veeblefetzer

Is Oil a Bubble? Part 3

Destroying the environment to produce more and more oil is like burning your house down to stay warm in the winter. It may feel good now, but the future consequences are not good. And if we produce more oil at lower prices, people will continue to buy Hummers and commute to work from distant suburbs driving alone in their Hummers. Higher gas prices are finally leading people to think about their driving habits and buy more fuel efficient vehicles. I think while high oil prices hurt in the short run, in the long run they will prove beneficial.

Short Bond ETFs Get Short Shrift

Good article. I have one question though - why aren't closed end funds considered in this sort of analysis? It seems to me that some of them might offer a good value, especially if they are trading at a substantial discount.

Will Dividend ETFs Be Crushed By An Obama Presidency?

So, many people are predicting a huge stock selloff because of a possibility of higher taxes? Maybe we should stick with our current policies of huge deficits, lack of government oversight causing problems like the subprime mortgage mess, a falling dollar, huge trade deficits, etc. etc.

Worries about a stock selloff because of a change in tax policies are ridiculous.

Is a New Trading Range In Store?

"When the backdrop is as confusing as this, I tend to look at the charts for clarity."
Your analysis of the economic situation was thorough and well reasoned. Why then switch to something akin to a crystal ball or horoscope for clarity?

Buffett's Advice to the Berkshire Faithful: Buy Index Funds

R. Blaine - Well said! Many people persist in thinking they are smarter than the "average masses" and can therefore choose investments that outperform the market averages. No matter how smart you are or how much you know, there are just too many variables and unexpected events to make picking investments more than a guessing game in the long run.

Panic Driven Sector Rotation

Interesting way to put it. It's great to be able to sit at your computer and buy and sell stocks and commodities, but this ease probably contributes to the general churning and volatility. There needs to be some disincentive for rapid trading, but I don't know what that could be.

Today's Key ETF Performances: Financials Lead, Commodities Lag

Just more market volatility.

Get Out of Commodities - Barron's

Diversify. Don't keep changing strategies based on somebody's guess about short-term price changes. Commodities are part of a diversified investment strategy.

Muni Bond ETF Yields Holding Steady

Exactly. Why say the pickings are slim when there's lots of closed-end funds?

Thoughts on Active ETFs

I think you're right that most of the excitement will fade away. Actively managed funds by their nature have more turnover than index funds and therefore are less tax efficient, and in the long run don't do any better. There are plenty of actively managed mutual funds, some with relatively low expenses, for those who prefer active management, so I'm not sure who these funds are aimed at.

ETF Update: Currency Investing Made Easy, Muni Bond ETFs Looking Good, Double Trouble

What about municipal bond closed-end funds? Some of them are selling at substantial discounts. Might that not make them better buys than ETFs?

No Time for Complacency: This is a Bear Market

Now more than ever, it is impossible to predict future price movements in the stock market. With millions of people being able to buy and sell instantly online and all of these people trying to outguess everyone else, attempting to figure out what will happen is futile. Technical analysis may appear to put some sort of scientific approach to work, but it's still an attempt to predict something which can't be predicted.

Baby Boomers: Invest with the Trend

This strategy happens to be paying off now, but there is no reason to believe it will be any better in the long run than any other strategy. Health care stocks are cyclical like everything else and although they are beating the market averages now, they will not do so indefinitely.

An ETF Package That Outperforms the S&P 500

This sort of strategy will work when certain sectors get beaten down one year and rebound the next. But even though it's worked well the last few years, there's never any guarantee about the future.