Research Library

Vanguard
Vanguard's website offers lots of great information about ETFs, index funds, and the advantages of low cost fees and not trying to beat markets.
How Mutual Funds Hide Fees
Article from Wall Street Journal on new SEC regulations that make it harder for mutual funds to hide their true fees from investors.
How Wealth Managers Get You To Trust Them
A training tool given to wealth managers by State Street Bank to help them convince investors that their fees are justified and that they should be trusted.
Jane Bryant Quinn Warns Investors About Fees
Ms. Quiinn is one of the most repected financial journalists. Read her warnings about fees inside investment products.
How I Fired Smith Barney
Read SB's letter (a MarketRider) challenging his wealth manager's ability to justify their fees. This was before firing them and saving himself over $200,000 per year in fees.
What Your Portfolio Really Needs (Wall Street Journal August 2007)
Written during the panic of August 2007 when investors needed some conviction to buy when values were falling, this article reinforces the need to diversify into many different markets using ETFs. Fully supports The System.
The Importance of Rebalancing A Portfolio in Volatile Markets
Steven Weinstein, Cindy Sin-Yi Tsai and Jason Laurie
discuss the importance of rebalancing a portfolio in
every market climate and the significant role rebalancing
has in maintaining an investment policy. The authors are with Altair Advisers, LLC, an investment advisory firm for private clients.
Overview of Portfolio Rebalancing
Presented at the 14th Annual Asset Allocation Congress, March 6, 2000 by Michael D. Smith, CFA, Research Director, Hewitt Investment Group. The author argues for the increased returns from portfolio rebalancing in this powerpoint presentation.
Skill or Luck? Bill Miller Weighs In On Mutual Funds
In an interview with Money Magazine for its July 2007 issue, Bill Miller, manager of the Legg Mason Value Trust Fund describes his improbable 15-year streak of outperforming the S&P 500. While Miller credits his own past success in the active management arena to a “modicum of skill,” he himself recommends that investors buy index funds. Specifically, Miller told Money that a “significant portion of one’s assets in equities” should be comprised of index funds.
Vanguard Study: A Case For Using ETFs and Index Funds
By investing in an index-based mutual fund or exchange-traded fund, an investor can participate, at low cost, in the aggregate performance of that market or market segment at all times. Over time, an indexing investment strategy has performed favorably relative to actively managed investment strategies, as a result of indexing’s low costs, broad diversification, minimal cash drag, and, for taxable investors, tax efficiency. Combined, these factors represent a significant hurdle that an active manager must overcome just to break even with a low-cost index strategy over time, in any market.