Advice and Insights - Adviser Investments
Homechevron_rightLatest Commentary

Adviser Fund Update

News you can use on a wide range of investing and financial planning topics, published every other week. We cover the latest developments impacting mutual fund and ETF investors (with a focus on Vanguard and Fidelity), tax law changes, managing household finances, estate planning advice, retirement savings and much more. Sign up below to have each new edition delivered right to your email inbox.

Investment insights.
Right in your inbox.

Latest

Article

Rebalancing’s Hidden Costs

Rebalancing Reconsidered

In our last Adviser Fund Update, we put two common rebalancing strategies that Fidelity and Vanguard have recommended—time-dependent and portfolio drift—to the test. When we ran our own numbers, we found that over two-plus decades, there was little difference in return between regular, periodic rebalancing, using allocation drift greater than …
Article

Rebalancing Facts and Myths

How Often Should You Rebalance Your Portfolio?

The question of when, why and how you should rebalance your portfolio gets attention from the media on a cyclical basis, and despite all of the column-inches devoted to the subject and nudges from fund companies, the conclusions are often the same—sell your winners and …
Article

Fidelity Launches Event-Driven Funds

Fidelity Flips Calendar, Managers

As the calendar turns to 2014, Fidelity has continued its annual tradition of shuffling assignments for managers on several funds. The changes appear to be routine and unlikely to have a major impact on shareholders. The manager changes effective January 1 include:
  • Fidelity …
Article

Vanguard Closes Fund to New Investors

Vanguard’s Flurry of Activity

Over the last month, Vanguard has debuted a new fund, closed an existing fund to new investors, reopened two others and added a second management team to one of its bond funds. The firm has also seen a longtime sub-adviser announce his plans to retire at the end …
Article

Fine Tune Your Portfolio for 2014

Fine Tune Your Portfolio for 2014

With just a few weeks left in the year, time is running out for those who are considering potential year-end tax saving moves. While it may be difficult to focus on these things during the hectic holiday season, the seven steps outlined below could pay dividends …
Article

Distribution Season Has Arrived

Distribution Season Has Arrived

The arrival of Thanksgiving and the holiday season also brings the beginning of an annual investing tradition: Distribution season. In December, many funds will pay out accumulated income, as they do every year. This income, along with any capital gains distributions you receive from funds held outside of …
Article

Fidelity Opens 10 ETFs

Fidelity Unveils Sector ETFs

On October 24, Fidelity launched a suite of 10 sector ETFs, which are in direct competition with very similar offerings from Vanguard. With expense ratios of 0.12%, the new ETFs became the lowest-cost passively managed sector ETFs in the industry. Investors can purchase the ETFs commission-free through the …
Article

Vanguard Simplifying Fund Lineup

Vanguard Tidies Fund Offerings

On Oct. 16, Vanguard announced plans to streamline its offerings through a series of mergers to remove redundancies and wipe a couple of underwhelming funds out of existence. Vanguard CEO Bill McNabb took a cue from Walden in describing the firm’s motivation: "Over the past five years, we have moved …
Article

Vanguard’s Debt-Ceiling Stance

Fidelity and Vanguard’s Debt-Ceiling Responses

Going by the headlines, the intersection between politics and investing seems to have become more and more treacherous to navigate over the past several years. In the midst of the current government shutdown, which has had a mostly negative impact on the stock markets since it began …
Article

Vanguard’s New Fund

Fidelity Adjusts Target Funds’ Sights

Fidelity announced this week that it was overhauling its Freedom funds, which are designed to offer a one-stop retirement saving and spending solution for investors, in an attempt to provide better long-term performance. Going forward, the funds will feature a heavier emphasis on stocks than bonds, and …
Article

Vanguard’s Unconventional Cost Cutting

Vanguard’s ETF Reverse

In the realm of index funds and ETFs, it’s been a race to the bottom as Vanguard and its competitors have done their best to attract investors with the lowest achievable fees. This week, Vanguard announced its most recent gambit to cut costs by conducting a one-for-two reverse share …
Article

Fidelity Wants to Compete with Your Bank

Banking with Fidelity

People might not think of Fidelity as a bank, but the investment management company is beginning to trumpet its cash management services as an alternative to traditional retail banks.Fidelity has offered consumer banking options since 2007, but has ramped up its marketing efforts of late. The Boston Globe reports that the …