Investors ponder buying index funds
It sounds like a great idea - taking an index fund and managing it more actively to improve its returns. But most investors haven't been tempted by enhanced index funds - which haven't lived up to their billing anyhow.
( HOPE YEN, AP Business Writer, 10/23/2002 08:15 AM PDT)

Investing in the event of war
With the United States angling to wage war against Iraq, should individual investors "warproof" their portfolios in case of military conflict?
( By Linda Loyd, Inquirer Staff Writer, 10/22/2002 03:17 PM PDT)

Don't stash bear traps out of sight just yet
It's been two weeks of rising stock prices. Now, this market looks a little better than the average bear. The Dow Jones industrial average has risen more than 1,000 points. The S&P; 500 Index spiked 14 percent. Even the troubled Nasdaq is getting out of its trough.
( By HARRIET JOHNSON BRACKEY, The Miami Herald, 10/21/2002 11:19 AM PDT)

'Caveat emptor' has always applied to the stock market
I am not sure if I am dumb or lucky but I continue to be taken aback by other people's stock market woes. Consider this assertion in a recent letter to the editor: "My parents worked hard for 30 years. In the past year and a half, they've lost decades of savings. My husband and I set aside money for our children's college education. A fraction remains."
( By EDWARD LOTTERMAN, Columnist, 10/21/2002 10:57 AM PDT)

Good things to do in a bad market
If you have a 401(k), IRA, college savings plan or other investments, it's pretty likely you have lost quite a bit of money during the last two years - maybe close to half of what you had in early 2000.
( By GAIL MARKSJARVIS, Knight Ridder Newspapers, 10/21/2002 10:56 AM PDT)

Hedge fund hiccup may cause indigestion for future investors
Hedge funds have grown in popularity, promising to make money in all markets, while the spectacular 1998 implosion of giant hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management has faded in investors' minds.
( By James Paton, Reuters, 10/21/2002 10:46 AM PDT)

Small favors fade
Investors who put a large dose of small-cap stocks or small-cap mutual funds into their portfolios a couple of years ago have been able to ward off the debilitating effects of giant company stocks — that is, until recently.
( By GAIL MARKSJARVIS, St. Paul Pioneer Press, 10/15/2002 09:17 AM PDT)

Bad time to move from stocks to bonds?
Investors are dumping stock funds and buying bond funds at record rates, according to the Investment Companies Institute -- an alarming trend to professionals who watch market psychology.
( By Todd Mason, KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS, 10/14/2002 09:40 AM PDT)

CD-like annuities are offering highest yields
Some people think of him as ``Mr. Annuity.'' I don't. To me, Danny Fisher is the Morningstar of fixed-income annuities. If anyone in the country has a larger database, with more history, of fixed-income annuities, I haven't heard of it. In the September issue of the Dallas-based Fisher Annuity Index, his monthly publication, he lists data on nearly 900 fixed- income annuity contracts offered by more than a hundred insurance companies.
( 10/14/2002 09:10 AM PDT)