All Things ETF

By Rick Walter It was the summer of death for many. I say that literally because that is how it seemed. Every other day a really well known person was keeling over, not to mention the scores of regular folks leaving us on a regular basis. Gives me the shivers just thinking about it. I hope the death-letting has subsided for awhile. Well, I am not the only one talking or thinking about death. Did anyone read that article in the New York Times this week, " Wall Street Pursues Profit in Bundles of Life Insurance ". The article briefly implies that some on Wall Street are looking for the next cash cow and are preying on old and sick people by securitizing life insurance policies that focuses in on elderly and really sick people cashing in their life policies for whatever reason- Life Settlements . "The earlier the policyholder dies, the bigger the return — though if people live longer than expected, investors could get poor returns or even lose money." Of course, the a...

By Rick Walter Good morning my fellow investors. Hope we all have a great day today. There was a little blood in the streets yesterday, with a broad sell-off across the board. Well, I've been calling for a slight sell-off for about the last month, because its always a good thing for the markets to blow off some steam after rising consistently for so long. You know, you got to keep the bubbles from forming. Further selling depends on how key parts of the U.S. economy continues to recover, which in my opinion is dependent on the manufacturing sector. A report from Automatic Data Processing said the "U.S. private sector shed 298,000 jobs in August, a faster rate of job losses than the 213,000 economist were expecting." Still, not as high as the same time ago last year but pretty substantial. So what are we going to do? A few tips from the wise . Review your investment strategy daily. Avoid going after high fliers. Avoid trading on rumors. Avoid trying to time the bottom. Ma...

By Rick Walter It's been 11 days since I've made a post. I must have been in a writer's funk. Ha-Ha-ha. I posted, on 8/18/2009, the total returns for our model portfolios which are based on accepted investor risk profiles with each portfolio following set asset allocation percentages. With the markets steadily moving upwards, it has been easy to make adjustments to each portfolio, taking advantage of the markets climb while avoiding many other riskier assets. I have been projecting a pull-back since last month but no such event has happened yet. However, if you look at the declining yield on the 30 year (long) treasury bond - 4.2833% a week ago to 4.2265% today, it would paint a different picture. What does declining treasury yields mean or suggest for the average investor? Well, it suggests that you should tread carefully because uncertainty is beginning to rear it ugly head, and with uncertainty comes volatility which is followed by market declines or unexplained mark...

Portfolio updates based on our Tactical Asset Allocation Model: Conservative - total return as of 8/18/2009: 5.3% Moderate Conservative - total return as of 8/18/2009: 3.9% Moderate - total return as of 8/18/2009: 7.8% Moderate Aggressive - total return as of 8/18/209: 25.2% Aggressive - total return as of 8/18/2009: 14.9% Email or call us to learn more, open an account, invest or subscribe to any one of our great portfolios based on our tactical asset allocation models: 1-800-785-4953 . You can find additional details on these portfolio models at IAPeQ.com . 8/18/2009 11:07 AM

By Rick Walter I was in the midst of researching some emerging market funds, specifically ETF funds that invest in China last week, but the healthcare ruckus kept dominating the headlines and distracting me. I really do not know what to make of it. There is so much confusing information being put out there. So far many of the claims are just over-the-top, gross exaggerations, but some of it is legitimate enough to make you pause and think for a moment. Well fine. However, my greatest beef so far has not been with the idea itself of healthcare reform but the opposition tactics. If the opposition and dissenters- people who are personally against Obama and his policies want to be taken seriously, then they should attend these town hall meetings and wait their turn like everyone else to voice their concerns or they can write or visit their congressman's office. Congress.org got a great website where you can contact your congressman via email or letter. You know what, you actually get ...

I should be posting more but its still summer, and I am 'blaming it on the alcohol'. Ha-ha. Hung out with an old classmate last night until 2 AM this morning; catching up on where and what we've done so far in life and of course, we were trying to score with hot chicks in the bar. Didn't happen. Lol! I didn't drink much, just a couple of beers, but wow-w, this morning I felt like I had been drinking all night. Mid-afternoon and I am still trying to shake it off. Parsing the Feds- excerpt from August 12, 2009 press release: "Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in June suggests that economic activity is leveling out. Conditions in financial markets have improved further in recent weeks." What does that mean? Hmm! Leveling out, leveling, leveling out. Hmm! Leveling out to or from the sharp 90 degree downward economic spiral that the economy experienced over the last 24 months? OK, the Feds didn't really say much. Meaning, we m...

I was perusing through the many web news sites yesterday and I was just amazed at how much news and market stuff, most of it irrelevant, is out there. Wow-w-w! The important news of the day though is that the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee has been meeting since yesterday with an expected policy announcement due today at 2:15 pm. I was surprised again to see the Dow up 135 points as of 10:51 AM. I think what most investors and traders are looking for is an official announcement or wording from the Feds about the current recession's strength whether it was ' ending ', ' ended ' or ' ebbing '. You know a reason to continue buying or start dumping stocks. 8/12/2009 11:02 AM