May 2012

IndexIQ Multi-Strategy Tracker: A Hedge Fund for the Middle Class?

May 28, 2012

If you were to put a group of rocket scientists, academics, and researchers in a jail cell for 10 years with nothing but historical stock market data and a dry erase board, you’d come up with a fund company like IndexIQ. Its rather exotic funds are unique in the world of plain vanilla-indexing, and the […]

Read the full article →

High-Yield International Bond ETFs without Currency Risk

May 20, 2012

Americans have a very different experience in the credit markets than international borrowers and investors. During the 2008 financial crisis –a US “export” to the rest of the world – credit simply disappeared. As Americans tend to borrow long and at fixed-rates, the crisis was far less detrimental to Americans than international investors and borrowers. […]

Read the full article →

Senior Loan ETFs: Safe Funds for Yield Chasers?

May 16, 2012

Investors everywhere have a dilemma: take a risky bet for higher-returns or accept bond yields that barely keep pace with implied inflation. Historically, investors swap stocks for bonds for higher returns in exchange for a riskier portfolio. The choice is no longer so binary, as safer high yield investments evolve. New senior loan ETFs make […]

Read the full article →

Macro Events in Europe

May 16, 2012

Macro Update and Commentary: If you haven’t noticed, the yield on the 10 Year Treasury has remained firmly below 2%, which has mortgage and refi rates at record lows as well.  Most people that had the capability to refinance in recent years probably have already, but for those that haven’t, it probably won’t get any […]

Read the full article →

Is the Permanent Portfolio ETF a Perfect Choice for the Long Term Investor?

May 6, 2012

Can you make a perfect, permanent portfolio out of four asset classes? One issuer, Global X, wants to do just that by turning Harry Brown’s 1980s permanent portfolio into the Permanent Portfolio ETF (PERM). Permanent Portfolio in Practice The permanent portfolio is made up of only four asset classes – gold, silver, equities, and US […]

Read the full article →

Credit Card MUSTS for Businesses

May 1, 2012

In various facets of the business world, I’m still often surprised to see some businesses that do accept credit cards and others that don’t.  As technology has progressed, we’re seeing mobile swipe capability for smartphones while some businesses still don’t accept credit cards at all.  Just the other day, I was picking up a pizza […]

Read the full article →