Morningstar's Guide to Better Investment Picking
Dec. 8-12: Select the best domestic, foreign, bond, and diversifying investments for your portfolio with frameworks, ratings, and research from Morningstar.
Special Report
Imagine turning your cart down Aisle 5 for the last item on your shopping list: a jar of peanut butter. Only, instead of two rows and a few straightforward categories (chunky, smooth, natural, and low-fat), it's a whole aisle, with shelf after shelf of 460 different choices.
Suddenly a simple ham sandwich starts to sound a lot better than PB&J.
As of early December, there were no fewer than 460 large-blend mutual funds--a staple for most portfolios--available to U.S. investors. Add in all the additional share classes plus your ETF options and individual blue-chip stocks, and now you're looking at well over 1,800 choices--and that's just for one investment category!
Although it's often presented as a benefit to consumers, choice (when too plentiful) can also be paralyzing, particularly so when it comes to products (like mutual funds) that are not tangible and may already be poorly understood.
Where to start? Morningstar's Guide to Better Investing Picking was designed to help you get going. We came at the job from two angles. First, we provided a framework to help clarify the choices you'll want to make--the questions you'll need to ask yourself--as you're building a portfolio of U.S. and foreign stocks, bonds, and other supporting players. After all, "the best investment" is only good if it's right for you.
Next, we pointed you in the right direction with some of our favorite investments so you can better match our picks to your own preferences. Knowing what you want and what you need will make this part a lot easier--and maybe even leave you a little more time to tackle the cereal aisle.
Monday, Dec. 8 | Selecting U.S. Equities
- 3 Key Questions to Ask When Investing in U.S. Equities
- Our Picks for U.S. Stock Investors
- Why Moats Matter
- What Are Morningstar Medalist Funds?
- Peters: Building a Solid Dividend Portfolio
- Active or Passive Strategies: How to Choose?
- What to Expect From an Actively Managed Fund
Tuesday, Dec. 9 | Focusing on Foreign Stocks
- 4 Questions to Ask When Investing in Foreign Stocks
- Our Picks for Foreign Stock Investors
- How to Trade Foreign Stocks Without Leaving the U.S.
- Active or Index for Overseas Exposure?
- What's the Right Foreign Allocation?
- Don't Make Emerging Markets Your Investing Blind Spot
- How Currency Risk Affects You
Wednesday, Dec. 10 | Picking Bond Investments
- 4 Key Questions to Ask When Investing in Bonds
- Our Picks for Fixed-Income Investors
- Bond Funds: What to Know Before You Go Active
- Don't Overlook the Risks of Individual Bonds
- Bond-Fund Basics
- Bogle: How Bond Indexing Could Be Better
- Answer These Questions Before Adding International Bonds to Your Portfolio
- Seeking to Defend Against Rising Bond Yields? Pick Your Poison Carefully
Thursday, Dec. 11 | Adding Alternatives and Diversifiers
- A Playbook for Investing in Alternatives and Diversifiers
- Our Picks for Alternatives and Other Diversifiers
- What Good Alternatives Funds Should Do for You
- Why Conventional Commodity Indexes Will Likely Disappoint
- Correlation Building Between REITs and Other Stocks
- Will Gold Add Some Shine to Your Portfolio?
- Precious-Metals Equities: A Pocket of Cheapness in a Fairly Valued Market?
Friday, Dec. 12 | Finding the Right Fit for Your Portfolio