In a previous post, we talked some about the options mutual fund investors had for investing in gold mutual funds. It turns out there are several options we have, and they are a powerful vehicle for adding diversification to your overall mutual fund portfolio. We covered the diversification of gold mutual funds previously, but this study focused on funds using gold stocks, primarily gold mining stocks. But we often get questions related to the performance of gold funds, and how correlated they are to the actual price of gold.
More on Gold Mutual Funds - Are They as Good As Gold?

In a previous article we examined whether stocks are riskier than bonds, concluding that they are, but it is also a function of how you hold bonds, whether individual bonds or bond funds. Given that there is a tradeoff of risk between stocks and bonds, the natural question to ask next is how much you should invest in stocks versus bonds. For example, the conventional wisdom is that it should be a function of your age, as we expect your appetite for risk to diminish over time.
More on Stocks vs Bonds - How Much Should You Invest in Stocks vs Bonds

As we discussed in our previous article on our hedged mutual fund portfolio when the market is moving against the bulls as quickly as it has been recently, its time to take another look at risk management strategies, and in this case specifically hedging strategies. There are a number of ways to hedge your mutual fund or ETF position, but our favorite is the use of bear funds or bear ETFs.
More on Bear Funds - Bear Mutual Funds and ETFs

One of the things we cover in our discussion of building a low risk portfolio is the need to find investments that have a low correlation to one another and the overall market. This is probably the most powerful tool for reducing risk in your portfolio without the need to suffer a reduction in overall return. The problem is finding those high return but low correlation funds or ETF’s.
More on ETF Correlation Calculator - Properly Diversify Your Portfolio

Should I invest in oil stocks?

That’s a question that a lot of investors have been asking themselves over the last couple of years. The fundamentals of the oil stocks story aside, the case can be made that investing in oil stocks is a reasonable way for the average investor to hedge his individual energy costs (like the price of a tank of gas or your electric bill) with part of their portfolio. It’s interesting that paying an extra $5 a tank at the pump doesn’t feel so bad if you have oil stocks in your portfolio that have just gone up 5% as well.

Of course, these are some of the most volatile stocks around, and many of the penny stocks are associated with the energy industry as well. So, how best to invest in oil stocks?
More on Oil Stocks - How to Invest in Oil Stocks

One of the most common issues that you will have to deal with when building your investment portfolio is the tradeoff of stocks vs bonds in your investment mix. The conventional wisdom regarding stocks vs bonds is that stocks are riskier than bonds. Let’s take a look at the background information that supports that conclusion, and see if it applies to your investment portfolio.

The primary advantage to bonds is that they have a fixed maturity and, ignoring the potential for the company going bankrupt, you know exactly how much money you will be getting and when. But this is only true if you hold the bonds to maturity. For a 30 year bond, that’s quite a commitment. But this is the basic assumption that is underlying the ideal that stocks are riskier than bonds.
More on Stocks vs Bonds - Are Stocks Riskier than Bonds?