ETFs for Smoothing Out Marketplace Volatility

Precisely why do we invest? Exactly what really is your own objective?

For many individual investors, whether or not they invest on their own to hire someone, the real objective is simply having enough cash when they need it -- in most cases this means retirement.

If you need to retire then chances are your accumulated savings will go toward supplementing the benefit you will get from Social Security and you'll either have enough saved to offer the lifestyle you desire or we won't.

For those that can reorient their thinking to the extended term as well as to their real objective, a entire new way of investing opens up by making use of the low-volatility ETFs that have recently been created.

The big idea is the fact that these funds go up less than regular market-cap-weighted money during bull phases and go down less during bear phases, thus smoothing out the ride on the method to a similar long-term result.

The advantage to this smoother ride is a smaller likelihood of panic selling at a low mainly because these funds tend to act as advertised: They go down less whenever the marketplace goes down.

The last few months have offered a good litmus test for just what to expect from these types of funds.

Because its inception this past Will, the PowerShares S&P 500 Low Volatility Portfolio(SPLV) is down 1.25% vs. an 8.27% decline for the S&P 500.

SPLV owns the 100 stocks in the S&P 500 with the lowest realized volatility over the last 12 months. Certainly not amazingly, the fund is heaviest in the utilities sector at 32% and the consumer staples sector at 22%. None of the other sectors exceed more than 10% of the fund.

The fund is not riskless, however. Utility stocks tend to be vulnerable to increasing rates as bonds become more attractive relative to high-yielding utilities.

The Federal Reserve will great lengths to keep interest rates low by stating that it won't increase them till at least 2013 as well as by recently commencing "Surgery Twist," in which the central bank sells short-dated debt and buys longer-dated debt. But with rates close to all-time lows it makes sense to be on the lookout for a meaningful turn higher.


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Is it Easier for Singles to Save For Retirement?

When it comes to retirement planning, who has it better, singles to married couples?

The answer -- singles, according to many Americans -- can be based more on perception than reality. Singles can find it harder to save for retirement than the traditional wisdom suggests. Singles are actually significantly less prepared for and confident about retiring, a study says.

A recent survey by Schwab(SCHW) looked at the attitudes as well as behaviors of singles as well as married people around retirement. It found that many singles (69%) as well as a majority of married couples (53%) think being single is an advantage when it comes to retirement planning.

This attitude isn't backed up by the facts, warns Carrie Schwab-Pomerantz, Charles Schwab senior vice president. The same study found that singles are actually significantly less prepared and less confident than married individuals in their retirement readiness -- 85% of married Americans have already began to save, compared with only 67% of singles.

Those stats can get even worse given a weak economy as well as rampant unemployment that has left many Americans in their 20s underpaid as well as frequently moving back in with their parents.

There is also a growing population of singles. Census figures show there are record numbers of singles in America -- nearly 100 million last year, or one-third of the population.

The study also found that 58% of married Americans say it would be easier to decide whenever to retire without a spouse to consider; 62% of those couples say choosing where to retire would be easier if they had been single.

The details of when and exactly where to retire, however, are less problematic than being prepared for that stage of life.

Despite the perception that "single people have it created," they have the very big hurdle of having only you income.


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High Spenders Want a Reality Check

Many high earners feel a false sense of security regarding retiring due to the fact they earn a good living with high disposable income and live well.

Let's make an assumption that being a "high earner" is all relative as well as largely determined by what part of nation we live in. Whether we are a high earner in Brand new York City with web after-tax of $1 million or $250,000 in a low-cost area is immaterial; the point is the fact that pre-retirees should take a look at their personal balance sheet to ascertain the sustainability of their lifestyle during retirement -- especially for those who have lived at or perhaps above their means for their entire lives. Everything's fine until you get that final paycheck as well as face the next 30 many years of retirement.

Take for example a 60-year-old with web earnings of $250,000 per year. Assume this individual spends all of those after-tax earnings or money flow every year.

If this person has saved $1 million for retirement, it is very simple math that $250,000 per year is definitely not a sustainable retirement invest. Doing a very quick, back-of-the envelope calculation yields a projected sustainable invest of $80,568 per year. (I assumed a 30-year retirement as well as 7% portfolio return and assumed all funds have been exhausted by the end of year 30. This ignores inflation, market volatility, timing of marketplace returns, Social Security as well as income taxes but does highlight the spending disconnect.)

High earners in their 50s and 60s want to lay the groundwork to bridge their current spending habits to what is sustainable during retirement. The first step is to get serious about creating an accurate income. Next they should see their spending levels through the lens of their retirement savings. If the savings represent a mere 1 to 2 times your spending levels, you've got some serious work to do! If your solution is "Oh I'll just keep working," there are two important things to remember: older workers cost more, so they are on the firing line in a downsizing; and your own health may not allow it.

Older high earners can stay in denial regarding the situation till they retire due to the fact they have the income to support their lifestyle. When they get that final paycheck, reality will soon set in. Don't allow yourself be caught off guard.


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Tech ETFs Look to Holiday Season

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Google(GOOG) managed to kick off the technology earnings season earlier this month on a high note. Unfortunately, any momentum stemming from its report seems to have dissipated in the following weeks.

Following the strong results from the search giant, companies including Apple(AAPL), Netflix(NFLX) and most recently, Amazon.com(AMZN) have each stepped up to the plate and whiffed.

Netflix was a particularly big disappointment. The company, which has suffered a number of gaffes in recent months, managed to beat analyst estimates. However, news of a dismal drawdown in subscribers sent investors fleeing. By the end of Tuesday's trading, shares of NFLX were off over 34%.

Given the weak earnings showings from these tech favorites, investors may be wary of taking steps into this sector. Shunning technology, however, is not the best strategy going forward. This is especially true now that the holiday season is nearly upon us.

To say that technology has become an important element of this season would be a gross understatement. While hotly sought-after gadgets like Amazon's Kindle Fire and the iPhone 4S will likely be at the top of many wish lists, the mere act of shopping has become increasingly technology focused over the years.

Whereas droves of consumers once trudged to their local shopping centers to fight crowds and wait in long lines in order to purchase gifts for their friends and family, they increasingly are opting to get their holiday shopping done from the comfort of their home sofas and office chairs. Last year, sales on "Cyber Monday" broke through the $1 billion mark for the first time. Perhaps more importantly, however, was the fact that the sales numbers seen on this tech-focused shopping day handedly beat out those on Black Friday.

The trend shows no sign of slowing, either. On the contrary, in a press release issued on Monday, the National Retail Federation found that consumers expect to get 36% of their holiday shopping done online this year. This is up from 32.7% in the previous year.

Shipping goliath FedEx(FDX) provided further evidence of the growing presence of online shopping this week when it announced that it expects to see record volume during this year's season. Looking to Dec. 12 -- the day considered to be the company's busiest -- FedEx forecasts that it will handle 17 million packages. This marks a 10% increase from the year previous. Businessweek notes that the increasing presence of e-commerce has been instrumental in propelling the company's holiday shipments higher over the past few years.

Although fellow shipping industry leader United Parcel Services(UPS) has yet to release its own holiday season forecasts, the prospects already appears promising. The Wall Street Journal reported that chairman Scott Davis mentioned to shareholders that holiday shipping will outpace last year's numbers.

A fund like the First Trust Dow Jones Internet Index Fund(FDN) can provide investors with exposure to a number of the most popular technology-related holiday destinations. The fund is designed to target a wide pool of names from across the Internet sector, including Google, Priceline.com(PCLN) and Salesforce(CRM). Online consumer destinations like Amazon and eBay(EBAY) make respectable showings as well, accounting for a combined 14% of FDN's portfolio.

In the near term, paltry earnings performances from top tech names may lead FDN down a rocky path. However, with the retail-friendly holiday shopping season kicking into high gear, this is one product I would encourage investors to keep a close watch on.

Written by Don Dion in Williamstown, Mass.

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Top 10 Health Care ETFs

Our goal in this profile is to help investors wade through the many competing ETF offerings available. Using our lengthy experience as an ETF publication, and almost 40 years in the investment business, we can help choose those ETFs that thing as well as will or perhaps may certainly not be repetitive. The result is a more manageable list of issues from which to view as well as make selections.

There is currently an growing list of 24 ETFs oriented to the health care sector with more on the method. The following analysis features a fair representation of ETFs available. We believe from these investors may choose an appropriate ETF to satisfy the best index-based offerings people and financial advisors may utilize.

We are not ranking these ETFs favoring you over another so don't let the listing order mislead you. Although we will use many of these in ETF Digest portfolios it's not our intention to recommend one over an additional.

ETFs are based on indexes tied to well-known index providers including Russell, S&P, Barclays, MSCI, Dow Jones as well as so forth. Also included are many so-called "enhanced" indexes that attempt to achieve better performance through more active management of the index.

Where competitive issues exist and/or repetitive issues available at a fee cost saving we mention those as other choices. Brand new issues are coming to marketplace consistently (especially globally) as well as occasionally these issues should become more seasoned before they will be included at least in our listings.
For traders as well as investors wishing to hedge, leveraged and inverse issues are available to use from ProShares and Direxion as well as exactly where available these are noted.

XLV (SPDR Healthcare Sector ETF) follows the Health Care Select Sector Index. The fund was launched in December 1998. The expense ratio is .20%. Assets under Management (AUM) equal over $3.4 billion as well as average daily trading volume are over 15M shares. As of late October 2011 the dividend is $.66 creating the current yield 2.02% with YTD performance over 6.60%.

An alternative choice can include IYH (iShares Dow Jones U.S. Medical ETF) follows the index of the same name. The expense ratio is higher at .48%. The constituents are similar to XLV whilst the YTD return as of July 2011 is 5.43%.

Both ProShares as well as Direxion Shares maintain leveraged extended as well as brief ETFs for hedging or perhaps speculation needs.

Data as of October 2011
XLV Top Ten Holdings & Weightings Johnson & Johnson (JNJ): 13.97%Pfizer Inc (PFE): 11.04%Merck & Co Inc (MRK): 8.06%Abbott Laboratories (ABT): 5.40%Bristol-Myers Squibb Business (BMY): 4.31%Amgen Inc (AMGN): 4.06%UnitedHealth Group Inc (UNH): 4.00%Eli Lilly as well as Company (LLY): 3.01%Medtronic, Inc. (MDT): 2.82%Baxter International Inc. (BAX): 2.59%



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ETF Options Galore for Commodities

Sweeping macroeconomic turmoil and looming marketplace doubts have created a treacherous environment for commodity investors over the past few months.

Whilst the risk of an upheaval remains present, as we have seen in latest days, the fog can be lifting on hard assets.

At the start of the week, commercial giant Caterpillar(CAT) injected a welcomed dose of confidence into commodities. The firm noted that its mining branch had been a major contributor to its analyst-beating quarterly earnings numbers.

In addition, hunting ahead CAT appeared confident that demand for mined resources will stay strong. Iin the middle of the summer, the company expanded its reach into the mining industry, spending over $8 billion to acquire Bucyrus International, an equipment firm.

Investment experts are optimistic regarding hard assets too. On Monday, Bloomberg reported that the number of bullish bets on commodities from the hedge fund industry had increased to levels last seen in August. According to the report, waning concerns regarding a double-dip recession combined with improving sentiment towards emerging markets are helping to restore these investors' appetites for energy and agricultural products.

In the past I have pointed to futures-backed money like the PowerShares Commodity Fund(DBC) as an attractive how to gain exposure to commodities.

While long-only products such as DBC are attractive during periods of strength, I additionally directed investor attention towards the WisdomTree Managed Futures Fund(WDTI) during the opening half of the month. This pseudo active ETF casts a web over a broad collection of commodity- and currency-tracking futures contracts, taking long as well as short positions. This strategy allows the fund to navigate any kind of market environment.

These money have proven to be effective for resource-hungry investors in the past. However, definitely not all people are comfortable with the idea of targeting their favorite commodities using futures contracts. Those wary of these instruments can would like to consider taking aim at hard assets using an equity-backed ETF.

The growth of the ETF industry has led to the creation of a vast collection of funds designed to provide investors with exposure to single commodity-related industries. For example, investors can use products such as the Marketplace Vectors Agribusiness ETF(MOO), Market Vectors Coal ETF(KOL) or the First Trust ISE Revere Natural Gas Index Fund(FCG) to gain exposure to leading companies in the agriculture, coal, as well as natural gas industries respectively.


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Fundamental Index Money Look Promising

With a great deal fanfare, fundamental index money began appearing in 2006.

Proponents predicted that the brand new funds would definitely outdo the S&P 500 as well as other traditional benchmarks. Have the fundamental funds lived up to the hype? It is too soon to draw final conclusions, but the early results look promising. A few fundamental money have outdone the S&P 500 and other traditional benchmarks.

In many cases the margins of victory have been little. But the results are noteworthy mainly because many of the fundamental money emphasize value stocks -- a segment of the market that has been out of favor in recent years. When value stocks return to the forefront, the fundamental funds could surge.

Among the winners is PowerShares FTSE RAFI US 1000(PRF), a large-cap fundamental ETF that returned 0.44% annually during the past five many years, according to Morningstar.

In comparison, Vanguard 500 Index(VFINX), the granddaddy of S&P 500 mutual funds, lost 0.37% annually. Fundamental money also excelled in small-cap categories. During the past 3 many years, Schwab Fundamental US Small/Mid Company(SFSNX) returned 18.10% yearly, compared to 14.7% for Vanguard Small Cap Index(VSCIX), a traditional index mutual fund.

Proponents of fundamental money say that traditional benchmarks are inferior because they are weighted by market capitalization. Under the traditional program, stocks with big marketplace values account for a bigger percentage of assets. In the S&P 500, the stock with the largest market value is Exxon Mobil(XOM), which accounts for 3.5% of the assets in the index. Among the smallest holdings is Washington Post(WPO), which accounts for 0.02% of the benchmark.

As a stock appreciates, its weighting in the cap-weighted index can rise, while the weighting of unloved shares can decline. Critics say that cap weighting can depress returns because it needs investors to put more cash into expensive stocks. The flaws in the approach were highlighted in the late 1990s whenever a few of technology stocks soared as well as came to account for a big percentage of the S&P 500. Whenever the technology stars collapsed, the index sank hard.

To avoid emphasizing expensive stocks, fundamental money weight holdings according to financial measures such as a company's sales, dividends, or earnings. A few fundamental money rank stocks according to 1 measure, while other people use a combination of many indicators.


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Finding Jewels in Emerging Markets Bond Funds

Worried about the uncertain economic outlook, investors have been dumping emerging marketplace bonds and racing to buy Treasuries. During the previous three months, emerging market bond money have lost 3.4%, while extended government funds have gained 19.8%, according to Morningstar.

But definitely not all emerging bond funds have suffered equally. During the previous three months, Fidelity Brand new Markets Income (FNMIX) about broke even. The fund avoided trouble by following the cautious approach favored by portfolio manager John Carlson. The Fidelity manager shuns the lowest-quality bonds and emphasizes government securities that are issued in dollars -- not in foreign currencies. The dollar bonds frequently prove resilient in downturns. "Our first rule is to play good defense as well as avoid blowups," says Carlson.

Is the recent turbulence a sign of trouble to come in the emerging markets? Probably certainly not, says Carlson. He says that the emerging markets have been pulled down by concerns regarding debt problems in Europe. But the panic has subsided, and the bonds have been recovering as international markets have rebounded. Now the bonds seem poised to deliver decent returns, he says. "The basics of many emerging countries are in good form," he says.

Fidelity and other emerging bond money have attracted bigger followings lately. During the previous year, investors poured $14 billion into the funds. That's a huge flood of money for a category that just has $43 billion in total assets. Investors have been attracted by the improving outlook for emerging markets. At a time whenever the U.S. and Europe struggle with crushing debt burdens, many countries in Asia as well as Latin America have solid balance sheets as well as fast growing economies. As their prospects have improved, emerging marketplace bonds have strengthened. During the previous three years, emerging bond money have returned 17.3% yearly, ranking as the top-performing fixed-income category tracked by Morningstar.
Besides providing a chance to benefit from growing economies, emerging bonds additionally offer competitive yields. Emerging bond benchmarks yield around 6.0%, an attractive payout at a time when 10-year Treasuries give 2.18%.


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