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<div class="submitted"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><a href="http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=76697">Nasa Earth Observatory</a></div></div></div>Open enrollment looms for workers' to sign up for employer-sponsored health-care plans. This enrollment season promises to resemble few others.</div>
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For 2014, <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/first-obamacare-open-enrollment-promises-more-incentives-costs-135911011.html">health care premiums will increase by about 5%</a>, according to the 15th annual <a href="http://kff.org/private-insurance/report/2013-employer-health-benefits/">Employer Health Benefits Survey</a> by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research &amp; Educational Trust. Families will pay an average annual cost of $16,351 (with workers paying $4,565 in premiums) and individuals $5,884 (with workers paying $999).
In this first enrollment season after <a href="http://financial-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Obamacare">Obamacare</a>, pay attention to your options and understand some of the benefits available - including the <a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/hsa.asp">health savings account</a> (HSA) and <a href="http://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dependent-care-fsa.asp">flexible spending account</a> (FSA).
Individuals or families in a <a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-12-26.pdf">high-deductible health plan</a> (HDHP) establish an HSA, a tax-advantaged medical savings account, to pay for <a href="http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p502.pdf">qualified medical expenses</a>. You may deduct 100% of contributions from your federal income tax and withdraw them tax- and penalty-free to pay for such medical expenses as co-payments, prescription drugs and insurance deductibles. HSAs, significantly, have no requirement you spend the balance in a given year; unused funds can grow tax-deferred for use in later years.
For 2013, you can contribute pre-tax up to $3,250 for individual coverage and $6,450 for family coverage. In 2014, those amounts increase to $3,300 for individuals and $6,550 for families, according to figures relayed by the <a href="http://www.shrm.org/hrdisciplines/benefits/articles/pages/2014-hsa-limits.aspx?homepage=mpc">Society for Human Resource Management</a>. You also kick in an additional $1,000 if you're 55 or older. Minimum HDHP deductibles remain at $1,250 for individuals and $2,500 for families. HDHP out-of-pocket expenses, excluding premiums, max out at $6,350 for individuals and $12,700 for families.
As long as you track your medical costs, you can withdraw money for reimbursement at any time. In addition, HSA withdrawals not used for qualified medical expenses resemble <a href="http://www.bankrate.com/finance/money-guides/irs-rules-for-early-ira-withdrawals-1.aspx">withdrawals from individual retirement accounts</a>: You'll be taxed on the distribution at ordinary rates and incur a 20% penalty for withdrawals before age 65.
Similar to an HSA, the FSA allows pre-tax contributions to pay for qualified medical expenses. The FSA, however, has the use-it-or-lose-it requirement - any unused amount in the account at the end of the year vanishes. This requirement often sends FSA holders scrambling at year's end to schedule dental exams, stock up on first-aid supplies or splurge on expensive glasses frames before the money's gone. To answer a common (and often angry) question, much unused FSA cash usually returns to the employer who sponsored the plan.
For 2013, you can make pre-tax contributions of $2,500 per employee for health FSAs; if you and your spouse each own an FSA you can kick $2,500 into each plan. You need not have coverage under any other health-care plan to participate.
An important note about FSAs: Participating employees may use their entire annual contribution for qualifying events at the start of the plan year or after the first contribution is made. You can use the full $2,500 from that initial contribution period forward to pay for qualifying expenses even if you haven't fully funded the account when the year opens and even if you elect to contribute the $2,500 in installments throughout the year.
When establishing either of these accounts, pre-plan and anticipate your medical expenses for any given year. For example, if you have an FSA and anticipate the birth of a child or a surgery, increase your contributions.
As you go into open enrollment season, remember that the FSA will provide you with a tax-advantaged double threat of tax-deductible contributions and tax-free distributions for qualified medical expenses. The HSA goes one step further with tax-free interest and dividend accumulation - making it a tax-advantaged triple-threat. Either constitutes a handy tool in a time when every dollar of medical expense counts.
Follow <keyword id="1882080" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="AdviceIQ">AdviceIQ</keyword> on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/AdviceIQ" target="_blank">@adviceiq</a>.
Mary Beth Storjohann, CFP(R), is the founder of <a href="http://workablewealth.com/" target="_blank">Workable Wealth</a>, an RIA in San Diego. She is a <a href="http://workablewealth.com/blog/" target="_blank">writer</a>, speaker and financial coach who is passionate about working with individuals and couples in their 20s and 30s to help them organize and gain confidence in their financial lives. She has been quoted or featured in various industry publications on the local and national level. You can find her on Twitter at <a href="https://twitter.com/marybstorj">@marybstorj</a>.
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Understanding Your Health Care Options In A Post Obamacare World

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>FA Insights is a daily newsletter from Business Insider that delivers the top news and commentary for financial advisors.
<a href="http://adviceiq.com/articles/ray-ferrara-rising-stocks-trouble-nope" target="_blank">Do Rising Stocks Equal Trouble?</a> (AdviceIQ)
Times are good in the stock market right now. So good, in fact, that some predict trouble is looming.
Don't buy that prediction cautions, V. Raymond Ferrara, president and chief executive of ProVise Management Group LLC.
"Recently, the bears have even talked about a 20% downturn, which would qualify as a true bear market. Some are even suggesting that a 50% downturn is possible. While almost anything is possible, the question is what is the probability?" posits Ferrara.<a href="http://www.provise.com/"></a>
"Given solid second quarter corporate earnings as well as decent economic growth, a 50% downturn is highly improbable anytime in the next few years. We can visualize a 20% downturn, but if it occurred it would more likely be a result of geopolitical events rather than economic fundamentals," says Ferrara. 
<a href="http://wealthmanagement.com/asset-management/structured-products-trust-portfolios" target="_blank">Structured Products Could Be Useful In A Trust Portfolio</a> (Wealth Management)
Fiduciaries now have a much great level of freedom to employ a variety of investment products thanks to the widespread adoption of both the Uniform Prudent Investor Act and the Uniform Principal and Income Act. 
"Whereas portfolios typically were invested almost exclusively in stocks and bonds previously, today's portfolios frequently add commodities, foreign currencies and a variety of other investments to the mix," writes JP Morgan investment specialist Adam M. Morris. "Among a fiduciary's current prudent investment choices, structured products can serve an important purpose. In the right circumstances and handled properly, these strategies, also known as structured investments, structured notes or just "structures" -can increase return and reduce risk."
<a href="http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/blogarticle/3376792/beware-of-the-coming-winter-of-discontent.html#.VAnd1F6g1z8" target="_blank">Don't Get Caught Out By The Cyclical Nature Of Investing</a><a href="http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/blogarticle/3376792/beware-of-the-coming-winter-of-discontent.html#.VAnd1F6g1z8" target="_blank"></a> <a href="http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/blogarticle/3376792/beware-of-the-coming-winter-of-discontent.html#.VAnd1F6g1z8" target="_blank"></a>(Institutional Investor) 
'In investing, as in life, timing can be everything," says Tad Rivelle, CIO for fixed income at TCW. "The cycles of capital markets are as immutable as are the seasons of the year." "Those who commit risk capital while the cycle is enjoying its risk-on spring will prosper; those who avoid risk-taking during the spring would be advised not to do so as the autumn chill approaches," adds Rivelle. 
"Shockingly, the ability of our institutions to forecast, much less control financial and economic cycles has been exceedingly poor," laments Rivelle. However, his point isn't to lambaste the Fed, the government, or Wall Street. Rather, Rivelle seeks "to remind that the customary ways of understanding and measuring cycles are nearly useless and investors need to examine them in a new, or at least different, way."
<a href="http://www.advisorperspectives.com/commentaries/advisorshares_090514.php" target="_blank">The Relationship Between The Price Of Gold And The Value Of The Dollar</a> (Advisor Perspectives)
The relationship between the price of gold and the value of the dollar can be explained very logically, explains AdvisorShare's Ade Odunsi. 
"So rather than view gold as a physical asset with a given amount of intrinsic value we instead think of gold as a physical currency whose value can be determined, as with other currencies, relative to other currencies," Odunsi writes. "In its essence when an investor buys gold in dollars they are expressing the view that they expect the price of gold to increase in terms of the number of dollars for which it can be exchanged at a future date. Similarly an investor that holds gold in euro terms is expressing the view that they expect the price of gold to increase in terms of the number of euros for which it can be exchanged at a future date."
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/forgetful-investors-performed-best-2014-9" target="_blank">Fidelity Reviewed Which Investors Did Best And What They Found Was Hilarious</a> (Business Insider) 
On this week's Master in Business program on Bloomberg Radio, Barry Ritholtz spoke with O'Shaughnessy Asset Management's James O'Shaughnessy. 
"Ritholtz and O'Shaughnessy spend much of their discussion talking about the ways people screw themselves when investing, because nothing gets in the way of returns quite like someone who thinks they have a great idea," Business Insider's Myles Udland writes. "Because of our behavioral biases, we often find ourselves buying high and selling low."

Just Because Stocks Are Surging Doesn't Mean They're Doomed To Crash

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>FA Insights is a daily newsletter from Business Insider that delivers the top news and commentary for financial advisors.
<a href="http://blogs.cfainstitute.org/investor/2014/09/08/new-twists-to-the-active-versus-passive-debate/" target="_blank">There Are New Twists To The The Old 'Active' Versus 'Passive' Debate</a> (CFA Institute)
"The growing popularity of passive equity investing seems to be an unstoppable feature of the evolving investment industry," proclaims Mark Harrison, CFA, director of publications at CFA Institute. In fact, "recent analysis by Morningstar, aggregating data on mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), suggests passive investing is now the default choice for American investors, attracting an astonishing 68% of the past 12 months of investor inflows."
However, there's a more recent wrinkle in the long running debate. "Somewhere between active and passive management is the increasingly popular factor approach, which offers investors the chance to isolate various return drivers, or "factors," to achieve more transparent and better returns at lower costs," writes Harrison. "his is an approach that has been already embraced by the fund indexing and ETF industry, where several factor-based products are available."
<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/09/how-millennials-spend/379713/" target="_blank">Millennials' Spending Habits Could Be Bad News For Big Banks</a> (The Atlantic Business)
Millennials are "spending money differently than previous generations," writes Nancy Cook. They "prefer to throw cash at new experiences and adventures and to reward socially responsible companies that they can connect with and that they deem authentic." 
According to Cook, "it's easiest to see this change in the food industry, where millennials are helping to disrupt the landscape of casual restaurants and boosting the earnings of chains such as Chipotle or Panera." It may be even worse for big banks. "A three-year research study of more than 10,000 millennials found that a good handful of the least-liked brands were big financial institutions such as Bank of America and Citigroup," explains Cook. "Leading the authors to name the financial industry as one of the greatest areas for potential disruption by millennials."
<a href="http://adviceiq.com/articles/lewis-j-walker-how-increase-your-wealth" target="_blank">Here's Are The Best Ways To Increase Your Wealth</a> (AdviceIQ)
"As the old adage says, It takes money to make money. You don't have to be wealthy to invest, but you have to invest to be wealthier," writes Lewis Walker, CFP, president of Walker Capital Management LLC. Unfortunately, "many Americans are losing the asset accumulation battle. The inflation-adjusted net worth of the median household declined 36% over 10 years, according to a New York Times article, citing a study by the Russell Sage Foundation."
Fortunately, all hope is not lost. There are still various forms of wealth accrual available to Americans ranging from stocks to real estate that can net great results. However, as imporant as accruing wealth is, protecting it is just as important, cautions Walker. "A vital component to wealth building is protecting it. Prudent insurance protection shields you and those you love from the vagaries of life, including accidents and property damage, injury and disability, premature death, lawsuits, and health-care costs."
<a href="http://blog.columbiamanagement.com/u-s-rates-the-draghi-floor" target="_blank">The European Central Bank's Latest Moves May Not Be Enough To Restore Confidence</a> (Columbia Management)
"In typical fashion, last week's European Central Bank (ECB) announcements found a way to bury the lede," writes Zach Pandl, portfolio manager and strategist at Columbia Management. "The deposit rate cut to -20 basis points from -10 basis points was characterized as a technical adjustment, and the asset purchase program, while important, lacked a specific quantitative target-forcing investors to infer a rough figure from Mario Draghi's comments in the press conference." 
Pandl adds, "the steps taken by the ECB were critical for the outlook because they revealed something about the central bank's reaction function-that policymakers will deploy unconventional tools to prevent inflation expectations from falling too far."
<a href="http://www.institutionalinvestor.com/blogarticle/3378050/the-alternative-reality-of-the-endowment-model.html#.VA31LV6g1z8" target="_blank">The Alternative Reality Of The Endowment Model</a> (Institutional Investor)
"The endowment investment model, which is widespread among university, is often flagged as the best-in-class framework for long-term investors, " proclaims Ashby Monk, Ph.D., executive director of the Global Projects Center at Stanford University and a senior research associate at the University of Oxford. 
This is an approach to institutional investment that is almost entirely outsourced and seeks to generate high returns through an aggressive orientation toward private equity and other alternative assets," writes Monk. Although still popular, Monk believes, "some institutional investors now see it as being at odds with long-term investing and perhaps even damaging to the long-term investment challenge."

FINANCIAL ADVISOR INSIGHTS:Somewhere Between Active And Passive Management Is Another Way To Invest Your Money

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"></div></div></div>FA Insights is a daily newsletter from Business Insider that delivers the top news and commentary for financial advisors.
<a href="http://adviceiq.com/articles/lewis-j-walker-bargains-amid-downturns" target="_blank">Market Downturns Are A Perfect Time For Bargain Hunting</a> (AdviceIQ)
Market downturns have a way of grabbing attention and fueling anxiety amongst investors. However, "long-term investors should not worry, and instead see opportunity, " writes Lewis Walker, president of Walker Capital Management LLC. "Market downturns are times to buy good bargain stocks. Think back to early March 2009, the low point after the crash. America was on sale. If you bought stocks then, when they were cheap, you more than doubled your money as of now. "
Although financial pundits offer a variety of reasons for a market downturn, Walker believes "a simple explanation for the fall perhaps is the most rational of all - that's what markets do, periodically."
<a href="http://www.blackrockblog.com/2014/08/29/investing-lessons-napa-earthquake/?utm_source=feedly&amp;utm_reader=feedly&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_campaign=investing-lessons-napa-earthquake" target="_blank">What Investors Can Learn From Natural Disasters</a> (The BlackRock Blog)
According to Russ Koesterich, chief investment strategist for BlackRock and iShares chief global investment last week's Napa Valley earthquake "was a violent, but good, metaphor for the dangers lurking in financial markets."
For Koesterich, a decade-long Bay Area resident, the earthquake was a stark reminder of the risks in living in the region. He equates this experience with financial markets in that "stocks and other risky assets have been doing particularly well the last few years. So well, in fact, that it's easy to forget there are risks below the surface. While I continue to believe that equities and other risky assets can advance further this year, it's worth considering what to do when the next shock hits financial markets." 
<a href="http://www.advisorperspectives.com/commentaries/smead_082714.php" target="_blank">Active Management Is Still The Way To Go In Investing</a> (Advisor Perspectives)
As media outlets herald the rise of passively-managed investment vehicles, William Smead, chief executive and chief investment officer for Smead Capital Management believes that actively managed investing should still be the preferred method. 
Smead writes, "financial advisors and registered investment advisors feel severe pressure to throw in the towel on manager selection methodologies and accept index returns. Yet, many of these stories forget one central concept: indexes are actually inexpensive actively-managed portfolios. Every actively managed fund is an index itself."
He adds, "the recent negativity towards active management invites us to remind readers what we find useful in indexed common stock investing versus the value we find in active management. Under the logic pervaded by the crowd and the media, many managers and organizations are practicing poor performing versions of active management and investors are told, or being shamed into giving up on all efforts to actively manage a common stock portfolio."
<a href="http://www.financial-planning.com/30-days-30-ways/retirement-withdrawal-strategies-should-clients-use-annuities-2690283-1.html" target="_blank">The 4% Rule For Annuity Withdrawals May No Longer Be Viable </a>(Financial Planning)
Traditionally, withdraws from annuities were done based on the 4% rule. Under the rule, explains financial writer Donald Jay Korn, "a retiree can start by withdrawing 4% of accumulated savings, raise withdrawals to match inflation and, with certain assumptions, be fairly confident the money will last for 30 years."
"Recent studies indicate the 4% rule may have a high failure rate given today's low interest rates," says Ric Runestad, who heads a financial services firm in Fort Wayne, Ind. "The possibility of repeated bear markets adds to the risk of this regimen, as inflation-expanded withdrawals could speed asset depletion," adds Korn.
<a href="http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/nn/articles/Market-Perspective" target="_blank">Here's What Is Happening In Market Today </a>(Charles Schwab)
"The stock market continues to exhibit great resiliency, with bouts of selling this year stopping short of a correction, and reversing quickly, " writes Charles Schwab chief investment strategist Liz Ann Sonders, director of market and sector analysis Brad Sorenson, and director of international research Michelle Gibley . Although, "stocks suffered a quick 4-5% decline," they recovered fairly rapidly and move to new highs," added the team at Schwab. In addition, longer-term interest rates labored higher only to plunge again.
"We remain optimistic about stocks for the foreseeable future, although we would prefer the kind of grind-higher market we've experienced recently over a melt-up," concluded the trio. "We would also welcome pullbacks and even a correction as it would keep sentiment contained; and could elongate the bull market. "

FINANCIAL ADVISOR INSIGHTS: There's No Better Time For Investors To Go Bargain Hunting Than During A Downturn

FA Insights is a daily newsletter from Business Insider that delivers the top news and commentary for financial advisors.
<a href="http://www.blackrockblog.com/2013/11/22/quiet-market-front-2/">Investors Should Be More Worried About Low Volatility Than A Stock Market Bubble </a>(BlackRock) 
The U.S. stock market has enjoyed a great run so far this year, and now many are expecting a correction. But BlackRock's Russ Koesterich writes that low volatility is a bigger risk especially in the near term. He points out that U.S. stocks have had an "exceptionally smooth ride." Year-to-date market volatility is around 14, compared with a historical average of 19.
"The problem today is that even after accounting for strong momentum and benign credit conditions, volatility looks unjustifiably low," he writes. Also, the low volatility also suggests that investors are also ignoring what's going on in Washington. This suggests they expect a last-minute deal after budget talks resume in January and that they are ignoring the "fallout from the Affordable Care Act (ACA)." 
<a href="http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/15bab10e-51ad-11e3-8c42-00144feabdc0.html?siteedition=intl#axzz2lhfyxNbe">Wealthy U.S. Investors Made The Same Investment Errors As Everyone Else</a> (Financial Times) 
Wealthy investors make almost the same mistakes as everyone else according to John Authers at the Financial Times. A study of 115 U.S. households with an average net worth of $90 million between 2000 - 2009 showed that the wealthy "are just as keen as their poorer brethren to follow investment fads." But the wealthiest are different, writes Authers. "The richest of the rich steadily expanded their advantage over other wealthy people as the decade continued."
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/post-war-era-sp-500-returns-2013-11">So Far, This Has Been The 8th Best Year For The S&amp;P 500 Since 1947</a> (RBC Capital Markets)<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/post-war-era-sp-500-returns-2013-11"></a>
"The S&amp;P 500 is up an impressive 26.5% year-to-date, the eighth best year in the post-war era," RBC Capital Market's Jonathan Golub wrote in a note to clients. But unlike many others he doesn't expect a correction. "While these results are excellent, especially in the context of weak economic and earnings growth, they are hardly out of the ordinary."

<a href="http://www.investmentnews.com/article/20131125/FREE/131129946">A New Business Aims At Bringing In More Clients For Advisors</a> (Investment News) 
2,600 financial advisors from 27 broker-dealer firms have signed up with AdviceIQ, which Megan Durisin at Investment News thinks is a new way from advisors to attract clients. The site lists "their assets under management, client characteristics, mission and contact information. It couples that with a blend of fact-checked articles written by financial advisers that are syndicated daily to 12 media sites, including Morningstar, The Motley Fool and Forbes," writes Durisin. It also checks their background with four regulators including the SEC. While advisors aren't certain if this helps them bring in new clients they do realize it helps them gain visibility. 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-18th-brumaire-of-janet-yellen-2013-11">Value Investors Are Experiencing A Separation From The Meaning Of Their Investments </a>(Epsilon Theory)<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-18th-brumaire-of-janet-yellen-2013-11"> </a>
Value investors like Jeremy Grantham are experiencing "separation of an investor from the meaning of his investment," according to Ben Hunt chief risk office at Salient Partners. "Sure, you can go on investing on the basis of your discounted cash-flow model or your earnings margin reversion-to-the-mean model or whatever it is that floats your boat, but it's just going to be a continuing exercise in frustration so long as we live in a Fed-centric universe."
So what are value investors to do instead? "Go buy a farm … or an apartment building … or a fleet of tankers … or a portfolio of bank loans … anything where your investment process has meaning again and isn't hijacked by the game-playing and trend-following that dominates public capital markets. If you have to stay in public securities, at least move into areas of the market where you are not dominated by the game-players and where there remains a critical mass of your fellow value investors to make a community of sorts … small and mid-cap industrials, say, or maybe activist targets."

BLACKROCK: Investors Are So Caught Up In Bubble Fears That They Are Ignoring A Bigger Risk

<div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"></div></div></div>FA Insights is a daily newsletter from Business Insider that delivers the top news and commentary for financial advisors.
<a href="http://wealthmanagement.com/rias/investors-see-fee-only-no-commission-interchangable" target="_blank">Investors Can't Tell The Difference Between 'No Fee' And 'No Commission' Advisors</a> (Wealth Management)
According to WealthManagement.com senior editor Megan Leonhardt, a new study by Pershing says investors can't tell the difference between "no fee" and "no commission" advising. "It comes down to education," Kim Dellarocca, managing director at Pershing told Leonhardt. "For investors, there was no strong reaction when asked to choose whether "fee-only" or "no commissions" was more preferable, according to the results of Pershing's study on advisor value propositions."
The study showed those investors already using a fee-only advisor value the statement "we provide advice free from conflicts of interest because we take no commissions" more (64 percent), compared to the 39 percent of investors using a commission advisor. Dellarocca told Leonhardt. "It shows there's still a great degree of confusion in the marketplace. Those using a fee-only advisor value it more. They've been educated already."
<a href="http://adviceiq.com/articles/wayne-fourman-social-security-when-start" target="_blank">When Is The Best Time To File For Social Security Benefits </a>(AdviceIQ)
"Your Social Security can be worth more in golden years' income than your 401(k) or individual retirement account," writes May Financial Group's Wayne Fourman. "The trick: Know at what age to best file for benefits."
"Consider a married couple who both begin Social Security with a first-year combined benefit of just $23,304, based on the Social Security program fact sheet," contends Fourman. "As of Dec. 31, 2013, the average retired benefits recipient gets $1,294 a month and a spouse $648 a month. A retirement plan needs a value today of $543,147 to provide the same income as Social Security for the next 20 years."
Fourman concludes that, "many preparing for retirement do not understand the value of benefits and how those benefits work, nor do the eventual retirees' financial advisors."
<a href="http://www.financial-planning.com/news/investment_insights/asset-classes-for-consistent-returns-2690273-1.html?zkPrintable=1&amp;nopagination=1" target="_blank">Investors Shouldn't Depend On Large Cap Stocks</a> (Financial Planning)
In a time when every financial news report mentions to the performance of the S&amp;P, Craig L. Israelsen, executive in residence in the personal financial planning program in the Woodbury School of Business at Utah Valley University, believes that, " it might be wise to consider just how well this measure has performed over time and what role it should play in a portfolio." Israelson adds, "the numbers suggest that despite some spectacular short-term results, too many investors put too much of their money in large-cap stocks."
Although, he admits, large-caps performed well in 2013 with the SPDR S&amp;P 500 (SPY) producing a one-year return of 32.32%. In addition, "the index's five-year annualized performance (at 17.85%) was also impressive," writes Israelsen. However, "The 10-year and 15-year performance figures were relatively poor with the 15-year annualized return clocking in at just 4.58%."
<a href="http://news.morningstar.com/articlenet/article.aspx?id=663186" target="_blank">Here Are 4 Questions To Ask Before Adding International Bond To Your Portfolio</a> (Morningstar)
Judging by Morningstar's recent fund flow data, investors are giving their bond portfolios a foreign flavor, writes Christine Benz, Morningstar's director of personal finance. "Traditional mutual funds in the world-bond group have garnered nearly $7 billion in new investor dollars over the past year, even as funds in the intermediate-term bond group have seen $37 billion flow out the door." 
However, "even as investors have been attracted to the world-bond category, it's easily one of the trickiest to navigate," cautions Benz. "It's compact--with fewer than 100 distinct funds--but it's full of offerings with disparate strategies. Foreign-currency exposure is a key differentiator, but funds also vary in their approaches to market maturity, interest-rate risk, and sector choices, among other factors." 
<a href="http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/nn/articles/Investment-Grade-Corporate-Bonds-Delivering-Strong-Returns" target="_blank">Investment Grade Corporate Bond Are Doing Great</a> (Charles Schwab)
"After a disappointing 2013, investment-grade corporate bonds are once again delivering positive returns, thanks mainly to price gains linked to falling Treasury yields," writes Collin Martin, senior research analyst, fixed income at the Schwab Center for Financial Research. "And although yields on investment-grade corporate bonds are now near all-time lows, we still think they look attractive relative to Treasuries and make sense for investors looking to generate income without incurring too much risk."
According to Martin, "the Barclays U.S. Corporate Bond Index has generated a total return of 6.6% this year-a nice improvement from its 1.5% drop in 2013. In fact, investment-grade corporate bonds have performed better than most other types of fixed income investments this year, including sub-investment-grade bonds,"

You Searched For "AdviceIQ" and got 6 results

Understanding Your Health Care Options In A Post Obamacare World

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Just Because Stocks Are Surging Doesn't Mean They're Doomed To Crash

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FINANCIAL ADVISOR INSIGHTS:Somewhere Between Active And Passive Management Is Another Way To Invest Your Money

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FINANCIAL ADVISOR INSIGHTS: There's No Better Time For Investors To Go Bargain Hunting Than During A Downturn

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BLACKROCK: Investors Are So Caught Up In Bubble Fears That They Are Ignoring A Bigger Risk

Mamta Badkar

FINANCIAL ADVISOR INSIGHTS: Tons Of Investors Seeking Advisors Are Confused About Some Pretty Basic Stuff

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