And not in the good way, as Morningstar's Eric Jacobson cautions that numerous portfolios in the category have proved to be more volatile and have lower returns than some might think.
Morningstar's Tim Strauts details the complicated tax treatment of MLPs, commodities, and other nontraditional assets, and offers several ETF and ETN picks along with another to avoid.
Bond-fund investors need to focus on duration, credit quality, and relative yields to better understand how much risk they're taking on, says Morningstar's Eric Jacobson.