense ratios,” an expert cautions.

The 82-year-old company’s strategy has helped secure net inflows in all but one of the five years through 2018.

Data reported by the Investment Company Institute.

They may look good on paper, but such investments also come with thorny challenges.

Most inflows in the space went to products with over 80% of their assets in index funds, new research from Morningstar finds.

Gambling is fun, but it’s not a sustainable long-term strategy.

As a sustained bull run has made portfolios swell, managing the tax bill on those gains has become increasingly vital.

Data reported by the Investment Company Institute.

They have time on their side, but compounding won’t work if they’re all in cash.

Data reported by the Investment Company Institute.

Data reported by the Investment Company Institute.